It was a cold crisp night for most of Kentucky. Something had awoken deep in the woods past the frozen fields of the farm. The night was uncomfortably quiet except for the cracking of the trees. This far outside of the city lights, the stars shone brightly. There was no moonlight except for the thinnest crescent low in the horizon. Something disturbed its slumber and it arose from beneath the fallen leaves and frozen moldy earth like a cicada after nearly a score of years. As it gathered consciousness in this long forgotten spot, some urge or hunger propelled it from its resting spot beneath a tangle of trees, briars and honeysuckle vines white with frost. It sensed something different had invaded its home. Perhaps only a faint smell lingering in the air that only the keenest nose could detect. It left the woods crossing the cold barren fields and descended upon the old house as silent as a mouse.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I had spent the last half hour checking out the  want ads in the Lexington and local newspapers. I wasn’t having any luck. The nearest jobs posted that I was slightly qualified for, were as far away as Lexington. I smacked the paper down on the floor. “God damn it! I should know better than try to look for a job in this god-forsaken place!” I said. But I didn’t want to leave the farm, that’s what kept me up at night.

I cooked a simple meal that I had perfected over the years of living alone as a single man. A box of mac and cheese, store brand spaghetti sauce cooked together with  ground beef and assorted veggies randomly tossed in. It wasn’t gourmet, but it was filling and nutritious.

After dinner I fell asleep on the couch watching ER. I woke up because Buddy was barking and licking my face. “Alright, alright, I’ll let you out.” I rolled off the couch and headed for the door. I held the door open but Buddy just stood there sniffing the air. “Are you going out or not? Make up you mind right now cause it’s cold out there.” Buddy turned and walked back towards the kitchen. “Food. Yeah, that figures.” I turned on the light. Buddy ran to the counter wagging his tail. I got out a big bag of his dry food and poured some in his bowl. He gobbled a few bites, then took his time with a few more. I scraped what was left of the spaghetti into his food bowl and he gobbled it up as fast as it hit the dish. He sat silently looking up at me wagging his tail hoping I would give him more. “Sorry Bud, that’s all there is,” I said.

I decided to wash the dishes now rather than have the spaghetti sauce caked on and difficult to wash in the morning. I got the sink ready with hot soapy water. Buddy seemed satisfied and I heard his nails clicking against the wood floor as he walked back towards the living room.

As I washed the dishes, randomly seeing my reflection in the window, I thought I saw something move out beyond the lawn towards the garden. I leaned forward cupping my hands to my face. I pressed them against the cold window pane to muffle the bright reflection of the kitchen, but couldn’t see anything. Perhaps it was just deer or raccoon in the yard. Suddenly a human form appeared with eyes staring back at me just a few feet away. I jumped and jerked away. My knees gave out and I collapsed onto the floor, shaking. My heart pounded in my chest and I didn’t want to be seen, so I got down and low crawled across the kitchen floor towards the living room.

“Buddy… Buddy, come here boy,” I whispered. I was queasy and started to quiver. Gooseflesh rose up on my arms and legs in a wave.  Buddy was excited that I was down on his level wagging his tail and licking me. My heart pounded and I was scared shitless.  I was alone. My nearest neighbors lived a half mile away. Maybe it was just someone who wandered upon the property. Nobody knocked and I didn’t hear a car coming up the driveway. Maybe I was being robbed. I gasped and looked around for something to use as a weapon. I grabbed the poker from the fireplace and snuck to the door holding onto Buddy’s collar so he wouldn’t run around barking. I slowly opened the door and peeked outside. I turned on the porch light and could only see a few yards from the house. I walked out on to the porch and looked around. “Is anyone out there? I have a gun and I’ll use it if I have to,” I said shaking. There was dead silence. I was about to go back inside when Buddy went nuts. I held onto his collar as he tried to pull away from me. Buddy snarled and whined, he was furious. Suddenly something scared him and he dove under my feet. Then he started to howl as in pain. “Oh fuck!” I said running inside and bolting the deadbolt. I shook so bad that I nearly peed myself. I crawled back into the  living room and got behind the couch. I held onto Buddy’s collar and spooned with him closing my eyes. I’m not sure how long I stayed there awake and terrified, but I eventually fell asleep.

