My First Halloween in the Terrifying Woods of East Texas
The Mayberry Chronicles in the spooky season
It was a dark and stormy morning in Just South of Nowhere, TX. I wish I could say “night,” but since the first rain in more than a month didn’t start until around 5 a.m., I can’t use the classic line exactly. Regardless, it seems to be the perfect way to kick off my first Halloween in the part of the state that God and civilization somehow managed to bypass.
It may seem odd that I’m writing about Halloween in Mayberry before the evening festivities (such as they are) actually begin, but by midnight everything Halloween-related will be forgotten until next year. Thus, I will share what I have experienced here thus far and what I already know will transpire later; I’ve heard and seen enough to know it won’t be any different than it has for generations.
For anyone who has read the ongoing Mayberry Chronicles about my semi-adventures as an East Texas Don Quixote with my trusty 87-year-old Sancho Panza/stepdad and may wonder how this is my first Halloween here, a bit of explanation is in order. I did indeed live here briefly after leaving the Army in the spring of 1994 but had relocated to the almost-city of Tyler by Halloween that year. And though my parents have lived in this backwater for three decades, I never spent a single…
