Page 47 (1/1)

I pulled it out and cradled it in my lap It was thick and dusty The cover read: Attica Falls I opened it, es It had a full chapter on Gottfried Academy, which was more information than I had ever seen on the school, and it had pictures Itsection accidentally Satisfied, I tucked it under hed into his arruff smoker’s voice

"I’?" he asked, taking e hairy hands and wore suspenders, as if he had been either a fisherman or lumberjack in some fored me ten dollars, half of the price asked "Seems you have some luck about you This one’s out of print," he said, before putting it in a paper bag

I thanked hi better to do, alked to the end of the street until we reached an abandoned house It hite and crooked, with a wraparound porch and pillars that looked half eaten by termites I tested the steps with my foot to make sure they wouldn’t collapse before Nathaniel and I sat down A few groups of students a hot and steaarette outside the general store I opened the book and flipped through it, skipping over the chapters on the history of Maine, the founding of Attica Falls, and the natural wonders of the White Mountains, until I found what I was looking for Chapter 7: Gottfried Acadean to read while Nathaniel looked over my shoulder Some of it I already knew--the Academy’s role in the Revolutionary War, its transforious to a secular schoolbut just when I was beginning to accept that there was nothing ht raph, a nore of Gottfried Acadelanced at twice if it hadn’t been for the fa back at me

"That’sthat’s lasses closer to his face and squinted "Which one?"

I pointed to a tall broad-faced lasses thinner He was standing in front of the Gottfried gates with a school scarf draped around his neck, seon I’d encountered last summer The caption read: Headmaster Brownell Winters, 1974 Beloas a newspaper article, reprinted in the book from The Portland Herald

The Gottfried Curse

July 7, 1989

By Jacqueline Brookmeyer

After nearly one hundred cala Gottfried Academy, the preparatory school located near Attica Falls The school is known not only for its stringent classical acade in 1735, Gottfried Acadeued by a horrific and unexplainable chain of tragedies, including disease, natural catastrophe, and a string of accidents of theevents have brought attention to Gottfried Acadeists who have attempted to understand the causes and patterns behind the disasters All of them died under suspicious circumstances, until 1789, when the disasters stopped But has this phenomenon, coined locally as "the Gottfried Curse," truly been buried?

It began in 1736 with an outbreak of the inally founded as a children’s hospital by Doctor Bertrand Gottfried, who attempted to ward off the epidemic Despite his efforts, more than one hundred children perished Rumor has it that the doctor built catacorounds to bury the children and contain the infection Three years later, Bertrand Gottfried roundskeeper, his death apparently caused by heart failure

I paused and stared at the words Heart failure "It can’t be," I murmured "What?" Nathaniel asked over my shoulder

"Bertrand Gottfried died of a heart attack Just like my parents"

"He was old," Nathaniel said "It’s not the most bizarre way to die"

"It is if they find you in a lake"

"Maybe he i when he had the heart attack," Nathaniel offered

"Or h none of the catacombs were ever discovered, they are purported to have been the beginnings of the subterranean tunnels that still run beneath the pre the newly incumbent Headmistress Calysta Von Laark, have refused to comment on this matter

After the death of Bertrand Gottfried, the hospital stopped accepting new patients and closed its doors to the outside world For a decade, no one caroceries and supplies froeneral store Yet, just as suddenly as the hospital closed, it reopened This time, as a school The head nurse at the time, Ophelia Hart, ascended as the first headmistress She named it "Gottfried Acadeic history was forgotten, and students began to filter in The disasters continued like clockwork The unexpected collapse of the building that is now the theater, in 1751; the nor’easter of 1754; the tuberculosis epide incident in 1767 Ten years later, the school was partially destroyed during the Revolutionary War, which was followed by a series of disasters cul in the chein of the curse, and is it really over? Some believe that it’s the area itself Others believe it was Bertrand Gottfried "Everything started to happen after he died," local Esther Bancroft said "He wasn’t a doctor, he was a sinner Lord knohat he did to those children And then they killed hi to tell people to stay away Stay away" But others blame the curse on Gottfried’s first header, 84, claiod-damn school Ophelia She ith that Doctor Bertrand, not like normal doctors and nurses are, but closer After he died, she beca started That’s why it’s always couples that die She’s seeking her revenge on people in love"