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biography.Melanie Ravenswood was born in the town of Thunder Mesa in the Territory of Arizona, on October 30, 1842. She was the first-born child of Martha Ravenswood, the daughter of a successful painter from New York City, and Henry Ravenswood, a western settler who struck gold, thus creating the Thunder Mining Company and later the town of Thunder Mesa. Melanie was of English ancestry, whose maternal family came to North America in the mid-1760s after the Seven Years War settling in Philadelphia, while her paternal family came to New Orleans when her father was a child. Unlike her neighbors, Melanie was born into a progressive household, however; being banned from leaving the safety of the manor grounds, the young girl was privately tutored by her mother. Unlike her father and older brother, Elias, who understood any arithmetic problem they were given, the young girl excelled in reading music, recalling historical events, and writing. Since she was not allowed to leave the manor as a child, Melanie hung onto her brother’s every letter, as he explained his life outside of town when he left for boarding school.During her childhood, the young girl grew rebellious and escaped from the manor grounds to meet with Rowan D. Falls, the son of the local steamboat captain, and Ignatius Knight, the son of the town’s general store owner. Over time, the trio became inseparable with the young girl — now a teenager sneaking off to Cottonwood Creek to meet them weekly. Over the years, her friendship with Rowan blossomed into a budding childhood romance; however, their happiness did not last. A few months after her nineteenth birthday, Rowan and Melanie started courting with marriage being his clear intention. The couple would go for rides together on his steamboat or spend their time together in town with her brother or father as a chaperone. In the mid-summer of 1860, Rowan left for a trip to California with Henry when the man returned with the captain’s body two weeks later. He claimed that his future son-in-law died going over a waterfall and that he was unable to save him, giving his daughter the pocket watch Rowan had inscribed with their initials as a memento. Melanie took the man’s body, wishing to be able to visit her lover’s grave as often as she could, the woman had Rowan buried in the family cemetery on Boot Hill adjacent to the manor grounds.After the funeral, Melanie disappeared from the public eye, secluding herself in the manor’s small library reading short stories and poems by the window. During her mourning, she started to receive dreams with Rowan in them. He looked concerned but before the man could speak, the dream ended and she woke up. These dreams were reoccurring ones with no answers until she met with Madame Leota who was able to establish contact with Rowan’s ghost. However, the words the man uttered made no sense, only telling Leota that Melanie needed to beware The Phantom. Later that month, Elias returned home after a business trip, bringing Barry Claude, the town’s oil-field master with him. The older man wished to call on the younger woman, yet Melanie was not in the mood for another caller. A few days passed when Claude arrived again to call on the woman, this time with her acceptance. A small friendship between the pair soon blossomed but Melanie knew his true intentions. The older man wished to marry her, something she did not want. All he cared about was furthering his business and to do that he needed to connect himself to Henry Ravenswood. In the early winter of that year, Barry Claude asked the man for his daughter’s hand in marriage, stating that it would be an excellent way to connect their two businesses. Henry promised to give the man an answer to his question once he had time to ponder it, but the oil-field master never received his answer; he was mauled to death by a bear later that same week.After the man’s death, the woman thought that she was cursed, having lost another suitor that sought her hand in marriage. While Melanie was against the idea of marrying someone almost twice her age, she was heartbroken to hear of Mr. Claude’s death, believing that he did not deserve to die such a gruesome death. Not even three days of mourning had occurred when Sawyer Bottom appeared at the manor door, asking for an audience with Henry Ravenswood, wishing to go over a business deal between their growing empires. However, Sawyer Bottom soon died as well, bifurcated by his lumber mill's industrial buzz-saw. Soon a year passed since the sawmill owner was mysteriously killed, and with time life moved on. The gossip about Mr. Bottom’s death might have decreased and the sheriff stopped looking for the killer, but there was always a dark shadow that seemed to linger over the town since that day. During that year, Ignatius and Melanie spent more time together taking rides through the mountains or the woman learning how to shoot a Springfield Musket, something she always wanted to do but her father was against.After spending months together, the two childhood friends grew closer to one another until the feelings she always held for the man came rushing back. The woman kissed Ignatius during their outing to Cottonwood Creek, their old hiding spot with Rowan when they were kids. Melanie wanted nothing more than to leave Thunder Mesa, but she knew that if she grew closer to Iggy, it would lead to his demise, Melanie was cursed. That was the only explanation the woman or any of the town folk had when it came to the demise of the three men. Therefore, she kept her distance from Ignatius, breaking his heart through a letter hand-delivered by one of her family’s servants. She would rather be alone and have him live than have him perish after proposing marriage. For a few months, the woman came up with excuses to steer clear of the dynamite manufacturer, but Ignatius was relentless, he would not give up on making Melanie happy. The only life she had known up till now had been full of heartache and in his eyes, she deserved the entire world. Finally, after numerous letters were sent to the heiress and Iggy tossed pebbles at her window, Melanie decided to meet with the man and come clean about her fears. While she was in love with the man and had been since they were young, loving both him and Rowan at the same time, she was terrified of losing him. However, the man swept away her concerns, claiming that each of the deaths was an accident, but he knew better than to tell Melanie the truth, believing that Henry was the killer. After seven and a half months of courting, tragedy