THE HAUNTED CHURCH

My brother Rolly and I were walking home. We had been visiting our Uncle and were talking about how good it felt to finally beat him at a game of set back.

It was pretty late in the fall of the year and very few leaves remained on the trees. It was fairly dark but as we rounded the curve in the road we could see through a patch of trees, the church house ahead of us on the right hand side of the road. Directly across the road on the left was the schoolhouse.

For years there had been rumors that the church house was haunted. A lot of people claimed they had heard a baby crying inside and when they went in the crying stopped and the place was empty. Rolly and I had been by there numerous times and had never seen or heard anything out of the ordinary.

We were walking along still relishing the pleasure of winning the set back game when Rolly punched me in the side and said, "Hey, little brother, they’re having prayer meeting here tonight. I’ll bet you fifty cents the Barr sisters are here. We’ll stop and see if we can walk them home!"

Sure enough, that old church house was all lit up and you could hear them singing "When the Roll is Called up Yonder" as clear as a bell. We walked on toward the church talking about the sisters and how lucky we were. They were now singing "When the Saints go Marching In!"

We were directly between the church and schoolhouse when we realized, at the same moment, that the church was as dark and silent as a mummy’s tomb. There was not one living soul anywhere close. Just Rolly and myself!

That is when the baby started crying. It sounded like it was in the church house and the sound was echoing into the schoolhouse…….or the other way around.

Rolly and I took off down the hill towards home like two bats out of hell!

Rolly claimed later that we had got caught up into a time warp. I really don’t know, but when two people see and hear the same thing at the same time it is no figment of the imagination. Like a lot of other strange things in my life I just file it away with the many other strange things I am unable to explain,

I have always thought that us mortals were on a need to know basis anyway!

I’d be the host
To any ghost
That would agree
To shed his sheet,
Then take a seat
And talk to me.
But then,
What would I see?