The time was early December 1936. A great drought and a great depression
were devastating the heartland of America. Almost everyone was desperately
poor. There were many abandoned farms and empty houses. Many of the
people had moved on, some to California and some to the industrialized
cities of the northeast and the great lakes, trying to find a place
where they could start over, rebuild their lives and provide for their
families. A few hardy souls were trying to hang on and struggle through
the rough times.
Dink, Tyre, Milt, Drew and Joe were the sons of some of these hardy
people. These five boys formed a band who played together when they
were not too busy working on their parents’ farms and helping
out with their families’ businesses. The boys called their group,
“The Rough Riders.” The name was taken from Teddy Roosevelt’s
famous brigade who charged up San Juan Hill in Cuba, during the Spanish
American War.
This was a time before radio, television, computers, and movie theaters.
If people in those days were going to be entertained, they had to
find ways to entertain themselves. The land in which they lived was
vast, and for the most part it was empty. There was much to do. There
were creeks, canyons, hills and valleys to be explored. The Rough
Riders would organize their activities in advance. They called it
going adventuring. Tonight, the adventure was to visit the haunted
house.
The night was cold. Just a sliver of a moon could be seen through
the thin layer of clouds as they went scurrying past. The biting wind
was blowing across the prairie producing a hissing sound as it passed
through the bare stems of the weeds and grass. The dry branches of
the plants brushing against the boys’ pant legs and boots created
a rasping sound as they walked along.
The boys were all walking along in silence following a trail that
had been made by cattle. They were very different in character and
nature, but they made a good group. Dink, the oldest, a dark haired,
dark eyed, wiry kid, was their leader. Dink was not his real name;
they just called him that. He looked like he probably had some Indian
ancestry. He had a great imagination and was always thinking of interesting
things to do. All of the boys liked him - he made a good leader.
Tyre was a gentle boy who loved animals. He always brought his dog
along with him on their adventures. Joe, being the youngest at nine
years old, was small for his age. But he was a rough and tumble kid
who could keep up with the best of them. Drew, the biggest of the
bunch, was a very stable kinda kid, slow to anger. Milt was the tallest.
He was a little timid, being raised by his old-maid aunt. She ran
a shop in the little town nearby, so he was what they called a city
kid. The rough and tumble life of the country was new to him, but
he was game to try anything. And he could be depended on when the
chips were down.
The boys loved to go adventuring, and this night the adventure was
to visit the haunted house. The haunted house was a place which no
one in his right mind would want to go, especially on a dark, cold
night, with the wind howling across the prairie, making the trip less
than pleasant. Nobody was making any pretense of being in their right
mind. Dink had put out a dare. He dared the boys to go with him and
sit in the haunted house to see if it really was haunted. Each of
the boys had to prove to himself that he was not afraid to go at night
into the haunted house and see if the house was, or was not, haunted.
None of the boys really wanted to go, but if they didn’t go
they would be admitting to themselves they were afraid, and they sure
didn’t want to admit that, and be considered a coward by the
rest of the group. So each boy just had to call Dink’s dare.
Each of them was carrying some article of food they all planned to
eat after heating it over the fire which they were going to build
on the dirt floor of the haunted house. The old house had a fire place
but they could not sit around it like they could an open fire. One
of the boys had brought along some wieners and marshmallows. Joe had
biscuits which his mother had made. Maybe it wouldn’t be so
cold after they got inside the old house and got a fire going.
The haunted house was located in the valley of a little stream. Before
they got to the old house, they could see it, just a dim outline sitting
back among the trees. It was just a dark shadow, old, deserted and
cold. It had been abandoned for a long time. The yard had all grown
up in weeds. The old scrub oak trees were overhanging the house. The
branches were dragging on the roof making a scratching sound as they
rubbed against the handmade shingles. It was the dreariest looking
place you could ever imagine.
The only thing they had for a light was a kerosene lantern. The lantern
didn’t give off much light. Dink, being the leader of the group,
was carrying the lantern and walked up to the old door which was hanging
on rusty hinges, and gave it a push. The sound of that door opening
was enough to make everyone want to go home. The hinges squeaked;
it had been a long time since those hinges had moved. The bottom of
the door dragged on the dirt floor. That old house was darker than
the inside of a cave at midnight.
