What Are You Doing For Halloween?

I'll be handing out copies of Lehigh Valley Ramblings - The Book, to the little bastards. That oughta' scare the shit out of them. Executive John Brown is handing out consultant contracts. Northampton County Bulldog Ron Angle is offering free wills. Barron von Footinmouth had a really neat Halloween ecard for everyone, but his email privileges were blocked again. Nazareth Police Chief Thomas Trachta is stocked up on cupcakes. At the stores, there's been a run on Tricia Mezzacappa costumes.

A Glendon Ghost Story

"When we lived in Glendon in an old home (in the family for 6 generations), we had several strange instances....light on and off, footsteps, doors slamming, etc. Grandsons [X] and [Y] visited when they were around 3 and 4. I was watching them and had given them baths. We were watching Disney when all 4 of their eyes popped wide open and they asked "Who's that, Pops?" When I turned I saw or felt a man walk behind me and into the dining room. When I jumped up and went in, nothing anywhere. Going back in, I asked what we saw. They said "I don't know who he was, he came right out of the wall." Needless to say, they were scared stiff. As they were Wizard of Oz fans, I told them there were good ghosts and bad ghosts (like witches) and we had a good ghost that kept the bad ghosts away. That satisfied them but not me.

"Interestingly, after we sold and moved (saying nothing about ghosts), the lady of the house asked me if we ever had trouble with ghosts! When I asked why, she mentioned same types of things. Apparently ghost goes with the house and not the family.

"Boring story but true....Happy Halloween!"

This story was contributed by a reader but it is by no means boring. Do YOU have any ghost stories????

The Albino Banshee

I'm going to tell you a scary story. It happens to be true, which makes it even scarier. In the early 60's, when I was in 8th grade at St. Theresa's, we lived in a 300 year-old, stone farmhouse in Hellertown. Its three foot thick walls kept the house cool in summer and warm in winter . . . except on the third floor. That's where my brother and I slept at night. During recesses at school, a group of us formed the Ghost Hunters' Club. We would periodically go to old abandoned houses that were supposed to be haunted. We never actually went inside any of them, but would take notes and make plans to go into them later . . . at night. It was around this time that we began hearing about the Albino Banshee, a terrifying witch who lived somewhere in Allentown. She had long white hair, pink eyes, sharpened teeth and very long fingernails. Her piercing shrieks could be heard at night in Allentown. Her wail, all by itself, could cause a heart attack. Word on the playground was that she had already killed several people. All she had to do was touch you with her long, thin fingernails. Not everyone believed this story, but one of the nuns admitted to me that it was true. One night, after we had all turned in, I awoke to hear the third floor attic door slowly creak open. Footsteps slowly came up the steps, accompanied by the sounds of rattling chains. Holy cannoli! It's the Albino Banshee! I tried to scream, but couldn't open my mouth. Or eyes. Once whatever I heard had reached the top of the steps, I could hear it walk towards my brother. I wanted to defend him, but was paralyzed by fear. My brother was a goner. But this thing did not stop with my brother. In a matter of moments, its steps came for me. It was suddenly very cold. I was unable to budge. Then I felt it. A banshee's fingernail traced itself right across one of my cheeks. But for some reason, I didn't die. Then the steps walked off and into the other room on the third floor. While still sweating with fear, I could hear that door open again. This time even more footsteps came up the steps. Although too terrified to open my eyes, I could tell that lights were on. Just as suddenly, the lights went off and the footsteps went back down the steps. The next morning, when I woke up, I was happy to see my brother was still alive but was a little ashamed by own cowardice in failing to defend him. I told him what had happened. He told me I was nutz. Then we went downstairs for breakfast. After sitting there for awhile, I told my mom, dad and sisters what had happened. I expected them to tell me I was nutz, too. Instead, they looked at each other, and then my mother told me they had heard someone going up the steps to the third floor themselves. In fact, they decided to investigate, which explains the second set of footsteps I heard that night. Whatever had come up the steps had just vanished. Now I know that whatever it was, it was no albino banshee. But to this day, I get chills when I think about that night. Happy Halloween.