Day 327

So our town won some kind of lottery and decided to renovate the castle/museum's interior.
Let me just say it was well overdue, I mean the mannequins were literally polystyrene blobs.
About halfway through the castle's renewal they let the public walk around the place.
The usual areas of roof and cellar weren't open but everywhere else was empty.

When I went I had the idea to sneak into the cellar to take photos, it'd be so busy nobody'd notice.
At least, that was what I thought and I was half right.
It was very crowded, seems the whole town wanted to look at the shell of the museum.
All in all the castle looked so much smaller on the inside, I guess the walls were thick or something.

The entrance to the cellar was near the main entrance, just to the left behind a door.
I knew for a fact they never bothered to lock it, thought the "KEEP OUT" sign would work better.
Certainly made my quiet entrance that much easier!
I was glad for the lack of security at the time - looking back I realise they meant for people to go in.

The key to getting into rooms with such notices on them is to dress smartly and act well.
If you look like you're meant to be there nobody will question anything.
As soon as the door closed I had my torch pointed to the steps in front of me.
They were crooked and steep, looking back I now see that they weren't built for human feet.

At the time I just thought it was poor construction and hugged the wall on the way down.
The most interesting thing about the cellar was that it was full of these smaller passages.
From the three main semi-circular halls there were a dozen or so connecting tunnels or doors.
Now I'm not very tall but I still had to crouch right down for some of them, got great photos though!

The first large room had some of the old displays in there which were just plastic signs and photos.
Not exactly riveting stuff there - the most interesting part of that place was the lumpy floor.
There were huge dips and bumps all over, did they even try to flatten it out any time?
Seems they'd just covered it with thick foam which was peeling up at the edges.

On a whim I grabbed one of the corner and yanked it back as far as I could just to see underneath.
It was just rocks and what looked to be bones stuck in cement, I thought it was an old burial site.
Putting the foam flooring back as best I could I moved on to the small hallway into the next chamber.
I had to go on all fours through there, why would anyone build such narrow passages?

The second chamber was about the same size and had large stone tombstones along one wall.
According to the plastic sign they were Anglo-Saxon like the rest of the castle.
There was a small room behind the chamber with another tiny door leading to it... empty though.
The floor in there wasn't much better than the first, I shuddered at the thought of walking on bones.

The third and final chamber had always been the castle's biggest mystery as it had never been open to
the general public, nobody had been in there since the place had been given to the town.
Rumour had it that there was a pagan temple behind it but nobody had any proof.
All that stood between me and the truth of that room was a large wooden board covering the door.

Moving it to one side I found a passage that was actually a decent size - no more crouching!
The chamber behind it was enormous, as big as both of the others combined and... empty.
The only thing in there was a bundle of cloth or something near the far corner.
It was the only thing in there so I reckoned it must be important.

I shouldn't have gone near it, I should have put the board back and crept away from the damn thing.
The closer I got,the bigger it seemed... must have been the size of a small car.
I got to a couple of feet from the bundle when ever so slowly it lifted its head and blinked at me.
It looked quite surprised to see me and I can only imagine I looked the same to it.

Its face was almost human but larger, grey and its mouth stretched right across its jaw.
After I got over the initial shock I legged it out of there, not even bothering to put the board back.
I realised that when I got to the base of the stairs and heard shuffling behind me.
The stairs seemed a lot bigger going up.

The second I closed the door behind me I was grabbed by a member of staff and dragged away.
They kept asking me if I'd seen anything or touched anything down there and I said no.
Told them I never got past the first room before I chickened out.
Lucky for me they never checked my bag so I kept all the photos, including the thing.

I regret this now, not telling them I woke it up and led it to the stairs accidentally.
The next day the manager found trails of blood leading to the cellar and several of the staff gone.
Their bodies were never fully recovered and they somehow managed to pin the blame on a human.
I know it was whatever they've been keeping down there.

I'm going to go back tonight and check for sure, I just want to see its still down there.
After I've checked I'm going to nail that board to the wall, keep it down there for good.
I don't know how well this will work or even if it will work.
I've set this to post at midnight if I'm not back in time to cancel this.