Spencer Mansion

Spencer Mansion is a fictional residence and a major location featured in the Resident Evil multimedia franchise. It first appeared in the original Resident Evil video game by Capcom in 1996, which was based on the Japanese game, BioHazard.

History
The mansion was commissioned by aristocrat Oswell E. Spencer and designed by architect George Trevor. Nestled deep within the Arklay Mountains, construction on the mansion was completed in 1967. At the time, Spencer was the president of the multinational conglomerate known as the Umbrella Corporation, and the mansion became the staging ground for Umbrella's bio-weapons division. A massive laboratory was constructed underneath the mansion, where Umbrella developed experiments involving biochemical processes. One of the results of these experiments was the T-Virus, which escaped and had a severe mutagenic effect on any lifeform it was exposed to, causing advanced necrosis and the suspension of higher brain functions. Some of these bio-organic weapons (B.O.W.s) included undead canines called Cerberuses, human zombies, an over-sized giant snake nick-named Yawn, and a hulking humanoid monster called Tyrant. Some of these creatures even managed to escape confinement and began stalking the areas surrounding the mansion.

On July 24th, 1998, a string of grisly murders was reported in the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City. The Raccoon City Police Department sent in the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team to investigate. Their helicopter crashed in the mountains, and only a lucky few were killed immediately. Those that survived had an adverse encounter with the Cerberuses, though some managed to make it to Spencer Mansion.

The S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team was sent in to check out the crash site. Alpha captain Albert Wesker, led security specialists Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and weapons specialist Barry Burton to the nearby mansion. Sealing themselves inside, the members of Alpha were separated and tasked with exploring the strange building on their own. The sound of a gun being fired rang out, and one of them found a member of Bravo Team, Kenneth J. Sullivan, being eaten by a zombie. They later found another Bravo member, Richard Aiken. Aiken had been bitten by the giant Yawn serpent and was slowly dying. Before expiring, he handed his radio over to an Alpha member. They came upon Bravo's captain, Enrico Marini, who warned them of a traitor in the Alpha unit. Another shot rang out, and Marini fell over dead.

As the separated members of the team continued to make their way through the mansion, they encountered an endless barrage of zombies, mysteries, traps, riddles and unspeakable horrors. The corpse of another Bravo member, Forest Speyer, was found dead on a balcony.

An Alpha Team member eventually descended an underground series of tunnels that led to the laboratory, containing evidence of all of Umbrella's underhanded projects. They discovered that the traitor was actually Albert Wesker, who had captured and imprisoned one of the other Alpha members. A hulking zombie-like creature known as Tyrant escaped and stalked after the agents, seemingly killing Wesker in the process. The captured team member was freed, and a self-destruct system was activated.

Tyrant pursued the survivors through an elevator shaft that brought them to a heliport atop the structure. They were all able to get away before the mansion exploded.

Film series
Arklay Mansion is a large manor house located in the Arklay Mountains outside the suburbs of Raccoon City. The mansion was owned by the Umbrella Corporation and served as the secret access to the company's underground top-secret research facility, the Hive. Umbrella appointed two of its top security specialists, Alice Abernathy and Spence Parks to oversee security at the mansion, making sure that nothing compromises the integrity of the Hive entrance. To maintain their cover identity, Umbrella arranged a fake wedding between the two, although Alice and Spence actually did become intimate with one another over the course of the job.

Spence Parks used his credentials to access the Hive to steal a sample of the deadly T-Virus strain. To cover his tracks, he released another sample into the ventilation system, prompting the site's artificial intelligence, the Red Queen, to take drastic measures. In addition to killing all Hive personnel, the Red Queen also released a nerve gas through the remainder of the facility, including the mansion. The purpose of the gas was to render all those affected by it unconscious. When those subjected to the gas regained consciousness, they often suffered from temporary memory loss as a side effect.

Alice awakened inside the shower of the Acklay mansion with no memory of who she was. As she wandered the main hall of the house trying to get her bearings, an Umbrella Security Service sanitation team burst through the windows. The leader of the group, James Shade, tried to get Alice to report on the situation, but she was too befuddled by the gas to make an assessment. The group also managed to apprehend a man named Matt Addison, who was an anti-corporate activist who came to the mansion in search of his sister, Lisa, who was a scientist for the Hive.

The U.S.S. unit took Alice and Matt down through the secret access tunnel below the mansion to a train that brought them further underground to the Hive. What transpired down there was a tableau of blood and carnage as they discovered that the release of the T-Virus turned the entire staff into flesh-eating zombies. By the end of the affair, Alice and Matt were the only two to make it back up to the mansion alive. Matt however, was gravely injured by the infected claws of a creature known as a licker.

An Umbrella science team wearing Hazmat suits burst through the front doors into the foyer of the mansion. They took Matt to be experimented on for the Nemesis Program while Alice was taken to the Raccoon City Hospital for blood tests.

Appearances

 * Resident Evil 1
 * Resident Evil (VG)
 * Resident Evil (2002)