October PrepMo 2015

Freestyle Brainstorm

Pleasantgate Point is a beautiful town nestled into the south Adirondack Mountains. There is a lot of Victorian influence in the original buildings, especially in the four large estates on each corner of the town. There are 13 curves, the Danbury estate, Willowdent Manor, the Johnson estate, Silverbrook Hall, the Craig estate, and Midnight Springs Garden, the McAntry estate. Each stood like a sentry over the town, keeping a protective eye on all that laid before them. There’s something special about them, the citizens of Pleasantgate take pride in them.
Three of the four estates are still inhabited by the original families. The Danbury estate, 13 Curves, is the only one not and is entirely abandoned. There is still a “For Sale” sign stuck in front, but there have been no interested parties, not since the 1950’s. 13 Curves has become something of a legend in Pleasantgate Point, with many weird things happening within the residence or two those who inhabited it. The first would be Francis Danbury disappearing in 1897. No one is sure what even happened to him, including the multitude of servants employed by Francis. No one even saw him leave the home, though nobody was ever recovered on the property. His wife, Yvette, declared him legally dead in 1899.

Yvette would eventually move out of the estate in 1901 to permanently live in France, where she would eventually marry a rich French businessman, Jean-Marc De Saint-Pierre, on the day of his death in April of 1920. She wouldn’t live much longer, following Jean-March four months later in August. The De Saint-Pierre estate was left to Yvette and in turn was split four ways and given to her children.
In 1902, a year after Yvette moved to France, Franklin and his young family would move into 13 Curves. Seemingly good luck would be bestowed upon Franklin, including officially inheriting his father’s mass estate and wealth, worth close to two billion dollars in 1904 dollars ($54 billion in 2015). His father had invested incredibly well and so hadn’t the businesses his father had run. Franklin had managed these businesses up to this point and now had officially owned them. He would also have another son, Frederick Allen, of which they hadn’t believed, would’ve been a possibility.

Life would go perfectly until November of 1917, when seemingly out of nowhere, Franklin’s eldest son, Milton, would commit suicide by hanging himself in the attic of 13 Curves. To the current day, no one is sure why Milton committed suicide. Franklin was utterly devastated by the loss of his son and left the country for nearly a year with his wife. Franklin left a fiancée, Lucille DuPree, who was 18 years old at the time. They were to be married the following spring.

Life would seemingly go on after the death of Milton; Lorelei would go on to get married the following year. They would have six children, though they had originally planned for four. The death of their youngest child, Lilly-Anne Hope, at the age of seven in 1933, would prompt Lorelei to beg for another child to help cope with the loss. They would get pregnant almost instantly and in the summer of 1934, Josephine Yvette would be born. They would also be surprised a year later with the birth of Reginald Luther in 1935.
In 1920, the family would go to France to mourn and pay respects to Franklin’s step father, Jean-Marc, then before they would depart for home, would do the same for Franklin’s mother.

Eight years later, both Franklin and Yvette would end up in a horrible automobile accident that December. Their driver would slide over a patch of ice and drive off the side of a bridge. This would send the remaining Danbury clan out of Pleasantgate Point and not a single Danbury descendent would ever live in 13 Curves or Pleasantgate Point until 2015, when Francis’ great great great granddaughter, Margot Baxter, would move to town.
The house would remain empty until a family from Chicago would buy the estate in 1942. The house was in disrepair and the family, Rupert and Mary Hotaling, would invest money into fixing up the home. They brought their three children, Richard, 13, Edward, 10, and Nancy, 7. Plans had been made to turn the large house into a bed and breakfast, keeping with the original design and structure of the house. They figured that a 19th century style bed and breakfast would fit the style of the town and as Pleasantgate Point was becoming a tourist town, they figured it would be perfect.

Unfortunately, the family never got to see those dreams truly realized. Even though the family managed to repair the house, the family seemed to fall into one problem or another, ending with the death of their eldest son in 1953. Richard was in the attic, cleaning it out as his mother had asked the next he had flung himself out of the attic window. The police investigated, but it was officially ruled a suicide.
Six months after Richard’s death, the family moved back to Chicago and the home remains empty to this day.