Black Horse Tavern

The Black Horse Tavern is one of the oldest and most popular drinking establishments in town, noteworthy for how the different social classes drink elbow to elbow, where a professor of mathematics might stand at the bar alongside a dockworker, or a lawyer may drink to the health of a ditchdigger. Perhaps even more unusual is how several women frequent the Black Horse, including such different personalities as Celia Hooker and Mathilda Van Vleet.
Besides the quality beer and good selection of spirits, the Black Horse draws in customers to hear Blind Francis Bickford play his blues guitar and sing like an angel, or crowd around the fireplace for one of Rhoda Pitcher's spooky tales not meant for children's ears. Visitors to Munson often feel out of place at the Black Horse as everyone inside seems to know each other well and be in the midst of an engaged conversation, but with a little patience a newcomer will eventually be spotted and welcomed into this special social fold.

Uncanny Occurrence

Blind Francis Bickford plays the blues like no one else. It's a fact that he could go wherever he wanted to earn his keep, but he chooses to stay in Munson, living and singing at the Black Horse Tavern. When he picks up his guitar and begins to sing in that warbling baritone of his, the room goes completely still. His songs are full of pain and longing, rarely any scrap of hope, and more than one person has claimed that the very shadows seem to cling to him like cobwebs as he plays. Others say that they spot a man in the audience who looks identical to Frances, watching silently, cheeks wet with tears.
If you happen to see those shadows or spot that man, be prepared for a rough road ahead, as the sorrow of the songs seems to seep into those folks' bones and they can't shake the shroud of depression that overcomes them. They drink to excess, sob themselves to sleep, become estranged from friends and loved ones. It's a terrible affliction that passes after a week or two, but it makes you wonder about poor ol' Francis. Is that what it's like for him all the time?