#ill be printing out pamphlets if anyone is interesting in joining

[ghost-wonder]

Why Oliver March is My Current Top Suspect for the Leader (Even though I love him)

Buckle your seatbelts kids and get ready for my hot mess of a PH theory. I wasn’t sure where to put this and I just wanted to get my thoughts out. I’m in the last year of my media studies and production degree so I’m putting my 3 years of tears to use and have been brewing this theory since reading 85. Now let me clarify: I adore March, but the more we see, the more suspicious I become (especially with ep. 82 & 85), and while many think this may mean death or something tragic, I’ve been thinking of the possibility it’s something much bigger (Note: lots of speculation here so prepare for a lot of what if’s and I’m only using content up to ep. 85).

My thought process regarding the leader:

The leader is a rather dehumanized villainous entity. With them being anonymous and the reader not having a face to place with the actions, it’s easier for us to take the leader’s actions at face value. We are provided no means of sympathizing or empathizing with their actions and instead, our story follows characters who have been traumatized by said actions.

Therefore, to provide readers with the greatest impact, the leader would likely be a character who up until the discovery of them being the leader, the reader viewed them positively. A character already humanized. Already trusted. And this would be both in terms of how the reader views that character, as well as other characters in the story. It would leave the reader reeling, trying to figure out why such a character would be the leader.

And keep in mind: PH has used this approach with Harvey; the audience liked him for the short time he appeared before being caprisunned and we were shocked to discover his involvement in the PS. Additionally, we’ve had characters dehumanizing and humanizing with Kieran. He’s introduced as this deadly assassin who kills brutally, with the greatest death toll in the PS. But he becomes humanized through his interactions with Lauren, so much so that both the reader and Lauren forget his occupation and are provided a chilling reminder in ep. 43. However, even after those horrible events, as we learn more regarding his character in season 2, we begin to empathize with his actions and reactions (though we don’t condone them). It demonstrates a duality, a mix of light and dark, seemingly contradicting one another. Because people are complicated.

This is also why I can’t buy into the idea that Tristan or Stefan is the leader, in fact, I don’t think either one is even involved with the PS. For Tristan I think he comes off suspicious because A) he’s meant to be a red herring but B) LAUREN’S PARENTS WERE APOSTLES AND YOU CANNOT TELL ME HE DID NOT KNOW. THEY LEFT AT ODD HOURS OF THE NIGHT ALL THE TIME AND LIKELY GAVE LAUREN TO TRISTAN TO PROTECT HER FROM THAT LIFE. HE PROBABLY THINKS LAUREN IS PS. But anywho. As for Stefan, he’s already been villainized through his treatment of William. The audience doesn’t like him for this reason and is then inherently suspicious of him because they dislike him. So for me, it feels too obvious. (I have an additional theory that he was involved with the print shop shooting, assisting Lizbeth (from what’s alluded in 64 with Lauren’s parents and 68) as chief of police but that’s for another place another time.)

What we know about the leader:

- It’s a he

- Has to be part of the older generation (would have needed to be an adult about 15 years ago)

- Was a member of SD

- Knew Lauren’s parents

- According to Hecate, he is closer and more similar to Lauren than she thinks

So why March? (It’s not just the villain scar)

- His speech to Kym and Will in 60 had me SUS. It felt very contradicting (he acknowledges the flaws in the system while saying they must continue their jobs, which is valid, but his phrasing was still off to me) and generally in any mystery drama if I see a character go on a moral rant of sorts, my sus radar is dialed up to 11. Unfortunately, we don’t know how much of it was true and lies because Lauren wasn’t around but if he is the leader I’d find it so fascinating if everything he said is the truth. The idea that this terrorist does have sound morals would be SO INTERESTING and kind of fitting? The leader having a strong sense of justice or strong morals would make him more similar to Lauren as Hecate said. But more on Hecate later.

- As confirmed by 85, he knew Lauren’s parents. He even says they worked together on cases. Through their work together, did they start to realize the flaws in their system? Was there a case that was just too much? SD formed?

- The death of his daughter does kind of fit the SD timeline. (She died in xx11 the pamphlets are dated xx14 but SD was likely formed slightly before the release of the pamphlets but that's not yet really confirmed). We don’t know how her illness killed her (could be class-related. Like because of their class status perhaps they didn’t have access to the resources that could have saved his daughter? Who knows. He said they did all they could. March is likely middle class similar to Kym but we don’t know for sure. And even if he is middle class we don’t know if this was always the case, like if he was middle class at the time of his daughter’s death.)

