The Ghost of the Fireman



     Normally I never believed in ghosts and part of me still doesn't but I just cannot explain the event that unfolded one summer night when I was 14 in 1991.  It was the same week that "The Chase" (http://ymaout.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-chase.html September 25th blog) happened.  My memory is distorted on what event happened first, nonetheless these events did happen.  In a quick summary, my mom just had a hysterectomy and  I invited a friend, Amy, to come up to our cabin at Houghton Lake while my mom recovers. 

     The cabin used to be my grandparents.  Every summer since as long as I can remember we could go there.  We knew everyone around the area and even the neighbors to our right is one set of my godparents.  They still live there to this day.  As much as I love the cabin I had alway felt a weird vibe to certain areas of the house.  There is the kids bedroom.  I hated being in there at night.  I can't explain it and nothing happened but you feel like someone is watching you.  I refused to look in the closet for anything.  The closet doors were always open but I just would not glance in that direction.  I hated sleeping in that room.  Even today I don't like the feeling I get when I go into in there.  Another room we call MeMe's room.  She was my great grandmother and this was her room when staying at the cabin.  Again, when I enter this room I get a different vibe that something is just off about it.  The other two bedrooms are fine.  No strange feelings when I enter those rooms or any other part of the house. 

     It was just a regular evening at the cabin.  We wanted to stay up and watch TV (probably the Late Show) and camp out in the livingroom.  There is a huge picture window that looks out to the lake.  Houghton Lake is the biggest inland lake in Michigan.  It is breathtaking looking out at night and seeing all the lights dotted around the lake from people's homes.  If the waves are high enough you can hear them splashing against the side of the boats.  It is very peaceful.  We spent our evening putting our hair up in curlers and doing our nails.  We eventually got tired and fell asleep.  She fell asleep on the floor and went and made myself comfortable on the couch. 

     Some time during the night I became restless and opened my eyes.  What laid before me was astounding.  A dense, pale white, misty fog covered the floor in the livingroom and surrounding area.  I remember thinking how odd that was.  I couldn't see Amy sleeping on the floor.  The fog covered her right up.  Over by the TV, in almost a perfect triangular shape, was a black void.  It was just pure black.  I couldn't even see the TV.  The fog would swirl around like choppy waves at sea rising and falling.  I eventually laid back down feeling at rest with myself, and fell back to sleep. 

     A short time later I awoke again and leaned up.  I looked around the fog was still there.  In the love seat that was across the room from me sat a tiny baby.  I am guessing this baby to be about 5-6 months old.  It was leaning back like it was propped up against the back of the love seat.  It was a chubby little baby just in a diaper.  There was just a feeling of peace about everything.  I laid my head back down and fell back asleep. 

     For a third time that night I awoke.  Again, I half sat up and looked around.  The fog was still there.  The black void was still there.  I looked across the room and the baby was gone.  I glanced over and there was a fireman sitting in the recliner chair.  It looked like he got home from a fire call.  He had his hat and boots on.  His face was just a black shadow.  His fireman coat was unbuttoned.  His arms were on the arm rests.  His right hand was holding an axe.  He wasn't holding it in a threatening manner.  It was like he was just holding it, as if someone was holding a rolled up newspaper with their hand while sitting.  It was very nonchalant looking.  I stared at him for a while.  I wasn't scared or nervous.  Instead, I felt a very peaceful, calm, numbing, tranquil feeling with myself.  I knew what I was seeing but my brain wasn't having a thought process of what I was viewing.  I never experienced that feeling ever before or had I ever since.  I laid back down and drifted back off to sleep.  

     I woke up a fourth time.  The fog was still there.  The void was still there.  The baby and the fireman were gone.  As peaceful as everything was I was starting to get annoyed by waking up all the time.  I thought perhaps my curlers were causing me the restless sleep.  I decided to take them off.  I slid myself off the couch and onto the floor.  I still couldn't see Amy.  I looked down and the fog covered everything from my hips down.  I knew my legs were straight out in front of me but I couldn't see them.  I sat there in the fog looking around just mesmerized by it all.  I reached up to my hair and slowly started unraveling a curler.  I sat it down next to me.  As my hand would bring each curler down to the floor my hand would disappear into this fog.  I shook out my curls a little bit and climbed back up on the couch.  I laid my head back down on my pillow and fell back asleep.  That was the last time I woke up until morning.  

