A digital video camera is set up in facing an empty wooden chair, its backdrop is that of any typical young adults apartment. Several book shelves constructed from reclaimed plastic milk crates fills on wall, while the other has some basic Ikea snap together furniture and a futon bed/couch. Seconds later the legs of the camera operator appear and he anxiously paces back and forth in front of the lens, looking through his notes and doing a final run-through before he commits it to video.<br/><br/>He is tall and lean, 20-something-ish, his hair is dark and cut shaggily which compliment his dark eyes. He finally sits down in the chair, focusing particularly hard on his notecards before slapping them down on a table just off screen. He stares for what seems like a long time into the cameraâ€™s lens, almost looking through it, before finally beginning.<br/><br/>â€œHello, My name is Jacob Dillon, I am 24 years old and I am a supernatural investigator. This isnâ€™t the path my parents would have picked for me, but it is my lifeâ€™s ambition and I aim to see it throughâ€¦.I guess I should start from the beginning, I was born with what they call a â€˜silver spoon in my mouthâ€™. My parents areâ€¦.were Emily and Richard Dillon; both rich lawyers, and until they died, they provided me with everything I could have ever wanted growing up. After the â€˜accidentâ€™ though, I was 15 and placed with my elderly aunt, Glenda, and she was put in charge of my familyâ€™s estate until I turned 18.<br/><br/>Whilst living with my Aunt Glenda, my story really begins, at least the story that pertains to this one anyway. You see Aunt Glenda was a bit of an eccentric and down in her basement I found a Ouija board one evening while on my own. I thought it was silly, but started messing around with it, just to see what all the fuss was about. It wasn't long before the pointer device started to move all on its own. Itâ€™s one thing when youâ€™re with your friends and your logical mind can dismiss it as your friends trying to scare you by moving the pointer, but itâ€™s a completely different when you donâ€™t have anyone to accuse of moving it. I became obsessed, thinking that Iâ€™d actually made contact with my dead parents on the â€˜other sideâ€™. I started spending first hours, then whole nights down there with that magical piece of wood and plastic, asking questions and getting strangely obscure answers. On a few occasions, though the board answered with very dark and malignant phrases, ones that didn't sound anything like what his Parents would have said. â€œ Jacob sits back and shakes his head, he obviously has reservations about the next part of his tale. If one looks closely a dark shadow moves ominously behind him, he in oblivious and goes on with his diatribe.<br/><br/>â€œIt was around this time that Aunt Glenda found out about my tampering with her things sheâ€™d carefully stowed away in her basement. She walked down and found me in full trance, they boardâ€™s pointer doing a figure â€˜8â€™ all on its own while I sat limply, my eyes rolled back into my head. Needless to say she â€˜read me the riot actâ€™, going on and on about how Iâ€™d â€˜opened gatewaysâ€™ and â€˜lying demonic spiritsâ€™, and I have to admit, I didn't understand any of it at the time. I thought she was a crazy old nag whom had let the years of solitude go to her head. But it didnâ€™t end up mattering any; Aunt Glenda died that very night, I found her the next morning. Sheâ€™d didnâ€™t have my breakfast ready so I went looking to make sure she hadn't fallen while climbing the stairs or somethingâ€¦I remember it because it wasn't like when my parents died, theyâ€™d seemingly disappeared, a plane crash is what I was told, and during the funeral, the plastic looking heavily make-uped corpses didnâ€™t give much in the way of resolution. This was right in front of my face, I remember walking into her bedroom and seeing her laid out onto the her big bed over the covers. She was still dressed in the grey frock sheâ€™d worn the day before, her hands were crossed and laid across her chest and she looked as though she was sucking on a dark crimson bulb, maybe a flower. I didnâ€™t really think much of it, she was so weird and eccentric all the timeâ€¦ I just figured it was some strange morning ritual that I was previously unaware of. I walked toward her, still calling out to her, hoping sheâ€™d just sit up and take the â€˜rosebudâ€™ out of her mouth and say â€˜yes my dear?â€™ as sheâ€™d always done, but not this time. â€œJacob sits up and again, leaning into the camera, staring almost through it again. The dark shadow moves behind him now it seems to jump between him and the camera, blacking out his face for a brief second.<br/><br/>â€œ I thought it might be funny to gain her attention by sneaking up and plucking whatever it was out of her mouth to get her attention, and I did so with a large smile on face, expecting her to sit right up, but she didnâ€™t. The thing in her mouth plucked up without hesitation, but I quickly realized by its texture that is was a large portion of her tongue that sheâ€™d bitten off. She was stone dead, and although the police investigators told me that it was a massive heart attack, but I always kind of wondered.