Easton People Share Stories Of The Strange, Unexplained at Halloween

Opinion

You know I have to do some sort of ghost and freaky weird column for Halloween. But I can't just leave it alone with one column. I need to do a couple this year. So, alas, we have today's column – and there will be Monday's column – two days prior to Halloween – which will also deal with spookiness.

And of course all of this little bit of supernatural will have an Easton angle.

So yesterday morning, I threw out on Facebook an invitation for some of my Facebook friends to share stories of things that they experienced that didn't quite jibe with what they know of the natural world.

Very interesting responses. Here are some:

Exhibit A – as related to me by MaryAnne (Nixon) Kondracki, my long-time friend and fellow member of the Oliver Ames High School Class of 1981. This story involves MaryAnne and her husband, Michael.

“This was back in 2007, on a hot and humid night in July, and Michael and I were out in Nantucket,” said MaryAnne. “We just had a lovely dinner in town and we were walking back the B&B where we were staying. We were walking down a quiet side street – and I saw a woman dressed in a long black cloak with a hood and button-up ankle boots directly approaching us on the same side of the street. I thought it was odd, given the weather, that she would be dressed like this.

"Then again, I have been on the Nantucket Ghost Tour and I know that some of the players in the tour dress in the traditional garb from times long past. So that was not a big deal. But when she passed us she did so without taking steps; she silently glided by. We both knew immediately what we had seen. She did not make eye contact with us – but I saw that she was young, with dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. She was striking.”

John Cady (OA '93) shared with me something that happened to him yesterday morning.

John wrote, “I took a left on to Route 495 this morning around 6:15. A car pulled onto the ramp behind me with its high beams on. I look in my rear view mirror a second later and there was no car behind me. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. It definitely freaked me out because I couldn't come up with a suitable explanation. Even if he killed the lights there was still enough light that I would have seen the car.”

I must tell you, John Cady's story about the car that was there and then wasn't there reminded me of the haunting tale of the red headed hitchhiker who walks along Rte. 44 on the South Shore.

Philip Bratt grew up in Easton and graduated from Boston College High School in 1989.

“Maybe this isn't a ghost story, but it is weird – sighting of a green light,” wrote Phil. “There were three sightings by different groups, spanning 17 years, of this green light in the sky – and all the sightings took place near where I grew up: Frothingham Park, Lincoln Street, the Town Forest – and, most recently, the Sheridan Street back yard of a friend. All the green lights traveled silently, from east to southeast.”

MaryEllen Bodio (OA '82) grew up and still lives in Easton. MaryEllen shared with me some Easton folklore.

“How about the potato cellar at Sheep Pasture?” wrote MaryEllen “On every field trip to Sheep Pasture, someone would say, 'Never get trapped in the potato cellar after dark.' I'll tell you, the image of night and the potato cellar scared me big time.”

Yep, just a taste of some of the strange and inexplicable and creepy from Easton people.

I will have another Halloween story for you on Monday.

And, as always, please post in the comments section following this column any of your stories, or your thoughts.