Things that go bump in the night...

Since Halloween is soon to be upon us, I wanted to relate a story that took place in the mid 1980s. The Friday The 13th movie franchise was in full swing. In case you had your head in the sand, or were not born back then, the franchise mainly focused on the fictional character Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. Decades later, the lake is rumored to be "cursed" and is the setting for a series of mass murders. Jason is featured in all of the films, as either the killer or the motivation for the killings.

Anyway, one Saturday night in late June 1981, several friends and I were hanging around a fire, drinking a few beers. We were bored because we couldn't think of thing to do. As usually happens in these situations, we covered a plethora of topics, including recent movies. Somehow, we stumbled up the subject of the Friday the 13th movie and the character of Jason.

One of my friends, Mark, mentioned that he used to work at Camp Cathedral on Long Pond, in Freetown, MA. He mentioned that every year, all the counselors would spend a week at the camp, before the kids arrived, as an orientation to the camp and their duties. He also mentioned that this was the weekend of that particular week at the Camp.

This led back to the movie Friday the 13th. We started talking about how spooky it must be to work in such surroundings since the movie came out. Mark then mentioned that he knew a back way into the camp, which required a mile walk through the woods. Light bulbs of inspiration instantly appeared over all 5 of our heads! Wouldn't it be fun to scare the counselors? Like clowns in a Clown Car, we immediately piled into Tom's subcompact Dodge Colt and headed down the highway. After about 20 minutes of driving we arrived at the back entrance mentioned by Mark.

We all piled out of the car, giggling like school girls at the audacity of our upcoming prank. With liquid courage from the beer, we set off on the path through the woods, aided by the brightly lit full moon. We stumbled and trip our way through the woods, laughing and making enough noise to wake the dead, yet some how managed to avoid discovery. We all quieted down, with the occasional snicker, as we neared the camp.

The night was deathly quiet, with a pall of fog blanketing the lake. Not a ripple disturb the calm surface. There, up ahead of us, was a cabin brightly lit from the inside. Like Ninjas, we slowly crept to an outside wall, near an open window. We could here laughter and music wafting through the open window. It sounded like there were 20 or so people in the room.

Barely able to control our laughter at what was about to happen, we slowly and quietly spread out beneath the open window. With hand signals and whispers, we made our plan. On the count on three, we would yell and scream like Banshees and bang on the side of the cabin wall.

Without saying a word, I mouthed the count. "One"...."Two"... oh man this is going to be good I thought to myself...."Three"!!!! At that moment, we all started to yell and bang on the side of the building. We immediately heard screams from inside. Tables and chairs were crashing to the floor as we heard the stomp of shoes running across the wood plank for looking for an exit!!!

Several of us were doubled over in laughter, while one of us nearly pissed himself from the absurdity of the situation!! The screams of terror continued as we made our escape. The sounds of chaos began to fade the deeper we went into the woods. All five of us were talking at the same time. None of us could stop laughing at the success of our mission. As far as we know, no one at the camp ever figured out what happened. They probably still talk about that night. I know my friends and I do!!!

Thanks for reading.