Died: November 1, 1942
Asa Gilbert, Eddy Foster, and Daniel Patterson were the Mansion’s handyman, gardener, and liveryman. Little is known about their early years except that each has a past he was trying to hide, or hide from. While they were quite young they all joined the same carnival as roustabouts and soon became fast friends. Each of them developed a crush on Miss Lilian, the tight rope walker, and all but came to blows over her. After that they vowed to never again let a woman disrupt their friendship. Miss Lilian was fond of the young men, and when Master Gracey took her as his bride, she had Gracey hire them as servants.
Gilbert, Foster, and Patterson faithfully performed their "downstairs" duties at the Mansion, while keeping a respectful distance from the odd goings on of the "upstairs". When their beloved Mistress Lilian died in the "accident" they hid their grief and kept to themselves more than ever. They feared that Master Gracey would dismiss them, though he actually valued them almost as family.
Little Leota tried to seduce each of the three men, but they would have nothing to do with her. One stormy night, she sent them down to the river to investigate a noise. Hearing the howls of Hellhound coming from the wrong direction, the trio became disoriented in the dark and stumbled into the quicksand. They climbed onto each other’s shoulders in a futile effort to reach a swaying tree branch. It’s said that the ghosts of the three faithful servants sometimes appear outside the Mansion on misty mornings to lend a hand with repair work, landscaping, or moving stanchion boxes.
Name: Thurl, Ravens, Croft, Singg and Buss
Died: August 24, 1934
Sherman Thurl, Richard Ravens, Robert Croft, Dansen Singg, and Omney Buss were members of the Yale Glee Club at the time Master Gracey was a student. The five friends formed their own singing group which was the most popular entertainment at the social functions. They asked their classmate George to come up with a catchy name for the quintet. He suggested that since their singing was soft and sweet as marshmallows that they should call themselves the Mallow Men.
The ensemble continued to perform for a short time after graduation, but the Mallow Men eventually realized that they had to go their separate ways. Thurl became a radio announcer, Ravens and Croft teamed up as songwriters, while Singg and Buss went into vaudeville.
In 1934 Master Gracey invited his fellow alumni to the Mansion for a reunion. At his suggestion the Mallow Men got back together to revive their old act for the party. And to add to the excitement of the evening, Thurl arranged to broadcast his radio show from the Mansion that evening. The turnout was excellent despite the ominous thunderstorm, and by air time the ballroom was overflowing with cheerful alumni. Singg and Buss put the guests and listeners at ease by poking fun at the spooky atmosphere of the Mansion in their comedy routine. The radio show continued with a drama about two teenagers exploring a haunted house-Thurl’s deep bass voice narrating. Continuing the theme of the show, the Mallow Men performed the a song especially written for the occasion by Ravens and Croft entitled "Grim Grinning Ghosts". For the finale the entire cast sang the refrain "Hurry back, we would like your company". The show ran short, so Thurl, Ravens, Croft, Singg, and Buss stepped up to the mike for an encore. Just then lightening struck the relay antenna on the roof and the Mallow Men were electrocuted.
The five singers were buried in the Mansion’s graveyard. Feeling responsible for his friends’ death, Master Gracey commissioned busts of the Mallow Men to go over their graves. He further directed Eddy Foster, the gardener, to plant a hedge in front of them so they would appear to be on stage, the poplar trees behind them as their backdrop. Three years later, during the final performance of the Jones Family Opera Singers, the head of Thurl’s bust broke off. Asa Gilbert, the handyman, repaired it only for the head to fall off again five years later on the night Little Leota drowned, the three servants died in quicksand, and Master Gracey’s dog Hellhound was struck by lightening. The singer’s bust has remained that way ever since.
(Stories by Ghost Gallery)
No comments:
Post a Comment