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 Ground State
   
Location: Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
 |  | The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
< on 12/11/2012 12:55 AM >
|  | | | Every small town has its urban legends - most just get laughed off half-heartedly. But every once in a while, in between chuckles, the eyes of those who remember the truth will nervously meet and unconscious understanding will pass from one person to another: some secrets must be kept.
1. These are the remains of the home of Astrid Kronin on the outskirts of Ridgeway, a rural suburb of Fort Erie. Astrid was a frail and reclusive woman who was never seen outside of her residence. When she died in the early 80s, a local realtor bought her home and sold it to numerous families in succession. Each of them stayed for only a short duration and left, indicating that they did not feel alone in the house. They did not say that the house felt haunted, but instead quite seriously felt that Astrid was alive and somehow hiding.
2. The realtor of course suspected it a convenient excuse and that the poor condition of the dwelling was the cause. He set about attempting to renovate. It was during the roofing job that one contractor nonchalantly photographed his two buddies and captured a chilling image of Astrid Kronin surveying their work from an upstairs window.
3. Rumours spread like wildfire and the house sat vacant for two decades, crumbing. When several children disappeared in the area, nobody suspected that the decrepit Kronin home had anything to do with the situation. To this day, nobody is quite sure who discovered the missing children chained and caged inside the home. Perhaps an urban explorer intent on photographing the abandoned home?
4. The cause for discovery notwithstanding, the local response was immediate – there was no time for law enforcement. Townspeople took matters into their own hands and descended upon the Kronin home.
5. They discovered a very much alive Astrid Kronin with a property full of scores of cages, no doubt waiting for an endless string of soon-to-be captured victims.
6.
7.
8. In the end, the entire dwelling was burned and collapsed, the ruins remaining to this day. Astrid was presumed dead, though nobody would come forward admitting to actually completing the act, nor where they disposed of her body.
Thus should end the story, but the tales told by the children suggest a darker demise. Well cared for during their captivity, they spoke of bizarre and arcane rituals where Astrid attempted to surround herself with their youthful life-force. Years later, rumors abounded that through witchcraft she had succeeded in achieving some kind of immortality.
On his recent deathbed, a resident who was there on the dreadful night admitted more: he spoke of an inability to destroy her, that her black magic was not just a legend. Death by decapitation, burning, and impalement only lasted for a short time before she repeatedly rose again alive and intact.
9. In the end, this resident says, a farmer sharing a relation to her was entrusted to take her away and “make her disappear”. Legend has it that he converted the remains of his old silo into her personal prison, with wood construction of multiple levels leading to the top via a crudely constructed stairway. In effect, a silo was converted into her personal dungeon. Windows were cut into the brickwork and covered over with metal shielding to provide her light but no means of escape. A lower hole was left open but partially bricked to allow enough room for the occasional insertion of food… not that it was necessary.
10. For a brief time, night after night, a few local farmers built temporary shelters near the base of the tower and took turns guarding it against her escape.
11.
In time, confidence was established. Permanently sealed inside the tower, Astrid would live out eternity in solitude, as long as she remained undisturbed. To this day, residents do not speak of the location of this secret tower...
.... but Ridgeway is a small place.
12.
13.
14.
15.
I had to know. The draw to discover the truth was far too intense. I had to know if it was just a regular silo or if the interior really had been reconstructed. A standard camera would not have done it, but my point-and-shoot was just thin enough to slip through the two inch crack of the door and take a photo of the interior.
16.
I withdrew the camera and used the review function to survey the interior, my heart pounding. Stairs inside of a silo? Could it be true? It was inescapable: I had to remove the chain and creep up those stairs.
17. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that there were indeed multiple levels, with a crude water-pipe job for a hand-railing leading up to the first. A noise from upstairs and my pulse raced. Certainly nothing more than a raccoon. But what if?
Maybe I could just climb to one more level. That was it. No further. One photograph and then home, no matter what. Having never left a place faster in my life, I can confidently say that I didn’t have to worry about the temptation to stay and explore further.
18.
[last edit 12/11/2012 1:02 AM by Ground State - edited 2 times]
If you're seeing this here on UER, please let me 'Follow' your work on Flickr: https://www.flickr...otos/91808861@N04/ |
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RusticKLiK
 
Location: Burlington, Ontario
Gender: Female
| |  | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 1 on 12/11/2012 1:33 AM >
| | | | Thanks for the urban legend! I very much enjoyed reading it and following the pictures! Love the last one! LOL 
You come beating like moth's wings, spastic and violently. Whipping me into a storm, shaking me down to the core.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adri_mez/ |
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Rust
   
I am a rustbucket
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 2 on 12/11/2012 1:43 AM >
| | | | Good Creepypasta material.
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dallas
Location: seattle
Gender: Female
So long and thanks for all the fish
| | | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 3 on 12/11/2012 2:01 AM >
| | | | Fantastic!! You rock ground state!
amazing wife to Narf. Don't look him up or ill cut you. |
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collectivesoul
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 4 on 12/11/2012 2:06 AM >
| | | | Nice!
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Maybe
 
