The House On the Corner

The real 150 year old maple in front of the corner house

The House On the Corner

The house on the corner looked like any other house during the day. The 150 year old maple stood like royalty out in the front lawn. The screened in porch looked welcoming as light flickered through the house bay window.


However, the people of this house were mysterious and rarely came out, although, we knew they did sometimes as evidence of their black Ford truck in the backyard driveway.


It was getting toward that time of year when the leaves were changing and the maple on the corner was changing a bright yellow hue.  Something else was changing too-the house!


The porch was now completely dark except for an eerie bright flashing light that was barely visible to the street.  The light that once shown through the bay window was now extinguished.  The lawn covered with fallen leaves gave way to what looked like gravestones but we could not quite be sure.


Bobby and I decided to be brave and knock on the door as tonight was Halloween and candy was to be had.
We clung to each other and walked slowly up the sidewalk.  As we got closer, screams could be heard and other revelers zoomed past us in terror. Yet, we pressed on.



We knocked on the screen door and heard a faint, "Come In".  We slowly opened the door but saw no one around.  In the dark distance we saw a finely decorated wooden table that was lit only by a flashing light.  We could barely make out a ghoulish sign that said, "CANDY" sitting in front of a covered bowl.


I told Bobby he could go first.

Bobby crept up to the table as I clung near to him.  He slowly opened the covered bowl and then in all its glory sitting around what looked like a black sphere was candy, oodles of candy!


Still looking around for signs of life and seeing none, we both decided to carefully dip our hands in the chocolaty surplus.  Just as I began to put my hand in the bowl, a bright white pair of eyes appeared in the black sphere and screamed at us, "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" and then it cackled.  It startled Bobby and I so much that we screamed and ran out the door without our prize.


As we got to the safety of the sidewalk again we warned others not to go in the house on the corner because it was spooky. Do you think they listened?


The next morning the house on the corner looked just like it always did with the big beautiful maple in the front lawn.  I turned to Bobby and asked him, "Was it all a dream?"
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Post script: This is based on a true story but written from the point of view of two children visiting the house. The house on the corner actually belongs to my parents and this is a fun thing we did one Halloween for the children on the street and surrounding areas. My Dad was the "sphere" in the story as he was sitting between the slats of the table and had his head stuck up in a cut out in a turkey pan.  Mom and I just watched from inside and told the kids to come in. It was not uncommon for 100-150 children to come to our house just to see what we would do for Halloween.


Happy Halloween all!

all rights reserved by MR...aka Naila Moon
Written October 31, 2010