by Bill Russo
The wind picked up and pushed smoke from the smoldering fire into the eyes and up the noses of the campers. Bill Ricci coughed, wiped his eyes with a red bandana and asked the history expert a question.
"What do you think, Mr. Markens? Is the Hockomock Swamp haunted?"
He thought for a moment, lifted his glasses from his nose and slid them back to the top of his head, cleared his throat, and finally spoke......
"Well, as a teacher and a student of this region, I can tell you that for hundreds of years, this area of Massachusetts has been the site of thousands of reports of shaggy half-men, half-ape creatures. There have been dozens of accounts of flying birds that seem to be prehistoric pterodactyls. They are extinct flying dinosaurs. Thunder Birds have been spotted. Abnormally large Snakes have been sighted. Snakes, or serpents I should say, as big around as telephone poles! For myself, I have never seen anything in these woods that I cannot explain."
Bobby Butterfield had been anxious to speak, and jumped in when Markens cleared his throat, a nervous habit the teacher had - akin to some people's frequent injection of 'you know' into almost every sentence they utter.
"I've been a camper and a counselor here for quite a few years you know. I have never seen anything like what you guys are describing, you know. But I will tell you what I did see. And mind you. I have seen it three times you know! It is just before or just after sunset. It happens near Rusty Pond, you know where they used to dump old cars and trucks, and the water has turned a reddish brown."
"Yes we all know where it is Bobby. What did you see?" asked Mr. Markens.
"Glowing trees. Entire trees lit up from the base right to the highest branch. Not lit up like by a light bulb, but lit only with a faint, cold glow. They were not even as bright as a fire fly. They looked like giant versions of those glow sticks that people carry; but not the bright ones, you know. They looked like dim glow sticks that are just short of going out. There would be as many as 40 trees, on either side of the path, shimmering in the darkness with that faint, spectral light."
"I've heard of that phenomenon," remarked the history teacher. "There can be several natural explanations for it."
"Well Mr. Markens, that doesn't make it any less scary, you know," Bobby affirmed coldly.
-0-
It fell to Bill Ricci next, to take up the tales.
"It's my first year as a Junior Counselor but I have been a camper at Wild River for four years. Also, my parents’ house is only a few miles away. Our land backs right up to the 'High Tees' - that long swath of land that has the high tension wires that run from Boston to Providence."
"Hey Bill, everybody knows about the 'High Tees'," Bobby Butterfield interjected. "It’s a sixty mile green strip that is supposedly used as an expressway by ghosts and creatures that wander from Massachusetts to Rhode Island."
"You are correct Bob. I've never seen anything weird, either in the 'High Tees' or in the area around the Camp. But I know there are plenty of bizarre creatures in the swamp. My uncle and my Father have seen things, but they refuse to go into details. They will only tell me that they have seen and spoken to some people they called 'wild men'."
Entrance to the High Tees in Raynham, Mass.