I remember waking up at times during the night cold and stiff from lying on the cold wooden floor, but Buddy seemed happy to have me there to share body heat as well. I didn’t take him out that night and I would have to make it up to him in the morning, but tonight I needed him.

                                                            Friday 23 March 2001

Strange how morning changes everything. I felt a bit foolish being a grown man and cowering behind the couch with a dog all night. I’m not one prone to being afraid of the dark, but there are some things in life that terrify me. I suppose it’s a primitive thing, maybe some instinct held over from our long lost ancestors sitting around a campfire cowering in the dark.

I woke up stiff and cold. Buddy was jumping anxious to go outside. I walked over the front door, unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door. Buddy flew out and peed immediately. I followed him outside and looked around seeing if I could see footprints. I walked around towards the back of the house towards the kitchen window to see if anyone had left any traces of being there. I bent down and examined the mud. Buddy started to sniff the ground but seemed only interested because I was down there. There was still a heavy frost on the ground and no footprints could be found.

I decided to go back inside, take a hot shower and make breakfast. I walked in the back door into the kitchen and the water was still in the sink with the rest of the dirty dishes. I turned on the radio and heard the song Delta Dawn playing. I hadn’t heard that song in a long time. I reheated the water and finished washing my dishes. Made a fried egg sandwich and decided to drive over to pay my neighbors a visit. I felt I needed some human company after my fright last night. Plus they had yet to see my new dog. So far Buddy had been a joy. He was a very obedient, good natured dog who was excited to be near me. I wasn’t sure how he would react around other people, so today he gets to go on the leash.

We got in the truck and turned right after leaving my front gate. Mr Watts said that they lived at next farm down the road going north from my farm. I hadn’t not met any of my neighbors except Cody and Ethel. I drove about a quarter mile north and saw a mailbox shaped like a little red barn that said, “The Watts” printed neatly in black right next to a rocky little drivel driveway. There was no woods or trees to drive through like mine, but a bare pasture where huge rolls of hay lay scattered. The road curved slightly upwards where I saw a cute white two story house on top on a small hill with two cars parked near the side. They had a little neatly tended yard fenced off with white picket fence. There were a few huge trees in the yard that were bare of its leaves. I guess they heard my truck driving up towards their house and I saw them coming out the front door. Ethel came out first, her snow white hair glowing in the sunshine and blowing about her face, then some younger woman taller and thin with long blonde hair closer to my age followed behind her. Ethel started waving and I pulled up besides the other two cars. Buddy was getting all excited and I said, “Stay..stay!” He reluctantly but obediently sat down. I got out of the car and left Buddy sitting in the front seat looking at me.

“Oh my goodness look who’s here,” said Ethel. “How are you Travis? This is my granddaughter Mary Lynn. Mary, this is my next door neighbor Travis. He is Andy’s nephew.”

“Nice to meet you Travis. I am so sorry about your uncle. He was like family. He and Joe were always doing things for mama and papaw. I liked him a lot,” she said.

“Yeah I heard he was a good guy. I just wish I had gotten to know him better. He was away from home a lot when I was a kid being that he was in the navy. We hardly saw much of him. He moved back here long after I moved away and joined the army.”

“So what brings you out this morning?” said Ethel.

“Who are you talking to out there?” I could hear a voice coming from inside.  

“Its Travis! He came for a visit!” she said.

“Uhhh well, I came over to ask Cody if he could teach me to drive a tractor,” I said.

“Yeah well I’m sure that can be arranged, but you need to talk to Cody about tractors and such,” Ethel said.

“Did I hear my name?” said Cody coming out the front door putting on his grey and green plaid jacket.

“Howdy Cody, I’ve been thinking this week that I wanted to have a vegetable garden this summer, but I never drove a tractor before. Andy has a tractor in the barn, but I need someone to show me how to drive it. I was just wondering if you could teach me. I can help you plow your field too if you want,” I said.  

“Sure thing, boy. It isn’t that hard once you learn.  I’ve been meaning to plow up a patch for a little garden myself once the ground gets a bit drier.”

I saw Ethel and Mary walking towards my truck.

“Oh Travis, is that a new dog I see in the truck?”  

“Yeah, that is Buddy. I think he might be part Lab and maybe part Rottweiler or German Shepherd with those little, blonde, eyebrows. I got him at the pound last week in Lexington. I was getting kinda lonely being in that big house all by myself and I have always wanted a dog,” I said.

