Stories reference

As we know all (normal) King Diamond's LPs are conceptual ones. Each of them contains a beautiful horror story (one of the sotries even spans through two LPs). Usually all the songs from an LP are parts of the story, altrough there are two records that are only partially filled with them. The following reference carefully sums up all of the stories. The main purpose is to let one quickly understand the story, without the need for complete analyzis of the lyrics. This should be a nice help for someone who only starts digging through them.

Fatal Portrait: Mrs. Jane was obsessed with jelousy. She didn't want anybody to see her little daughter Molly. So she kept her locked up in the attic room until she died at the age of 4. Meanwhile she was struck by an idea: if she painted Molly's portrait she will make her therefore immortal. So she did, but when Molly made the portrait speak to her mother she's gonna die too, she burned it in a Candle of Fate, speaking a rhyme from an ancient Book of Jonah. The story starts when the narrator sees Molly's face in a candle flame. She speaks to him only one word "Jonah". He realizes the way to make her free, finds the book, reads the rhyme and frees Molly's spirit from the Candle. Molly then takes revenge on her mother by haunting her. Mrs. Jane goes insane...
Characters: Molly, Mrs. Jane
Narrator: unknown
Abigail: Count de La Fey finds out his wife was faithless. Since he doesn't want his properties to be inherited by a bastard child, so he pushes her down the stairs. She breaks her neck and dies and a child gets stillborn. This happens on July the 7th, 1777. He mummifies the girl and gives her a name Abigail. 68 years later Jonathan La Fey with his newly married wife, 18 year old Miriam Natias, come to inherit the mansion. They meet 7 black horsemen, who happen to be count's servants, who warn them go back on the same night, because therwise "18 will become 9". Jonathan doesn't understand the strangely sounding warning and ignores them. In the night he is visited by a ghost of Count de La Fey who shows him Abigail's sarcofagus and tells the horrible truth: the spirit of Abigail is inside Miriam, and the only way to stop the rebirth of Abigail is to kill Miriam. Later, as he sees his wife grow he understands the warning, but it's too late. Miriam is posessed by the evil spirit of Abigail... Jonathan wants to get an exorcist, but Abigail pretends to be Miriam's real soul and tells him he should push her down the stairs. So they go there, and Abigail then turns his attention onto some star for a moment, just long enough to push him. Jonathan dies, and Abigail is reborn. Miriam dies too, during the childbirth. Then Black Horsemen come again to stop the Evil - they take Abigail to a chapel in the forrest and bury her, nailing her to the coffin with seven silver spikes (that's where the story starts), so she may never rise again.
Characters: Jonathan La Fey, Miriam Natias, Abigail, Count de La Fey, Countess de La Fey, Black Horsemen
Narrator: unknown
"Them" / Conspiracy: The story starts when King's grandmother returns home. He is told she returned from a long vacation, but the truth is (as King will find out later) she was really released from the sanitarium. She was taken there when she kept on babbling about "Them" after Grandpa's sudden death... Soon King hears some strange noises from Grandma's room (which happens to be next to his). When he goes there he sees a really strange view: there's only Grandma there, speaking to no one... She tells him about "Them" - the spirits. Since then they will both meet "Them" every evening. The Tea mixed with a bit of blood is a secret dring that mekes "Them" appear. Of course they (Grandma and King) need some source of blood... They use King's mother for that reason... One night Missy, Kings beloved sister, suddenly comes and sees what happens... She gets killed and burned by "Them". Then King takes Grandma on a long ride outside the Amon (the old house they live in) and gets revenge by killing her. Of course on the next morning police comes there, along with doctor Landau, to investigate. When doctor hears King speak about "Them" he states King is insane and puts him in the same asylum Grandma was earlier released from. 9 years later he is released. He doesn't go back to the old house - the memories prevent him. Another 9 years later he receives a phone call - he finds out soon it's his Grandma, dead since 18 years. She tells him to go back to Amon. So he does... That's where the first part ("Them") ends.
Later he meets "Them" again, along with Missy's spirit, at the cemetery nearby. He makes a deal with "Them" - he will give Amon back to "Them", and "They" will let him meet Missy. It would all be happy if it wasn't for doctor Landau. He still supervises King, and after a bunch of lies King told him (about him not meeting "Then" anymore) decides he should meet his mother. It wouldn't be that bad if he didn't married her (as King is told in a dream by Missy). So they both come there, but King refuses to let the doctor in. He tells his mother about "Them" and the deal, but it all ends up in him being etherized... Doctor and mother then go to local priest and tell him about King. They make him believe some evil demon has posessed him and then burn him. King promises to go back and haunt them. I bet he did...
