THE SECRET AND STRANGE HISTORY OF THE HUNTER FAMILY

Rumors, facts, and myths
By
Dr. C. Wynn-Candy

INTRODUCTION

MAJOR EDMOND REMINGTON HUNTER

SARAH AMBERVILLE

AMBERVILLE

THE OCULUS INFERNIUM

INTRODUCTION
 

I have here before me, a collection of documents that I have just been returned to me from an unnamed University here in the province of British Colombia within the Dominion of Canada. I had sent them off with the hope of verifying them, however the learned Professors of that particular establishment did not want to go on record voicing their opinion. Although they could not prove them to be false or part of an elaborate hoax, they certainly did not want to go on to publicly proclaim the documents to be true either! What is it then that I have, that could cause such uneasiness in expert after expert, and university after university, yet have them pour over the documents with such utter fascination only to have them insist that they themselves remain anonymous?

The Cranston building

The Cranston building rear tower

More importantly, how did I come upon them? Would you believe it if I told you it was by utter chance?! If you are of the sort that follows the newspapers, you might remember my name belonging to the fortunate individual that in recent years purchased the notable Cranston-Building in Vancouver. The upper-floors of this establishment, which at one time were the Penthouse estate of the Hunter family, were being renovated when an electrician who was at the time reworking some wiring, punched out a small portion of a wall. It was soon learned that the wall in question held behind it, a room that was both hidden and secret.

Secret Passage

Secret Passage...do you see the ghost?

Relics found in Cranston Building

At first it was assumed it was perhaps an old store room or closet that was walled up in the passing of years, when it was later discovered that there was a passage behind the room, that lead the length of the floor into another much older room that was in a state of considerable mess. It was filled with items ranging from guns and swords, to clothing and ancient artifacts. There was an actual Egyptian mummy in the corner of the room! But most curious of all of these was a chest holding the items that are now, spread out before me.

These items, are a collection of documents, transcripts, journals, letters, manuscripts, photo-graphs and illustrations...dated as recently as the late 1990's and extend as far back in history as the mid 1770's. Simply put, they center around two subjects; One being the lineage of specific members of a family known as the Hunters, and the other being an heirloom within that family, a ring, known as the Oculus Infernium. Although the heirloom is often referred to with other names such as The Ring, the Monster Carbuncle, the Devils Eye, and the like. It would seem that this ring has been passed down through the generations, most often from Uncle to nephew, and the successor of this peculiar, atrocious ring would then be drawn into the world of the bizarre and super-natural!

AMBERVILLE

In the state of Louisiana you will not find the town of Amberville anymore. It became something of a ghost town sometime around the early 1950's. And it isn’t on any map before then either, which makes researching and exploring the background of Major E.R. Hunters experience incredibly difficult.

As I have mentioned, since it became a ghost town in the 50's, one will not find it on any current map. Even at the time, Amberville was not officially a town, which could explain why Major Hunter could not find it on his map when he was lost in the swamp, coming to the town by utter chance. This could also explain why he could not find his bearings once he was in the small town as well, preventing him from leaving.......

Amberville 1997

In 1803 in what was to become known as the Louisiana Purchase, Napoleon I sold a region of land and area to the United States for the sum of $15,000,000. During that time, some settlers and business minded individuals set up a small settlement in the vicinity of a monastery of Benedictine Monks and called it “Merveille.”

The site of the town was excellent in many ways. It’s location by the river that fed into the Mississippi which allowed shipping into New Orleans and beyond, and secondly, while much of the surrounding land was swampy and boggy, the land in this particular area seemed much dryer. What’s more, it was located next to a beautiful and scenic lake.

At first, the town of Merveille became quite prosperous, even if it was in such an obscure and remote location. The relationship with the town and the monks was perfect as well. With the town prospering as it was, a large chapel resembling a European cathedral was built on a hill that was perfect for the location. Perfect in the sense that while much of the swampy land caused a casket that was buried in the ground to eventually rise to the surface, the ground on the hill was solid and dry enough to allow it to remain underground.

One of the most prominent and most prosperous of Merveilles businessmen was a gentleman by the name of Robert D’Amber. How he made his money is not known, but he had a large manor house built outside of the limits of the town some miles away that he called “Mont-St-Martin.” Craftsmen from New Orleans spent five years building it. When it was done, it was the most stately building in the region. An evening at Mont-St-Martins was considered a social event.

