CAMPFIRE TALE

THIS IS A STORY I HEARD WHEN I WAS WITH MY FAMILY AT A
SUMMER COTTAGE. IT IS BEST WHEN TOLD AROUND THE DYING
EMBERS OF A FIRE.
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE THREE BOYS, JOE, MIKE AND AL.
ONE DAY, THESE BOYS DECIDED THEY WANTED TO START A CLUB
AMONG THEMSELVES. THEIR ONLY DIFFICULTY WAS TRYING TO
FIGURE OUT A GOOD INITIATION FOR THE MEMBERS OF THIS
CLUB. AFTER KICKING AROUND A FEW IDEAS, THEY FINALLY
DECIDED ON USING AN OLD ABANDONED HOUSE OUTSIDE THE TOWN
AS THEIR PROVING-GROUNDS. THE ONLY HITCH WAS THAT SINCE
THEY WERE THE INSTIGATORS OF THIS CLUB, IT WOULD ONLY
BE FAIR TO GO THROUGH THE INITIATION THEMSELVES.
DISREGARDING A LOCAL BELIEF THAT ANYONE ENTERING THIS
HOUSE AFTER DARK WOULD NEVER COME OUT AGAIN, THEY WENT
ONE DARK, MOONLESS NIGHT TO THIS ANCIENT MANSION ON THE
TOP OF A HILL CARRYING NOTHING BUT CANDLES. THE PROCEDURE
WOULD BE THAT EACH WOULD GO ALONE INTO THE HOUSE AND SHINE
THE CANDLE IN EVERY WINDOW OF THE HOUSE, STARTING FROM
THE FIRST FLOOR AND WORKING THEIR WAY UP TO THE THIRD.
JOE, BEING THE OLDEST, VOLUNTEERED TO GO FIRST. TRYING
NOT TO LOOK FRIGHTENED, HE LEFT THE OTHER TWO STANDING
OUTSIDE WITH THE INSTRUCTION TO LEAVE IF HE WASN'T OUT
IN TEN MINUTES. ALMOST BREATHLESSLY, MIKE AND AL WATCHED
AS JOE SHINED HIS CANDLE IN THE FIRST WINDOW, THEN A FEW
SECONDS LATER IN THE SECOND, THEN THE THIRD, UNTIL HE
HAD FINISHED THE FIRST FLOOR. A MINUTE LATER THEY SAW
THE LIGHT IN THE FIRST WINDOW OF THE SECOND FLOOR, THEN
THE NEXT, AND THE NEXT, UNTIL HE HAD FINISHED HIS ROUND
OF THE SECOND FLOOR. ALL THAT WAS LEFT NOW WAS THE FEW
WINDOWS ON THE THIRD FLOOR. BUT THEY DIDN'T SEE THE
SIGNAL. THEY WAITED AND WAITED AND WAITED, BUT STILL
NO SIGNAL. AFTER WAITING FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES, AL BECAME
WORRIED AND SUGGESTED THEY LEAVE AND TRY TO GET HELP.
BUT MIKE HAD A DIFFERENT THOUGHT. HE SUPPOSED THAT JOE
WAS JUST PLAYING A TRICK ON THEM BY NOW SHOWING UP.
MIKE THEN WENT IN TO FULFILL HIS PART OF THE INITIATION
WITHOUT WAITING FOR JOE TO COME OUT.
HE STARTED HIS ROUNDS AS PRESCRIBED, SHINING HIS CANDLE
IN EACH AND EVERY WINDOW OF THE FIRST AND SECOND FLOOR,
BUT ONCE AGAIN, AL WAITED AND WAITED TO SEE THE SIGNAL
FROM THE THIRD FLOOR AND IT NEVER CAME.
NOW THOROUGHLY SCARED, AL DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. HE
SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY CREPT UP THE FRONT STAIRS AND
OPENED THE SQUEAKY, ROTTEN, DILAPIDATED DOOR AND CALLED
INSIDE. HE HEARD HIS CALL ECHOED IN THE MASSIVE HALLS,
BUT NOT A SOUND FROM HIS BUDDIES. HE TOOK A FEW STEPS
INSIDE AND THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT BEHIND HIM. NOT A
SOUND WAS TO BE HEARD. SILENTLY HE APPROACHED THE
STAIRCASE, AND ALMOST AFRAID TO BREATHE, HE LISTENED.
FROM SOME DISTANT PART OF THE UPPER FLOORS OF THE HOUSE
HE COULD JUST BARELY HEAR A STEADY, DULL, THUMPING
NOISE, AS IF SOMEONE WERE POUNDING ON A WALL.
CURIOUS, WORRIED ABOUT HIS FRIENDS, AND SHIVERING IN
HIS BOOTS, AL SLOWLY STARTED ASCENDING THE LONG STAIR-
WAY. AS HE GOT HIGHER, THE THUMPING GREW LOUDER. HE
CALLED TO HIS FRIENDS, BUT THE ONLY REPLY WAS THE SLOW,
DULL, THUMPING. HE CLIMBED HIGHER AND THE NOISE GREW
LOUDER AND LOUDER AND LOUDER UNTIL BY THE TIME HE
REACHED THE THIRD FLOOR, THE THUDDING WAS DIRECTLY
OVERHEAD. HE CALLED AGAIN, AND THE THUDDING STOPPED
FOR A MOMENT, DURING WHICH TIME HE THOUGHT HE HEARD
A VERY FAINT MOAN. THE THUMPING STARTED ONCE AGAIN,
THE SAME SLOW, STEADY, REPEATED THUD. AFTER SEARCHING
FOR A FEW MINUTES, AL FOUND A LADDER THAT LED UP TO A
TRAP DOOR INTO THE ATTIC. HE SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY
CLIMBED THE LADDER, LIFTED THE TRAP DOOR AND HELD HIS
CANDLE OVER HIS HEAD. THERE IN THE CORNER HE SAW JOE
KNEELING OVER MIKE, BANGING MIKE'S HEAD ON THE FLOOR.
IN SHEER PANIC, AL JUMPED OFF THE LADDER AND OUT OF THE
HOUSE, AND THAT WAS THE LAST HE SAW OF HIS TWO FRIENDS.
MANY YEARS LATER, AL WAS RIDING THE TRAIN TO WORK WHEN
HE SPOTTED A MAN ON THE TRAIN WHO LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE
HIS BOYHOOD FRIEND MIKE. AFTER THINKING BACK TO THAT
DREADFUL NIGHT, HE FIGURED IT COULDN'T BE THE SAME
PERSON, AND YET, HE WASN'T SURE. AFTER LOOKING AT THIS
MAN FOR A LONG TIME, AL FINALLY GOT UP THE COURAGE TO
APPROACH HIM.
"EXCUSE ME, SIR, BUT ISN'T YOUR NAME MIKE?"
THE MAN SEEMED NOT TO HAVE HEARD AL, SO HE REPEATED
HIS QUESTION.
THIS TIME, THE MAN SLOWLY PUT DOWN THE NEWSPAPER HE WAS
READING, SLOWLY TURNED TO AL AND SAID:
(NARRATOR NOW SHOUTS: BOO!).

Where learned: ILLINOIS ; CHICAGO

Date learned: 00-00-1959