⊰ The Village of Soporona ⊱
Long ago, the town of Soporona was a place known for its hauntingly beautiful scenery, the most beautiful place to be laid to rest with lush gardens and the most breathtakingly designed tombstones. The flower arrangements for grave sights were always some of the best, but the dominating feature of this town? It's ghost stories. The villagers always knew how to tell some of the most bone chilling mysteries in the country but they never expected any of their tales to be true.
One night, the village had a festival for all Hallows Eve, which involved dancing, singing, eating, and of course story telling. They told the story of a Headless Horseman that presided over the nearby wood. He would ride a dark horse and steal the head of any unfortunate enough to get stuck in the woods, or come upon his path. He would leave their bodies and take their heads to his collection. The night, after the party, a teacher from town was headed back home when he heard the sound of hoof beats. Coming up behind him was the very horseman the story had spoken of. Afraid for his life, the teacher dove into a nearby bush and began to run through the forest. He narrowly escaped the horseman and refused to leave his house the rest of the night. The next day he spoke of his encounter, and the villagers thought he was crazy, but he truly believed in what he had seen. He locked himself inside his house for weeks, refusing to leave, the whole time being called insane.
One the seventh day of his hiding, he received a knock on his door just after dusk. Having started to believe that what he'd seen had only been a result of the ghost stories at the festival, he opened his door and found the Headless Horseman waiting for him. The teacher ran, attempting to get away from the Horseman, but was met with defeat at every turn, and in the process released his riding horse and scattered or broke numerous things throughout his property. The next day, the villagers went out to see what the commotion the night before had been about, having heard the noise deep into town. His home a wreck, his horse wandering aimlessly on the road, there was no sign of the teacher at all, but a hefty amount of blood. They searched for days with little hope, and found nothing of the teacher. Three weeks after he'd gone missing, the villagers awoke to find the teacher hanging by his feet from the large tree in the center of town, his head gone.
After such a thing, many people recounted on seeing the Headless Horseman, the tales drawing adventure seekers. A few have been killed by the rider, and the creature has been referred to as a number of things involving a phantom, and even a Dullahan, a Grim Reaper of sorts. The village now makes its money off of the tourism that has been going on for generations now, everyone wanting to spot the Headless Horseman, or anything else they can. Rumors of Witches, Werewolves, and even Vampires in the area keep people coming back for more, even though the village is large, they still call it a village by habit.
With dirt paths on the outer edges of town and cobbled paths near the center, the town follows the same them, the posh stone houses near the center of town, the older styled wood ones on the edge. In the center of town the large, centuries old tree still stands with an iron fence around it to keep people from touching it. It's now called Ichabod's Grave, named after the teacher who died.
One night, the village had a festival for all Hallows Eve, which involved dancing, singing, eating, and of course story telling. They told the story of a Headless Horseman that presided over the nearby wood. He would ride a dark horse and steal the head of any unfortunate enough to get stuck in the woods, or come upon his path. He would leave their bodies and take their heads to his collection. The night, after the party, a teacher from town was headed back home when he heard the sound of hoof beats. Coming up behind him was the very horseman the story had spoken of. Afraid for his life, the teacher dove into a nearby bush and began to run through the forest. He narrowly escaped the horseman and refused to leave his house the rest of the night. The next day he spoke of his encounter, and the villagers thought he was crazy, but he truly believed in what he had seen. He locked himself inside his house for weeks, refusing to leave, the whole time being called insane.
One the seventh day of his hiding, he received a knock on his door just after dusk. Having started to believe that what he'd seen had only been a result of the ghost stories at the festival, he opened his door and found the Headless Horseman waiting for him. The teacher ran, attempting to get away from the Horseman, but was met with defeat at every turn, and in the process released his riding horse and scattered or broke numerous things throughout his property. The next day, the villagers went out to see what the commotion the night before had been about, having heard the noise deep into town. His home a wreck, his horse wandering aimlessly on the road, there was no sign of the teacher at all, but a hefty amount of blood. They searched for days with little hope, and found nothing of the teacher. Three weeks after he'd gone missing, the villagers awoke to find the teacher hanging by his feet from the large tree in the center of town, his head gone.
After such a thing, many people recounted on seeing the Headless Horseman, the tales drawing adventure seekers. A few have been killed by the rider, and the creature has been referred to as a number of things involving a phantom, and even a Dullahan, a Grim Reaper of sorts. The village now makes its money off of the tourism that has been going on for generations now, everyone wanting to spot the Headless Horseman, or anything else they can. Rumors of Witches, Werewolves, and even Vampires in the area keep people coming back for more, even though the village is large, they still call it a village by habit.
With dirt paths on the outer edges of town and cobbled paths near the center, the town follows the same them, the posh stone houses near the center of town, the older styled wood ones on the edge. In the center of town the large, centuries old tree still stands with an iron fence around it to keep people from touching it. It's now called Ichabod's Grave, named after the teacher who died.