struck when the woman accompanied the man to his job, standing outside waiting for him when the mine collapsed leaving Ignatius to be crushed beneath the rubble.Horrified at the thought of losing her lover, the heiress raced towards the mine only to be held back by a pair of arms as she screamed herself hoarse. Melanie was vaguely aware of a feminine voice whispering in her ear as she struggled to escape the hold the woman had on her. After what seemed like an hour later, the unknown stranger introduced herself as Constance Hatchaway, a woman who just arrived in Thunder Mesa for unknown reasons. Instantly, the two women became close friends, writing letters to each other and spending their time together in town. Melanie was happy to hear Constance’s stories from her travels across the country. It was late one evening when the woman heard of Constance’s impending marriage to the Marquis de Doome, a foreign diplomat and Chinese military officer who made his home in Thunder Mesa. At the mention of marriage, Melanie felt something unfamiliar tug at her heart. Maybe it was jealousy; something she never felt before for another person. As the months passed, Melanie and Constance grew closer to one another, the two of them sharing a kiss a day before the woman’s marriage to the Marquis. Two days later, when the nobleman was supposedly away on business, Melanie went to the couple’s house to wish Constance well when the two of them slept together for the first time.Afterward, she discovered that the man was not away on business but dead; butchered by Constance’s hand. Terrified at what the woman had done, Melanie tried to escape but her friend would not allow her to leave until she explained herself. She claimed that the Marquis was abusive and that he was going to kill his new bride if she did not protect herself. Finally, calming down, the heiress agreed that what Constance did was right, and was willing to protect her against the sheriff and his men. However, the other woman felt that the best thing she could do was leave Thunder Mesa for the time being. Once the news of the Marquis’ death spread through Thunder Mesa Constance claimed that someone broke into their house and killed the nobleman. Three weeks later, once Constance left, an earthquake occurred, destroying half of the town, and killing the Ravenswood matriarch in the process. Even before the funeral could take place, Melanie and her father left the town he founded and returned to New Orleans, the city of Henry’s youth.Once there, Melanie's father took over the family’s manor which was being used as a summer home by his older brother, burying his wife in the family crypt. During her first month or so in the city, the woman helped the servants unpack new items she purchased, hiding items from her past relationships, but most times the heiress was strolling through the Garden District, instantly falling in love with the Crescent City. Tragedy struck on September 14, 1865, when Henry Ravenswood was killed in a shootout between Union soldiers and sympathizers loyal to the Confederacy. Heartbroken but relieved to no longer have to live under her father’s iron fist, Melanie became a happier version of herself. A year later, Constance appeared at the family’s manor, with a man at her side, who claimed to be her brother but was her accomplice in her past murders. In a heartfelt reunion, Melanie learned that the woman moved to New Orleans after getting engaged to Reginald Caine, a railroad baron. Hurt that Constance would shun their love, Melanie turned the pair away, not wanting to see the woman again.A week later, the murderess caught her on the street, pulling her into an alleyway where she claimed that she was marrying these men for Melanie’s sake. It was because of her that Constance was willing to put up with these men and their chauvinistic ways. If the times allowed it, the woman would have married Melanie in Thunder Mesa and whisked her away from her father’s clutches, but alas, the ways of men were cruel. Conflicted emotions ran through the woman, now realizing that Constance was willing to kill to make herself wealthy and to provide for Melanie, but that didn’t mean she loved the murderess any less. News soon spread of Caine’s death with the same story, she told the sheriff of Thunder Mesa being used. Over the next year and a half, Melanie would spend most of her time with Constance and her ‘brother’, Alastair, but also grew close with one of the family’s former servants, Ernest Williams. Soon the pair made plans to marry, with Ernest understanding Melanie’s feelings for Constance, allowing her and Alastair to come with them. The couple would buy a grand house where the four of them could live comfortably away from prying eyes.On her wedding day to Ernest, the couple planned to get married in the grand hall of the mansion when Ernest did not appear. Melanie waited with a hopeful heart, but soon days passed and weeks turned to months, and there were no signs of Ernest or Constance. However, Melanie did not give up hope, wandering the house aimlessly where she sang melancholy songs of lost love. During those long years alone, the woman discovered that the ghost who appeared at the manor on her wedding day was none other than Henry Ravenswood who mocked his daughter for her devotion to her intended husband. Unlike the rumors that claimed that Melanie died of old age, the heiress took her own life through unknown means, believing that she could escape her father’s torment in death. It was not the case. When the woman died, her mind became twisted, looking for a way to escape her prison and find her suitors. As the decades passed, Melanie discovered the whereabouts of her past lovers and former suitors, their ghosts bound to the objects that the woman collected before they died, or for Ernest, his spirit trapped inside of his own body by the same man who killed him decades ago. The woman made it her mission to release these men from their torment, allowing them to finally be freed and move on if they wanted. Once Melanie freed the group and some of them moved on, the ghost decided that as long as her family was happy in Heaven, she would be okay; she could deal with her father’s torment. Then Constance appeared, giving Melanie a sense of hope again, and like the heiress, she was a ghost but was no less beautiful than the first day the heiress laid eyes on her in Thunder Mesa. Over the years, the woman lured unsuspecting victims to the manor to appease her father’s wrath but also to make her afterlife more bearable.

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