Haunted Mansion Stories- The Cat Lady

Gracey manor features a large number of portraits within its walls. One gallery in particular is most interesting, for the subjects change their appearance before your very eyes.

"The Cat Lady"[1]

Name: Melanie Alexandria Charis Gracey

Born: 1734

Died: Unknown

Master Graceys great-grandmother was an avant-garde woman of French and English extraction named Melanie Alexandria Charis. Melanie was the daughter of a French nobleman and an English lady of distinguished birth. She was wealthy and beautiful, but, given the politically incorrect nature of her parentage in eighteenth century France and England, she never truly fit into 'Society' in either nation. She was rarely accepted, and never trusted, in either land. Her only true friend and loyal companion was her black cat, Porphyrion.

Some question whether Master Graceys grandfather, Ambrose, was really the child of Melanie. Sailors report seeing Ambrose as an infant aboard his father’s slave ship in the Americas in 1761 and Melanie’s frivolities with Parisian mystics were well known at that time.

Melanie became a bit of a rebel, avant-garde in her dress, manner, and interests. She dabbled in witchcraft and various mysterious ancient Greek and Egyptian religious cults. Even after her marriage to the respectable Englishman Teufel Gracey - arranged by the grace of her mother's good name and connections - she refused to settle down. She persisted in performing odd ceremonies in secret, which provoked her husband and forced her to hide away in France for a time. The French authorities became interested in Melanie's weird theurgies. “Unnatural!” and “Blasphemous!” they cried.  Speculation and rumor were rampant. Sensible people claim that she was either killed or chased into further hiding by zealots, but there are those who claim that the truth is otherwise. They whisper that Melanie simply disappeared into the boundless realm of the supernatural one night, as her rituals went drastically 'wrong.'

It was ever Melanie’s desire to enhance her beauty and craftiness. One day she happened upon a gypsy who claimed she could give her those qualities…for a price. If Lady Gracey would surrender her son Ambrose then she would be imbued with the spirit of her cat. Crafty and ruthless she was already and Melanie thought to cheat the gypsy because the boy was not “her son”. During the rite her thoughts strayed to the falsehood and the witch left her in mid-transformation with her beloved Porphyrion. Turning to her husband for help, he secretly took her to New Orleans and asked the help of the medium Ota. The rivals in love and magic argued and Ota took her spirit. She later imprisoned Melanie in a portrait, forever displaying her greed and secrets.[2]

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[1] The Cat Lady image by Robert Nava, “Trader Sam” on Flickr.com

[2] First & third paragraphs from http://betterhaunts.com/ourstories.html minor editorial changes by BKE