Author: Sam

Story: Halloween in Hazzard: 6 of 10

Series: n/a

Characters added: none new

Second Note: This is based on my encounter on Emily's Bridge in Stowe, Vermont. Only the names are changed.

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

After a long wait, in which the crowd made whispered comments about the stories they’d heard, Luke reached over and gave the cork a spin. He looked up, not bothering to watch the bobbing bit of cork and needle. “If it lands on me again, I ain’t telling another story. It’s someone else’s turn.” With minor protests, the crowd finally agreed. Luke really hadn’t needed to worry, though, as when the cork stopped spinning, it was not pointing at him.

Under an onslaught of back slapping and laughter, Cooter grinned good-naturedly. “Okay, I got a story.”

“It’s gotta be true, Cooter,” called one of the watching men.

He laughed and rocked back on his rear chair legs. “Course it’s true!” Letting his chair come back to sit square on the floor, the wild mechanic leaned forward and said, “I’m gonna tell y’all about Hetty’s Bridge.”

With a frown, Enos shook his head. “Cooter, we all heard of Hetty’s Bridge; the story’s gotta be about something you saw.”

“Or heard,” jumped in Bo with a mischievous grin for his Uncle Jesse. Jesse frowned and pointed at him for quiet; Bo obeyed, his grin widening.

Cooter’s grin never faltered. He nodded agreeably. “Course it happened to me.” He looked around and added, “I got me some witnesses, too. My Mama was there. So was my cousin, Sue-Ann, and her daughter, Loribelle.” The crowd hushed, apparently determining that these three witnesses would be adequate enough to prove he wasn’t spinning them a yarn.

“So,” he leaned back in his chair once more, “Now that’s settled. Y’all heard o’ Hetty’s Bridge...”

“No, I ain’t,” frowned Lulu. As a mug of cider appeared before her, the pretty woman looked up and her bright smile shone forth, “Why, thank you, Luke Honey,” she cooed for the thoughtful Duke cousin who’d gotten her a drink as he sat down. Turning back to Cooter she asked, “What’s so special about Hetty’s Bridge?”

Looking surprised, Roscoe looked at his older sister. “Lulu, Hetty’s Bridge is that covered bridge down by...”

“I know where it is, Roscoe. I ain’t never been to it or heard no stories about it.” Lulu frowned at her baby brother, fond exasperation in her glance.

Before it could turn into anything heated, Cooter hopped back in with a laugh. “Okay, for them that don’t know the story, I’ll tell it to all y’all.” He grinned, then spoke. “Hester-Sue, they called her Hetty, was alive quite some time in the 1800’s. She had a sweetheart, but for some reason her Daddy didn’t like him for his little girl.”

“What Daddy ever does?” quipped a listener to a bit of friendly chuckling. Cooter nodded, his grin wide, and continued. “Well, Hetty decided to run away with this boy in secret and marry him. They said they’d meet on a covered bridge off the Little Mahogany in Hazzard, where both lived. Well, her Daddy done proved right, ‘cause that boy never showed. Hetty got real upset and hung herself.”

Lulu gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth in shock. When Cooter looked like he’d stop, though, she waved a hand and half-whispered “Then what?”

Cooter searched the older woman’s face carefully before continuing. “Well, now Hetty haunts the bridge, and done it ever since her death. There’s been pictures took of her when no one was standing in the shot. There’s have been cries and screams heard. Scratches or claw marks appear on the sides of horses or cattle made to go through the bridge, and along the paint jobs of cars driven through it sometimes. They say Hetty’s a very vindictive spirit, and no one can pin a time or anything that makes her worse or better… she haunts when and how and who she wants to, apparently.”

Not even Lulu seemed inclined to interrupt Cooter, so he swung into the next part of his tale. “Well, I told my cousin’s girl, Loribelle, the story. She was about seven or eight and was really interested in haunts and stuff. She immediately wanted to go to Emily’s Bridge. My cousin weren’t happy ‘bout that, I can tell you. Mama didn’t see no harm, though, ‘cause she don’t believe in spooks, so she said she’d come to. Finally, Sue-Ann agreed we’d all go see the bridge.” With a grin towards Luke Duke, Cooter added, “So we took my ole hound, Cody, and took off to track down the bridge.”

