Author: Sam

Story: Halloween in Hazzard: 8 of 10

Series: n/a

Characters added: none new

Note: This happened to me and Merrianna in Salem, Massachusetts.

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

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

Lulu blushed prettily and smiled at the crowd around her, enjoying the attention. Her pretty face was alight with happiness, and she lifted a chubby hand to sip at the drink Luke had brought her earlier. Finally, when she was ready, she nodded and began her tale.

"Roscoe and I went to Boston, and on the way we stopped to look around Salem where all them witches was hung. We went to the Salem Witch Dungeon Museum, which has regular productions of a witch trial taken from actual court records for them trials. It weren't the original dungeon used during the trials mind; that had been lost until some time in the Fifties. The telephone company accidentally stumbled across the original dungeon, but destroyed it as no one was historically interested in it at the time. One beam was saved and it hangs in the Witch Dungeon Museum. But other than that, it's not even built on the same spot as the original dungeon was.

"Well, we walked in and I felt a bit off right away, but I figured it was because I knew we'd be seeing a play of the trials. I looked around the gift shop, bought a couple of things including a ghost book, and finally we were allowed into the first part of the museum, where the play would take place. I walked into that room and sat down on a pew and I got sudden all-over creeps. I felt like I shouldn't be there. I couldn't sit still. It had the feeling of being in a church, and not just because we were on pews under a pipe organ, either. I mean, it was the feeling of a real church to me. Roscoe, my baby brother, didn't get that feeling. I felt like we shouldn't be there, like we were trespassing on holy ground with our little witch hunting thing.

"Then the play started and I felt better, but very sad. I kept wanting to jump up and shout "She's innocent, let her go", and had to force myself to stay quiet, 'cause it was only a play. It was very well done, but the feeling of sadness and disbelief was amazing. At the end, the guide told us that we should go down the steps into the museum, follow the hall at our own pace, then come up the end stairs into the gift shop... but she weren't gonna come with us. Then we were let downstairs into the replicated dungeon. I touched the beam from the real dungeon, it's supposed to be for luck if you're a woman, and I started walking through. As I walked further and further into the replicated dungeon I felt worse and worse. I felt jumpy and intensely... bad, like I had to leave that instant. The feeling of "got to leave now" intensified horribly and it got real bad near the replciation of this man being crushed to death under stones. It was a horrible feeling, and I hurried away down the hall. I was way ahead of the rest of the group, but I didn't care; I'd even left Roscoe behind me.

Finally I found my way back into the gift shop. Once there, I felt like there were people pressing in on me from all sides and I couldn't breath. It weren't my lungs; I could get air. But I felt like there was too many people there and it felt like someone was brushing up... actually pressing up... against my back the entire time. Like someone was pushing me, maybe. I bought a collector spoon for my collection, but didn't stay long enough to look around much. When Roscoe caught up, I left in a hurry. As soon as I was outside, I snapped at Roscoe and was generally upset for at least a block. Then, it went away. The oppressive, touching feeling went away very suddenly. I was fine, and felt guilty as anything for yelling at my baby brother." Lulu offered a small smile to Roscoe who looked anywhere but at her.

She looked back at the general crowd and spoke again. "The only thing I could say to him was how that place had made me feel. I told him that I was quite aware that it was a replica and nowhere near the place the real dungeon had been, but that it felt haunted... like someone was there and was very upset about us being there. I didn't feel like it was a haunting linked with the Witch Dungeon at all, either. We went to a restaurant and I took out that book on Haunted Salem that I had picked up right before going into the play and started looking through it while we waited for our food. In the table of contents was listed the Witch Dungeon Museum. So, I read that entry, and wouldn't you know it? It used to be a church, and the ghost of a Monk is said to still haunt the place. He is especially present at the replica of the crushing of Giles Corey under a lot of heavy stones. The Monk is said to be a wrathful spirit, which means he's unhappy and not wanting us around there!"

Lulu sat back in her seat with a nod of finality. She crossed her pudgy arms and watched as shook and a bunch of other emotions played over the faces of the listening crowd. Finally, when they started getting a bit louder than she apparently liked, Lulu Hogg reached over and turned the cork so that the pointer faced her beloved baby brother, Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. With a smug smile, she feigned surprise and called out above the noise, "Why, Roscoe, I do believe it's your turn!"