This is the layout of the livingroom at the cabin.  The yellow squares are the reclining chairs with a end table in between.  The maroon rectangle is the love seat.  The brown rectangle is the couch where I slept.  The black void is where we had a small table-top TV.  Amy was on the floor sleeping.  B=baby; F=fireman. The long thin rectangle is the window looking out to the lake.

     When I woke up in the morning my mom was awake in the kitchen getting her coffee going and breakfast.  Amy was still sleeping.  I went over to the kitchen, sat myself on the bar stool across from my mom and we had general conversation at first.  Then I decided to tell her, "Mom," I said, "I had a strange dream or something last night."  and I told her about it.

    "A fireman?!" my mom interrupts when I got to that part, "Did you just say you seen a fireman?"  My mom started to go pale in the face.

     "Yes!  He was just sitting there in Grandpa's chair."  I told her.

     "How do you know it was a fireman?"  my mom asks.

     "Because he had the fireman triangular looking style of hat.  He had his heavy looking coat on.  He had his boots on.  No mistaking it, it was a fireman."  I replied back. 

     She became very quiet for a moment and an odd look came across her face.  "Do you know who lived here before Nonnie and Grandpa?"  Nonnie is what we called our grandmother. 

     Now I was started to look bewildered, "Didn't Nonnie and Grandpa build this place?"  I knew that my grandpa helped build the seawall out front and I just assumed that since I grew up here that they built this home.  No one ever mentioned prior owners.  I was young to even think about prior owners.

    "No, they bought it back in the mid to late 1970's."  That probably explains why I thought they built it since I was born in 1977.  My mom continuted on, "The man that lived here previously died from a heart attack and he used to be a fireman and was retired before he died"

     "Get out!" I rolled my eyes not wanting to believe her tease, "That is not true!"

     "Don't you remember, next to the garage, there was the fake fire hydrant?  It was part of his retirement gift from the fire station."  Her look was dead serious.

     I strained my memory trying to recall it.  "I don't remember it at all.  What happened to it?"

     "I don't know.  I think Grandpa just got rid of it." 

     Chills started to run up and down my spine.  So perhaps the fireman I seen WAS the ghost of the man who lived here before.  I still cannot explain the baby I seen or the fog or why there was a black void in the corner of the room. 

     You would think that I would be now terrified of the livingroom.  Just the opposite, actually.  I find great comfort and peace being in that room.  When the house if full of family I usually take the couch, although I never seen the ghost of the fireman again.  I still get an eerie feeling when I walk into the kids room and MeMe's room.  Funny how that is. 

    

    

Crickets and Choir

     Crickets and Choir 

Long time ago there lived a little old couple who lived out in the country..  One evening after dinner the husband invited his wife to sit with him on the back porch to watch the sun set.  The elderly wife hung up her apron, pour a glass of lemonaid for the both of them, and headed out the back door to join her husband in watching the day sky end.  They both sat in silence, sipping their lemonaid, rocking back and forth on their rockers up on the porch overlooking a beautiful field.  The sky went from a sparkling blue to dazzling shades of pink, orange and lavender as the sun was setting over the horizon.

Crickets from out in the field started to chirp out in the distance.  The wife closes her eyes and rests her head on the back of the chair.  A small smile emerges from her lips as she listens to the sweet melody of crickets in the evening air.  She invisions them chirping a song  picked out special  just for her husband and herself out in the field. 

"My goodness!  Would you listen to that."  the husband chimes in.

"Oh yes!"  the wife whispers back opening her eyes reaching out her hand to her husband still rocking in the chair next to hers.

Not noticing his wifes hand stretched out to him he barks back, "HOW CAN ONE RELAX OUT HERE WITH ALL THAT NOISE!  I really need to do something about all those crickets.  They are making such a loud racket that it is hard for me to think!"



