After this incident Elias intensified his reclusiveness except for infrequent occasions when he would run outside and declare that he would not be cooped up like an animal. These drunken declarations made, however, Elias would run back inside and lock the door behind him. One night Elias never returned and was found face down in a pool in the garden. A jury delivered a verdict of suicide which John did not believe since his uncle had been so frightened of death.
John’s father came into possession of Elias Openshaw’s house and the two of them lived there without incident for a year. One morning however John’s father received a letter, postmarked from Dundee, containing five dried orange pips and bearing the mark “K.K.K.” The letter contained the instruction “put the papers on the sundial.” John realised that the letter must be referring to the papers burnt by Elias and wished to call in the police but his father forbade it. Three days later John’s father died in what was apparently an accidental fall.
Over two years passed with no further incident and John hoped that the curse upon his family had ended but then he received an envelope containing five dried orange pips and bearing the mark “K.K.K.” The letter had a London postmark and also reiterated the instruction given to John’s father to put the papers on the sundial.