- Additionally the death of his wife. The date is blocked and as others have theorized I find it very possible it could have been SD related. But this sentence is chilling: “She fell into the bloody hands of criminals that have been plaguing Ardhalis for too long.” March doesn’t specify these criminals as the PS. So could he mean the royals? (Literally everything he says to Lauren in ep. 85 could have a double meaning and it bugs me so much like he never specifies the criminals he’s referring to. And everything he says sounds like the monologue of a villain who sees themselves as a hero because they haven’t realized how far gone they are. But that’s just me. ) If she died in the print shop shooting could this have been the catalyst to drive March to become the leader and start the PS? Losing your daughter and wife is a lot to take and could drive anyone over the edge. Point is: if any of this speculation is true, it would give March motive for becoming the leader.

- Also March mentioned how Lauren reminds him of his daughter which could then explain why Lauren hasn’t been touched by the PS cause at this point the girl should have been caprisunned a while ago if she wasn’t being protected from the inside.

- To build on that as well, if March is the leader then he has kept an eye on Lauren since she joined the force aka since she would have become problematic for the PS (cause you can argue being the daughter of apostles may not automatically make her a threat since she was a child at the time. But being the daughter of apostles and joining the police force to take down the PS? Now that’s an issue). March says in ep. 60 that Lauren was one of his recruits meaning the leader could have had his eye on her the entirety of her time in the APD. Just something to consider.

- And going back to Hecate's words, he’s more similar to you than you think. March and Lauren share (seemingly) similar morals and additionally he is close to her just as Hecate claimed. Also if any of my speculation regarding the deaths of his wife and daughter are correct it would have put him in a similar position to Lauren, the difference being her enemy is PS and his being the royals (but also as we’re starting to see with Lauren learning more information, I think the royals are starting to become an enemy in her eyes the same way PS is. Again if any of this is correct it just furthers similarities between the two).

- This could then also be the betrayal alluded to in the cards; one of Lauren's mentors has been the leader this whole time. The betrayal is either past or future but March being the leader could count as both. He betrayed her in the past by ordering the death of her parents and may betray her again in the future as he continues to play the role of leader

- Plus this would also mean the leader has been present in the story FROM THE VERY BEGINNING MARCH WAS IN EP 2 HOW WILD WOULD IT BE IF WE’VE KNOWN THE LEADER THIS WHOLE TIME

- AND IMPORTANT NOTE: WHY IS MARCH NOT ONE OF THE PEOPLE LAUREN SUSPECTS DURING EP. 82 YET HE HAS HER BACK SIMILAR TO WILL AND KYM. "LAUREN OPEN YOUR EYES" BLINDEST OF THEM ALL TYPE STUFF. (Also with Lauren being the blindest of all, it led me to believe anyone Lauren is suspicious of, is not the one to betray her. I feel like it would have to be someone so unsuspicious, Lauren doesn’t even think of them. Which can be said of March; we literally have a whole scene in ep. 82 demonstrating how close they are and how a level of trust exists. Yet panels later, it doesn’t even cross her mind that he could betray her).

Now possible flaws in this theory (there are more I’m sure but here’s a few):

-Why voice support for lune and their actions: Lune’s actions have yet to affect the leader (at least to our knowledge) and have technically been helping the leader. The leader views Apostle 7 as an issue so obviously whoever the leader is, they won’t take issue with Lune taking down this problem for them. When first telling Lauren about McTrevor, Kieran said he was surprised he hadn’t been sent by the leader to kill him off yet. And when the 11th precinct received that first Lune letter about him, March was the one to voice that they should follow Lune’s orders. If he’s the leader, this could explain why he wanted to follow Lune’s orders and dispose of McTrevor without PS means. This is a possible explanation anyway.

- Why send moles into the 11th precinct if the leader himself is already there: I boil this down to a matter of seeming less suspicious. Like why possibly risk the exposure of your identity if your organization consists of hundreds of potential puppets who are easily disposable?

-Why place the PH in the 11th precinct if the leader is there: Okay this plays into another theory I have regarding Kieran. We know there are boatloads of parallels between Lauren and Kieran which left me thinking Kieran has had a similar Tim Sake type incident. What I mean by this is that Lauren’s whole deal with Tim Sake was heavily guided by her personal anger and resulted in distrust from her superior, Hermann. I think Kieran had a similar incident with killing that one person without orders, in which his actions were guided by his personal anger and resulted in distrust from his superior, the Leader. So we know from 83 Kierans been overseas for a while (Why? Was there a mission or did the leader need Kieran out of Ardhalis? Both?) and his comment in 64 (“I wonder how much longer his patience will last”), as well as the comments made by Bella and the messenger at various points regarding Kieran following and not following orders (ep 5 and 72-73?), further my thinking that the leader may be SUS of his best player. So what do you do with someone you’re suspicious of: you keep them right where you can see them.