     This story isn't about right or wrong.  It is about how different two people can view the same thing and both be correct.  The old lady was mesmerised by the sounds of the night while the husband was annoyed by the loud interrupting noise that came out of the field. Even though they are one in marriage they still have their own view on a situtation.

     My husband and I use the phrase "Crickets and Choir" often in our lives.  When we debate why we like something one way and not the other we usually end the debate by saying "Crickets and Choir" to remind ourselves that we are both right.  It is about learning about each other and their point of view.  At times we can get so wrapped up in how we see something that we don't look at how our spouse can see it differently.  Perhaps seeing a situtation differently can open our eyes to learn and understand our spouse's view on things. 

     The other night my husband and I were watching Bram Stoker's Dracula.  He views that movie as a horror movie with blood and death.  I viewed it as a love story of a husband who was trying to reconnect his soul to that of his late wife (see February's blog on my complete thoughts on the movie).  Neither one of us was wrong.  It was just how in our mind we pictured the movie differently. 

     My husband and I differ on how we like our goulash.  I like mine a little liquidly while he enjoys his goulash thick and hearty.  Again, neither one of us is wrong but I now know how he likes it.  When he is home I will fix goulash the way he likes it, thick and hearty, because I know that makes him happy.  When he is out working I can add more liquid to the mix for the way I like it.  It is a compromise we nonverbally agreed with and we are both happy.

     I believe everyone should have the story of "Crickets and Choir" tucked away in their hearts.  It teaches couples to accept differences in each other and learning to compromise on those differences.  That is what helps make a marriage work.   

                      God's Cricket Choir

See for yourself.  Music or just noise?

The Birth of Ashton



After Ashton was born we used 3 different
size of diapers for our 3 children.



     A few weeks before I turned 23 I found out we were expecting our third child.  We were happy.  We just bought our first home on Bond St. in Allegan and Brian was working at B&B Trucking over in Kalamazoo.  We had a three year old boy and a two year old girl still running around in diapers but I guess we were going to add another one to the mix. 

     Our neighbor was also expecting.  She was due October 14 and my due date was set at October 7th.  We would talk, during the summer, of our pregnancies and how they are both developing.  She found out she was having a girl and my doctor didn't see a need in having an ultrasound so it was going to be a suprise for us.  We guessed our first two children correctly and I was thinking this was going to be a boy.  It didn't matter to us if we had a boy or a girl.  We already had one of each so we just focused on having a healthy baby. 

     Our last two children were born in Grand Rapids and we decided to have our next baby born at Allegan General Hospital.  We were maybe two miles from the hospital and it would be easier to deliver there instead trying to get the children ready and find a babysitter and drive 50+ minutes to Grand Rapids when we both know my labors are quick.  I told my doctor that both my last two children were induced and I wanted to go into labor naturally.  He knew my requests and worked with me on it. 

     Our due date came.  Later on in the afternoon I was outside playing around with the kids.  Our neighbor pulls into the driveway all excited.  He said his wife had her baby earlier that morning and they are both doing great.  I rubbed my bellying thinking I was supposed to have this baby first.   A few days later they all came home and I was able to see the new baby.  It was so odd looking at this baby, who wasn't supposed to be due until a week later, who was perfect in every way a baby can be perfect and imagined that right now my baby is fully developed the same way.  She can now hold her little one and mine is still incubating on the inside not wanting to come out.   I was happy for them all yet a little jealous that her pregnancy pains and labor are all done and over with and she can now enjoy her daughter.

Our neighbor's daughter (just turned 1) on the left and her sister in the middle. 
Ashton, on the right, was just a week before turning 1 year old.

     The waiting after the due date is the worst.  Every ache and pain you wonder if this is going to be the big one to set me off into labor.  At one doctor visit he mentioned that we really shouldn't go too much longer after the due date.  I pleaded with him that I wanted to experience going into labor naturally.  I took a stress test and all was well.  So he said we will talk about it more at the next appointment. 

     Sunday, October 15 started out like any other day.  I remember it was a warm day outside.  We did some grocery shopping and even bought a cake to be made praising the republicians to be given to my mom the next day at her office in honor of the Bush vs. Gore presidental election coming up in a few weeks.  She is a democrat and we always taunt each other during elections.  This was going to be our prank to her.  A few people had yard sales going and we stopped and looked around.  Later on that evening my sister came down from Grand Rapids with her almost 5 year old and her one year old twin boys.  Her husband and Brian went to Brian's mom's house to work on a car.  Everyone was having a good time.

