by Ann Hite

Halloween on Black Mountain was pretty boring. Matter of fact, we never even celebrated one until the year that new-fangled teacher, Miss Palmer, came. She was from Asheville and had it in her mind she’d save us kids from ourselves. All she did was give herself something she called sick headaches. But, she did learn us about Halloween. She told wonderful stories of how kids in Asheville wore store-bought costumes every Halloween and knocked on neighbor’s doors. With the magic of three words, trick or treat, they received candy. The closest thing Mary Carol had come to candy was Mama’s peanut brittle, and she purely loved it. She told Mollie—they were best friends since first grade—that they ought to have them a trick or treat.

So, the year Mary Carol and Mollie turned fourteen—Mollie was madly with in love with two boys, Oshie Connor and Tyler Morgan—they decided that their friends deserved a real Halloween like those kids in Asheville, but there wasn’t no way to go knocking on doors in the dark. Mary Carol wasn’t much on the dark, and folks were just too spread out. And, nobody had real candy. So, Mary Carol and Mollie were plain stuck. Then, Miss. Palmer got the idea to have a carnival with games, food, and ghost stories around a fire. Mary Carol didn’t much care for ghost stories. Of course, the mountain was full of ghosts. That was just a fact. Most wasn’t even afraid.

“Where can we have a carnival?” Miss Palmer erased the blackboard as she spoke. Mary Carol was right taken with her red fingernails even if Pastor Dobbins said it was a sign of the devil. “Could we have the carnival at the church?”

“No, Pastor Dobbins won’t go along with that. He says Halloween is the devil’s night. He won’t do a thing to help us.”

Then, Mollie got that look in her eye. That look always meant some kind of trouble for Mary Carol. “Let’s have it at Hobbs Pritchard’s old cabin.”

Mary Carol’s mouth just fell open. Now, Mollie was messing with fire. The Pritchard cabin was haunted. Every soul on Black Mountain knew the ghost of Hobbs himself could be seen on any given night standing by the old hollow tree in his yard. He disappeared a few years back. Then, his wife just walked off in the fog one day and was never seen again. Now, nobody had to tell Mary Carol to stay away from that place. Lots of folks thought one of Hobbs’ girlfriends found her way up the mountain and killed him good, but Mama said his wife killed Hobbs. She said she would have if she had been married to him.

“The Pritchard place is haunted, Miss Palmer.”

“Mary Carol, you don’t believe in ghosts do you?”

Mary Carol hung her head while Mollie giggled. “No. I guess not.”

“Good.” She turned her attention to Mollie. “How do we get permission?”

“Just leave it to me, Miss Palmer.” Mollie was such a teacher’s pet.

“Good! We have lots of plans to make. What kind of games are we going to play?”

“How about bobbing for apples?” Mary Carol thought that was a real fine game.

“That’s a baby game. I want to play spin the bottle.”

Miss Palmer looked shocked. “And, how do you play that game, Mollie?” Mary Carol had a feeling Miss Palmer knew just how to play spin the bottle and was testing Mollie.

Mollie just hung her head. “I don’t know. Patty’s sister was talking about playing it with boys. I want a game where we can play with the boys.”

Mary Carol was about sick of Mollie going ga ga over boys. “Let’s carve pumpkins like you showed us, Miss Palmer. My daddy has a bunch he would give us.”

“Excellent!”

Mollie stuck her tongue out, but Mary Carol knew she was full of envy and that was just a plain out a sin.

Somehow Mollie convinced the old widow Pritchard to let the whole mountain use her nephew’s abandoned farm. It seemed everybody planned on coming to the party, even Pastor Dobbins’ daughter, Elizabeth, who said her daddy could just stay at home and be a stick in the mud. Mary Carol offered Mama’s peanut brittle. But, still in the pit of her stomach she wrestled with dread. She hated ghost stories. Whenever Granny told them, she listened, never a bit worried. But just let her get into bed and the creeps crawled right in with her. Many a night she slept with the covers over her head even in the one-hundred degree heat.

And, it was just her luck that she had to walk to the party alone. Jim, her stupid brother, hated being stuck with his sister and ran off early, leaving her with supper dishes. Mama was down in her back, and Daddy, well, he had done drank himself into a dither, passing out on the floor. Granny couldn’t walk across the room much less walk three miles in the dark, so it was just Mary Carol on her own.

She wasn’t missing the party no matter what. The sun had set and the road got darker and darker. The harvest moon hung in the sky and lit her way with a smoky gray light. But she sure didn’t much care for the dark.

The wind picked up some and she tried not to put much thought into her sweater, hanging on the rocker at home. She just moved forward one foot in front of the other up that shadowy road. Then, she saw a shadowy place where some thick trees hung over the road, blocking out the stars and the moon. She tried to think of ways to go around, but there just wasn’t any unless she wanted to fight the briars or wade through the swampy area. As she got closer, she wished she had a friend.

She heard a giggle and swung around; there stood a girl a couple of years younger. She was right pretty with long dark, curly hair. Fresh rosebuds hung from her ribbon. Mary Carol found that a bit strange in October, but Granny’s rose bush had bloomed as late as November. The girl wore a long old fashion white slip like Granny would have worn when she was young.