The boys were all standing at the now open door, trying to see into
the old house. All they could see with the feeble light being given
off by that old lantern was some hand made, broken-down furniture,
some worn-out pots and pans lying around on the floor near the fireplace.
Tyre had his dog on a leash. The dog was whining and trying to pull
away. Not even the dog wanted to go inside that old house. That did
not bode well. The boys all thought that dog wasn’t afraid of
anything physical, but he was sure afraid of something in that old
house.
Dink, while holding the lantern up as high as he could, trying to
see inside the house, said, “Well, who’s going in with
me?”
Drew, who was the next craziest in the bunch, said, “You go
first and I’ll follow.”
The rest of the boys very cautiously followed them in. The house
had an eerie feeling about it. It was sure no place you would want
to spend the night alone, or with a group, for that matter.
Milt (that was short for Milton) suggested, “Let’s get
a fire going in here, maybe it will cheer the place up a bit.”
Joe agreed. “This place needs more than a bit of cheering up,
but I’m all for getting a fire going, it is colder than a witch’s
heart in here.”
Dink remarked, “Let’s go outside and get some wood for
a fire.”
There was plenty of dead wood which had fallen from the trees over
the years, but it was so dark they had to just feel around with their
feet to find it.
“We got enough now,” Joe said. “Let’s go take
it inside and see if we can get it to burn.”
They finally got a fire going and it did help a bit. The fire was
casting moving shadows on the walls. The dog was very nervous and
wanted to go outside. Tyre was trying to calm his dog. Everyone was
busy getting the food ready to cook.
Everything seemed OK in the house and Joe asked, “Why do they
say this house is haunted?”
Dink answered, “There was a family lived here once, a long
time ago. The man was bitten by a rabid dog. There was no cure for
the rabies, and the man knew he would go mad. He did not wish to harm
any of his family when he went mad, so he chained himself to a post
in that other room over there. They say he put a lock on the chain
and swallowed the key, so none of his family could unlock him. He
did go mad, and after a time died a horrible death. In his madness
before he died, he struggled against the chains. After he died, the
family moved away never to return. They say the house is haunted because
at times you can still hear the chains rattling from the mad man struggling,
trying to break them.”
Without warning, the dog began running around and around the room
barking and howling. It seemed out of its mind. The boys couldn’t
catch it and they couldn’t calm it. After a while, it ran out
of the house and off into the woods, still barking and howling.
Drew asked, “Tyre, what’s wrong with your dog?”
Tyre replied, “Ah, he is just a pup and pups have running fits
sometimes. Dad says he probably has worms.”
Milt asked, “Are you sure he hasn’t got rabies?”
Tyre said, “Nah, I’m not sure, but I don’t think
so.”
The boys were starting to get warm from the fire, and from being
inside the house, out of the wind.
Joe said, “Let’s eat.”
They all cut some sticks with their pocket knives and stuck some
wieners on the ends of the sticks so they could cook them over the
fire. They also roasted some marshmallows using the sticks to hold
them over the fire. The food was smelling good. The old house was
feeling a lot better. They were just sitting around the fire eating
the hot food, talking about the man being chained in the other room.
They were laughing about people thinking they had heard chains rattling
in the old abandoned house.
The fire was starting to die down. The shadows were getting hazy
against the walls, looking like grotesque figures moving about the
room. No one wanted to go get more wood for the fire. They were just
waiting for Tyre’s dog to come back. Tyre said, “The dog
will come back when he gets over the fit.”
Milt asked, “Tyre, why don’t you just call that dog?”
Tyre said, in his lisping voice, “I would call that jot damn
dog, but I’m afraid he would come.”
Everyone was laughing at the humor of Tyre’s statement when
all of a sudden they heard the sound of rattling chains coming from
the other room. No one said a word. They looked at each other. The
house got very quiet. All they could hear was the moaning sound of
the wind blowing around the eaves of the old house, the scratching
sound of the tree branches rubbing against the roof, and the pounding
of their own hearts like drumbeats in their temples. The moaning of
the wind had the sound of a mad man in pain.
Dink said, “Ah, that’s just the wind.” No one replied,
just a kind of nodding of their heads, but there was doubt in their
eyes.
The moaning sound continued. Then again, without warning, they heard
the sound of rattling chains.
“Let’s get outta here,” cried Milt.