     It was getting late and my sister was packing up to head home.  She looks at me, "Are you okay?"

     "Yea, I feel great."  I replied.

     "You are not going to go into labor now, are you?"  she asks.

     "No!  I am fine.  Just sore from running around all day.  I am good.  You can go home.  Brian and your husband are over at his mom's."

     Lisa gave me a weird look and figured I was doing okay so she left.  Christian and Elizabeth were winding down watching a taped Blue Clues on the VCR and I was picking up all the toys and putting them away.  Suddenly and without warning it hit.  CONTRACTION!  It brought me down to my knees.  I was doing good then all of the sudden there it was.  I looked up at the clock so I could time them.  It was exactly 9pm.  It lasted for a short moment.  I looked at the kids.  Their backs were to me so they didn't see me drop down.  They looked so precious just sitting there side by side.  In a few hours they are going to have a sibiling and they don't even know it yet, I thought to myself.  I stood up and a quick moment later another contraction hit.  Okay, this time I knew for certain I was in labor.  I needed Brian.

     I managed to get to the phone and called Brian.  "Hi hun, Can I give you a call right back?  I am waiting for a phone call from Mark about advice on the car." 

     I thought for a moment, "Sure.  Call me when you are done."  The words slipped out of my mouth.  There are times when I can be too polite and this was one of those moments.  I should of told him I was in labor but I didn't want to disturb him if he was busy.  I started getting things ready to head out to the hospital and waited for Brian to return my call.

     Twenty minutes goes by.  Contractions were coming and going.  The phone finally rings.  "Hey hun, what did you need."  It was my husband's voice.

     "ummm, I am in labor.  I kinda would like to go to the hospital now." I said patiently.

     Brian stumbled over the phone and said he would be right home.  Soon Brian and Doug entered the doorway.  I was in the diningroom on my hands and knees breathing hard.  Doug takes one look and says, "Yep, she is certainly in labor."

     Doug stayed with the kids and we went straight to the hospital.  We must of got there shortly after 10pm.  Labor was fast and hard.  Suddenly I had to use the bathroom.  I needed to sit.  I was scared to.  I didn't want to push the baby out thinking it was a bowel movement.  I told the nurse my fears.  She asked if I wanted something to make using the bathroom easier.  I agreed.  She gave me an enema.  Trying to use the bathroom and having hard contractions was not an easy task even with the enema but boy oh boy did that ever clean my backside out.  Brian, who is very sensitive to smells, could not handle the poisonous gas that was escaping from the bathroom.  It was so bad he had to leave the room.  Brian was out in the hallway, bending over, gagging ready to throw-up.  A nurse approached him and patted him on the back, "Is this your first baby?"

     "No, it's our third.  My wife just used the bathroom."  Brian said without looking up dry heaving.  The nurse started to laugh. 

     We ended up moving to another room to ease my husband, and probably the nursing staff and doctors, sense of smell.  I do not remember what I ate that day or the day before but it was taking its vengeance out.

     The rest of the labor went smoothly as much as labor could.  At 11:43pm a new Moyer entered the world.  "Congratulations!  It's a girl!"  said the doctor. 

     "A girl?"  Brian and I said at the same time.  We both were thinking this was going to be a boy.  She was going to be called James Reagan.  We even called her James when she was developing in my belly.  We did think of a girls name but we put that name in the back burner of our brains.  For a moment we didn't remember what we agreed upon.  Finally we remembered it.  Ashton Kae.



North and South's naughty southern belle Ashton Main with Bent.



     We chose Ashton from one of our favorite books and TV series that we both enjoy, North and South by John Jakes.  We both enjoy learning about the civil war and even though the character Ashton in the book was something of a not nice southern lady, we still thought the name was pretty.  Kae is from Brian's mom's middle name but we changed the spelling to adapt it to a part of my maiden last name.  It sounded nice together.

