For years, the old southern home known as Proctor Pines stood near Princeton, Kentucky, wrapped in rumor. The family who lived there had money, lineage, and mystery enough to keep the county talking.
Some said they were descended from one of Napoleon’s marshals. Others whispered of European nobility and connections to crowned heads. But no one seemed to know anything for certain.
What people did know was stranger than any gossip.
Thirty years before this report was published, Mr. Proctor vanished. His wife and children appeared strangely unconcerned, telling authorities only that he had gone away and that they did not know where.
With no evidence of violence and no answers from the family, the disappearance was written off as desertion.
Then, as the years passed, the children began to disappear as well.
One by one, the three sons reached adulthood and quietly left Proctor Pines. No announcements were made. No explanations were given. No one seemed to know where they had gone.
After them, the two daughters vanished in the same silent manner, until only Mrs. Proctor remained in the old house with two servants.
Now Mrs. Proctor, described as the last of the old Kentucky family, had disappeared too.
With her gone, Proctor Pines stood empty except for the servants, who claimed to know nothing of the family’s movements.
A Whole Family Disappears
PRINCETON, Kentucky. — The sudden and remarkable disappearance of Mrs. Proctor, the last of an old Kentucky family which owned an old southern home near this place, has added one more mystery to the tales that have been in circulation for many years in regard to the people who owned Proctor Pines.
Thirty years ago the husband of the woman who has just disappeared was reported missing. The family did not seem disturbed over the absence of the father and husband, but the authorities made an investigation at the time. Nothing came of it. The members of the family who remained on the estate simply testified that the father had gone away, none knew where, and it was put down by the court as a case of place desertion.
Nothing more was ever said about the affair by the family and the three boys and two girls grew to manhood and womanhood.
The young people were popular in the social set of the county, but there was always an air of mystery about them. Gossip said that the family was descended from one of Napoleon’s marshals and belonged to the nobility of France. Other stories connected them with one of the present crowned heads of Europe, but nothing definite was ever known about these people except that they had lived for many years, at least two generations, at Proctor Pines.
One after another, as the young men reached manhood, they quietly disappeared. None knew of their going or where they had gone and those of the family never mentioned the absent ones after they had disappeared.
After the boys had all left the estate, the eldest girl went and the younger daughter disappeared and the mother was left alone with two servants.
Now she, also, has disappeared in as mysterious a manner as did the rest of the family and Proctor Pines is vacant, except for the two servants who say they know nothing of the movements of the late tenants.
Source; The Nome Daily Nugget. Nome, Alaska. January 9, 1914.
