A Town Cursed
An explanation of curses, the occult, reincarnation, and death in Little Hope.
Directory
A brief note:
Almost all major lore and plot decisions of this retcon are based on evidence pulled directly from canon content— both from the game itself and the unlockable comics. The main exception to this is the fate and purpose of Anthony Clarke, who in this version of events died with his family in the 1972 fire.
For more about this version of Anthony, Abraham, and Andrew, click the information icon.
To see the comics, click the key.
To read about the curse, click the lock.
A Curse of Repetition
The trouble in Little Hope began with Reverend Carver's wife being taken during the Commencement Day Massacre of 1690. In the wake of this tragedy, many of the townsfolk were overcome with grief; the Reverend, however, took things a step further than the rest. He turned his back against God, looking to the occult for answers instead— and in doing so, he allowed an unspeakable evil to enter the town of Little Hope.
By the time Mary Milton discovered his secret in 1692, the Reverend was deeply involved in the occult, and loathe to lose the power he held over the town. He threatened the young girl, and used her to accuse other townsfolk of witchcraft instead— wrapping everyone up in the hysteria and condemning four innocent souls to die: Amy Lambert, Joseph Lambert, Tabitha Milton, and David Milton. Then, when he found out that Mary was planning on telling Judge Wyman the truth following the death of her siblings, he accused and condemned her of witchcraft, too, placing the blame for everything on her tiny shoulders.
All these violent deaths only fueled the evil lurking in Little Hope. It continued to bubble under the surface, growing stronger every day— feeding on the anger and pain of the witch trials' victims, who were unable to pass peacefully onto the other side after their deaths. The evil continued to poison the town and the mind of the Reverend until one final, tormented soul changed things forever: Abraham Alastor.
Abraham was close friends with Joseph and the Miltons, and he was also Mary's guardian at her time of death. Their gruesome fates weighed heavily on his conscience, the image of his loved ones' deaths seared into his mind as his own inaction and cowardice taunted him. He felt responsible for all of their deaths in some way, but he blamed himself for Mary's fate in particular— and, judging by her final words, he assumed she shared this sentiment.
For seven years after the trials, Abraham lived in solitude, weighed down by the heavy burdens of his grief and his guilt; still, he did not consider it an adequate punishment for his sins. Every day was spent agonizing over what he could've done differently— things he could've said, times he could've intervened, apologies and goodbyes never given. Eventually, Abraham became so consumed by his remorse that it was as if he were solely responsible for their deaths; most days, he certainly felt that way. Hollowed out by his grief, Abraham Alastor committed suicide on February 13, 1699.
The witch trials of 1692 had claimed their final victim— but something else was just beginning in Little Hope. Something far more sinister had been awakened by Abraham's death; something that had been lying in wait for a very long time.
The very same evil that Reverend Carver welcomed into the town almost a decade prior, now fueled by the violent deaths of six innocents, cast a powerful curse over Little Hope and its inhabitants— specifically, Reverend Carver and his six victims. Using the vengeful spirits of the accused, and spawned by the immense regrets of the one they left behind, a time loop was created, and the Evil ripped the souls of all six victims in half. Reverend Carver received the same treatment, despite the fact that he was still alive when it happened; this caused him to begin losing touch with reality, catching glimpses of the demon he was doomed to become in his every reflection.
One half of all of their souls became demons, mere husks of themselves mangled beyond recognition and cursed to wander Little Hope until the vengeance they seek is finally satisfied. Created specifically by the anguish of those murdered for crimes they didn't commit, and the guilt Abraham felt over his inaction, these demons relentlessly seek to punish those who remain unrepentant for their misdeeds— especially if those souls are their reincarnates. These are the very same demons that pursue the modern day characters throughout the game, and they are inescapable unless each person decides to face their demon alone.
The remaining halves of the unlucky seven's souls— the pieces that were kept pure and not demonized— are permanently intertwined with each other. Because Abraham so desperately wished to fix the wrongdoings of the past, they were forced into countless reincarnations, doomed to unknowingly repeat their suffering again and again. Each life imitates the last, starting in the 1700s and branching out into modern times; even if a couple adjustments are made to account for time and circumstance, they stick to the same worn-out themes. The ending never changes, either: the five incarnates of the condemned always meet the same gruesome ends as their original counterparts— and every time, Abraham's incarnate is the last to die, forced to witness the deaths of all the others first.
Then they forget the past, and it begins again, repeating ad nauseam.
To end this cycle of torment and reincarnation, Abraham's final wish must be achieved: he needs to fix what went wrong in 1692 and ensure that proper justice is carried out. Likewise, the demons' fates are tied directly to the guilt of Reverend Carver, and unless he is recognized as the true source of evil during the witch trials, they will continue haunting the ruins of Little Hope for eternity.
Reverend Carver, however, follows a completely different set of rules, because he wants the cycle to continue forever. After all, if the curse remains unbroken, then he'll never be punished for his sins— and in a way, he gets to prolong his life. So instead of seeking out the unrepentant sinners of Little Hope, Carver's demon focuses almost exclusively on Mary's incarnates, trying to manipulate them in the same way he did her original self. His goal is typically to kill the newest versions of the other six before they can figure out the existence of the curse and break it. Meanwhile, his own reincarnate follows the same wayward path he did in life; this also lends to his cause, as it often stirs up enough internal conflict and strife for his demonized self to sink its claws in.
In 1972, Carver successfully manipulated Megan Clarke into setting the fire that killed her and her family, perpetuating the cycle keeping them all trapped. In 2020, the modern reincarnations of five out of six innocents wander into Little Hope after their bus crashes, giving them another chance to break the curse. Three of them find their way to the cemetery, reading the epitaph carved into Abraham Alastor's tombstone centuries ago: it is impossible to undo a deed once it is done.
It's up to Andrew, Daniel, Taylor, John, and Angela whether those words are a warning or a promise.