     As soon as my sister made it back to her apartment my mom called her to let her know I was in labor.  They immediatly drove back down to Allegan to the hospital to see the new baby.  They arrived  at a set of doors and there was a security guard sitting there in a chair.  The hospital was in the middle of a make-over and there was a lot of the hospital torn up and you had to take different ways to get to certain parts of the hospital.  "Are you here for the lady that was having a baby?"  he asks my mom and my sister.

     Bewildered that he knew that was the reason of their visit they responded, "yes, we are."

     "I think she just had it.  There was a lot of noise coming from that window," he points to an opening in the wall to where a window should be a few floors up, "then I just heard a baby cry."

     "That must be Jill." my mom says and the guard showed them how to get to my room. 

     They enter the room and I was already holding Ashton.  My sister looks at me, then around the room.  "Do you realize there are not window's in your room?!"  All I could do was laugh.  The whole floor was turned around due to the renovations. 

     Ashton's entrance to the world was nothing short of a comedy.  Personally, I like things quiet and private when I am in labor and this was so far from it.  Part of me expected Candid Camera to come around the corner to let me know this portion of my life was a joke and I can redo it to the way I wanted it to happen.  A week later we still ended up bringing my mom her political republician cake to her office but I also got to show off my sweet little new daughter along with it. 



Ashton Kae just a few weeks old.



Scared Stiff - Literally!

     It was a warm summer night.  I think I was around 9 years old, give or take a year.  We lived in Saginw Township on a busy street.  My mom was out on a date, my brother was at a friend's house for the night so my older sister had to babysit me.  There is a seven year age difference between us.  At my age I was normally the pesky little brat and she was the annoying teenage sister.  There were times we bickered but there were times we enjoyed being sisters.  This was a moment that we were enjoying our sisterhood.

     My sister Lisa and I were watching the horror movie Friday the 13th on TV.  It was one we had seen before.  I don't recall which Friday the 13th movie we were watching but we were curled up on the couch liking the movie.  There was a window next to the tv that was open to let the night air in.  The couch was across the room from that window.  At one killing scene I heard a strange sound coming from the window in a light whisper, "Jason, Jason, Jason....ah, ah, ah, ahhhh.."  Without moving my head I glanced my eyes over to the window.  I didn't see anything.  Just blackness.  Maybe I am just hearing things,  I thought and continued watching the movie.  Then a moment later the same sound was coming from the window.  "Jason, Jason, Jason...ah, ah, ah, ahhh..."   It was odd because I always thought the sound when Jason Voorheis was about to strike was, "ch, ch, ch, ch.   Ah, ah, ah, ahhh.".  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed my sister turned her head towards the window.  Oh my gosh!  She heard something too!

     "Why don't you go shut and lock the front door."  Lisa said casually.  The main door was located behind the wall that the tv was on just in another room.  We could not see the front door from where we were sitting.  The wooden door was open leaving just a metal screen door to protect us from what is outside.

     My eyes popped out of my head.  "NO!  You go shut and lock the door!  You are older!"  I snapped back.

     "But you need to mind and I told YOU to do something!"  she piped back. 

     As we continued our arguing the screen door started opening and closing really fast.  We knew someone was there at the door.  Fear like I had never experienced flooded over my body.  My sister stands up abruptly and hollars, "QUICK!  FOLLOW ME!" and she dashes to the left to my brothers bedroom door(which was next to the couch), through his bedroom and out the other door in his room (which led to the kitchen) and out the kitchen back door to the outside.  She achieved freedom. 

     I think we both stood up at the same time but my brain lost all communication to my muscles.  They didn't want to move.  I had no feeling, at all, in my entire body.  I looked over and my sister was gone.  GONE!  SHE LEFT ME ALONE TO FACE THIS TERROR ENTERING OUR HOME!  I couldn't follow.  I couldn't move.  All I could do was think. Run to the bathroom, I would say to myself, No!  Then I would have to run past the door and whoever was breaking in would see me.  Our bathroom had the only interior door that locked.  A sure safety but too risky.  Hide underneath the computer table!  No!  To obvious.  Hide behind the tv.  No!  He would see me for sure.  Hide behind the curtain.  No!  It would puff out to where I was standing.  Nothing I could think of would be a safe hiding place.  Even if I could think of a safe place to hide I don't think my legs would be able to take me there.  Oh how I wished I was able to move and dash out the back like my sister did.