Sometime in the late 1860's, just before Louisiana was admitted back into the Union, mosquitos from the lake carried malaria into the town, infecting many. At first, only a few died, but eventuality, the whole town was infected. Nearly everyone was slowly wasting away with fever. Those that were not abruptly left. Almost as quickly as it had sprung up, Merveille soon fell apart as its residence either died or fled. Some moved off into the swamps, or took up with Pirates that operated on the river and had now cut the towns people off, isolating them. However, the residence of Mont-St-Martin were far enough from the lake not to be effected. Nonetheless, without the business of the thriving town or the use of the river, D’Amber also saw his fortune dwindle to nothing.

By the time his children had grown and took over the house, it was barely getting by as a plantation, and the manor itself was made into a hotel called “Hotel D’Amber” or as most referred to it, the Amber Hotel. As time passed the town of Merveille faded into memory, and some residence took up to living near the Amber Hotel. The small area became known as Amberville.

The Hotal Royal 2003

The small town poked along quietly until Guy Lemeux became the mayor and had an idea to turn the area into a resort. The Hotel was renamed the “Hotel Royal” and Lemeux did his best to advertise it. In 1937, a series of strange and unspeakable events occurred that caused much anxiety in the town. What it was exactly has never been clarified, and folk tales of spirits or a curse are common. What ever it was, Lemuex as well as the other towns people were desperate to hush it up, or end it entirely, least it blow their chances of bringing tourists into the area and ruining its chances of becoming a legitimate town.

Eventually, nothing could save the town from economic ruin, and Amberville became a ghost town and the cemetery was swallowed up with weeds and shrubs until recently. The surrounding areas are now being redeveloped into housing communities, and the cemetery has recently been restored, although it is “rumored” that it will be relocated for a shopping mall.

THE OCULUS INFERNIUM

If you are one of the many people who have a certain interest or fascination regarding the Hunters, then you are familiar with the secret sense of pleasure one feels on the rare occasion of meeting another like minded individual who also shares a captivation with the strange family.

The first thing one is likely to do is discuss enthusiastically what strange piece of information you have mutual knowledge of, or trade strange tales that you may have heard from one source or another, and then wonder as to what aspects of it may be true, and others so bizarre that they just can not be.

The second thing most likely to occur is to express immense frustration at the lack of information regarding the family heirloom. That is to say, the ring called the Oculus Infernium. Search as one might, finding information surrounding the elusive ring seems quite hopeless. At best, you might find some information regarding the late actor, Rudolf Valentino...

Finding information regarding the Hunter family ring might seem impossible. Indeed, more often than not, what information one may have, or have heard, is most likely to have come from someone else’s lips rather than from the printed page. Almost everyone has heard of the Rudolf Valentino connection. Virtually no one has seen it, and various descriptions are common. Often it is referred to as a plain gold band with strange writing on it. But it would seem that they have confused this cursed ring with another.
What then can we say we know for sure about the ring?

It came from Asia.
It was one of three
Valentino had one of them
The Hunters had the other one.
One is displaced.
And sinister forces surround them

Therefore, the best course of action would be to investigate each one of these facts. For years people have speculated the many different theories surrounding these facts and the ring. However, with the recent unearthed documents recovered from the Cranston Building, we can for the first time verify and reveal some of the rings secrets.

Many have speculated what the ring might have looked like, but now for the first time we have actual photos of the ring. These rare photos were taken in 1984 by Lloyd's of London for insurance purposes. It is described as "...a platinum ring, with a dark red ruby in the center, estimated to be approximately 350 years old...origin unknown."

According to the Hunter documents, the ring first came into possession of the family sometime in the early 1700's. It is pictured as coming from a stolen hoard of Spanish treasure. Among the items was a golden idol covered in gems. The idol was melted down by a German jeweler and the gems used to make three rings.

RUDOLF VALENTINO

Recent entries made by Arthur Hunter in 1968 confirm that the ring worn by Rudolf Valentino was in fact one of the three rings. Somehow it had made it way to San Francisco around 1920 where it was bought by Valentino and even worn in his movie, The Young Raja. The movie turned out to be a box office disaster and Valentino died shortly after. Later the actress Pola Negri took the ring as a memento to remind herself of him, and soon became so ill it finished her career. Afterwards she had met Russ Colombo who was a spitting image of the late Valentino. Soon after taking the ring, he was shot to death under mysterious circumstances.

