Albino Farm Legend

Since today is Halloween, I thought I would share an adventure photo shoot that my friends Chelsea, Evan, Jacob and I went on last Sunday.

It takes place.... at the albino farm.  Let me share the Springfield lore with you, for you won't find it in any of the guidebooks:

This large parcel of forested land in southern Missouri was once the home of a well-to-do family.  In the early 1900s, the family built a large mansion made of stone, and there were stables, silos, fields, and walking paths through the gardens all over the estate.

Sadly, most of the family died off, perhaps during an epidemic, leaving only two older sisters living on the place.  They hired a groundskeeper, an albino man from the town.  He ran the place well until the older ladies died, leaving the estate in the care of distant relatives who did not care to live in the old mansion.

The albino groundskeeper decided to move his family onto the land and away from town.  His family, also albinos, were cruelly ridiculed and mistreated in town for their different appearance, so the father hoped that moving out to this farm would offer respite and safe haven from the cruel world.

However, the cruel world would not leave the albino family alone.

The estate was constantly plagued with pranks from teenagers, trespassers, and every malicious encounter drove the albino groundskeeper further and further into himself and  away from the hard world he had begun to hate.

Two teenagers decided to go to the estate and mess around, perhaps to play pranks on the family or get into trouble.  Their bodies were found on a bridge nearby, killed with a hatchet.

Finally, the last straw occurred in the late 1970s when someone set fire to the old, beautiful mansion.  The fire department arrived to find the old stones toppled and crumbled on top of each other, the house nothing but smoldering, smoking ruins.  But there were no albino family members to be found, and no remains in the ashes.

Some say that the albino groundskeeper has hidden his family in the woods and used the house fire as an excuse for their disappearance.  It could have worked; it could have been assumed that the family died in the fire, except there were no remains...

Some say the albino groundskeeper lives there still, lurking in the woods.  Is it a coincidence that two townspeople that strayed into the area were found murdered on a bridge nearby?  Perhaps the groundskeeper holds a vendetta still, silently gliding under the canopy of trees at night, ax in hand, looking for the townspeople that so cruelly terrorized his wife and children.  Perhaps he sits at the ruins of the fireplace where he once had cozy, kind memories and vows to take vengeance for its ruination.  Perhaps he stands in the wild, overgrown fields next to the silos and yards once green with lush, trimmed flora and remembers the peaceful afternoons in the sun before "they" came.  Perhaps....