Blackwood, Maine – The sleepy seaside town of Blackwood is reeling tonight after a bizarre and unsettling event at the historic Grand Majestic Theatre. The theatre, renowned for its vintage projection equipment and stubbornly resistant to digital upgrades, experienced a significant, and frankly terrifying, spectral disturbance earlier this evening, leading to the shocking revelation of a previously unknown film – “Crimson Echoes” – believed to be the final project of the theatre’s recently deceased projectionist, Silas Blackwood.

The incident began around 9:45 PM, during a scheduled screening of a 1940s noir classic, “The Serpent’s Kiss.” Witnesses reported a sudden drop in temperature, followed by the flickering of the projector and a series of increasingly frantic adjustments by the stagehands. Then, a shimmering, almost translucent figure – identified as Silas Blackwood himself – materialized near the projector. According to theatre manager, Martha Crane, “He didn’t speak in words, exactly. It was… impressions. A feeling, really. A need to show something.”

Following this spectral manifestation, the projector automatically shifted to a film reel that had been stored in a locked archive room for decades – “Crimson Echoes.” The film, a lurid, experimental short depicting a descent into madness, was immediately halted. Initial analysis by forensic film expert Dr. Alistair Finch suggests the film was created by a shadowy figure known only as “The Collector,” a notorious and largely mythical figure associated with the Blackwood family history and rumored to have been responsible for a series of unsolved disappearances in the early 20th century.

“It’s… unsettling, to say the least,” Dr. Finch stated during a press conference held just hours ago. “The film’s narrative mirrors several of the missing persons cases. There’s a palpable sense of obsession and a deliberate attempt to induce a specific psychological response in the viewer.”

Adding to the mystery, stagehand Daniel Hayes, who was working the projection booth at the time, recounted a chilling experience. “I felt a cold breath on my neck, like… like he was trying to tell me something. He kept pointing at the film reel, then at a small, tarnished locket I’d seen in the archive room. It’s got a single, dried crimson flower pressed inside.”

Local authorities have launched a full investigation, focusing on the Blackwood family history and the possible connection between “The Collector” and the unsolved disappearances. The Grand Majestic Theatre remains closed as the investigation continues, and the legacy of Silas Blackwood – and the secrets he seemingly guarded – hangs heavy over the town.