There's a legend 'round these parts. A story the old timers swear is true, and the young'ins swear is all made up.
It concerns the old mental hospital you see on the outskirts of town, you can't miss it traveling east of here. Has the one big building with most of the sleeping arrangements, and some smaller buildings for a variety of activities. Was meant to be a place of healing.
But it ain't been nothin' but a palace of pain, if you ask me. It all started years ago, when they had this cook there. She'd taken the job 'cause her son had...well, he was a special boy. Need special care, and she wasn't really able to afford it without being staff there. So they lived on property, with her preparing meals for all the patients there, with the understanding her boy would get the care he needed.
It isn't what he got. See, out behind the main building is access to the local lake. One day, some of the older patients were out back there, waiting on supper to be ready. The cook's boy wandered out back there, and...one thing led to another. There was an incident, I guess they were picking on him, and threw him into the lake. He vanished.
Needless to say, she was distraught. Quit her job, threatened to sue for gross negligence. But then a terrible storm was moving into the area, thunderin' and lightnin'. When the police informed her the search would have to be delayed, she went into hysterics.
Next thing you know, two more kids vanished. Then before you know it, it comes out she'd gone back out there, and was taking out her revenge on the patients. Last I heard, she was beheaded alongside the lake; another says cop shoot out. Yet another says she got away, ran away into the woods. That last one can't be true; if you go looking, you can find her grave marker out in the cemetery.
But here is what is true: Every time they try to go back out there, to re-open the facilities or try to re-purpose them, things happen. Stuff breaks, people get hurt...or dead.
Some say it's the mother still seeking her revenge....but I tell you who it is.
It's her boy. He saw her get killed on the lake shore where he was last seen....I don't know if he managed to survive, or if he's some kind of avenging spirit. Whatever it is, it's got a curse on that place.
