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The night was dark and menacing. Thick black 

clouds were scudding across the sky, partially 

obstructing the moon.   The Peterson family was 

somewhere in Georgia on a yearly vacation from 

New England to Florida.   They had been traveling 

since six that morning and were all tired and 

hungry.

At the last gas and comfort stop about an hour 

ago, the lone attendant, an elderly black man 

accompanied by a sad-faced, droopy-eared hound 

called Beaulah, suggested they take a short cut.  

This would bring them to a little town along the 

main highway where they could find lodging for the 

night.   It would save thirty miles and they would be 

ready to start again the next morning.

They finally found the road; it turned out to be 

deeply rutted and barely wide enough for one car.  

Although it had been paved at one time, it was now 

in a sad state of disrepair. Both sides of the road 

we hemmed in by huge trees and vines covered 

with long tendrils of Spanish moss which seemed to 

reach down like bony fingers to clutch as they 

passed by.   They felt as if they had been 

transported to another world - a world filled with 

the eerie voices of the swamp nightlife - strange 

frightening sounds.   Weird glowing lights peered at 

them from the surrounding blackness.

There was growing apprehension throughout the 

car and the youngest child started to cry. The 

mother tried to forget her own fears and 

reassured the children they would soon be at the 

motel.   They played games until all the children 

were asleep.   It seemed as if they had been 

traveling forever and the strange lights seemed to 

intensify as they rode along and the mother 

started envisioning the black clouds as a coven of 

witches riding towards them.   It was then that she 

realized it was Halloween!

Exhausted, the father pulled over and was soon 

fast asleep.   Suddenly, the mother was alone with 

her fears.   The dead trees, entombed forever in 

the black swamp water, loomed like giant specters 

that might come alive at any time.   The strange 

lights turned into fiery eyes that appeared to 

come closer and closer.   She shuddered and closed 

her eyes tight to shut the images out - trying to 

fight down the feeling of impending disaster that 

was going to consume her.

At some point she fell asleep, but woke with a 

start. As she was struggling to orient herself, she 

saw a green luminous shape materialize just 

outside the car window. As first she thought she 

was still sleeping and having a nightmare, but then 

a slimy green hand slid over the top of the window, 

which was open about two inches.   She screamed 

and instinctively rolled up the window.   To her 

horror, the hand fell off and she watched as it slid 

off her lap and onto the floor!

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