The weather is good for Halloween. Rain and chill with grey skies. When we moved to Eldorado I was five. My life had been disrupted. Mom and Dad were considering separation or divorce in Chicago. They came south to start anew. We moved into a Victorian house that had numerous fireplaces. It was heated by the fireplaces and a coal furnace in the basement. The Coal Man came regularly. On the first morning, my eyes were fastened shut by the matting, and cold at night. When I got them unstuck it was frigid. Neva J called out that Dad was starting fires in the fireplaces. Soon I heard the sound of shaking down the clinkers in the furnace. In those days much discussion ensued as to the best coal to burn. Bituminous won the competition with Anthracite. Eldorado was a coal mining town. My bedroom was a broom closet. To enter I climbed into the little bed from the doorway. I heard creaks and groans all night and people whispering as I watched strange shadows on the walls. Neva J found a large dead rat in the bathtub. We were not in our lovely ranch-style home that reminded me of Beaver and Wally’s house on Leave It To Beaver.

There was an ancient well in the backyard. It had a heavy round stone covering its opening. Eerie sounds came from the covered well. My aunt and uncle lived with my family for a month. We watched Eldorado High School Football from the wrap-around front porch. The bright football field lights cast an etheral glow as they illuminated the players. I looked for more rats. My cousin Brenda walked me to Hillcrest School. She was in eighth grade and I began first. I felt like I was living in a nightmare. Nothing was as it had been. Soon President Kennedy was assassinated. Neva J cried when I arrived home early from my first days in first grade. Cousin Billy loved Universal Studio Monsters. Frankenstein seemed comforting contrasted with my changed world. As time passed, I found the Orpheum Theatre, Frankenstein Dracula Wolfman, and The Mummy. Dracula had no defense when shown a cross. Dr. Van Helsing was my hero. I settled into Southern life. When I see shadows I turn the lights on…

At Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale, I heard from the crew supervisor at Anthony Hall that a Malaysian student worker had seen a ghost in Anthony. When she went to the third floor of Anthony she discovered a woman dressed in a white blouse and dark floor-length skirt sitting in a chair in the hall. The student called the woman as she sat silent. Anthony Hall is named for Susan B. Anthony beginning as a Women’s Dormitory. The Anthony Hall Ghost Story spread across Campus until the Vice President asked for a full report. The Crew Boss took me into the attic of Anthony showing me an old framed photograph of women in the building who looked like what the frightened student had seen. The Malaysian Student Community was large in the 1980s’ and the Ghost Story traveled through it quickly. No Malaysian students would work in Anthony Hall after the incident…