Lore of Carver’s Curse
THE TREE
Long before the Carver family arrived, something was already waiting on the hill.
At first glance, it appears to be an ancient tree.
Weathered. Twisted. Unnaturally large.
Its roots disappear deep into the earth, while its branches stretch across the sky like grasping fingers. No one knows exactly how old it is. Local legends claim it was already ancient when the first settlers arrived. By then, stories about the tree had already been passed from one generation to the next.
Travelers avoided it after dark.
Hunters refused to camp near it.
Even animals seemed reluctant to linger beneath its branches.
Some believed the tree marked a place where something terrible had happened.
Others believed it marked a place where something terrible was trapped.
Over the years, people disappeared near the hill. Some were never seen again. Others returned days later, unwilling to speak about where they had been or what they had seen.
The tree remained.
Storms that leveled surrounding woods left it standing. Lightning struck its trunk without leaving a scar. Season after season, year after year, it watched as generations came and went.
When Carver purchased the property, he dismissed the old stories as superstition. The land was fertile, the location ideal, and the tree was simply another part of the landscape.
At least, that’s what he believed.
As the farm grew, so did the strange occurrences. Workers vanished. Shadows moved where no one stood. Unexplained sounds echoed across the property after nightfall. The stories that had once been whispered quietly began to spread again.
Many blamed the tree.
No one could explain why.
Some say something sleeps beneath its roots.
Others believe the tree itself is alive.
A few claim the tree is neither prison nor prisoner, but a doorway.
No one knows the truth.
Those who seek answers rarely find them.
What remains certain is this:
The darkness surrounding Carver’s Curse did not begin with the Carver family.
It was here long before them.
And it remains long after.
The tree still stands.
Watching.
Waiting.