     I looked down at the coffee table and there was a glass cermanic gray elephant.  It was poised with the trunk curled up around to the top of the head, mouth open and one leg up in a prance.  Somehow, for a brief moment, my brain had a small communication with my upper half of my body and  I was able to reach down and grab this elephant by his trunk and raise it above my head.  I still could not move my lower half of my body.  This ceramic gray elephant was going to save me from whatever was behind the door trying to make its way inside to kill me.  I envisioned myself using this elephant to beat this person over and over until they were knocked out or dead. 

     The door stopped opening and closing.  I held my breath not knowing what to expect next.  My fingers tightened around the ceramic trunk of the elephant preparing myself to use it violently.  I closed my eyes for a moment.  All was silent.  An eerie silent.  I was as still as the statue I was holding.  It felt like an eternity had passed.  I strained hard to open my eyes.  I seen some movement.  Then my brain registered what I was seeing.  Shoes!  Shoes were being kicked off.  I looked harder.  I know those shoes.  Then a familar face appears from around the corner.  MATT!  It was my sister's boyfriend.  He looked over at me with a huge grin on his face amused that I was standing there with a ceramic elephant held high above my head. 

     Looking around he asks, "Where's your sister?"
 
     "She ran out the back." 

     He laughs and starts to put his shoes back on.  "Play along." he says and gives a wink. 

     Finally, my brain starts the communication process up with all my muscles and I was able to move again.  It was such a great feeling to be able to move and knowing that I was not about to be a worm's meal.  But now I was on the other side of the playing field, against my sister, who left me to die.  It was my turn to help her get scared.  I roamed around the house yelling out the dark windows, "Lisa!  I'm scared!  Help me!"  I would shout out while roaming around the house.

     A familar voice from the outside answered, "Go to our bedroom and open the window so I can climb back inside."

     I dashed to our bedroom, unlocked the latch and popped out the screen.  We gently placed our desk chair out the window so she can use that to step up and into the window.  She finally makes her way in the bedroom and hugs me tightly.  I remember thinking, she is probably sooo lucky I am not dead she knows mom would seriously go psycho on you if I were!

     Suddenly there was a slam at the back door.  This time she grabs my hand to make sure I stay with her and we go steadly towards the back door.  Knowing that I know it was Matt I was able to move along and play the part.  We proceed cautiously and carefully.  We pass through the kitchen, pass my brother's door, to the back door.  Lisa turns on the garage light, locks the door, and looks around through the glass in the door.  While we were busy looking to see if we can see anything in the garage Matt jumps out from our brother's bedroom and gives a loud roar.  Lisa jumps practically out of her skin and falls to the floor hysterically crying.  I jump sideways against the wall scrapping my back on the lightswitch.  Laughter came from my lips. 

     Over 25 years have passed but we still look back at this moment and remember the fear and laughter that came with it.  It may have not been our best sister/sister moment but it was a moment we shared and now laugh together.

A Memory of the Green Acres Haunted House

     It was the autumn of 1991. I was a freshman at Nouvel Catholic High School.  Part of our school requirements was volunteering so many hours per year depending on what grade you are in.  I think as freshmen we had to volunteer 20 hours with something during the school year.  An organization was putting together a community haunted house in a vacant store set in Green Acres Plaza in Saginaw, Michigan.  He called the local private schools and put the word out that he needed volunteers.  This was a great opportunity for students to get their volunteer hours. 

     The building was the corner store in the plaza.  I remember at one time it was a restaurant called the Sweden House Buffet.  Shortly after that it was called Duffy's Buffet.  For the longest time it would stand empty.  Last I knew it was a Powerhouse Gym but I think that even closed down.  The whole strip mall which used to be packed with businesses is slowly dying but that is a different story.