A blast of wind hit the front door, slamming it shut. The door was
jammed against the frame. The sound of chains was coming from the
other room. They seemed to be getting closer and closer to where the
boys were now trapped in the semi-darkened room. They were pulling
frantically at the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
Joe yelled, “Where is the back door?”
“We’re going to have to find it!” Dink yelled back
from the now darkened room.
They were all frantically feeling around the walls for the door which
they felt sure would be there somewhere.
Drew called out, “Here it is and I got it open!”
They all bailed out of that house like it was on fire. They were
all just standing around outside, trying to regain their composure.
Each of them was just looking at that spooky old house. No one knew
what to say. They couldn’t figure out what had just happened.
None of them could hear the sounds of chains anymore. No one seemed
to know what to do. They had left all of their stuff in the house
when they ran out so fast. The dog came back. It was still whining
and wanted to get away from the house. No one petted it.
After a while Dink said, “I’ve just got to know what
is making that rattling sound and I’ve got to get my lantern.
Who will go back in with me?”
All the rest of the boys were thinking, “You’ve got to
be crazy! Who would go back into that house after what we just experienced?”
Nobody was speaking up in reply to Dink’s question.
The silence was deafening.
Dink looked at Joe and asked, “Joe, how about you, will you
go back in with me?”
Joe had a reputation of never taking a dare - which Joe was thinking
at the time, means-I am not just real bright. Joe thought about it
for a while. He was trapped. Nobody would blame him if he didn’t
go, but if Dink was willing to go back in and Joe refused, then he
had to admit to himself, he was not as brave as Dink. There was no
way he was going to admit that.
“OK, let’s go,” Joe said reluctantly. He was hoping
Dink would change his mind.
Now Dink wasn’t real bright either, so in they went. They could
see the glow of the lantern still sitting in the middle of the room
where they had left it. It gave off very little light. All that was
left of the fire was some glowing embers which did little to light
the old place. It just made it look even spookier.
Joe had a little camper’s ax in his hand which he always carried
with him when they went on these trips. The ax came in handy when
they were building camp fires. Joe had no idea what he was going to
do with it, going back into that haunted house, but it gave him a
feeling of comfort.
When he and Dink got to the door of the old bed room, they stopped
and just listened. After a moment, they heard the sound of rattling
chains again. No doubt this time. That was the sound of rattling chains!
Joe and Dink were caught. To go back was to admit that they did not
have the courage to go on with what they had started. But to go on
was not something either of them wanted to do. Dink looked at Joe.
Joe nodded his head and in they went. At first they could see nothing.
Then, after their eyes adjusted to the dark, they could see something
moving in the corner of the room. It was small, it was real, and it
was no ghost!
Joe moved forward with his ax at the ready. He was moving very cautiously.
Then he saw a full-grown opossum, with one of its hind legs caught
in a steel trap. The chain was still attached to the trap. Whenever
the opossum moved, the chain would rattle.
When the opossum had been caught, it had managed to pull the stake
from the ground which held the trap, and was supposed to hold the
animal till the owner of the trap came to collect whatever the trap
had caught. The opossum was now living in the old house and was dragging
the trap with it wherever it went. The opossum was old and had been
living in the house for a long time. The house made a perfect den
for the injured animal.
Joe asked Dink to hold the animal while he opened the trap freeing
the opossum’s leg. The leg had been broken when the trap snapped
closed, but it had healed. Now the opossum, after being freed from
the steel trap could move around without having to drag the trap and
chain with it. Both Joe and Dink felt good about the opossum, but
they were both a little sad because they had ruined a perfectly good
haunted house.
Joe said to Dink, “Let’s don’t tell the boys what
we found.” Dink grinned and just nodded his head. They picked
up their stuff from the room where they had left it and joined the
boys outside.
Tyre asked, “What did you find?”
Dink said, “All we found was an old opossum living in that
other room.” Joe nodded his head in agreement.
“Is that all?”
“Yeah, that’s all. If you don’t believe us, go
look for yourselves.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” said Tyre. They could
tell by the way he said it that he felt there was more to the story
than what was being told, but he was in no mood to go back into that
dark old house and check it out.
They all started home. No one was talking. They were each engaged
in their own thoughts about what had happened that evening. They never
talked much about it after that. They had other places to explore,
other adventures to live.
The Rough Riders rode on!