// FILE: ORIGIN OF DARKNESS
THE LEGEND OF TOM ZOMBIE BEGAN IN 1796 WHEN A TRAPPER NAMED DAVID RAMSEY DISCOVERED THE TRIMERIC BELL HIDDEN IN AN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND, SOMEWHERE AROUND PORT STANLEY, ONTARIO, CANADA. RAMSEY IS SAID TO HAVE SOMEHOW DISCOVERED THE BELL'S POWER AND LEARNED TO CONTROL IT.
HE SET HIS MACHINATIONS UPON COLONEL THOMAS TALBOT BECAUSE RAMSEY WAS FURIOUS WITH TALBOT FOR REFUTING HIS LAND CLAIM AND EVEN GOING SO FAR AS SETTING HIS HOUNDS ON RAMSEY OUTSIDE TALBOT'S CABIN ON THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE ERIE.
SUBJECT: COL. THOMAS TALBOT
STATUS: DECEASED
THREAT LEVEL: [REDACTED]
THE TALBOT CONNECTION
COLONEL THOMAS TALBOT WAS ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC LAND DEVELOPERS IN CANADIAN HISTORY. BUT HE WAS ALSO KNOWN FOR HIS STAUNCH IDEALISM, SOUR TEMPER AND GENERAL MEANNESS. NOW WE KNOW THAT THIS CRUELTY MAY HAVE BEEN RELATED TO HIS OWN HIDDEN BURDEN.
ACCOUNTS SUGGEST THAT HE WAS IN POSSESSION OF THE TRIMERIC BELL, THE ANCIENT ARTIFACT AT THE ROOT OF THE TOM FLOWER CURSE, BY SOME ESTIMATES FOR AS LONG AS FIVE YEARS. HOW HE RESISTED ITS POWER FOR SO LONG IS STILL A MYSTERY.
// TOM & CROW FLOWER
GAPS REMAIN IN OUR UNDERSTANDING AS TO HOW THIS RIVALRY BETWEEN TALBOT AND RAMSEY, ON ONE HAND, AND THE LOVERS "TOM" AND HIS NATIVE BRIDE CROW FLOWER, CULMINATED INTO THE TOM FLOWER CURSE.
ALL WE KNOW FOR SURE, BASED ON SCATTERED ACCOUNTS AND ANECDOTAL REMNANTS, IS THAT WHEN THIS MAN NAMED TOM AND HIS NATIVE BRIDE CROW FLOWER TRIED TO ORGANIZE A TRADE ARRANGEMENT, ASSAILANTS UNKNOWN, FROM ST. THOMAS, MURDERED THEM AND BURIED THEIR BODIES IN AN, AS YET TO BE DISCOVERED, GRAVE SITE NEAR ST. THOMAS.
THOUGH THE CENTRE OF THE CURSE IS MOST CERTAINLY FOCUSED ON THE TOWN NAMED ST. THOMAS, ITS FURY IS SOMEHOW TIED BACK TO THOMAS TALBOT HIMSELF. THE CURSE IS SAID TO INFLICT ALL THE LANDS THAT COLONEL THOMAS TALBOT HAD A HAND IN DEVELOPING—A GREAT SWATH RUNNING FROM LONDON TO WINDSOR ALONG THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE ERIE AND BEYOND.
// TIMELINE: INCIDENTS
DAVID RAMSEY DISCOVERS THE TRIMERIC BELL IN AN INDIAN BURIAL GROUND NEAR PORT STANLEY.
TOM AND CROW FLOWER ARE MURDERED. THE FIRST TOM ZOMBIE INCIDENT OCCURS. A GRAVE ALARM RINGS THROUGH THE FOG, AND MEN VANISH INTO THE DARKNESS, NEVER TO BE SEEN ALIVE AGAIN.
ALEXANDER SCARVEY RETURNS FROM THE BATTLE OF RIDGEWAY POSSESSED BY THE TRIMERIC BELL. WITNESSES REPORT "MEN WHO HAD ALREADY BEEN KILLED" FIGHTING IN THE BATTLE.
THE "CIRCUS OF DEATH" INCIDENT CULMINATES IN THE HORRIFIC DEATH OF JUMBO THE ELEPHANT IN ST. THOMAS.
THE "RAIN OF FIRE" TRAIN DISASTER STRIKES ST. THOMAS. BERNARD YACOT BECOMES TOM ZOMBIE IN THE LONDON ROUNDHOUSE.
THE CONTRACT OF VEILS IS SIGNED, ESTABLISHING THE TOM ZOMBIE FESTIVAL AS A MECHANISM TO CONTROL THE CURSE.
// WARNING: CURSED RHYME
THIS LEGEND WITHIN A LEGEND IS BASED ON A SHORT POEM WRITTEN BY TOBY TEN, AN AFRICAN AMERICAN POET WHO DIED IN 1848. THIS SHORT VERSE EXPLAINS A SMALL FRACTION OF THE WORKINGS OF THE CURSE:
IS JUST A LITTLE BIT OF FUN.
THE WORDS 'TOM FLOWER' FROM TWO,
DELIVERS A CLUE.
THE WORDS 'TOM FLOWER' FROM THREE,
WELL THAT SETS HELL FREE.
MANY HAVE LAUGHED WHEN TOLD THE LEGEND OF TOM FLOWER AND THE POWER OF THE CURSE. BUT OF THOSE WHO HAVE LAUGHED YOU CAN BE SURE VERY FEW ARE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO TEST THE CURSE THEMSELVES. THE CURSE WILL AWAKEN THE NEAREST DEAD—AND THEIR BONES AND ROTTING FLESH WILL HEAR THE RINGING OF THE BELL AND FEEL A RELENTLESS TUG BACK TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING.