The stories are all the same. Never go down to her shack. Don’t speak to her. And most important of all, NEVER listen to what she says.
There’s a broken down shack near Terpening’s farm on the outskirts of Crow Hollow. A haggard old woman dwells within, Mama Rose. Rumor has it that she was once the wife of a prosperous businessman in Crow Hollow, until he disappeared.
Most people believe Mama Rose was to blame for his disappearance. Some say she offered her husband as a sacrifice to something ancient and unspeakable, and it rewarded her by showing her the future. Others say her husband was unworthy of sacrifice, and her visions are a curse inflicted on her as punishment.
Mama Rose believes she can see into a person’s future, including the way they die. Many townspeople believe the same. Some claim to have seen her predictions come true. Farmers getting run over by their own tractors. Lumberjacks killed by the trees they were cutting down. On the surface these events seem mere tragic accidents, that is until you find out that Mama Rose described the tragedies in detail years before they came to pass. Some of the poor souls who heard her predictions tried to change their fates. They switched careers, moved away, gave up bad habits, made peace with enemies. It was all futile. Their lives were taken just as Mama Rose predicted. As Samhain approaches she’s eager to burden strangers with her fatal visions. She believes each death she predicts counts as a sacrifice to ancient powers, and they may in turn prolong her life. Mama Rose foretells death, but she also fears it.
So if you happen to come across that old shack, cover your ears and clear your mind or she may tell you your fate. For some of you that fate is a long way off. But for many of you, it is just around the next corner.
