Story

THE HAUNTED WIND

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

It’s Samhain, my people!
🔥🔥🔥

Monastic specters floated seamlessly between the leafless trees of the old forgotten cemetery. Round-eyed owls hooted from crooked branches while huge black crows swooped in and perched on weathered headstones. Sensing their imminent demise, the blind field mice scurried to and fro, frantically searching for safety. Alas, not fast enough for that one pathetic rodent chasing his own tail. The crow snatched him up and carried him off into the darkness. The weak and small have no rights in this most dreaded of places. 

It wasn’t always this mist-enshrouded, wind-swept graveyard; many years ago the cemetery was a pastoral spot surrounded by blossoming trees and shrubs.  It was lovely and visitors would come by frequently to pay their respects and linger for a while on a nearby bench. 

High on a hill above the cemetery stood the Olde Dutch Church. The property was expansive with an outstanding view of the Hudson River. The focal point of the church was the belfry with its majestic wrought iron weather vane that could be seen for miles.

One parched and squally night in late October while parishioners were awaiting services for the feast of All Hallows’ Eve, a giant thunderclap boomed, followed by an enormous lightning bolt which struck the weather vane. The glowing gas particles coursed their way down to the belfry, instantly setting it on fire. Within moments the entire church was engulfed in flames, imprisoning all inside. Horrified townsfolk who were still outside tried valiantly to save their friends, to no avail. The church had become an inferno.

The wind blew sparks into the cemetery, setting the wizened trees ablaze. The smoke was black, the air thick with an acrid stench. Those outside the church fell to their knees crying pitifully, covering their ears to block out the agonizing screams of the tortured. Finally, after what seemed an eternity in Gehenna, the screams became pathetic whimpers, then stopped completely and an eerie silence followed. 

Just then what was left of the church came crashing down, leaving nothing but a mountain of ashes and the grotesque, twisted remains of the once glorious weather vane. 

Forty-seven souls perished that ghastly night. Nothing that resembled a body was found, nothing was left to be buried and the church was never rebuilt. Eventually people stopped coming to the cemetery. The only denizens there now are the unremembered interred along with the owls, the crows, the blind field mice and forty-seven specters seeking final rest. 

The haunted wind is eerily unsettling this Halloween night, my friends …. or is it the wind? 

NAR © 2023

This is AC⚡️DC performing “Hells Bells”:

It’s the last day of October
and the final edition of
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Seriously.
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24 thoughts on “THE HAUNTED WIND”

  1. My day would be incomplete without a Samhain themed story, best told by you. Hauntingly terrific writing! 👏🏻 I grew up near a cemetery – many kinfolk buried there and stories playing there with a few friends. Your story has me hankering for a visit…

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    1. Wonderful comment, Michele!
      I love cemeteries and make a point of stopping whenever I come upon one while out and about. Our area of NY is quite historical (Hudson Valley);
      there’s no shortage of old gravesites with stories to tell.
      Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me today.

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      1. Welcome, Nancy. 🌻 I am the same – interesting reading (tombstones) and a reminder of how fleeting life is. You would appreciate the old western ones in southern Arizona and Tombstone. Appropriately named. 🙃

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