The Sunday Spook

The cemetery at the end of the street was much loved by the neighborhood residents. Most people are scared of cemeteries at night, but not the folks on Kline Road. They found something peaceful about the small parcel of land, housing the remains of the founding family of the area. Until the night of October 30.

It was one night before Halloween the year the things changed at the beloved cemetery. See, the cemetery was lodged between two homes on the east side of the street. On this one night, as the resident of the corner house was walking past the cemetery to get to the house on the other side, he was spooked by a sudden, momentary silence, followed by a howling wind which was followed by an eerie screeching sound coming from the center of the cemetery. Unsettled by feelings of fright at this normally peaceful site, he hurried on his way.

An hour later he was returning home. Before he reached the edge of the cemetery he paused, thinking that maybe he should cross the street and walk past from there. “Oh don’t be ridiculous, it was your imagination”. And he proceeded to walk past. But just as soon as he crossed the edge of the cemetery, he was spooked by a sudden, momentary silence, followed by a howling wind which was followed by an eerie screeching sound coming from the center of the cemetery. He bolted home, locking the door to his house. He hurriedly called the emergency line, stating that someone was being swallowed up by the once-calm cemetery.

When police arrived at his home he recounted his story. The police were annoyed by this man, calling emergency services for an imaginary spook. Still, the officers decided to check it out. As they reached the edge of the cemetery, they stopped for just a moment to glance at each other, and then proceeded to walk past the cemetery. They walked by several times, together and one-by-one, but nothing out of the ordinary occurred. “In fact”, the officers told the resident, “if I felt anything at all it was a sense of peace as I crossed the path adjacent to the cemetery”.

The next morning he walked by the cemetery the same as he had the night before, but nothing was amiss. Still, he was leery. He put up signs on either side of the cemetery, knowing it was Halloween and all the neighborhood kids would be traipsing by to seek their sweet fortunes. The signs said “Warning! Spirits are upset. Cross the street before passing!”

He noticed that not a single child or adult paid any heed to his sign as they walked past the cemetery with no ill effects. About halfway through the evening, when there was a break in the trick-or-treating, he decided to walk past the cemetery. As he reached the edge, he was spooked by a a sudden, momentary silence, followed by a howling wind which was followed by an eerie screeching sound coming from the center of the cemetery. He ran back home to safety.

As the night progressed, children and parents paraded across the path between his and the house on the other side of the cemetery. As one group left his house, he asked if they could join them as they walked along, and they agreed. As they approached the edge of the cemetery, he was spooked by a sudden, momentary silence, followed by a howling wind which was followed by an eerie screeching sound coming from the center of the cemetery. “STOP!” he yelled, as the group stopped and stared at him. Though not one of the others in the group heard or felt a thing, they looked in horror at the man standing in the path in front of the cemetery, his hair straight in the air and shirt blowing in the wind.

Looking at each other and noticing no one else feeling the effects of any wind, they turned and ran, never crossing the path of the cemetery again.