<br/><br/>It was 3 days before my high school graduation ceremony. Did you know they give you straight â€˜Aâ€™sâ€™ when you suffer that much tragedy in that short of time, as a result my high school transcript was a glowing beacon to all the ivy league universities and that coupled with the small fortune my parents had left me I was able to pick and choose which classes that I would attend. If one university kicked me out for parting too much and letting grades slip, then I was onto the next. I didnâ€™t accentually graduate from any of them though, my own studies into the paranormal were far too important.<br/><br/>I met some good friend and like-minded people that saw either what I was trying to do, or how much expendable income I had to invest in it. I donâ€™t blame them, they are interested in the paranormal, and that is an expensive hobby, so I represent and ends to their means, and I more than happy to provide it as long as we trek into the unknown together. Donâ€™t get me wrong, not everybody is in it for the money or fame that comes from scoring a network show, some people have a real interest in the supernatural, but you canâ€™t beat a good tech geek using you for your money, when he gets to build anything he wants. That gets you the best equipment and a chance at recording some true evidence and that is honestly priceless in this occupation.<br/><br/>You see the problem with being a modern paranormal investigator is that EVERYBODY is a doing itâ€¦.Look at how many television shows alone there areâ€¦Now imaging 20 teams per state that donâ€™t get TV dealsâ€¦.Every single haunted place in the world has been investigated and investigated countless times. Like piranha, even the smallest morsel has been completely consumed. Itâ€™s what they call a flooded career market. It has essentially eaten up my entire inheritance and I have almost nothing to show for it.<br/><br/>A great depression set upon me and honestly for a second I thought about killing myselfâ€¦.â€ Jacob trailed off in shame, again the dark form appeared before him. â€œâ€¦But then I stumbled onto â€˜the old Crenshaw placeâ€™â€¦.Right here in the very small town Iâ€™d gown up in! It was undocumented because itâ€™s been in legal limbo for the past 100 years. It was out in the middle of nowhere and current owner didnâ€™t tolerate any inquires. From the research Iâ€™ve been able to find, itâ€™s should be rife with paranormal activity judging from itâ€™s pastâ€¦.and the very best thing is that not a singular other team of paranormal investigators have ever set foot in the mansion! Itâ€™s virgin territory, ready for the taking! Can you fucking believe that?<br/><br/>Now here is where is gets a little weirdâ€¦I have to admit, even when I found out, I was still a bit skeptical, but it couldnâ€™t have worked out better. It turns out that olâ€™man Crenshaw had actually been Randall Crenshaw, the apprentice to the notorious black magician Aliester Crowley. He and my Aunt Glenda were heavily involved in the occult and practiced some of Crowleyâ€™s darkest spells within the house. Not just thatâ€¦but that the reason that the property had been in legal status for so long was because it was actually willed to meâ€¦..Meâ€¦Jacob Dillon in ink. The executer of the will sold me the place for the cost of her legal fees, $ 600.66.<br/><br/>Yes that is close to the very last of my remaining inheritance, but think about itâ€¦.I have not just a place to live, a haunted mansion out in the middle of the country, but a glorius unexplored environment for my team to really take their time and bring home the â€˜baconâ€™. My team and I will not stay a nightâ€¦not stay a week, but live in this spiritually enriched environment and record the results. We will be groundbreaking in our field and better yet we will record everything that happens. I am on my way now to go and meet them before we all set out on this journey of our lifetimes. I am sure they are as equally as exited as I am at the prospect, I just donâ€™t know if any of them realize how fatally invested I am. â€¦.So this is my last will and testament if it comes to that, I donâ€™t have anything to fall back on and that thought weighs heavily on my mind as I invoke on the adventureâ€¦..Oooh yeahâ€¦.I met a new girl we've been out on 1.5 dates and Iâ€™ve asked her out to my new mansion in the countryâ€¦I hope she as much fun as I am sure weâ€™ll all haveâ€¦I mean come onâ€¦How many girls get asked out to an orphan â€˜millionaireâ€™s mansion in the countryside and donâ€™t have a good time? Her name is (*enter Isolde characterâ€™s name), sheâ€™s pretty and seems interested in the same things I am, so I hope everything works out OKâ€¦â€ The mysterious dark shadow swirls around Jacobs head, like a dark halo; as his own oblivious smile appears on camera before he reaches it up and shuts it off.