“Well he certainly is a pretty dog,” said Ethel looking in the window.

“The people in the pound said he wasn’t much older than about 9 months old. Said the owners couldn’t keep him in their apartment and had to give him up. He seems like a very sweet dog and really friendly. I just need to train him not to run out in traffic. He gets a little excited when he goes outside.”

“We had a good old German Shepherd named Buck. Best dog I ever had. We had to put him down about two years ago after he got cancer. He lived close to ten years old,” Said Cody.

“He was a good dog. My kids loved to play with him every time they came to visit,” said Mary.

“Well Travis if you want, I can come over a little later and show you a thing or two about tractors.”

“That would be nice. I was hoping to get a little practice in before I actually try to plow the field.”

“I have a few chores to do. Maybe I could drop by this afternoon,” said Cody, placing his hand on the front of my truck.

“Pappaw’s been working on the sink. It has a bad drip and he won’t call a plumber,” said Mary laughing a little and covering her smile.

“It isn’t that bad  but it has been bugging me for a few weeks now. Cody keeps saying he is going to fix it, but keeps putting it off,” said Ethel.

“I can look at it if you want. I’ve been working on the bathroom in my house all week and am pretty good at plumbing,” I said.

I followed them inside their home. It was very cozy inside and warm. I walked through the living room with a little sofa and a rocking chair. I saw that they had a big flat screen TV with Days of our Lives playing. They had a fireplace with a mantel painted white with lots of framed pictures of family all lined up across the top. There was one picture in particular that caught my eye.

“Is this who I think it is?” I said smiling.

“You would be right. That’s a picture of Andy and Joe we took when they came to our house for Thanksgiving the year before Joe died. Those were happy days,” Cody said adjusting his glasses.

“They look like a happy couple,” I said.

“They were decent people,” Cody said nodding his head.

We walked into their kitchen and I saw the bottom of the sink doors open and tools spread out all over the floor.

“You want to take a look and see what you think? I can’t seem to get the nut loosened up. It is all rusty. Maybe you can have better luck than me? I bought a new faucet  but just can’t get the water to turn off.”

I got down and crawled underneath. I took the wrench and clamped down and tried to turn it. It was stuck tight, but I finally got it to budge.

“It’s loose now,” I said.

“Oh good. I was having a time with it, but I ain’t as strong as I used to be,” Cody said.

I crawled out and Cody started to take the faucet apart. “Here Travis have a seat,” said Ethel. I sat down watching Cody.

“Oh I did have another reason for coming over besides the tractor.  Last night after ER went off, I was washing dishes and I thought I saw something outside in the yard. I leaned over the sink to get a better look and I could have sworn I had seen a person looking back at me not this far away from the window. It scared the daylights out of me. I was kinda hesitant to tell you, but I really don’t have anyone here to talk to.”

Ethel turned and looked at me intently and sat down. “Was it a young man by chance Travis?” she said.

“Hmmm I think so, but can’t be sure. I didn’t look long enough to find out,” I said.

“When I was a little girl, my best friend’s mom claimed to have seen a young man looking in that same window at night. We used to blame it on Randy my older brother, but he said it wasn’t him. That was when all the weird stuff started to happen,”she said raising her withered hands and looking around as if something was behind her.

“What sort of weird stuff are you talking about?” said Travis.

“There was a family that lived there by the name of Cameron. Edward and his wife Margaret had eight children all together, three boys and five girls. The youngest girl was my best friend Jeanie Sue.  Ever since I can remember people used to say that the woods were haunted. I never seen anything myself, but I do remember that the Cameron’s lived there for a number of years. When I was nine, the youngest boy Ted claimed to have a new friend. He said some boy showed up on the farm one day, but nobody ever saw that boy. Teddy kept talking about his friend but no one believed him since he tended to lie to get attention. I do remember that he got quiet and withdrawn. His family thought it was just teen angst.  In the fall of 1922 Teddy grew terribly thin. He started having terrible dreams and claimed to hear voices. His parents were very worried and took him to see doctors but they couldn’t find anything wrong with him except that he seemed to be getting weaker and thinner. They thought he was having mental problems.  They caught him sleep walking one night sitting in the middle of the field in just his night shirt mumbling over and over about the pain in his side.  Then one day in late November there was this big cold spell. It had been snowing off and on. Jeanie Sue’s older sister Clair woke up at night screaming. She said during the night she found that her window had been opened and she heard a voice whispering “Evangeline Evangeline” coming from outside in the darkness. In all the panic, no one had checked on Teddy, but that morning he didn’t come down for breakfast when the rest of the family was getting ready for school. His bedroom was empty and he simply disappeared. People set out searching for him for days but he couldn’t be found. They searched the barn, the fields, the ponds, the woods. They searched the neighboring farms asking if anyone had seen Teddy. It scared me at the time,”

