A/N: I’m just having fun blending fact and fiction for my Epilogue as I did throughout the entire story. As Jeffrey always says, “If you want to learn more about (fill in the blank) Take a voyage down to your public library…it’s all in books! (Or use the Internet too…)
Thank you for taking the time to read my tale. Luv, Ginger

Christina Nilsson made a firm decision to never record her voice for the public on the phonograph, she claimed lack of confidence in her talent. Her drive for the Opera dwindled. It was never noted that Christina played Violetta on opening night and history recorded her as having never performed at the Paris Opera House. Christina retired from the world of Opera in 1905, at just forty-five years old. She did not want the public to view her as a sorry old woman, trying to recapture the success of her youth. She married twice, her first husband being killed in a thoughtless duel and her second husband taking a descent into madness from his wealth. She would find him climbing trees in their yard, believing he was climbing his rising stock margins. Little else is known about her life.

Armand and Richard stayed on as Managers of the Opera House, their business was booming because of the City’s morbid curiosity with the Opera Ghost. They set up theater tours aside from the shows and reaped sizable profits. The tours continue down to the present day and The Phantom’s leather mask still hangs ironically in the manager’s office. By the close of the nineteenth century the Paris Opera house had become a dance hall.

The Phantom’s lair was searched from top to bottom shortly after his disappearance. Greedy Parisians came out of the woodwork, hoping to cash in on the jewels and valuables that remained. Some interlopers even died trying to bypass the hidden corridors and traps. It became apparent through the years, that all of The Phantom’s secret passages were not accounted for. Erik’s beautiful compositions were found rolled up inside his organ, and these were promptly donated to Music halls around Europe and England. The music was never performed, until in 1983, a certain composer bought them and had them revised for use in a theatrical production.

In 1896, a young and florid journalist was writing a history of the Paris Opera and happened to be investigating the catacombs. He stumbled upon a gruesome, but sad discovery. He found a skeleton lying near a little well far within the caverns, upon his small finger was a diamond ring. The journalist made numerous inquiries and investigations and was able to gain an exclusive and private interview with Christina Nilsson herself through contact with a certain dancer, Meg Giry. He desired to write a complete novel on the mystery of the Opera House ghost.

Christina gave him many personal affects; among these were passionate and terrifying letters in black ribbons, her sole phonograph recording, and a small journal dated September 17th through the 19th 1876. The contents astounded him; it was a complete account of the horror, adventure, and romance that occurred in the theater and in the catacombs. She also, in these journals, expressed her unrequited love for a handsome young man who had nearly died coming to her rescue with his young friend.

The journalist promised to keep these articles a secret from the public. His gothic novel was published in 1911 to lukewarm reviews and threatened to become just another flimsy piece of literature. The journalist burned Christina’s affects in 1925; the day they released a silent motion picture based upon his novel. It was only then that the story came to be fully accepted as a masterpiece of fiction. Gaston Leroux died in 1927, claiming on his deathbed that The Phantom did truly exist.