Besides the ones I just wrote about I would be very far off the mark if I didn't write about the most special Halloween ever. That was the Halloween when Jeff was born. Now he has not been all that fond of the fact that he was born on that holiday but I could have cared less about which day it was since he was two weeks overdue and we were ready to get him here. Dad had also just had the stroke two weeks before when he was due and maybe that was why he was kept a little longer from being born so we could go see dad in the hospital.It was a long day sine he was born in the early morning hours and I still had to work that day and travel to Brigham City to deliver a TV for American Television service where I was employed. My mind was set on only getting there, getting it delivered and getting back so that I could go to the hospital and see Marie and Jeff. Each one of the children's births have been special in their own way and this was just special because Jeff was a spook or rather born on Halloween.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Oct 30, 2010
What did people do at Halloween?
We did much the same things that are done now as far as Trick or Treating. My family, living nearly two miles from town, did not do a lot of it but we did go to grandma's place and some of the relatives homes in town. There were seldom any that came clear out to our place other than the closest friends that lived on the bench also. There was one thing however that we did back then that is seldom done now and that was to have a yearly Halloween carnival. There would be booths set up in the school gym and then lots of games involved with them. In fact one year I was married to Marie at one of those carnivals. (I still have the certificate from it as well.) They were always a lot of fun and involved other things like bobbing for apples and other such games. That was one tradition that could still be used but for some reason is probably not considered safe enough for Halloween and school children.
Oct 29, 2010
Do you have a good ghost story or haunted house story to relate?
I don't have one that I have made up or that really was a good ghost story but I do have one when I was asked to help give a blessing to a house and thus remove a ghost from it. I was in the Mapleton 4th ward and there was a house that was fairly new that was built along the highway. It was built by one family and then they moved from it and a single elderly man moved into it. A few weeks after he had moved in the Bishop and I were at the church one tuesday evening just after out Bishopric meeting had ended when this fellow came in and asked us to use the priesthood to remove some evil spirits from the house. I for one didn't believe him even though I am perfectly aware of many instances in church history where spirits both good and evil were seen by members of the church. I guessed we were past that point but Bishop knew that it would be best to go and asked me as his first counselor to go and assist with the blessing. I did so and we went and gave the house a priesthood blessing. I have seldom passed that house since without remembering that experience. It was needed and the man was then able to live there for some time without further incident from what I am aware.
Oct 28, 2010
Did you ever tell ghost stories?
I missed that important part of campouts and special halloween occasions apparently I did not ever tell any ghost stories.
Oct 27, 2010
Tell a story about a time when you dressed up in a costume.
When I was in high school in the 9th grade there was a practice back then that would now be considered as hazing in schools and that was "Initiation".
The seniors would each be assigned a freshman and they would make them do something for the morning and then in the afternoon both grades would go up to the D on the hill and repair it then whitewash it. Well my senior, and I don't remember who had me, told me to dress up as Cinderella in a gown for the ball. I also had to have high heel shoes to walk around in and I remember walking down main street for our initiation parade in that dress and heels. It was pretty awful but not nearly as BAD AS BEING HIT WITH THOSE PADDLES THAT THE SENIORS MADE AND SEVERAL OF THEM HAD DRILLED HOLES IN THE PADLE which really stung when they hit you, even through your clothes. It was a bad day in the life of every freshman and I for one was not disappointed when the practice was banned from schools.
Oct 26, 2010
Share a memory about being very scared.
An excerpt from my journal stories of 4H Forestry will best answer this question.
Mines and Mt Lions, Oh My.
Another trip found us about half way up Indian Canyon where we had hiked up the east side of the canyon on the slick shale covered hillside. We were identifying different species of trees and different types of rock formations. We were also collecting samples for our presses. We had actually gone several hundred yards up the side of the canyon and had become somewhat spread out when we heard a very strange sound. I can’t recall what it even sounded like now but I very clearly remember everyone’s reaction. Burt’s reaction was very short but very clear, “Get down the mountain” he loudly shouted and we all started running down the hill. I have thought many times about the incident since that day and cannot recall what the sound was but have often wondered if it was a Mountain Lion or a Bear or something of that sort which caused such alarm in his voice. We never did (or at least none of us young men) ever did identify the sound but it was obvious to me that Burt had and he knew the present danger that it posed.
That day ended up being eventful to me in a couple of ways. In the afternoon on our way back down the canyon we decided to hike up to the old Gilsonite mine, the entrance is still visible to this day as you travel the canyon. The road looked like a trail and from the bottom of the canyon the doorway appeared to be pretty small and so I was worried from the start about this particular event. We started up the hill and I soon learned that the trail was big enough for a vehicle to travel. It had the room for a vehicle although I would never have driven it since it was also not very far before the drop-off from the road was straight down. It was a long hike as well though and took us quite awhile to get to the entrance which when we got there was not only two stories high but each story was probably 10 feet tall. We started into the cave but only a few of us had flashlights of which few I was not one. So I depended on the guy in front of me and at times found it hard to see. I apparently have a bit of a dislike for dark, tight spaces (even though it was ten feet to the ceiling) and became somewhat scared that the water, which was steadily getting deeper on the floor, would suddenly be over my head or that the road which was very level would suddenly drop 150 feet to the next level. All of these were not founded on fact and in fact I learned later from my father that the mine actually comes out the other side of the mountain into what we refer to as the right hand fork of Indian Canyon. I was glad though when Burt decided we had gone far enough and to the dismay of several others in the group had us turn around and go out. It was a short hike to the vehicle and that only because we all pretty much ran back down to the bottom. Twice in one day and each time I had been pretty scared.
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