Many years ago, one of the Grisly daughters, Erzebet met a slightly older man named Hannibal Hauntz. Hannibal was one of two sons of the wealthy Chester Hauntz of Philadelphia. Chester and his sons, Hannibal and Dagger, were successful funeral-home owners in the city, and for a good reason - they were unscrupulous. For example, during a busy period following a city-wide outbreak of consumption, the three funeral homes ran out of embalming fluid. So as a replacement, Chester Hauntz and his sons filled the bodies with a mysterious green-coloured fluid that Chester had discovered. It was free, and it worked fine... for a while. Suddenly, all of the bodies treated with this mystery fluid began coming back to life - and the Hauntz's former clients were not pleased. The Hauntz family's reputation and wealth quickly started to vanish as more and more of the Undead returned seeking revenge...or at the very least a full refund.

'Twas about this time that Hannibal, the eldest son, took notice of the young, beautiful and innocent Erzebet Grisly. Although he wanted to marry her only for her family's money, she was fooled by his charming manner and fell deeply in Love.

On their wedding night, they stayed in the finest hotel in the city, and it was there that Erzebet caught Hannibal in the arms of the Hauntz family's seductive maid, Raven.

Hannibal laughed and mocked Erzebet for believing that he actually loved her. In a fit of insane jealous rage she lunged at him with the wedding-cake knife in an attempt to cut out his heart (as he had figuratively done to her).

Unfortunately, because of her blind rage, she cut out the heart of a hotel bellhop, as well as one of the custodians and two or three other bystanders before she was killed in turn by the local constable.

Hannibal, of course, pretended to be grief-stricken, and was soon on Grisly's doorstep, expecting consolation (and hopefully cash)for his horrible loss. The family butler, Bloodworth, welcomed him in and locked the door behind him, for Hannibal was right about one thing...the Grislys were expecting him.

Hannibal told his version of the story and waited for the sympathy to pour forth from the gathered clan, but only one person stepped forward.

It was the head of the family, Allistair Grisly, and the sight of him froze Hannibal with fear.

Allistair spoke, and his voice was a low moan, and his breath smelled of wet cemetary earth. He explained to Hannibal that the entire family knew the Truth about what had happened to Erzebet, for she had already told them - and the dead don't lie.

Hannibal's last screams were quickly silenced and he was seen no more....

(Grisly Gothic Gables, the Grisly family and their histories, are copyrighted by Allan Erush.)