January 22, 1947

Hobbies keep us happy, and they help to keep us out of trouble.

It should come as no surprise, then, that a hobby is as individualized as the person enjoying it.

Collecting is a grand and time honored pastime, and there are many in Cross who enjoy building collections of various items. Some gather baseball cards, other books, and still others the bittersweet memories of lovers lost.

Juliet Marchant was a collector, and one who went to extreme lengths to build her collection, although she never shared the details of her passion.

She was the proverbial old maid. Juliet was an only child, and her parents left her a sizeable inheritance when they died in an accident in 1908. With no inclination to wed, Juliet enjoyed her life as a free woman. She traveled the United States and Mexico extensively. As she grew older, Juliet traveled less frequently, although she began to receive large shipments of unknown pieces of furniture.

During this latter period of her life, she had a large building constructed on her property. Beautiful stained glass windows illuminated the interior, but no one could enter the structure. There was no door to be found and the windows were reinforced with steel. When questioned as to how one could gain access, the aging Juliet would give a conspiratorial wink, and let the subject drop.

On January 22^nd, 1947, Juliet was found dead on her front steps. On the table in the kitchen was a small shipping container, and in it was the freshly preserved body of a young girl in a plain, white cotton shift.

The police searched the house and found a small passage that led to the new building. Beneath it they discovered a vault, along either side of which were lined mummified remains.

Each had a date tattooed on its throat, the oldest from 1907, and the most recent, 1944.

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