HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

Another True Halloween Story

 Posted 6 years on ago on Facebook:

Another True Halloween Story.

About 37 years ago there was an old abandoned house standing where the Post Office on Sandy Plains Road is now. Next door is a church cemetery.

A local civic organization had a Halloween Haunted House in the old house when Rocky was about 3 or 4 years old. Rocky begged to go. I took him.

It was a typical haunted house with strobe lights, chain saws, severed heads, and other horrid delights.

It was more than Rocky expected. He screamed and screamed hid his eyes from some of the action.

The next day he did not even want to ride in the car by the old house.

I tried to convince him it was all a show, make-believe . I decided to drive down the dirt bumpy driveway to the house and show him it was all empty - just a harmless old house.

He begged for us not to go. Regardless of his protests we went anyway. I had a point to prove.

When we got close to the porch we saw a several plastic mannequin legs upside down sticking out of a garbage can.

Which of course, caused more screaming

MAD on ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW

 

This evening we were watching THE ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW and nodded off.  About a minute after I nodded off, Anna woke me up to ask me a question.

Then I was back awake.  Sitting there watching THE ANTIQUE ROAD SHOW again, about 2 to 3 minutes after being awake a large sheet of white cartoon sheet was being presented.  I double focused. 

The hard sheets of white cartoonist paper was the original drawing of FRANKENSTEIN,  written by editor Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by MAD’s original artist, Will Elder (my hero).  It was in MAD COMICBOOK #8.

The expert on hand knew quiet a bit about the history of MAD COMIC and MAD MAGAZINE.  He explained the demand for original MAD art and went on to explain the original art they held on their hands was worth thousands of big bucks. 

$$$$$ Bottom line.

What I am amazed over was the timing.  I was just incidentally, unrelated to MAD, was awaken, just in time to see the part of the road show about MAD Comicbook!

fI was meant to be!  Destiny!

Ghost on East Dixie Ave

 This house is on East Dixie Avenue in Marietta. It now looks completely differently than when I took this picture. It has had a facelift, so to speak.

Back in 1937 my parents, when they first married, spent the night here. It was a boarding house then. My mother believed saw a ghost looking down at her during the night. The next morning she found out the man she described to the landlady looked like the landlady's late husband.
Also, for posterity, in the 1950s, when brothers Jack and Billy Joe Royal were teenagers, their family lived in this house for a short time before they moved to Smynra. They said they did not see any ghosts.

Bats

 

The Waterman Street School brick that Walker Gaines gave me Thursday triggered some memories.

I remember in the 7th Grade one school night I was playing in the front yard after dark.  A streetlight was in front of our house.  I begin to notice a bat would  fly quickly under the light.  I sat down and studied the situation.  I finally figured out the bat would swoop under the light when a moth or someother bug attracted by the light would be near. 

Then I experimented.  I threw up a rock and the bat materialized and charged at it but it fell to the pull of gravity before the bat could reach it.  I tried again and again, each time getting lower and each time the bat would swing in lower.

I had a plan.  Cars passed now and then.  I wanted a car to hit the bat.  I knew this was risky.  The rock could hit the car instead of the bat.  As the car approached I would have to shoot the rock low and hopefully it should shoot past the oncoming car before actuallyu approached the "X" spot and the bat should be right behind the rock chasing it and wham!   I practiced my throw and watched the cars that sped down the street now and then. 

I made my move.  A car was speeding down the road and when it was about 15 to 20 feet  before the "X" spot I threw the little rock.  The stupid bat, as planned, fell line right behind it, and SPLOT!!!  The car missed the rock and hit the bat.  Was I a genius or what?

I went over and studied the bat.  It looked dead.  I put it in a netted orange sack, put it under a box and got ready for bed.

The next morning I carried the bat in the net to school with me.  I don't think I told my parents.

I wanted to show it to my teacher Mrs. King.  Mrs. King was very nice and flirty with me so I naturally liked her.  I wanted to impress her with the bat I caught.

The bell had not rang yet.  A cluster of us were standing in the hall just outside our 7th grade classroom.  I showed off the bat in the netted sack and was running my mouth about probably how I killed it when a girl classmate said, "Look!"

I looked down and the dead bat was prying itself loose from the bag by making one of the net holes bigger.  Then it was airborn.

Oh shit!

In a matter of minutes the bat was flying up and down the hall with hordes of kids running crying and screaming.  Cliff the janitor was chasing it and swinging a broom.

Miss Whitehead, the principal, came up to me, red faced and shaking, said, "Eddie Hunter what were you thinking?  Don't you have any sense?"    The look on her face looked to be complete hatred or fear, I wasn't sure which - after all, there was a bat flying rampant overhead.

I thought that old bat (pardon the pun) came close to having a breakdown I think.
I don't remember the fate of the bat.

William Trammell, Revolutionary War Soldier's Headstone Found

 This is the tombstone of William Thomas Trammell (1752-1843), my g-g-g grandfather.