- The one flaw I have yet to work out an explanation for is why order the death of lune? Regardless of who the leader is, this is a question I’ve mulled over since the end of season 1. J’en sais rien mes amis mais on verra.

Closing Thoughts:

Hopefully, this didn’t sound like the ramblings of a sleep-deprived senior (even though that’s exactly what this is haha) and hopefully, it gave you some stuff to consider. Up until this point, I never spent much time contemplating the leader, partly because I didn’t feel like we were far enough in the story to have enough evidence against one person. While much of this is speculation, I still think it’s the soundest case I have for any PH character we’ve met thus far being the leader.

#purple hyacinth #ph webtoon #lauren sinclair #oliver march #kieran white #webtoon #purple hyacinth webtoon #this is a lot #dont hate me i just cant accept nice things

[hauntedhistorycolorado]

RedStone Castle and Red Mountain

RedStone Castle, courtesy of Southwestern Ghosts and Hauntings

Historical background

Like many stories from Manitou’s past, this one starts with a man named Isaac Davis. Dr. Isaac Davis was one of the original movers and shakers in Manitou Springs, first helping to found the town before acting in various points throughout the town’s earliest history as the first physician, druggist, undertaker, county coroner, town trustee, justice of the peace, president of the school board, and mayor. In between fathering 15 children. Issac is the star of several haunting stories in Manitou’s history, but he’s not the star of this one. This story is about the Crawford sisters, but if anyone is the true star – it’s a place, not a person. 

(Other mentions of Isaac here)

RedStone Castle was built on land formerly owned by Isaac Davis, near the summit of Iron Mountain, on the site of what was originally Manitou’s pioneer cemetery, off Pawnee avenue. Davis sold the land when his health began failing to the up-and-coming Davis brothers (no relation), with the phrase “BUYER BEWARE” printed across the bottom of the land purchase – a warning to the brothers that all graves that had been interred on the land would need to be move to the current Crystal Valley Cemetery. The Davis brothers planned on turning the land into an exclusive community of castle homes for Manitou’s wealthy elite. RedStone Castle was the first and only they built. It was constructed in 1890. 

Digging up and moving the gravesites by hand was exhausting work and collecting all the bodies was near impossible – many of the original graves were unmarked, or marked with wooden crosses that had since decayed. It is speculated that while the majority were moved, many were left behind. Locals began to tell stories of the land being haunted, and the Davis brothers eventually gave up on the project, leaving RedStone Castle to rot. It sat vacant until the Hawkins family moved in a few years later.

Almost immediately after moving in, the children began hearing voices in the house and seeing strange apparitions. The family dog was constantly nervous, and would occasionally bring home “strange bones.” Local legend says that one morning the children found a white dog lying dead on the property and buried it behind the the garden shed. The next day, the same white dog was seen again, this time attacking his wife before being shot by Mr. Hawkins. The Hawkins family moved out the very next morning. The castle sat vacant until 1905.

The Crawfords

In order to understand what happened next we need to go back in time, to the years just after Manitou’s founding. As many of you are probably aware, Colorado Springs and subsequently Manitou were popular destinations in the Victorian era for tuberculosis patients as it was believed the thin mountain air and “300 days of sunshine”, as well as the Manitou spring waters, had healing properties. It was for this reason that the Crawfords came to Manitou in the late 1880s – Emma, a tuberculosis patient, and her mother as a caretaker.

Emma Crawford, date unknown, photo on display at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center

Emma is, of course, probably the most famous figure from Manitou Springs history – she’s the reason we have the Coffin Races today. The Crawfords caused a stir in Manitou even then. Spiritualism and an interest in the occult was wildly popular during the Victorian era, and the Crawford women were professed psychics in addition to being talented musicians and performers. As Emma’s story goes, one day in 1890 (the same year that RedStone Castle was built, its original gravesites being moved), Emma famously climbed Red Mountain by herself, despite her illness. She claimed to have a spiritual experience at the top, saying she had been visited by the spirit of a Native American chief who was her spirit guide. She tied her scarf round a tree at the summit to prove her visit – legend says that the scarf was red, giving us the name of the mountain today. She died shortly after, just before her wedding. It was speculated that the exhaustion from her hike is what led to her death. Despite being an apparent spiritualist, she had a hatred of cemeteries and asked to be buried at the summit of Red Mountain. Two teams of men took turns carrying her casket to the top. It’s well known that a few years following the internment, a heavy rainfall caused Emma’s casket to rise to the surface before being washed down the side of the mountain and into town. She now rests in Crystal Valley Cemetery, though nobody knows exactly where – the placement of her monument is apparently arbitrary.

