It was warm outside for an October night as Andrea put on her red knit sweater. She glanced out the living room window, as she waited for her friend Ben to pick her up. Since she moved into town three months ago, all she’s heard about is an active spirit in Matlin’s Cemetery. I can’t wait to see the cemetery that everyone at school has been talking about, Andrea thought.
Just as Ben pulled up in front of her house and beeped, Andrea’s other friend Nora called her cell phone.
“Ben just got here so we’re on our way,” Andrea said as she rushed out the front door.
“Okay, see you soon,” Nora hung up.
Nora and her boyfriend Jack waited in his car at the entrance of the cemetery for them to arrive. His car faced the black wrought iron gate that stood most of the way open to the five-acre cemetery where many deceased townspeople lay. The newspaper said that six months ago a local woman named Joslin Baker died and was buried there. What is so special about this woman’s death you may wonder? According to many townspeople, Joslin Baker was a witch, and not a nice witch either.
When Ben and Andrea arrived at Matlin’s Cemetery, Ben pulled up behind Jack’s car and signaled him with his headlights. Jack started up his car and slowly drove through the open gate and into the very dark cemetery. Ben followed Jack as they drove in about 500 feet and parked off to the side. Andrea first looked through the windshield and saw the full moon shining down on the dark cement gravestones. Before she could even open the car door, Nora was there tapping on the window.
“You scared me,” Andrea yelled.
“Well, come on. Don’t you want to see Joslin’s ghost?” Nora backed away from the car door.
Andrea looked at Ben and smiled, “I guess that is what we are here for.”
Andrea opened the door and got out of the car. She heard crickets chirping and frogs croaking while she turned and closed the car door. Nora was dressed all in black except for the red boots that she was wearing.
“I love your boots,” Andrea said.
“Thanks, I like your sweater,” Nora smiled.
Jack turned on the flashlight that he had in his hand, “are we going to do this or what?”
Nora grabbed Andrea’s hand and pulled her along as she followed Jack and Ben. Carefully, they walked and looked for Joselin Baker’s headstone in the dark. Andrea turned on the light from her cell phone and glanced around with it. She saw some very old grave markers from the1920’s and thought of her dead grandparents.
“Should we be doing this?” Andrea asked.
“We aren’t hurting anything, we’re just looking,” Jack said.
“Yeah, it’s alright. We’ve been in here lots of times,” Nora grinned.
Ben stopped and let Andrea catch up to him, “are you okay?
“Yeah, just nervous I guess,” Andrea looked at Ben.
Nora hurried to catch up to Jack and grabbed his arm. Andrea walked along with Ben behind the two of them. Shining the flashlight all around, Jack finally saw the Baker headstones. The Bakers picked the plots furthest away from the rest of the townspeople because they are more reserved people. Joslin Baker was the fifth Baker to die from a long line of Bakers in town. And even though she practiced witchcraft, she was still a member of their family.
“Well, here she is,” Jack shined the light on Joslin’s headstone.
The four of them stood and stared at the small photo of Joslin that was attached to the headstone.
“She looks normal to me,” Andrea said.
“Well, she wasn’t though. She was mean to everyone, and yelled curses at people who stepped near her property,” Nora said.
“But what made her so mean? There must have been something that turned her against everyone,” Andrea asked.
“Well, I read that when she was young, there was a guy from town that she was madly in love with who was accidentally hung because of a prank gone wrong. People say that she was so upset over losing him that it made her very angry and vengeful,” Ben explained.
“But, so why did everyone think that she was a witch?” Andrea asked.
“Because she changed completely and learned how to do rituals and spells. The people who she thought were associated in some way with her lover's death, ended up being tortured and killed,” Nora made a throat-cutting gesture to her neck.
Just then, Andrea heard a rustling noise behind her and turned around, “Is someone there?”
Jack turned and shined the flashlight behind them. He looked all around the ground and then up into the trees, but saw nothing, “you’re hearing things,” he said.
“No, I heard something too,” Nora looked around behind her.
Just as they all were looking toward the dark woods, Andrea noticed that she no longer heard the crickets and frogs. Now she heard a loud creak above her head. She looked up and screamed. Nora, Jack, and Ben looked at Andrea and saw her pointing up. Swinging from the tall maple tree was a ghostly male figure hanging with a rope around his neck.
The four of them ran down the dark driveway toward their cars. Andrea opened the car door to get in, but stopped and looked at where they just ran from. There she saw the figure of a woman in a long flowing red dress looking up at the man hanging from the tree. Ben yelled for Andrea to get inside, as Jack had already spun his tires in the gravel leaving.
“Did you see her?” Andrea climbed inside.
“Her, no. But I saw him hanging from the tree,” Ben stepped on the gas pedal.
Please join me again for Spook Season Story 5 of 7 next week.
Spooky big time !!!!