“Did they ever find him?” I said.

Yeah, a week later his father and a neighbor were searching through the woods and stumbled upon this old tiny abandoned cabin overgrown in brush and covered in snow. It was so old no body remembered it being there. Mr Cameron claimed he heard the voice of a boy coming from inside, but once he walked inside, to his horror, he found slumped in the corner the body of his son frozen solid and no one else around. On the wall of the cabin was carved the name, “Evangeline.” His father and a neighbor carried the body out of the woods. The creepy part is that when Mr Cameron went back a week later, he saw a strange boy standing beside the cabin who simply vanished.”

Mary started shaking and made a face like she’d eaten something rotten.

“Since then people have claimed to have seen the ghost in the woods. It still gives me the creeps today. Shortly after that happened the family was so devastated that they packed up and moved away. I haven’t seen or heard from my friend Jeanie Sue since then,” said Ethel looking somewhat sad and distant wiping a tear from her eye.

“I’m sorry Ethel. Not sure that I believe in ghosts myself, but someone or something scared the crap out of me last night. Did my uncle ever mention seeing ghosts here?”

“No, can’t say that they ever said anything about ghosts,” said Ethel.

“Oh Grandma, every time you tell this story it scares the bejesus out of me. It still scares me,” said Mary.  

“I thought maybe it was someone who got lost  or maybe it was some local kids trying to play some sort of prank, but they never came to the door. I must admit, it scared the daylights out of me last night. I was just wondering if anyone came by your house last night?” I said.  

“No, no one came by here last night that we know of,” said Cody.

“I feel a little embarrassed about it today,” I said.  

“Oh don’t be Travis,” said Ethel.

“Well I also didn’t tell you why I went to Lexington last week. Just a little over a week ago I decided to take a walk in the woods. Something happened to me up there. I suppose I must have fallen and hit my head because I can’t remember how I got there. I woke up on top of the hill and it was getting dark and the strange part is that my shoes were off,” I said.

“That is strange,” said Ethel.  “You wouldn’t catch me going up in those woods near that haunted cabin but I imagine it would be long rotted away by now. Those are virgin woods. Never been cut except for where that small cabin sat,” said Ethel.

“I’ve lived here with Ethel almost 55 years and I ain’t never seen anything,” said Cody looking out from under the sink.

“Well I ain’t never saw a thing either. I just heard all this from Jeanie Sue and her family. Neither the Thomas’s or Andy ever claimed to see anything out of the ordinary,” said Ethel.

“I guess it could be my imagination,”I said.  

“Well the stories always scared me as a kid,” said Mary. “When mom and dad would drive me and my brothers over here we always used to point towards your property and say that’s where the haunted house is.”  

“Can one of you hand me the big red monkey wrench? I got it loose. Can you grab the old faucet Travis?”

“Sure…. You ready for the new faucet?”

“Almost.”

Cody finally hooked up the new faucet and Mary said she had to be getting back because her younger daughter would be getting home from preschool shortly. Cody agreed to come by my house a little later in the day and I had to get back to Buddy who I left sitting in the truck.

Later that afternoon the temperature warmed up and I was out in my front yard trimming out the dead branches and trying to make the yard look halfway presentable. The grass was just starting to green up under the dead stuff and needed to be mowed. The daffodils were in full bloom now and the crocuses were fading. The buds on the trees were just beginning to open with new green leaves and spring was well underway.