     On a particular day a crowd of people showed up to help volunteer from all different schools across Saginaw.  Most of the haunted house was already set up.  There was different stations where people would walk past in a dark labyrinth going from one side of the building to the other side led by zombie butler-type of people.  We had to audition for different scenes set up in the haunted house.  We had to scream in terror and cackle like a witch.  Some, I must say, were impressing to hear. 

     The haunted house was 2 weekends long and I think it was even every night during the week around Halloween.  It was a huge production.  I played in several different scenes on different nights.  One scene was a "live wall".  Basically it was a canvas that was camouflaged with imatition vines and leaves.  There was 8 of us working the wall, 4 on each side.  When a group of people would pass through we would moan and groan while pushing the wall forward.  The group of people really didn't expect that and we could hear them scream and scamper further forward to pass the area. 

     I was also a zombie monster.  I had a scary rubber mask and dark trench coat.  I sat in a corner almost invisible.  When a group of people would pass on by I would follow them quietly.  We weren't allowed to touch the people so I couldn't tap anyone on the shoulder.  The "Butler" would give clues outloud telling people to be careful; that things can lurk up behind them.  I would be there, arms stretched out in front like I was about to grab someone.  The group would quickly turn the corner and another scary scene would begin for them.

    The famous shower scene was another skit I worked on.  We would listen for the cue of another scene going off.  Then I hopped in a bathtub with the shower curtain around me.  My killer would turn on the strobe lights.  He would walk across the room, with his mask on, and act like he is stabbing me through the shower curtain.  I, of course, would scream and fall down in the tub sticking my arm out with fake blood running down my arm.  During one performance the killer tripped over something and fell into me causing us to fall in the tub and the shower curtain  broke off from above.  I was still covered with the shower curtain and I screamed because I did not expect that but afterwards it was hard to hold in our laughter. 

     One of my favorite scenes was the jungle girl.  I had to wear a leaf style bikini top with a grass skirt.  It had a cute leafy head wreath to complete the outfit.  I stood on a four and a half foot platform tied up with vines to a leafy wall.  I was able to tie myself up in the vines so it wasn't anything too restrictive.  A man dressed up like an ape hid in the platform under me.  As the line of people pass by I would scream out, "HELP ME!  THE APE MAN IS GOING TO GET ME!  I NEED SOMEONE TO SAVE ME!" and I would shriek out in bewteen while twisting and turning around in the ivy vines.   Then the ape would jump out from under the platform and scare the crowd.  I knew being up higher that there wasn't going to be any mishaps. 

     There were two scenes that stood out as really lame to me.  One was the washing machine monster.  There was a washing machine in the backgroud and pipes and rubber hoses were coming out of it.  I would tangle myself in the hoses, and with strobe lights, I would act like I was being pulled into the washing machine.  I remember wiggling around thinking how stupid I feel.  No one is scared of washing machines.  But I still played the part, screaming away. 

     The other scene was a radiation leak.  I would wear one of those white radiation suits.  There was a black light above to help cast off an eerie look.  When the people were coming close I would hit a button which gave off a loud beeping warning.  I would start trying to pull off the radiation uniform screaming, "THERE IS A CONTAMINATION LEAK!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!  WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!"  I would drop to the floor, act like I was in agony and then die.  Deep down I would think This is Saginaw.  It is already contaminated with bad things.  Radiation wouldn't seem so bad.

     There were other scenes that I was not in but it was still fun to watch.  One was the swinging ax pendulum.  A woman would wear an outfit that looked like Princess Jasmine in the Dinsey cartoon Aladin.  She was strapped down and the pendulum would swing back and forth.  Of course she would scream out for help from those who passed by. 

     The witches scene from Shakespeare's MacBeth, although not scary, was one of the cues to listen to to know where the crowd is and when to set up certain scenes.  Standing around a kettle stirring with a long wooden stick the three witches would chant, "Double, Double, Toil and trouble. Fire burn, and cauldron bubble"  and then cackle.  It was so catchy of a rhyme it was stuck in most of our heads for the longest time.

     Every night there was a line of people waiting to get in.  Half way through the night there would be an intermission and we would take a break, grab a bite to eat, fix some of the props and some would even switch scenes.  Everyone had their own way of putting the scene to life.  It was very interesting to be a part of it.