Witching Hour at Ravenmoor

Morgan Ravenmoor is the last member of a family that has lived at Ravenmoor Castle for seven centuries. Tonight Morgan hosts the great ball, exactly two hundred years to the day after the fall of the Grey Lady, and all of Great Britain is meant to watch on television.

Jamie Blackwood is the camera for "Witching Hour" — twenty years old, on the team since 1985, and quicker with a cable than most are with a match. Jamie prefers to see the world through the viewfinder.

Father Callum Doyle has been the priest in the village below Ravenmoor for two years. Desmond Crane invited him to bless the Tower Room before the broadcast, and Father Doyle came because he felt someone here ought to watch over the souls.

Robin Hale has produced "Witching Hour" since 1984 — the show that brings half of Britain to the television on Friday nights. Without Robin, there is no broadcast schedule, no budget, and no coffee in the Broadcast Van.

Sam Kincaid has conquered the bestseller lists with three horror novels and has been called, for years now, the darkest voice in British literature by the press. Morgan invited Sam to Ravenmoor as the guest of honor — for the press, and for the atmosphere of the evening.

Dr. Evelyn Shaw measures what others only feel: cold spots, humidity, electromagnetic fields. For the past year she has been the scientific advisor to "Witching Hour," and tonight she has set up her equipment at the most famous haunted site in Scotland. She doesn't trust feelings. She trusts logs.

Madame Lucinda Vane has spoken to the dead for thirty years, or so her calling card says. She has been a guest at Ravenmoor for three weeks now, brought in to calm the Grey Lady, and tonight she means to show everyone what she can do.