Halloween Mystery

This is not a horror story, but one of childhood expectations and fantasy. It took place during the 1960s when I was 8 years old. This was during an era when kids could have real fun, and use their imaginations, playing pretend. Take a trip with me down memory lane and enjoy a blast from the past where the mood was always ripe for the unexplained. I grew up in the Blue Ridge mountains in a town that was named Blue Ridge, in Botetourt County Virginia. The mountain ridges really are blue and our house was about a half-mile from the base of the surrounding mountains.

The crisp cool air turning to Indian Summer temperatures presented an autumn atmosphere that would bring to mind Rip Van Winkle in the Catskills. The footbridge near my cousin’s home elicited thoughts of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman riding by. Think of the children of the Midnight Society on Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark series or RL Stein’s show Goosebumps. Apple cider, hayrides, and fall festivals were a reality in my childhood. In later years the mystery and atmosphere within the television miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home. would best explain it all. Blue Ridge was a beautiful area full of green grass, trees, fruit trees and hillsides.

On Halloween night, excitement and expectation were in the air as all the neighborhood children would go trick or treating. We had colored images of cats, witches, and grimacing Jack O Lanterns in school and sang scary songs. Now it was just about dark and almost time for our journey. Carved Pumpkins with lit candles inside at many houses added to the aura of the evening. I would be in anticipation for a week, wondering what costume my grandma would purchase for me to wear. On Halloween night, 1966 I was heading out the back door of my home with my friends to go trick or treating when we heard a noise like a wicked laugh. We looked up to see someone in a black cape, and wearing fangs like Dracula who seemed to be flying at us and we ran screaming for dear life.

It turned out to be the older brother of my friends who lived up the hill to the left of my house. he had leaped from a large rock on the hillside and got the reaction he expected from us younger kids. We had a good laugh till we were in tears and went on our way to knock on doors. Back in those days everyone knew all their neighbors and there was no fear of abduction or being poisoned. There was one church in the African American community and we all attended. Everyone was connected by the community if not by blood. As we walked and passed other groups of masked children we tried to figure out who they were and they did the same for us.

We went trick or treating with my grandma supervising and after about an hour and a half I was back home with bags full of candy. My grandma always checked it out because in a nearby city people were putting needles in apples. She also always grabbed a few goodies for herself. It had been a spooky yet fun night and I sat on the living room couch to watch TV. I seem to recall that It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown was on but it’s premiere date is listed as October 27, 1966. It’s possible that there was an encore presentation on the 31st but I can find no record.

I know I took off my costume and remember sitting on the couch and looking at TV. There had been no trick or treaters to show up at the house since we returned but just before 8:00 PM the cane a clear knock on the front door. Three knocks and my great-grandma came out of the kitchen, grabbed a bag of candy and went to the door. This took about 10 seconds but when she opened the door, no one was there. Great granny looked to the left and right, walked across the porch and looked around but not one person was in sight.

Goosebumps, chills, thrills, and tingles went through my body. I had survived being frightened by Dracula and now there was a mystery right at the front door. In more than 50 years since that Halloween night, I have never even considered that one of the neighborhood children might have been the culprit. We had all been out and returned home in groups and the likelihood that one child decided to leave his or her house alone and cross the hillside or walk up the path to my house in the dark seemed unlikely. Great-grandma never mentioned it again but I thought about it each October 31.