As a long-term Scoutmaster, I have a million of them. One year we were telling ghost stories at summer camp and naturally I got in to the spirit of the thing (no pun intended!) and with my wild imagination you can just imagine what happens.
Well the story I was telling some of the younger guys was about "Beanie Bob" who was one of the elderly leaders. He did what I often do, taking the midnight security patrol with the flashlight turned off, walking down the road by starlight alone listening for mischief. You can't surprise someone if your light is on, you know. You save that sudden flick on of light to catch someone up to no good. Well anyway, old Bob used to walk the Summer Camp circle road and if you were up and an adult you could say, "Hey Bob, whatcha doin' out there?" and he would cheerfully say "Oh nothing at all!"
When he died he had put in his will that he wanted his ashes scattered by Ackers Lake. But the council wouldn't permit it...said it would raise legal issues. Some of his friends went out to the lake with a thermos full of --- coffee --- yeah, coffee --- to talk. And by the time they came back they had drunk all the coffee. Yeah. <wink wink>.
While I was telling the story some of the OLDER scouts that should have known better gathered around. They were hooked. They asked me if that was so..did he really..like, REALLY? Does that mean Ackers Lake is a gravesite? Oh sure it is. Unofficially of course.
Since that night, at midnight, you can hear the footsteps in the gravel as he makes the circuit keeping the boys safe. If you ask "Hey Bob, whatcha doing out there?" he'll say "Nothing at all!"
Now some of the quicker wits out there in The Dancing Lawn will be laughing already.
You know the punchline. You have a boy yell it...and ... of course... he says NOTHING AT ALL because it's all baloney! "See, I
told you he'd say nothing at all!"
That's the way it's SUPPOSED to work.
So I had to walk to admin to take some paperwork. It was close to midnight. I asked a couple of the younger boys to accompany me because, as I explained, I felt scared to be out there at the witching hour when Bob makes his posthumous rounds. And ALL THE BOYS wanted to go. The older ones fell for it just like the tenderfoots. Ah good, the more the merrier.....
So we were walking along in the pitch blackness. Suddenly I stopped them. They were hushed, standing there with bated breath. There were footsteps up ahead coming toward us. Perfect opportunity. I looked back. "Ok boys, who's going to say it?? You, Bradley??" Finally one of the boys got up courage and shouted, "Hey Bob, whatcha doing out there??"
And I swear....
"Oh, nothing at all!"
AAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When they all lit out back for camp like a bunch of scared rabbits, Bob Younts came up to me in the dark. "What was THAT about?"
"They thought it was a ghost."
"How did you know it was me?"
"Lucky guess."
That was...putting it mildly...a moment to die for.
We're chaotic..
well thats pretty scary if that happend to me i would scream!
