enter the record room
that Linger
The Paper That Remembers
Founded in 1871 by Pearl and Leander Duval, The Stantonville Record has long been the city’s most trusted source of truth.
We report what matters — from city meetings and potlucks to things that knock when no one’s around to answer. In Stantonville, ancestral wisdom isn’t superstition. It’s survival.
If you’re new to town, welcome. Mind your manners. Mind the bells. And above all: don’t ignore what don’t ignore you.
Passed down through generations, the paper remains a family-run institution — now led by their great-great-great grandchild, Parker Duval, who carries the ink-stained torch with the same sharp eye and reverence for what matters most.
1871
Started
Mill & Marrow District
Downtown, Stantonville
Location:
From the Editor's
Desk
Highlights:
🚪 Breaking News: Someone’s been knocking on doors in Newake — three times, just before dawn. No one’s ever seen who it is. No one’s ever missing anything. But something always feels… off.
🐦 Downtown: Birds are gathering in strange formations above The Lindo Building rooftops. The same pattern, every morning. Some say it’s a warning. Others say it’s a map.
🎓 SSU Campus: A senior art student’s final project disappeared from the gallery overnight. In its place: handprints in indigo and a jar of river water, still warm. Student not concerned, said it was an offering.
May arrived with still air and split ground. The kind of quiet that don’t mean peace — just pause.
The garden club reported blooms sprouting where no one planted. Purple hyacinth in the shape of a ring behind City Hall. Ms. Corrine said it smelled like someone else's memories.
Mother — the oak, not your mama — has been humming again. Not everyone hears it, but those who do have started waking up with headaches and names they don’t remember saying. The city says it’s nothing. But the bees know better. They’ve started circling her roots like she’s mourning. Word is the new resident in the house on the land that she stands on is up to no good.
Students at SSU are hearing footsteps where there’s no floor. A grad student said her dorm mirror caught someone walking behind her — only, it wasn’t her reflection.
None of this is here to frighten you. It’s here to remind you that Stantonville don’t forget its own. The land listens. The water keeps count. And the silence? It’s waiting for you to say something true.
Watch what you echo.
Speak what you mean.
And for now — don’t walk home the long way.
Dear Readers,
Musings of
May 2025
WITNESS: MISS REATHA JENKINS, cHUCK'S GROCERY STORY
STATUS: FILED
Root Note: Third pair of white patent leather shoes found, toes pointing west.
Downtown Stantonville
"
WITNESS: Mel thompson
STATUS: FILED
I was at the Revelry with my boyfriend, Marcus, and some friends. We were near the funnel cake stand when Dev—one of our boys—turned and smiled. Marcus stopped mid-sentence. Just froze. Then whispered: “That’s not Dev.”
I laughed at first. But Marcus kept repeating it. Kept staring.
Said the smile was too wide. Said the skin didn’t look like skin. Right then, the lights blew. All of them.
And Marcus started screaming. By the time they got him calmed down behind the bounce house… Dev was gone.
Not just from the group. From the grounds.
No one saw him leave.
No one saw him again.
Stantonville Spring Revelry
Oak Grove Fairgrounds
"
WITNESS: ALTHEA "TEE" DAWSON, RESIDENT DIRECTOR
STATUS: FILED
Root Note: Student woke at 4:44AM with soil under nails and shirt buttoned backward.
SSU Campus - Aug House
