Priory of Death: 6

"Back in the Middle Ages there was a great priory here, with monks and everything," Victoria said. I tried my best to listen - not easy when the person you're listening to has a rather annoying voice. Gosh, I sound catty! Lynette's going to think I'm a horrible person! I'm not, it's just old school chums bring out the worst in me. I suppose it's because they've dedicated their fortunes to lounging around at ease while I dedicated my inheritance to fighting crime.
"The monks were all fantastically wealthy, of course..." she went on. I thought that was quite funny. Ther's no 'of course' about it, a lot of monastic foundations were very poor, especially in Scotland where some of the local big-wigs developed the charming habit of torturing priors and abbots into signing over huge amounts of money. Apparently it was quite effective - abbots and priors tend not to be trained to resist torture, and I'm not sure how I'd like being roasted over a slow fire (note to villains: I don't really want to find out either).
"...But in the Sixteenth Century the priory was ordered to be dissolved by the Protestant government, and all its lands and wealth were given to the state. The last prior was ordered to turn over the treasures of the priory to the government forces, but when they arrived the government men couldn't find the treasures, and the Prior wouldn't tell them where they were. So they took the old prior and the three of his monks who remained, and they tortured them. But none of them would tell. Eventually all four died, taking the secrets of the priory with them. The government agents completely destroyed the priory buildings looking for the treasure, but they never found it!"
"What about the ghost?" Amelia asked. Victoria smiled.
"I'm coming to that. It's said that, on stormy and windswept nights, a mysterious black cowled figure roams the priory. For centuries he walked in open ground where the great priory had once been, but when the house was built he was seen roaming its corridors."
"Spooky!" Amelia declared. "You don't believe it, do you?"
"I think it's wrong not to believe in ghosts," Victoria objected. "After all, lots of people have seen them. Sir Archibald Broun, who built the present Priory in 1847, swore he saw the ghost, and his son Keith Broun saw it too. Rev. Robert Kilbride, who was the minister in Sir Archibald Broun's day saw the ghost and wrote a book about the history of the priory because of it. I'll show you the book after dinner."
"Is the ghost really scary?" Scruff asked eagerly. "I mean, I read about one that sent people mad. And if the prior was tortured... is his skin hanging off and things like that?"
"Scruff!" I objected. "You're the limit!"
"She started talking about ghosts..."
"And you introduced the horror element. Sorry, Scruff's got a friend who likes to watch horror movies."
"Sorry," Scruff smiled. Then food was brought in.
"So, when was this old priory founded?" I asked
"Back in the Middle Ages."
I decided I wasn't going to get a sensible answer and gave up trying.

Dinner went well, and we withdrew to the library for drinks and polite conversation. Victoria produced 'A True History of Dentree Priory' by Rev. Robert Kilbride, and we admired the sturdy Victorian book.
"Here's another one," Victoria announced proudly. She produced a little Victorian book with a rather over-the-top picture on the cloth cover showing a woman being tortured by evil-looking monks. The title was 'The Devil Pit'.
"What's that?" I asked, knowing Victoria was dying to tell.
"Well, in the counter-reformation under Queen Mary a group of Jesuits used the priory ruins for their base when they were trying to re-convert Scotland. They had a torture chamber in one of the old crypts, and their most terrifying device was a pit into which they sealed their victim. The Devil was said to emerge from the bottom of the pit and take the victim off to hell."
"You don't believe that?" Connie asked with a reassuring scepticism.
"All the book says is that when the pit was opened, minutes later, the victims were no longer there. Their bodies disappeared! The Jesuits burned heretics here too, until at last the local poulation rose against them, destroyed the torture-chamber and cast the Jesuits themselves into the pit. Some people say the ghost is one of the Jesuits!"
Thrilling, I thought. Victoria can't help being dumb.
I was tired out by all that driving, so I made my excuses and went to bed early, relieved to get away from Victoria's nattering. The woman could drive a girl mad!
A little after midnight I was woken by a creaking board outside my room.