The Crow: Salem

Eric Darrah
freelance artist/illustrator
living in NY

https://www.angelfire.com/ny3/lionpridestudio/
BIGDAD3587@aol.com

Thank you for checking out my idea for a Crow film.

UPDATED

Here is the story so far

The Crow: Salem Darkness fills the air as the silhouette of a bird crosses the full moon. It glides with ease over treetops as it approaches a small village. In the distance, a crowd is forming around what appear to be wooden poles standing straight up with fire surrounding them. As the bird flies into the open, it is revealed to be a crow. The crow continues towards the vil-lage, coming closer, and closer to the treetops. It soars over the crowd and lands on a wooden cross atop a church roof. We see through the crow’s perspective that it is watching what is happening in the Village Square. We see down in the courtyard that there are two people tied to the poles on fire. A man and woman, who appear to be husband and wife, are screaming in pain as the flames eat at their flesh. Chants of “Die witches, die” echo through the air as the crowd becomes restless. We can clearly see that some members of the crowd are carrying torches and clubs, waving them in the air, inciting the others to begin throwing rocks and sticks at the “witches”. The “witches” are bereft of clothing, the town elders thinking that this will expedite their ‘cleansing’ of evil. As the flames eat the flesh of the couple, we see a group of seven men draped in brown robes, apparently priests, nodding, and smiling at each other. As their screams subside and their bodies fall limp, the flames are put out and the couple are cleared of the ash and debris of the fire and thrown into a wooden wagon. Up on the church roof we can see the crow, still watching what is transpiring. It takes off after the wagon, following it to a ridge, where two people dressed in black, pull off bodies and heave them over the edge. The couple is but two of the bodies on this night that were ‘cleansed’ of evil by the town mob. As the wagon leaves, the crow flies off it’s resting place and soars over the ridge, as we see for the first time the amount of carnage the people of this town have caused. The crow continues flying as it passes a sign posted on a rock that reads “Welcome to the town of Salem.” One year has passed since the carnage we first witnessed, and the crow has returned. It lands on a large rock near the pile of bodies, as they begin to shift. Charred bodies lifting into the air and falling onto each other as a lone hand dis-figured by rope burns on the wrists, shoots into the air. Followed shortly by the other hand, bodies part, and a pale figure pulls itself from the decaying flesh surrounding it. As it lifts its head into the moonlight, we see that it is the man who the crow witnessed burned at the stake. He kneels before the crow, trying desperately to form words, but finding himself unable to, hear hears a voice that tells him “You have been brought back to the land of the living to set things right”. He reaches down to a body, trails his finger across the burnt flesh, and begins applying the soot to his face. He repeats the procedure again, lifts his head into the moonlight, revealing wing like shapes across his eyes, and screams. From burnt flesh and ash, rises The Crow. The crow flies off the rock and over the ridge, the man not far behind. He climbs the cliff, loosening mounds of dirt as he moves upward. As he reaches the top, we see for the first time that his arms, legs and chest are covered in scarred flesh, caused by the burns that ultimately killed him. His wrists and ankles forever branded with seared flesh, caused by the ropes binding him, burning into his body. The crow soars through the trees, the man close be-hind, as they come upon a little wagon in the dense woods. By the appearance of the wagon, it belongs to a gypsy, but is deserted. As the crow lands on the roof of the wagon, the man hears the voice again. It says “ Nathaniel, a terrible injustice has been committed, and it is your job to set things right.” Asking, “Where are you? How do you know who I am?” Nathaniel, for the first time, notices the state of his body, and begins trembling uncontrollably. He kicks the door of the gypsy wagon open, and begins a frantic search for some form of clothing. Finding only black garb and a black cloak, he decides that it will have to do. Once draped in his newfound clothes, he asks aloud “Whoever you are, what is it I am supposed to do?” As if in answer, the crow takes off towards a mountain bathed in an eerie light. Nathaniel takes off after the bird, figuring that it must be the voice he is hearing. When he reaches the crow perched in a tree near the base of the mountain, Nathaniel sees seven figures draped in robes not unlike his, but with what appear to be pentagrams sewn into the fronts. He reels back as if in pain, as images flood his mind. He ‘sees’ a cabin in flames, then a flash of light, and images of a woman laid out in the center of a pentagram, symbols carved into her flesh. Another flash of light and then he sees his wife bound in a corner, as five figures pour blood onto the woman as chants start. As quickly as the images start, they end, and Nathaniel realizes that these men did something to him and his wife. As he moves closer to them, he can make out what they are doing. They are performing the same ritual as in his vision, but the gypsy woman who’s abandoned wagon he found, is in the place of the other woman. Since he can’t figure out exactly what he is sup-posed to do, he decides he’ll let them think he is some kind of demon they mistakenly conjured and toy with them until he is certain why he is ‘alive’. He scales one side of the mountain base where the group is set up and waits for an