Scaredy cat
“And then her footprints in the snow slowly changed from human to wolf, one paw at time…”; “and from under the table just after sunset, the little man came out with bat-like wings and flew off out the window…”; “it was raining very hard as I drove down the road to the dump, that’s when I saw it, tall and hairy. Then it ran down the road, its large bare underfeet clearly visible as it trotted in front of me…”; “the mist on the river looked like a man standing there in his hunting coat and as we drove right through it with our freighter canoe, a chill passed through us…”; “the high-pitched yowling and screaming from the dark kitchen reminded us of mating minks as we looked around with lit candles to find the source of the screams at the fishing cabin deep in the woods…”; “its head reared from the tall waves of the bay and it looked like a long giant otter with a caribou head and small antlers…”; “the baby cried harder and harder at the old clinic and the cries came from the pitch-black dark basement…”; “a teacher got to know an old man as he passed by every day to chat. One day he came by and did the same thing. A few minutes later, the teacher discovered that the old man had passed away earlier…”; “on top of the cliff a perfectly smooth surface reminded him of a good place to land an aircraft and a nearby crevasse in the rock face had a nice trail that led deeper into the rock…”; “he ran from the crazed wild women, who brandished knives. His strength was heightened by fear as he climbed the steep cliff to get away and he dared not look back for fear of missing a step…”; “they kept returning night after night, loosening the tent ropes and getting braver and braver and getting closer and louder each night. The father ran out and shot repeatedly into the night…”.
These dramatic endings to many stories told me of how the unknown can be downright terrifying. All stories are not so far back in history, as some people are still alive who experienced these scary moments. As the wind gusts increasingly stronger outside, the dark night blustering snow and ice pellets, these types of stories are common around All Hallows’ Eve, or simply Halloween. It’s hallowed because All Saints’ Day follows the last night of October, but not many people get spooked by holy saints. No, they get scared of the unknown and today’s catch phrase – the paranormal. Yes, unbeknownst to many who dare not to believe, the world of the unknown is a heck of a lot more interesting to discuss than your normal 9-to-5 lifestyle.
Before it was normal to scoff at the superstitious and laugh at their lack of believability. Where’s the evidence? Show me something that can recorded. How about a picture that’s not out of focus? Today, nearly everyone has a camera tucked away in their smartphone and the visual evidence is mounting every day (or every spooky night). Now, it’s the same scoffing and ridicule because just about anyone over the age of three can Photoshop any image imaginable. So, what’s there left to be afraid?
As for me, once a long time ago, when Hull was still Hull and Aylmer still Aylmer, I was invited to go out to a popular discotheque located in a former church. Some priests had dropped by the day before Good Friday and had an excommunication of the holy grounds and that evening, the party was in full swing. I wasn’t allowed in because of the strict dress code, so I ended up shooting pool and headed home on the last bus. The next morning, my landlady informed me that, at the stroke of midnight, all the doors of the discotheque slammed shut. A loud scream and putrid smell added to the fear that the patrons had as they tried to exit in complete darkness.
A short time later, the doors were released from the hellish grip of the unknown and a totally traumatized crowd emerged from the building, some crying and some with their hair turned white. Thank god for jeans. If it weren’t for jeans, I could’ve had the scare of my lifetime. Oh, well, with the way things are going, I’m pretty sure something else will pop up and scare everyone on the planet. Booouuhhoouwaaawaaa!