Contents
Folklore 517: Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Overview
In a cemetery class session, the Professor leads students to Isla Saint and Benjamin J. Tierney’s mausoleum and revisits their famed careers and sensational deaths. Rejecting the murder-suicide narrative, she brandishes a prop gun and claims a cover-up tied to Hollywood’s devil bargains, warning students about unpaid favors.
Summary
Holland arrives at Hollywood Forever Cemetery for Folklore 517, walking past film crews, peacocks, and notable graves while feeling watched. Inside the mausoleum, Holland notes Bugsy Siegel’s niche and proceeds to the side-by-side crypts of Isla Saint and Benjamin J. Tierney, pausing at Tierney’s epitaph and feeling unexpectedly moved.
The Professor appears, dressed in black with a veiled hat, and invites the class closer. She recounts Tierney’s breakthrough with the Mirrorland trilogy starring Isla, their elopement during the sequel, and the franchise’s massive success. She then details Tierney’s subsequent Price of Magic trilogy under Jericho Monroe Entertainment, outlining a string of bizarre misfortunes on set and widespread rumors of a curse that stalled the final film.
Turning to Isla’s career, the Professor notes Isla’s award-winning comeback in Conclavity and the infamous Oscar night when, according to official reports, Isla shot Benjamin twice before killing herself, amid tabloid claims of an affair with young actress Jessica Travers—who also died by suicide that same night.
To underscore the official narrative, the Professor lifts a prop revolver from the mausoleum piano, miming the alleged sequence before revealing the gun is harmless. She then challenges the murder-suicide account, calling the trio of high-profile deaths a misdirection and a cover-up.
Lowering her voice, the Professor warns that many students have likely sought the devil at hotel bars. She cautions that Hollywood runs on favors from the devil, and those who fail to repay them face consequences—implying Isla and Benjamin were killed for debts rather than by each other.
Who Appears
- The ProfessorLeads the cemetery class, produces a prop gun, rejects the official murder-suicide narrative, and warns about Hollywood’s devil favors.
- HollandStudent-narrator who arrives at the mausoleum, observes the graves, and reacts to the Professor’s revelations and warning.
- ClassmatesA dwindling group; some leave offerings at graves and gather to hear the Professor’s tale.
- Isla SaintActress and alleged killer in the official account; subject of the lecture, portrayed as victim of a cover-up.
- Benjamin J. TierneyVisionary filmmaker behind Mirrorland; alleged murder victim; linked to a cursed trilogy and possible occult debts.
- Jessica TraversYoung actress rumored to be Tierney’s mistress; died the same night, cited as part of the suspected cover-up.