Location: Central Ontario
Gender: Female
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 5 on 12/11/2012 2:24 AM >
| | | | Soooo difficult to get into the spooky with creeper Santa mincing around the screen. ;)
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Endienex
Location: Ontario
Gender: Male
Fine Art B & E
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 6 on 12/11/2012 3:52 AM >
| | | | Nice one GS. Best write-up I've read in a while.
My soul is full of whispered song, my blindness is my sight; the shadows that I feared so long, are all alive with light. |
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Skye_Ann
Location: Kitchener, Ontario
Gender: Female
I seem to have Irritable Owl Syndrome...
| | | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 7 on 12/11/2012 5:09 AM >
| | | | I really shouldn't have read this right after watching horror movies all day...
Fuck you, Groundstate. You magnificent story-teller/photographer, you.
My Blog; https://historyindecay.blogspot.com/ |
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Tenebrae
Location: The Wild West
Life's short; eat dessert first.
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 8 on 12/11/2012 12:56 PM >
| | | | Great story-photo set! 
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Endienex
Location: Ontario
Gender: Male
Fine Art B & E
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 9 on 12/11/2012 1:36 PM >
| | | | Haha I just showed this to one of my colleagues and he nearly pissed in his pants.
My soul is full of whispered song, my blindness is my sight; the shadows that I feared so long, are all alive with light. |
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jerm IX
Location: Somewhere, Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
If you can't find something nice to say...say it on UER.
| | | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 11 on 12/11/2012 2:35 PM >
| | | | Well done GS. Kudos.
http://myabandonmentissues.blogspot.ca/ |
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cr400
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 12 on 12/11/2012 5:01 PM >
| | | | Very nicely done, thanks.
You can see a million miles tonite, but you can't get very far.
Honorary member of UER lifetime acheivement award winning, 2Xplorations and Guide Services, Texas. |
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Wiccan
Location: Hamilton Ontario
Gender: Female
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 13 on 12/11/2012 9:39 PM >
| | | | Very cool! I have a relative from that area, curious if she'd ever heard of the legend.
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Skye_Ann
Location: Kitchener, Ontario
Gender: Female
I seem to have Irritable Owl Syndrome...
| | | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 14 on 12/11/2012 11:27 PM >
| | | | Posted by Wiccan
Very cool! I have a relative from that area, curious if she'd ever heard of the legend.
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It's all fake.. I spent about an hour searching it up. GS made it up.
My Blog; https://historyindecay.blogspot.com/ |
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Wiccan
Location: Hamilton Ontario
Gender: Female
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 15 on 12/11/2012 11:29 PM >
| | | | Posted by Skye_Ann
It's all fake.. I spent about an hour searching it up. GS made it up.
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Well damn it all, glad I didn't mention it! 
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Ground State
Location: Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 17 on 12/12/2012 1:55 AM >
| | | |
Thanks for all the great responses!
There was a bit of everything here in the comments, and I loved all of it.
Yes, about the only thing real here was the inscription carved over the door of the silo. That literally got the whole thing going. I drove home wondering about which local youth carved the sign, and whether a bunch of them believed in some kind of legend surrounding the place, and what that legend might be. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I was creative writing.
I have to say though, and I was mentioning this to RNRF earlier, the novelty of coming up with a storyline for this place has kept me from really thinking about the location until today. I never did get inside this place... the interior pictures were all taken from the thin slot at the front door. And the "witch" picture was a carefully cropped stairwell from a nearly house. So I do not really know what is to be found in here, but I will tell you this: take a look at #14 again. The door has slats in it at face height. And take a look at #9 again. Somebody built some kind of wooden scaffolding system on the outside of the tower to allow them to climb up to each one of those "windows" and secure them with a metal cover. And if you look at this silo on G.E. (at 42.890104,-79.042690) and go to VIEW --> HISTORICAL IMAGERY and bump the date back to 2006, you will find a bright and clean shot that clearly shows the silo has a sealed roof. None of this is "normal", not to mention the stairs and multiple levels inside.
So what gives? The place is definitely converted into some kind of stronghold. Which begs the question: for what? Somebody's "hobby"? Seems like a pretty expensive conversion to have been done on the abandoned remains of a farm.
Out in the middle of nowhere, all this work put into it? Remember L'Ali and Dallas's recent discovery of the house that looked like it might be for confinement?
As much as this post was meant as a creative joke, I am really seriously starting to wonder about this place and that maybe, just maybe, the joke would have been on me if I had gotten to the top of it to see what's really in there!
If you're seeing this here on UER, please let me 'Follow' your work on Flickr: https://www.flickr...otos/91808861@N04/ |
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supra-king
Location: Manitoba
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 18 on 12/12/2012 1:56 AM >
| | | | Thats a killer set!!! Good Job
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Ground State
Location: Ontario, Canada
Gender: Male
| | Re: The Tower Imprisonment of the Ridgeway Witch (A Horror Yarn)
<Reply # 19 on 12/12/2012 1:56 AM >
| | | |
PS - My 10-year old son just leaned over my shoulder and said, "Daddy?... Isn't that Santa driving you crazy?"
If you're seeing this here on UER, please let me 'Follow' your work on Flickr: https://www.flickr...otos/91808861@N04/ |
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