Scared Silly

Courtesy of Know Your Meme

I have never quibbled about the fact that I have a fear of the dark.  I have also been transparent in my fascination with all things true crime.  Those seem mutually exclusive, don't they?  And one might think that the true crime obsession would fuel the phobia about the dark.  

However, I often have a true crime podcast playing as I'm going to sleep with no ill effects or scary dreams.  It just doesn't bother me.  

Or, more accurately, it didn't until last night.

So, on the true crime front, anybody who knows anything about true crime drama knows that Keith Morrison is the gold standard for narration of same.  That man could make reading the phone book dramatic and suspenseful!  

So imagine my utter delight when I discovered that on Audible, Keith Morrison has started narrating scary classic stories, beginning with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  

I don't know about you, but my knowledge of the story all comes from the 1949 Disney animated movie.  I've never actually read the original story.  But since Mr. Morrison was narrating it, I downloaded it and started listening.  

Courtesy of IMDb

I was not disappointed in the narration.  It was a good mix of the actual story plus pithy personal insights by Keith at the end of each installment which, of course, ended on a cliff-hanger part.  I haven't actually gotten to any of the really scary part of it, though. 

Or, more accurately, I didn't until last night. 

On a side note, and to make you fully appreciate the rest of this story, our farm is on the northern edge of a quaint little curvy valley called Devil's Kitchen.  

Why is it called Devil's Kitchen, you might ask?  Well, let me tell you the version I know.  If you know a different version--and some of you might--I'd love to hear it.  

Back when Minnesota was still a new state or perhaps before that even, there was a family that settled into a wooded valley northwest of Rochester.  It was a generational household with grandparents, parents, and children all living in a cabin.  

Here's where things get vague.  The version I heard was that when the civil war broke out, the men all went to fight.  This left the two adult women and an unknown number of children but for sure one infant. Only the father returned from the war, and when he did, it was to a pile of ashes where the cabin had stood and no surviving family.  This triggered a psychotic break, and he apparently haunts to valley now. 

When Captain and I got married and started working at Mayo Clinic, I would drive into Pine Island to catch the commuter bus to work.  I often ended up sitting with the man whose family currently lived on the property where that cabin had supposedly burned down.  He told me during one ride that there had been an incident when his family was all seated at the table for supper, and he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

Courtesy of cheezburger.com

Even though anyone with hands was currently seated at the table with hands accounted for.  

Not only that, he told me that his family members saw the indentation on his shirt where it appeared a hand rested.  Again, all corporeal hands were presented and accounted for, and none of them were anywhere near his shoulder.  

He didn't seem particularly scared by the incident; more puzzled and fascinated.  I was just glad I wasn't the one living in that house!

So, resuming where I left off.  I had to stop at a neighbor's last night to drop off some paperwork and pick up a check.  They live on the other side of Devil's Kitchen.  When I drove over there, it was bright daylight, but when I left it was full dark.  

I got in my van, connected the blue tooth feature on my phone, turned Keith Morrison's narration of Sleepy Hollow on, and headed home. 

Through Devil's Kitchen.  

And wouldn't you know it....wouldn't you JUST know it...that's when the the scary bit about the Headless Horseman chasing Ichabod Crane through the dark and spooky woods of Sleepy Hollow came through the speakers.  

If there were any fireballs or specters or other apparitions out and about in Devil's Kitchen last night, I did not see them because I was driving like a bat out of hell and there were black spots dancing in front of my eyes due to the fight or flight mode I was in.  Thank God I didn't meet anyone driving in the opposite direction!

I haven't decided if I'm going to listen to any more of Morrison's Mysteries.  It may not be worth it!