Colombo’s cousin gave the ring to his best friend, Joe Casino. He scoffed at the curse and after wearing it, was hit by truck and killed. His brother inherited the ring, and kept it locked at home until it was stolen by a burglar named James Willis who, while wearing it, was shot to death by a police officer during his getaway. When a movie was being made of Valentino, Del Casino lent the ring to actor Jack Dunn who wore it for the audition, and within weeks died of a rare blood disease. It was then kept in a vault in a Los Angeles bank until it was stolen by Alfred Hahn. He was badly wounded in a gun fight with the police.

As for the third ring, the documents state several times that the Hunter family believed that the unaccounted third ring is in the possession of the Frontenac family!

Indeed, peculiar events followed these rings! This eerie knowledge of Valentino’s ring is of public record. Imagine then what strange series of events have followed the Hunter family with their ring!

Well imagine no longer. Now you will be able to read the strange tales that have followed the Hunters each time a family member takes possession of the ring: The Oculus Infernium!

SARAH AMBERVILLE

WHO WAS SARAH AMBERVILLE?

Although it happened long ago, I still remember the events as if they had happened yesterday. And while much of it is blurred in the misty depths of my memory, it is the funeral of Mr. Fouchette that the awaking of my recollection begins....

The story ZOMBIE HUNTER would not be possible were it not for the journals and the memoirs of Sarah Amberville. Although there have been some rumors...and indeed, finding Lot Items No. 31, 741, and 742 did contain letters sent from both Major Hunter and Doctor Rexworth discussing the incident that took place long ago in the back water town of Amberville...it was Sarah Amberville’s diary and memoirs that were sent to the Hunter Estate in 1999 that finally shed light on the incident.

With only the letters of Hunter and Rexworth the account would seem rather...surreal. There were still many gaps in the story as well as many unanswered questions considering it was told from just one point of view. For example, from the perspective of Mjr. Hunter and Dr. Rexworth it all seems business as usual. One gets the impression that the whole thing was just some minor annoyance. A matter easily dealt with had the town really applied themselves. Hunter seems unconcerned if the reports of zombies are true or not. He was just happy for the occasion to fire his cherished Lee-Enfield rifle. Hunters interpretation gives the feeling he just could not take the whole situation seriously. But coming from such a strange and bizarre family, perhaps it was simply old hat to him? To his mother he writes:

...by the way, speaking of drunken Frenchmen, I have been fighting monsters. Rather forget the name I’m afraid. I think they call them goblins. Remember the stories of Great Uncle Remington, fighting a vampire? Its that sort of thing. Can’t say too much as it’s all rather hush-hush. Well, must be off. Have to save the town, don’t you know. Just like in the pictures!

Your son
Eddy

P. S. Please send chocolate.

Dr. Rexworth is equally unimpressed. Although he seems to be well aware of what is happening, his letters tell the story of one who is just seen a strange sight on a foreign holiday, and after writing it down, is no longer bothered with it. In a telegram to his brother he says:

I SAY STOP WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE VOODOO STOP HAVE HAD REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE WITH THEM STOP VERY INTERESTING BUT ILL-BREED STOP NEED TO KNOW IF SILVER BULLETS SLAY ZOMBIES STOP IS GARLIC HELPFUL STOP MUCH DEBATE REGARDING THE ISSUE STOP IN A BIT OF A BIND COMMA COULD YOU PLEASE SEND FUNDS STOP MAY REQUIRE PURCHASING SILVER TO FEND OFF ZOMBIE SLASH FRENCH HORDE STOP YOU’RE BROTHER A. J. FULL STOP

However, Sarah’s diary spells a much sinister perspective;

And I chilled when, from somewhere in my mind a voice asked me...save us from what?

Pages from Sarah's Diary

Sarah was born in the small town of Amberville in the spring of 1927. Her mother died from Tuberculosis when Sarah was only three years of age, and her father raised her alone, working as a barber. It is not a coincidence that Sarah and the town share the same name: She is a decedent of Robert D’Amber.

