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It happened around Easter time this year, when I was taking a walk in the cemetery. Call me
morbid, but I like hanging in cemeteries. After visiting my brother's grave, I walked along the
creek that ran through the cemetery. The creek has very high, steep banks held up in
some places by tall stone walls so they won't cave in. Not all the banks are supported by the
stone walls, just about a hundred yards in either direction from the bridge. Beyond the walls the
banks aren't supported, and have grass and trees and flowers growing on them. In the creek itself
are occasional small islands of wet mud that the water didn't quite cover.
Anyway, I was walking on the top of the stone wall, heading west from the bridge, when I saw a
boy about seven or eight standing on one of the islands in the creek about thirty yards away, ten
yards from where the wall ended. He was wearing black jeans, black sneakers, and a silver and
black vinyl jacket. He was moving around in a strange sort of dance: first he'd lift one foot
and wave the opposite arm, then the other foot and the other arm. I remember thinking it was
funny -- surreal. I thought I'd go down to the creek and talk to the boy, but something told me I should keep
quiet as I did so. Not calling out to him, I continued to walk along the wall till I reached the end. Then I started tiptoeing across the grass down the bank, keeping my eyes on the boy
at all the times. I'm not sure why I was watching
him so closely, but something told me I should.
Though I was making some noise by then, he didn't
look up and didn't stop his eerie, slow-motion
dance.
When I was about fifteen feet away from him, a
small tree blocked my view of the boy for just a
second. When I was able to see the island again,
he was gone. I ran down the bank, removed my
shoes and socks, and waded over to the island,
which was made entirely of built-up silt. When I
stepped onto it, my feet sank in the mud almost
to my ankles.
But there were no other footprints on the
island to show that the boy had been there.
Was he a ghost? I don't know. There are plenty
of kids buried in that cemetery, but no seven- or
eight-year-olds that died within the past
decade. Remember, he was wearing modern clothes:
jeans, sneakers and a jacket. I continue to go to
the cemetery sometimes and never feel fear. I
have not seen the boy since that day.
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Submitted From: Ohio, USA
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