opportunity to make his entrance. As they bow their heads in chant, he drops from the ledge and lands in the center of the pentagram. As the gypsy screams in fear, they jerk their heads in surprise, and run. Finding one of the men’s daggers, he picks it up. Instantly, images flash before him. This time they are of the two other men he just scared, bursting through the cabin door with others in tow, screaming “We told you Nathaniel and his beloved were witches, you see what they have done to Goody Bayer.” The last image he sees before coming around is a young girl, naked, symbols carved in her body, and covered in blood inside a pentagram. He leaves the cave heading towards where he thinks the cabin in the vi-sion is located, with the crow following behind. He reaches a clearing in the forest and finds the remains of a cabin, burnt to the ground. Nathaniel frantically searches the de-bris, hoping to find something that will help him remember his life. When he finds a locket buried in ash and picks it up, more images flash through his head. He sees himself and his wife getting married at the town church, friends, and family celebrating the happy times with them. Other images of his married life flash before him, until all that is left is blackness. As the visions stop, Nathaniel realizes that these men are responsible for framing his wife and himself for witchcraft, but he cannot figure out why. He knows that they caused their deaths, although not directly, they are the ones he must deliver justice to. At that very moment, in a run down cabin on the other side of the town, the seven men are re-gaining their composure after the appearance of the Crow. Bathed in candlelight, Jefferson Coal, the apparent leader of this group, addresses his followers. “I don’t rightly know what that creature was men, but we may have summoned it by mistake.” “ Jefferson, if we did summon it, how do you propose we send it back?” asked Wallace Lake. “I don’t know at the moment Wallace, but we should go about our business in town, as not to alarm the others that something is wrong.” Answered Jefferson. “The feeble townsfolk wouldn’t understand the situation.” Responded Abraham Longfellow. “You have a point Abraham. After all the hysteria last year with our ‘witch hunt’, they would surely try to lynch us as well.” Added Gregory Pruett. “The townsfolk don’t need to know about our activities men. That is why we set that young couple up last year. They found out about our rituals, and were going to reveal them to the town elders.” Explained Jefferson. “That’s right, it was Nathaniel White and his wife, wasn’t it?” asked Mat-thew Clark. “I told you not to mention that name again Matthew. The townsfolk consider them a witch and war-lock, and that is how they shall remain in their minds.” Snarled Jefferson. They all nod their heads as if in agree-ment, before Jefferson asks “Do we all understand what will happen if the town finds out we were behind all the disappearances of the young women last year?” The rest re-spond “Yes we do sir.” “Good. Now, Anthony and Doug-las will head to town and obtain our rations for the night, and we will all return to town tomorrow.” As the next day arrives, all seven men go about their usual business, while a familiar figure waits in the woods, anticipating the night’s events. When night falls over the town like a blanket over a bed, the men go their separate ways for the night, not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves. Douglas heads towards the woods in hope of obtaining some logs for a fire. As he comes to a clearing, he hears a rustling of leaves, as a crow flies straight to-wards him and swoops over his head. When he looks up hoping to see where it went, he sees the faint silhouette of a man up in the tree. Asking “Is anyone there?” The silhou-etted figure drops from the tree, right behind him. Douglas spins around, trips over his own feet, and falls to the ground. The Crow stands over him, reaches his charred arm out, and grabs him by the throat. “Do you remember me Douglas?” Nathaniel asks, lifting him into the air. All he can muster is a weak scream, before he is thrown into a tree. He pulls himself up and runs towards town, the crow following from above. He reaches the church, which is closed for the evening, and runs inside. As he walks in further, trembling, he hears creaking sounds. Before he can turn to look, a noose drops from the rafters, and snags him by the neck. Looking up, Douglas sees the Crow crouched on a ceiling beam holding the rope. With catlike reflexes, he jumps off the beam, yanking Douglas into the air. Na-thaniel grabs some of the slack rope as he descends, so they stop face to face. The smell of burning rope triggers an-other flash of images. This time they are of he and his wife, when they are tied to the ‘cleansing poles’ in the town courtyard. He sees Douglas there, helping to fan the flames as they burn his flesh, laughing. Nathaniel now knowing what he actually did says, “Douglas, you ruined the life of my beautiful wife and I just because we saw your sick ritu-als. Now I’m going to ruin yours.” He lets the slack go, and drops to the church floor. He grabs hold of the rope, and yanks it, sending Douglas soaring into the rafters. A loud cracking sound echoes through the town as his skull, and the rafter split. Nathaniel lets the body drop to the floor, grabs it, and carries it outside. He scales the side of the church, and pulls Douglas’s limp body up. As Nathaniel and the crow head into the woods, we can see that Douglas was placed on the church cross, arms tied to it, hanging off the front as a warning to the others. Justice will be served.

I will update the story more as soon as I write more.

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