Characters: King, Missy, Grandma, Mother, Doctor Landau, Reverend Sammael, "Them"
Narrator: King
"The Eye": This is a story of a magic necklace called "The Eye". It makes its owner travel in time. We're first taken to one of the witch trials that took place in in France. The supposed witch, Jeanne Dibasson, is "found" guilty and burnt. During the execution her necklace flies up to her eye in some magic way. That's how "The Eye" was created. The necklace first shows its powers when one of two little girls playing at the ground where the execution took place finds it - the other lookes inside the witche's eye and sees some horror that makes her choke. Later the necklace finds itself in some mysterious way in the convent in Louviers, so we can see things that happen there. Madeleine, a young nun enters the convent after being seduced by a priest. The chaplain, Father Pierre David, dies soon after this and gets replaced by Father Mathurin Picard. This one is obsessed by some mad idea - he makes the nuns and other priests crucify a little child... There's more evil happening there then... Finally Picard dies in 1642 and all the nuns found peace in prison...
Characters: Jeanne Dibasson, Nicholas de la Reymie, Madeleine Bavent, Father Pierre David, Father Mathurin Picard, Two Little Girls
Narrator: unknown
The Spiders' Lullabye: Harry lives in a cottage in the countryside. He would certainly be happy if it wasn't for his phobia: he's afraid of spiders. One day he finds an advert in a local newspaper: Doctor Eastmann cures all sorts of phobias in Devil Lake Sanitarium. Harry quickly decides to go there, and so he does. Doctor is very kind, he puts him in one of the rooms and soon starts the therapy. I'd call this a shock therapy - he brings a box full of spiders to his room and sets them free. It seems like Harry would really be cured, but - what a pity - the doctor forgets about one of the spiders... He leaves it free, and the spider bites Harry. He soon dies and ends up in the morgue. Doctor is sure he died from the fright...
Characters: Harry, Doctor Eastmann, Nurse Needle
Narrator: unknown
The Graveyard: The story starts when the Lunatic escapes from Black Hill Sanitarium and hides in a tomb on a local graveyard. As it appears he was put there after he caught local Mayor, McKenzie, molesting his own daughter, Lucy. He accused the Mayor and the Mayor accused him - people of course believed Mayor... But as we said he finally breaks up and hides on the graveyard. Then he prepares for a revenge. One day he comes to Lucy's school and takes her. Then he calls McKenzie. "Come after midnight or Lucy will be dead" he sais. Then he digs seven graves and buries Lucy alive in one of them. Mayor's task is to find the proper one. Surprisingly enough he finds in the third trial. So the Mayor wins the "game", but that's not all. Lunatic sets up a "trial" and sentences the Mayor for death. Next morning he's ready for the execution, but then Lucy suddenly breaks the window and frees her father and Lunatic ends up as a lonely head. He begs Lucy to take him with her, and so she does. At least he will be with her forever...
Characters: A Lunatic, Lucy, Mayor McKenzie
Narrator: A Lunatic
Voodoo: In 1932 David Lafayette, his pregnant wife Sarah and Grandfather (Sarah's one, I think) come to Louisiana. They buy the old colonial house on north of Baton Rouge, near the Missisipi. The mansion looks nice, but they'll later find it isn't. It's all because of the Voodoo cemetery nearby. The cemetery is a place where Voodoo worshippers organize their ceremonies. As we find out one of them is Lafayettes' butler, Salem. Lafayettes soon find out about the cemetery and decide to destroy it. They try to keep it as a secret, but since they don't know about Salem their attempts fail... Doctor La Croix, voodoo priest, decides to use voodoo magic to destroy Lafayettes, as it seems to be the only way to avoid the destruction of the cemetary. So first Salem puts some magic dust into theit breakfast, thus making them seriously sick. Apparently this doesn't help, so they send some spirits of the dead into Sarah. This looks really seriously, but fortunately Grandfather remembers his old friend - Father Malone, who lives in New Orleans. Malone is an Exorcist, so he calles him and the priest soon comes to the "LOA" House. He celebrates the exorcisms, but as it appears they are not strong enough. FInally he's hit badly with a heavy cross by (still posessed) Sarah. Fortunately Grandpa comes quick and makes Sarah drop the cross. If it wasn't for him Sarah would probably kill Malone... Of course Police comes and investigate - thay tell Grandpa Salem is actually dead since few years - so as we see he was a zombie... Too bad they didn't know... Lafayettes leave the Louisiana, Malone ends up as an old scared man... The story ends with an information about Sarah's baby... As it appears the voodoo magic hit it too - the little child speaks backwards...
Characters: Sarah Lafayette, David Lafayette, Grandpa, Salem, Doctor Le Croix, Madame Sarita, Lula Chevalier, Father Malone, Jean Le Noir, Baron Samedi
Narrator: Salem

Paweł Więcek <coven@vmh.net>