My friends and I were all around 13 years of age. It was
the time really close to adulthood where we have the
desires of an adult with the wisdom of children. We always
had played near and on the railroad tracks. This particular
set of tracks run right down through the center of our
town. The search of my memory from the past reveals those
railroad tracks have always been there. We never had a problem with
them we were all pretty smart. We knew to keep a watch for
a train and climbed down from the tracks whenever we even
thought we saw one coming. We always went "down the
tracks" to a special place. It was a good mile or two down
the tracks toward forest. It was a remote area, at least
remote in our eyes. It was a magical place, a place that
seemed untainted and very special.
It was after walking a while west out of town on those tracks that you came to
this magical place. It had an old viaduct made of stone that the tracks crossed over. Even when I was very young and the first time I had been to this place that viaduct looked old and seemed built with massive stones that made me think of the pyramids. This place was hard to see from the tracks you had to climb down a steep incline through the woods.
It was a rough climb down, but once you reached the bottom
the trip was worth it. It was like being in another world
or travelling back in time. There was a wide creek that flowed through the viaduct and pooled at the entrances so you had a deep pond of water at both ends of the tunnel with swift running water. Couple this with being in the middle of nowhere and that soothing sound of running water
in a natural setting and in the middle of a forest and you have a scene right out of a mystical adventure.
This place, this magical place was where I spent a lot of
my time as a child. I remember the last time, as a child,
that I had gone "down the tracks" with my closest friends.
As always we were talking about nothing, usually the latest
comic book or the neat new TV show or movie. We went to our
place. We played war and did some discovering. We always
found something new whenever we went.
I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something
different about today. It had been bothering me as soon as
my foot had hit the stones that the tracks rested on. I acted
as if nothing was wrong and still did the fun stuff and had
a good time as I remember. There was still that gnawing in
the back of my head that felt, not was spoken, but felt
that something was different or had changed.
My feelings seemed to be wrong as the day went smoothly, we played for
hours and rested by the creek. I loved to just sit and
listen to the water running over the small waterfalls that
formed. The sky started to darken and we knew it was
time to start heading for home. I knew it would take a good
half-hour to an hour for us to walk home so we almost
always timed it so we would get home right as the
street lights would come on.
We made the climb back up to the tracks and started to head home.
On the way home we have to pass by an old business that
looks like a foundry. It also looked as if the forest had
claimed the land back. The foundry was overgrown and old
and right by the tracks. If any building looked haunted
this one did. We walked by it without incident though. We
had just reached the edge of town and someone
shouted "TRAIN". We didn't panic though, you could get off
the tracks virtually anywhere so we didn't think anything
of it, that is until we turned around and looked. There
was the light, I didn't see a train but we did see the
light. Well that's all it took, kids went everywhere
everyone started running for the lowest area to get off of
the tracks, everyone that is except for me. I was just
staring at this light. It didn't seem right to me. It
didn't look like the headlight of an oncoming train, I had
seen plenty of those. No, It looked more like.... a
lantern. It was a lantern, I remember that it struck me as
very strange. It looked like one of those old style
lanterns that you see in the old movies with a big handle
and fire for the light. So I stood gazing at this lantern
that was getting closer. It was then that the voice came it
said "Please stay, come back, don't leave". It was at that
point I got very scared and took off running. Now I was an
overweight child and picture this; overweight kid catching
and passing his much thinner counterparts beating them
home. I don't think I ever told anyone what I had seen or
heard that day.
I know now why that day seemed so
different. I don't think it was because of the strange
phenomena that I had witnessed and heard. It was the last
day that we as children had gone down those tracks and just
enjoyed the beauty of what was there. It sure seemed as if
that whatever spoke that day realized that and the voice as
I remember now had a sort of sadness to it.
I walked back
to that magical place as a man of thirty-something. It
hasn't changed much. Except it seems shorter and some
industries have sprung up which have pushed the limits of
town west a little bit so that magical place is becoming a
lot less remote. It still reminds me of my youth and I will
walk back there again. I did not see anything, but I sure
felt like I was being watched but I enjoy it there maybe
someday I will know what was there that day.
Contact me here: nightghost@softhome.net
Submitted From: Christopher D. Horn, Indiana, USA
