Tomb of the Raven King

The Tomb of the Raven King is the nickname for the mausoleum at the top of Raven Hill. The tomb was created after the death of Abigail Winters in 1883. Rumor has it that she was not permitted to be buried within the Abernathy family's tomb for reasons that were never uncovered.

Entrance
The ornately decorated door appears almost vault-like with sturdy fixtures and a number of bird-like motifs displayed in the design. There is no apparent keyhole, hinges or any other method for opening the door.

Above the door, written in Latin, are the words "Inter Mundos". Each letter is thickly raised off of the plaque upon which it was molded nearly a quarter-inch.

Interior
Within the tomb you see the four-walls of stone and at the center is a large sarcophagus of white marble that stands four feet tall. The sides of the stone walls are carved with some kind of text and the sides of the marble sarcophagus are decorated with a sculpted relief of some kind showing a bird-headed figure, towers, stars and other iconography from some epic story or legend.

The walls are decorated with the inscription of the Canticle of the Raven King

It starts on the wall panel to your left and has five stanzas for each section with the Raven head logo above each one. However, the 14th panel has been damaged and the last two letters of one of the words have been chiseled or scratched to blur them.

Hidden Stairs
The sarcophagus is essentially a rectangle with a curved top with multiple decorative elements carved into the stone. Upon closer examination the stone is a variety of white marble that has developed a somewhat beige to pale yellow patina over the years much like aged bone. The top of the coffer stands four feet tall as the casket itself is set upon a raised, stone dias. The stone is cold to the touch as one would imagine since it’s been locked up in a dark mausoleum for decades.

In one of the lines of text on the walls, the word "Ne'er" (meaning never) is a trigger that causes the stones of the floor to descend into a set of stairs.

The stairs wrap around the stone coffer above so that you’ve done a complete turn in your direction and now seem to be heading towards the door. The walls of the passage are cut stone but they’re cold and slightly damp by the looks of them. The stairway is thankfully nearly five feet across with a sufficient height so as most people wouldn’t feel claustrophobic for walking down them. After the first revolution of steps, there’s another...until the stairs lead to a single long stair that goes down probably three stories. The passage takes a right turn and another set of stairs heads down probably another two. All told, you’re probably five to six floors below where you started.

At this point you see a long hall with two small alcoves on either side; four in total. Within each of the square-like niches stands a statue that easily stands seven feet tall. They are carved to resemble a robed figure wearing a raven or crow-skull mask.