Monday November 26 – two Ghosts and the Boogeyman - Part Three

Scrooge faced a third ghost: “Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley and lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming, like a mist along the ground, towards him.


“THE Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached. … It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible ... But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded.

“He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.”

Friday night, late, or early Saturday morning, 2 or 3 A.M. probably, we had a visitor. Apparently Mary heard something first, but she thought it was me, so she stayed huddled in her sleeping bag. I heard someone come along side me, and I believe they said “Excuse me”.

My first thoughts were “Damn … It’s the cops.” Then I thought, “Wait a minute, something is wrong here. The cops would be shining their flashlights at us to keep us blind.” And there were NO lights. So I peeked out from under my sleeping bag, and what’s this I see. The ass end of someone crawling up the hill with their pants down, I mean bear assed. I was a bit in shock, but I continued to watch and whoever this was found them a place about 15-20 yards up the hill from us. I wasn’t about to challenge this visitor. He was minding his own business and keeping a safe, respectful distance, so “You stay there and we’ll stay here”.

A bit later I started moving around a bit and this must have awaken him. I could tell where he was by his silhouette, other than that, he was pitch black. He apparently stood up, I thought he was going to leave, but as I watched, he appeared to be “heaving” – throwing up what may have been consumed earlier in the evening. His head hung down and I could tell he had a large hoody on and he reminded me of this third ghost, or the “grim reaper”. Then I thought “It’s the boogeyman”.

“Boogeyman is an amorphous imaginary being used by adults to frighten children into compliant behavior. The monster has no specific appearance, and conceptions about it can vary drastically from household to household within the same community; in many cases, he has no set appearance in the mind of an adult or child, but is simply a non-specific embodiment of terror. Parents may tell their children that if they misbehave, the bogeyman will get them. Bogeymen may target a specific mischief — for instance, a bogeyman that punishes children who suck their thumbs — or general misbehavior, depending on what purpose needs serving. In some cases, the bogeyman is a nickname for the devil.” Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia

He slid down the tree he was against and laid there for the rest of the night. I was watching him for the better part of the night from then on until I eventually fell asleep. I woke about 5:30, we got ourselves together and went on our way. Our visitor was dead to the world and oblivious to anything from his descent down the tree on.

I believe we have no ghosts to be afraid of, I believe the “boogeyman” is real, but more scared of us than we are of him, and if we pay him no mind, he will not come back. The ghosts are illusions, the product of one man’s genius. They are metaphors of life. We can accept them, and live in them, or we can dispel them. It’s our choice. It’s our choice to remain in ignorance and suffer want, or defines our own reality around us, homeless or housed comfortably in the midst of family and friends.