The Tales in Middleton Village: Hallowedspell

 

Middleton Village is a small isolated town in western Massachusetts, somewhere in the Mt. Greylock Reservation (Yes, it is fictional, entirely). 'Historically' it is a town with Salem level witch-hunting history. We get to see the town through the eyes of Jessica Mason, a Californian who just moved there after her parents' messy divorce. Basically, her mother's employer (the enigmatic Howard Richard Deacon II) had transferred them over, promising that her father (a sleight-of-hand shyster and performing magician) would never find them. What he did not tell them was that the town was cursed.

What are the curses, you may ask? Well... (and it is a good thing you did because it is central to the plot), there are four curses on the town. Four curses that Jessica Mason think are nothing more than superstitious hokum and nonsense.

Here they are:

First, that it was a witch town with 2 large covens--the Ladies Aid Society and the

Men's Club.

 

Second, that no one could move in and no one could move out. Of course there were technicalities on that. A resident could move someone in, such as Mr. Deacon who for some reason has the ability to circumvent the rules (He's a multi-billionaire who practically supports the town, as his headquarters is in Middleton Village, though he has major branches throughout the world. But he is not a witch). Also, some people can temporarily leave for college and work (as long as it is not too far away). And for some reason local teams are allowed in town to participate in team sports. It is assumed the witches actually decide who can come in and who can go out. And those who do leave without their permission are known to come to an untimely death.

 

Third, there are werewolves in the woods. This legend is based off the name of the local forest around the town--Wolf's Wood. But only rarely are wolves actually heard.

 

Fourth, and the most substantiated, there is a curse on the public library. If a boy (from pre-teen to teenager) goes in regularly...or even once, he will most likely vanish inside the library, never to be seen again. On the marquee outside the library, photos of lost boys hang as a memorial.

 

NOW--The real question is, are the curses real? Because, according to Jessica the only real curse on the town is the close-mindedness of the locals (whom she highly suspects to be in-breeders).

 

Book 1: Bermuda Triangle, Massachusetts explains all.

 (link to paperback copy)