“Sue-Ann was driving when we found it. It was a nice little bridge, covered and short, but definitely in good repair. We drove through the bridge and stopped on the other side, getting out. Except Sue-Ann, of course, she refused outright. She wanted nothing to do with a haunting so just sat in the car and watched. Maybe ‘cause her mother was so worried, Loribelle got nervous all of a sudden, but she was an adventurous li’l girl so she climbed out and stood with Mama. I whistled for Cody, but Mama insisted I use a leash.” Cooter’s grin flashed over his wide face and he hooted, “Can’t argue with mama, so I snapped that there leash on the hound and off we took. I walked her over the bridge.”

Shifting, Cooter turned his eyes to each listener in turn. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded. “Things started happenin’ right away! About two-thirds over the bridge, Cody shied away from the side of the bridge, pushing me towards the center of the road. She wouldn’t obey any command I gave her, and all y’all know that Cody’s my best hunter, ain’t never disobeyed me ‘fore or since. I turned her around, never got to the other side, and took her back. Mama had been taking pictures and asked why I’d stopped. I told her about Cody, and, would you believe she said I must have handled Cody’s leash wrong? So she gave me the camera and took the dog leash; I weren’t gonna argue. Mama lead her over the bridge and back while I took pictures, Loribelle next to me all the while, real alert. Mama came back, and nothing had happened while she’d walked Cody.”

“Well, we put a bowl on the ground behind the car and filled it with water for Cody. She started drinkin’ while Loribelle and I walked near the edge of the bridge, looking down on the large rocks and water down below. Suddenly, I hear a far off scream that seemed to come from the house across the bridge. I look up real quick. At the same time, Mama calls out “What was that?” and Loribelle calls “What happened?” I turn around, away from where the house was, and Mama and Loribelle was watching the hound, who had stopped drinking and was staring real hard across the bridge at the same house I’d been looking at, or so it seemed like. I was real nervous, and said “Maybe she heard something,” trying to see if they, too, heard the scream. I didn’t want them to get spooked or nothin’ just ‘cause I thought I’d heard someone screaming. Then it came again, and Cody’s ears shot forward just as I hear that scream. I turned to the others and said “I wonder who that was.” I was thinkin’ maybe somebody’d gotten hurt over in the house across the bridge, but somehow I guessed that probably weren’t it. Mama and Loribelle looked at me like I was a lunatic. The scream came a third time, and Cody was reacting very noticeably, but Mama and Loribelle seemed confused by her behavior. Finally, I broke down, desperate to not be the only one hearing what the hound was hearing, and I asked, “Don’t you hear the screaming? It sounds like it’s coming from somewhere near that house over the bridge! Don’t tell me you can’t hear it. Cody and I can.”

Since the first time I’d heard the scream, I had my back to the dog, they had to agree that I’d actually heard something. But the others said they hadn’t heard nothing. I insisted we get in the car and out of there. I was feeling more and more nervous. So, we split. Sue-Ann, driving the car away from the scene, said she ain’t heard nothing, though she’d seen us reacting and knew I must have heard something by the way I looked. We got home and Loribelle was disappointed not to have seen or heard anything, so I pointed out that she’d seen me and the dog hear something. It was right after Sue-Ann and Loribelle went home that Mama told me she’d thought she’d heard screaming, too, but didn’t want to scare Loribelle, so pretended she hadn’t.” Cooter leaned forward and said, “‘Member that she said “What was that?”; Mama had heard it too!”

“Well, I ain’t been back to Hetty’s Bridge...” With that, Cooter leaned back in his chair and a collective breath was heard from the crowd.

Lulu shuddered and nodded. “Well, you can be sure that I won’t either!”

A laugh, nervous but with a hint of relief, crossed through the place. Enos looked around and softly interrupted the laughter. “Well, Cooter, if’n you spin, we can have another story...”

Cotter grinned wide and obliged, laughing himself when the pointer landed on Enos.