Buddy was running around the yard in circles jumping at birds looking for material to build their nests. He stopped and looked up towards the road. I heard the sound of a vehicle coming down the gravel road. It was Cody’s silver Honda Buddy bounded down the road towards the car bouncing like a rabbit. I watched carefully to see that Buddy wasn’t showing aggressive tendencies towards other people. Cody pulled up front next to my truck and I yelled for Buddy. He stopped, turned and came running back towards me. I grabbed Buddy’s collar and Cody got out of his car.

“Is your dog friendly?” said Cody walking towards me.

“I think so. He seems like a friendly dog, but he hasn’t been around anyone but me so far.”

Cody came closer and Buddy started wagging his tail and appeared to be smiling. He reached out his hand to Buddy and it seemed fine.

“Oh what a nice doggy,” said Cody and started to pat his head. I let go of his collar and Buddy wanted to jump and lick.

“Down Buddy!”  He sat back down and looked at me. “Good boy!”

“Looks like you have been training him.”

“Oh yeah, I wanted to start him out right.”   

“I almost didn’t make it over here. Ever since you brought up the subject of that ghost Ethel has been talking about it all morning. For a while the ghost thing was almost forgotten. Back when I was in my 20s and thirties, the local kids used to go traipsing up in the woods hoping to see a ghost. You know around Halloween and such, but it soon just died out.  Local legends are usually based upon some incident that happened long ago, and now it’s got Ethel in the mood to look through old pictures and newspaper clippings again. Well enough with all that stuff. Let’s have a look at that tractor of yours.”

We walked towards the barn and Buddy was bouncing off ahead of us. Cody pointed to the field behind the barn.

“That ground used to be full of tobaccer. Me and my boys used to help the Carsons.  Him and his brother used to have big crops come out of here back in the 40s. Biggest tobaccer around. I seen some of the plants get 7 to 8 feet tall. Me and my boys used to help him cut that stuff and hang it in this here barn. My boys were fast cutters. I could never keep up with them.”

“Your boys still live around here?” Cody shook his head and looked away.

“Naw my oldest boy CJ, Cody John went to Korea and got killed back in 1953. That tore us up. Our youngest boy got sent to Viet Nam. He got shot in the leg and made him a cripple. He got into drinking and drugs and just wasn’t the same after the war. He just couldn’t adjust. He tried to live with us fer a while, but he would go on the drunk binges and would get so mad. He finally just up and left. Last I heard he was in California somewhere. I don’t think he was able to hold down a regular job anywhere,” said Cody brushing a tear from his eye.

“I’m so sorry,” I said patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, well what can ya do?  My middle boy Georgie got married to a nice woman from Lexington and he got him a job down in Nashville as a real estate agent. They make pretty good money and have two kids, a boy and a girl. They come to visit about twice a year. You met my granddaughter. She’s my daughters girl. My daughter lives in Paris with her husband. They both work at the Toyota plant and make good money. You know it’s always been hard for me to deal with the loss of my sons. I guess my way of trying to cope is to just not think about it. I like to imagine that they’re alive and well somewhere, but today when Ethel pulls out the old photo albums it just brings all that stuff right back. I mean I lived with the woman  almost 60 years and she brings up the past. Sometimes I just don’t want to think about it,” said Cody looking down shaking his head.

“I guess it is kinda my fault for mentioning the thing that happened last night,” I said.

“You didn’t know anyhow. I think Ethel just likes any excuse to talk about things long past,” said Cody.

I opened up the big barn door and it was dark and cool inside. I looked up into the high rafters and saw the sunlight coming through the spaces between the boards and it had the airy feeling of a cathedral except it had the musty smell of old sweet aged tobacco, hay and dirt. Cobwebs covered the dusty tools that were hung on the wall outside of the stripping room where the tobacco leaves were pulled from the dry stalks. The big green John Deere tractor was parked on the other end of the barn.  We walked up to the tractor.

“You ever been on a tractor before?” said Cody  

“Yeah, once or twice when I was a kid, but just up there with my papaw or just playing around. Never actually tried to ride one.”

Cody showed me all the gears on the tractor. The high and low speeds and told me that I should never change gears while I am driving but to select the right gear before I start. We drove it out in the field and I got a feel for driving it around.

“So you think you want to be a farmer, Travis?” said Cody smiling.

“Yeah, I am starting to get used to the idea.” said Travis.

“Well first we got to teach ya how to drive this tractor straight.”Cody said patting him on the back.