Sarah’s father, Henry Amberville, was the last of the line of the D’Ambers. Considered among many to be very bright, it was expected that he would go to collage and become a doctor. However, when he was studying medicine in Jacksonville, Mississippi, he met a young lady by the name of Sandra Krutsch-Schuller, and fell deeply in love with her. The Krutsch-Schuller’s were Lutherans, and the D’Amber family were devout Roman Catholics. The result was that Henry’s mother forbid the very idea of any marriage. When Henry refused, his allowance was cut off and he dropped out of school. He was so upset with his family that he changed his last name from D’Amber, to Amberville, and never spoke with his relatives again. Six years later his family were killed by an outbreak of Malaria and Henry and his wife moved back to Amberville where Sarah was born four years later.

Sarah’s family made a modest living and resided in a small shack. Sarah was well liked in the town, and while they were poor, her father enjoyed the reputation of being very wise and knowledgeable and was often sought out for advice. Sarah on the other hand, was rather infamous for her dreams that always seemed to have come true, and so she too was often asked for advice, albeit in the mystical sense. She was one of the few people who could read and write in the town, demonstrated great skill in mathematics and could speak both french and german. All schooled to her by her father.

Sarah’s letters and journal explain that the town was cursed but never explained why, or cursed by who. She did say however, that while the priest claimed that the town was cursed by God for sinning, she said that the town was cursed only in the sense that God was using them to test their virtue, and she believed many people in the town were indeed virtuous. But why, or what caused God to single out the small town and test them time and time again with one hardship after another, she never did say.

Years later, when Sarah grew older she moved to Florida where she met her husband. A solder from the second world war. He was killed in Korea, and she married again and had four daughters. She spent the rest of her days in Cape Coral, until she passed away in 1999. When her daughters had looked over the letters she had kept, they sent them, along with her journals dated from 1936 - 1988 to the Hunter estate.

In Sarah’s’s dreams, she described the zombies merely as people who’s souls were sucked from heaven, and were now trapped in their rotting earthly shells. In one dream she explains;

I could see a field. It was green and full of flowers. There were white marble statues everywhere. Monuments. The sun was bright and I could see people walking around. It was like a park. The people were happy. They talked and laughed. Picnicked in the grass. Children who seemed to not have seen their parents in years ran to them in open arms. One child leaped into her mothers arms and said “Oh, Mother! I missed you! I missed you so much!” and the mother replied “I know, dear. I was watching you the whole time.” It seemed to me so wonderful I smiled, and then I looked and I saw another women standing in the distance. She was beautiful and the sun made her blond hair shine, as though it were made of polished gold or from the light of the sun. I realized I recognized this woman. She was my mother and she held her arms out to me.

I began to run to her, but when I did the sky clouded over. The land went dark and the sun was blotted out by a black cloud. The peoples faces changed from happiness to worry. A cold wind blew from nowhere and the children cried. Women ran into the arms of their husbands. Trees suddenly withered and the grass grew long and yellow. The bright marble stones turned grey and dirty...chipped and worn. And to my horror, the people withered as well! Their skin turned black and shrank back, twisting their faces into a ghastly grimace. Their clothes rotted.

When the wind stopped I realized that I was standing in the old graveyard of Merveille cemetery, surrounded by walking dead...and my mother was gone.

MAJOR EDMOND REMINGTON HUNTER

Edmond Remington Hunter was born in Norfolk England, July 13th, 1893 to an upper middle class family. He attended Eaton Collage, but was asked to leave when he was caught screwing the wife of his history Professor. Hunter’s challenge to his Professor to a duel with pistols was answered with a lawsuit that was mysteriously dropped when the Professor mysteriously disappeared.

Feeling somewhat dejected, Hunter decided to join the Royal Navy but felt “uneasy” being around a bunch of randy sailors whom he referred to as “steaming left footers.” He was however, able to receive a commission with 72nd Seaforth Highlanders when he was 20. Having just read The Four Feathers and feeling very pleased with himself, he believed that he was going to be enjoying a life of sitting in easy chairs and barking orders at natives across the British Empire, whilst pleasuring himself with the local women. It was much to his dismay then, when the Great European War broke out six months later and he was shipped to the front.

Military Service History

Lieutenant Hunter arrived at the front in September of 1914 and was introduced to his Commanding Officer. Hunter quickly made a point of having sex with the Commanding Officer’s mistress. “Because she was there!” He declared at his trial. He was then transferred to the Canadian regiment of the Seaforth Highlanders with the hope that he would die horribly. In any case, he kept his British uniform as well as his fathers “lucky Zulu helmet”.