“Who are you?” Mary Carol had seen just about every soul on Black Mountain.

“Kayleen Morgan.”

“You’re costume is right pretty.”

She giggled again. “It’s just my burying clothes.”

Mary Carol thought she was trying to scare her talking about such, but she was so relieved to have company, she would have walked with the devil himself had he been there. “Are you going to the party?”

“I wish I could. I like parties. I went to a lot before…”

They walked into the shelter of the trees. Now, what Mary Carol noticed first was Kayleen’s eyes were the color of cornflowers and showed up in the dark.

“I used to be afraid of the dark. I thought spooks were around these parts.” Kayleen smiled.

“You ain’t scared no more?”

“Ain’t no reason to be.”

Mary Carol looked at this girl, younger than her, and shame just washed over her. “I’m scared of the dark. I can’t help it.”

“Ain’t no reason. What gets you in the dark will get you in the light of day.”

They walked.

Kayleen looked at Mary Carol and smiled. “You can hold my hand.”

“No, I ain’t no baby.” Mary Carol could have sworn Kayleen sighed as if she were deeply disappointed.

“We’re almost there.”

“Yeah. We’re coming to the creek.”

“I’m scared of going to the Pritchard farm.”

Kayleen stopped. “Why you sacred?”

“The place is haunted.”

“I ain’t scared of Hobbs. His wife put him in his place. She cut off his head and put it in the old hollow tree.”

That sent a chill up Mary Carol’s spine.

“He’s a real ornery sort.” Kayleen twisted a strand of hair in her fingers.

“His wife died, walked off in the woods because she loved him.”

The girls walked out of the trees into the moonlight that seemed to shine right through Kayleen.

“Who told you that mess?”

“Everybody knows she just walked off into the fog and died. Lord that is the best ghost story on the mountain.”

Kayleen looked real put out. “She ain’t dead. She rode out of here as free as a jaybird.”

Mary Carol just stared at the Kayleen. “Hobbs Pritchard or his wife was never found. You’re younger than me. What makes you such an expert?”

“Just am.” Kayleen hung back.

Mary Carol walked across the little bridge. “You’d better come on or I’ll leave you out here in the dark.” But, when she looked back, the road was as empty as her breakfast plate on Sunday morning. “Kayleen, you ain’t a bit funny. You come on out.” A dog barked in the distance but no sign of Kayleen. Mary Carol ran because she wasn’t no fool. Something got that girl. Probably the ghost of Hobbs Pritchard for the things she said about him.

Mary Carol sure was relieved when she saw the carnival fire and a big commotion going on at the Pritchard’s. At first she thought the boys were having some big ruckus and play fighting, but the closer she got the more she realized the tone of their voices were serious. she ran up to Mollie and grabbed her arm.

“What’s going on here?”

“Where you been?”

“I had to do the dinner dishes before I left.”

Oshie Connor yelled from across the yard. “You ain’t going to believe what Pooter found, Mollie!”

“What they doing over there by that hollow tree?”

Mollie shrugged. “Tyler thought he saw the ghost of Hobbs Pritchard. Then, Pooter reached inside the tree and pulled out a human skull. Gosh, you’d think them boys found gold.”

The creeps walked right across Mary Carol’s head like an army of ants. “Wonder what a skull’s doing in there?” But, she was just talking to hear herself talk. She knew the answer.

“I guess it belonged to old Hobbs.” Mollie looked bored.

When all the excitement was over and done with, a whole group walked home. Of course the boys tried scaring girls, but Mary Carol didn’t think she’d ever be scared of the dark again after that night. Mollie, she just giggled and tried to keep Tyler’s attention.

Granny was rocking in her chair by the fire when Mary Carol came home. She told her how the boys found Hobbs Pritchard’s skull.

“That don’t surprise me a bit. I always said there was something fishy about that whole story.”

“Granny, a girl I ain’t never seen met me on the road and walked with me awhile.”

“Did anyone at the party know her?”

“She didn’t come. When I crossed the bridge at the creek, she just vanished.”

Granny’s face got real still like when she was mad or thinking hard. “She have a name?”

“Kayleen Morgan.”

Granny leaned back in her chair. “Lord be, you done been walking and talking with a haint, Mary Carol. They can’t cross water cause they’re dead. Did she touch you?”

“Nope. She offered to hold my hand, but I wasn’t no baby.”

“Good, cause if a haint touches you, you’re the next to die.”

Mary Carol’s mouth turned real dry.

“Kayleen Morgan was twelve when she got herself lost walking home from a friend’s house. Died from a fall or exposure, not sure which. It just broke my heart when they found her with lips just as purple. The worse part was she hated the dark. I just cried to think about her dying alone in the dark.”

Black Mountain accepted that part of the mystery surrounding Hobbs Pritchard was solved. It kind of left a hole in the old story and the storytellers, like Granny, had to come up with a new version. Everyone figured Nellie, his wife, cut his head off. But where was she? How did she get away? Where did she go? Was she dead? Or, alive somewhere laughing at the whole lot of mountain people? It was truly a mystery of the best kind. For a while, the boys took to hunting for the rest of the body, but they got bored and let the whole mess be.

Mary Carol just made a promise never to walk alone on the roads after dark cause she’d lived her own Halloween story and didn’t care to test her luck again.