(Other mentions of Emma here)

Emma’s posthumous journey to the summit, 1891, photo currently on display at the Manitou Springs Heritage Center

Emma’s mother remained in Manitou following her death, to remain close to Emma’s spirit, which she claimed to make contact with several times. In 1905, she began renting out the dilapidated RedStone Castle in the summers to hold séances. A Colorado Springs Gazette headline from December 28, 1909 reads “DEAD DAUGHTER PLAYS THE PIANO, SAYS MADAME: ACCOMPLISHED MUSICIAN DECLARES GIRL BURIED YEARS AGO MAKES NIGHTLY VISITS TO FORMER HOME AT FOOT OF ROCKIES” She was eventually joined by Emma’s sister, Alice, in 1910.

Pamphlet credited to Rufus Porter, date unknown, courtesy of Jan MacKell Collins

Alice, an actress, came to Colorado to audition for the role of Lady MacBeth in Denver, and moved into RedStone Castle alone to practice the role ahead of time. She rarely left the castle, instead having essentials delivered every week. After a few weeks, it is said that she was so serious about the role that she began wearing only period costume, speaking in iambic pentameter and asking the delivery boys to call her Lady MacBeth. The locals were so unnerved by this, they stopped making deliveries. Shortly after, Alice herself became convinced that the castle was haunted. On Valentine’s day in 1910, frightened by apparitions, Alice took a revolver from her nightstand and took a shot at one, before attempting to light another on fire. Alice was unsuccessful at driving away the spirits – resulting only in shooting herself, in the kneecap, and setting her own bedclothes alight. The Castle was nearly destroyed. She was rescued that evening to much public disgrace and left Colorado after recovering.

Contemporary hauntings

Alternately throughout the years, RedStone Castle has sat empty, served as a bed & breakfast, and been privately owned and used as a residence, as it is now. People have continued to tell stories of strange goings-on. The white dog was seen as recently as the 1980s, and Alice’s voice reciting lines from MacBeth was often heard by those lodging when the castle was a B&B. Piano music was also said to be heard during the B&B years, and is sometimes heard at the summit of Red Mountain as well, where Emma’s spirit continues to be seen by hikers into the present day. It’s likely that we would still be hearing stories about hauntings at RedStone Castle today, were it not a private residence, as it has been for many years. The house is shut off from the public – the driveway gated and locked. Having dealt with trespassers and theft over the years, mostly teenagers on dares and paranormal enthusiasts, the current owners have made an effort to distance themselves from the castle’s haunted reputation. They ask that you respect their privacy by observing the “no trespassing” sign at the foot of their drive.

RedStone Castle, courtesy of Pintrest (photographer unknown)

Reflective commentary

I see RedStone Castle in the distance every time I drive back into Manitou from the city, on my way home, and pined for it even before I knew its haunted history. Though my connections at the Manitou Springs Historical Society, I was even able to discover the current owners - though they have yet to make a special exception for me, and allow me to visit their home. Because I have never been able to visit the estate, having only gotten as close as the gate at the end of the drive, my reflection on this site is incomplete. 

I have, however, hiked to the summit of Red Mountain at picnicked at Emma’s original gravesite. I didn’t experience any paranormal activity there, though retracing Emma’s steps is somewhat of a spiritual experience in itself, since her story is so widespread among locals. The hike to the summit of Red Mountain isn’t an easy one, especially for an invalid, but the view from the summit is, in fact, one worth seeing forever. 

This story is a unique one, in the way that it ties together so many well-known figures from Manitou Springs history - Dr. Davis, Emma and Alice, RedStone Castle itself, and two of our closest and most popular mountains. In this story, we see both the inner space and outer space as liminal areas, through the “haunted house” and “haunted wilderness,” as well as the tropes of “desecrated graves”/”haunted cemetery.” We see the trope, very common in Colorado hauntings, of Native American spirits. And, most exciting to me, we get the trope of psychic women. Many has been said about the relationship between spiritualism and feminism, and the woman’s body as a liminal space more prone to psychic connection than men’s. The house itself is, in horror theory, recognized in this context - as a domestic space, and as something that is cavernous and both shelters and consumes, the house is a feminine space. All of these combined in one tale can lead to interesting speculation as to what we in Manitou Springs fear, then and now. Even the efforts on the part of the current owners to distance themselves from their home’s haunted past can tell us something valuable - as it provides a commentary as to how current citizens of Manitou interact with the town’s history.

Iron Mountain and Red Mountain as pointed out by hiking guide Colorado Guy

CLICK HERE FOR ALL FIELD NOTES AND SOURCES FOR REDSTONE CASTLE

CLICK HERE FOR ALL FIELD NOTES AND SOURCES FOR EMMA CRAWFORD

#redstone castle #red mountain #emma crawford #findings