Hunter’s regimental Badge from his Zulu helmet.

Hunter was promoted after a controversial maneuver called the Hunter Affair. During Christmas of that year, the Germans sent out several soldiers with white flags carrying gifts to exchange with the British. Both sides agreed to a cease-fire while they buried some of the dead. The British returned with some gifts of chocolate and tobacco. Suddenly a German soldier suggested a game of soccer and both sides agreed and played in the snow. Hunter, who had been asleep the whole time stumbled out of the trench in a bit of a daze and saw the field swarming with Germans. He quickly picked up a Lewis gun and sleepily machine gunned all of them, single handedly wiped out an entire German division. British High Command was confused as to what to do about the affair, but did what it always done when faced with difficult choices: They gave him a medal and made him captain.

Hunter was made major in another incident that is in fact recorded at this site (My emphases).
http://www.seaforth-highlanders.ca/history1909dhtml.htm

“The Seaforths were engaged in the bloody battle of Ypres, the Somme, and Vimy Ridge. During the final battle for Vimy Ridge, Lieutenant D.O. Vicars...took, unaided, 400 yards of the German Support Line, nearly the entire Battalion front! Later in the battle, the Commanding Officer, with one junior officer, two runners and a lewis gun crew, pushed up a mile in advance of the battalion where they met...two senior officers armed only with revolvers, and promptly attacked a party of 50 enemy soldiers, driving them off. It is a special tribute that the German Communiqué referred to the Seaforths as "specially picked assault troops."

One of the senior officers mentioned was Captain Hunter, who at the time was quite drunk and believed himself to be invincible. It is also worth noting that Hunter’s revolver was in fact, unloaded! He had viciously clubbed the Germans with the butt of his pistol, which the germans reffered to as unnecessary. The Commanding Officer, who for a while was feeling quite heady with the thought that he and his fellow soldiers alone were taking so much territory, was immediately crest fallen to find that Hunter had done it all the day before, armed with only a bottle of scotch and an empty pistol. What exactly Hunter and his drunken companion were doing over one mile in German territory has never been fully explained, and it has been calculated that the odds of a small group of soldiers making a spontaneous suicide charge one mile deep into enemy territory, and just so happening to run into yet another allied suicide squad one mile behind enemy lines are 8,693,275 to 1.

Major Hunter ran a very tight trench. Anyone away to the privy more than ten minutes was shot as a deserter. He claimed he shot down the Red Barron on several occasions, as well as the Kaiser, Rasputin, and Charlie Chaplin. Each morning he would make a little fort out of dead Frenchmen and spend the day shooting at the Huns. In 1922 Hunter personally “captured” Berlin, only to find out that the war had ended six years earlier. Oddly enough, the French still gave him a medal for it.

The Oculus Infernium

In 1926 Hunter received word that his Uncle Remington Hunter had passed away. In his will his Uncle had left him his ring; the Oculus Infernium. Almost as soon as Hunter started to wear it he became involved with a series of peculiar encounters. Attending a seance with his good friend, Doctor Andrew James Rexworth, a voice called out from the darkness, speaking in a strange language. An eerie scratching sound came from nowhere. When the lights were turned on, a piece of paper on the table they were sitting around had been written on, the ink still wet. It read: Very nice paper and ink for the Devil to write with! (It is said that this piece of paper is now somewhere in the Hunter family home in Vancouver, Canada)

In 1937 another strange incident occurred. Hunter and Rexworth, along with his servant Wang, had become lost in the back roads of northern Louisiana. Driving aimlessly around in a storm trying to find a road that would take them to Mississippi, they accidently stumbled across a town that was not on the map, and somewhat cut off from the rest of the world. That town was Amberville.

Amberville, it is said, was under a mysterious curse for unknown reasons. The town was damned with the living dead who would walk the town at night, attacking the defenseless townspeople. They thought it strange that he should suddenly show up at their darkest hour, and when the town learned Hunter was a war hero, they felt that he was perfect for the task of ridding the town of the ghastly creatures.

Coming soon

Merveille Cemetery
The Cranston Building
Zombies
The sinister Frontenac Family
Recent documents about the Three Rings