Spookiest Halloween. I was in 6th or 7th grade, and my choir did an exchange with a choir in Lexington, MA. Choir families put us up in their homes.
After the big Halloween party, my housemate/choir friend and I walked back to her house with a few other kids. It was pitch black out.
The town kids said, let’s go to the old cemetery – the oldest in town, dating back to the 1600’s and the resting place of many Revolutionary War soldiers. Scary old cemetery on a dark Halloween night. Check.
People I didn’t know well. Check.
Old tomb with stones shifted by time that we just HAD to shine a flashlight into. Check.
Crisp fall leaves crunching under our every step. Check.
Smell of trees filled with ripe apples. Check and check.
Really, no other Halloween has come as close to perfect as that one.
If the Headless Horseman had come riding through, I would not have been surprised. Terrified, but not surprised.
photo credit: Stephanie Mitchell