Here is the narrow short version of William’s life: He was born in Fairfax, Virginia, of Daniel and Elizabeth Parr Scott Trammell. He was the oldest of 13 children. He spent his formative years in the 96th District of South Carolina.

He and his several brothers fought side by side in the Revolutionary War with the Mountain Boys Regiment.

During the Battle of Kings Mountain, NC, in hand to hand combat, his arm was sliced off. He first married Mary Lynch, and they had 4 children. It is believed that Mary was possibly Native American.

Mary was married with children previously. Also, it is unsure why she suddenly was out of the picture. In his elderly and sickly age he married Sarah Raynolds, age under 20 to take care of him. After his penchant came she took it and did not return. His son Jacob Trammell cared for him then.

Back to the picture of William’s tombstone in the First Methodist Graveyard in Franklin, North Carolina.

Based on Jacob Trammell’s residence I thought William was probably buried in Macon County, near Franklin, North Carolina. I looked on all burial records online in Macon County and could not find it. My genealogical buddy in Franklin, N.C. the late Thelma Swanson, I told her my dilemma of finding William’s grave and she said she would look around. Thelma was very gun-ho genealogy hunter. She is not related to William, he is on the Hunter Trammell side and she was on the Hunter Ray side.

In a couple of weeks she called me and told me she thought she found his grave. I took my two sons Rocky and Adam with me to North Carolina and went to Thelma’s duplex. She lived on one side and her sister lived on the other.

We all got into my car and we drove to the Church. When we parked, we saw the cemetery. It was just beyond the parking lot. She pointed to the grave she thought it was. We walked up to it and saw that the over 150 year old srone has been weathered. You could hardly read any of the letters.

I got the idea of rubbing it. I suggested we go to K-Mart, buy some etching paper and crayons and rub the stone. We went to K-Mart and bought what we needed. Across the street from K-Mart was a Burger King. We had lunch.

Arriving back at the cemetery about one hour after we left we drove into the parking lot.

We saw an amazing sight.. William Trammell’s grave was under a big tree which produced a shade. But with sun lights shooting beams through the limbs it was cause the tombstone, that one alone, glowing in the shade.

It reminded me of the first Indiana Jones movie with the sunbeam.

Every letter was readable. Hoorah.

Thelma took us to a few more cemeteries and houses and farms that our ancestors lived on/in and worked.

We also go to meet a 90 year old bachelor descendant of John and Nancy Ray (our ancestors) who still lived on their farm. Since then he had died and the house had burned down.

I was amazed at her age how could she could take such giant steps. We had to huff and puff to keep up with her.

Thelma died about a year later.

The Headless Horseman had Family Connections

 This was originally published on the blog in 2020:

Of course The LEGAND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW is the tale of school master Ichabod Crane fighting with the Headless Horseman, in and about the church’s graveyard., written by Washington Irving (1783-1859), the same who gave us RIP VAN WRINKLE.

My claim to fame:

Doing family research one never knows what one will come across to do with one’s family.

My ancestor Joseph Bookout (1701 – 1806) (I know, it say he lived 105 years) was born in Holland and died in Randolph County, North Carolina. He arrived in America with two brothers. What ever became of James is unknown. But his brother John went to up state New York.

Thus, we have this:

"The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow" (the Headless Horseman) started in the cemetary at the Dutch Reform Church, Tarrytown, New York (near the Hudson River.

John BOOKHOUT or his son was serving on the Board of Elders when the legend was born. Later Washington Irvin made the legend into a published story

True Halloween Adventure

 True Halloween Adventure. I was stationed at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1964. On Halloween night in the E.M. Club after several beers during Happy Hour we decided to visit a cemetery. Not any cemetery, it had to be one that had Revolutionary Soldiers. The only one we could think of was in Camden, about 35 miles away. Away to Camden we went.

When we got to the cemetery it was late. In the cemetery we found a whole section of Revolutionary Soldiers and plenty of Revolutionary Flags,

We did not see any ghosts but we did take a tattered Betsy Ross U.s. Flag.

Back in the barracks around midnight most of the men were asleep. We went to show our friend Dick Hyatt the flag. Dick had duty that evening.

Halfway in his cubicle we threw the flag on him. But. He was asleep so we jerked the flag off before it completely settled over him and ran out and retired.

The next morning in the chow hall eating breakfast Dick told us he had the strangest dream last night. He said in his dream a big flag floated in and was settling down on him then suddenly flew off.

We asked Dick what did he have to eat last night.

All rea

Spirit in a Crypt?

 In the late 1970s I took this picture looking in a window of a crypt at Oakland Cemetery in At;amta.. Visually, I saw no what-izzit or even Casper. But, the developed film pointed out this. Boo!

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! MAD #21's POOPEYE!

Story by editor Harvey Kurtzman; Art by Will Elder.

Click on each page to make it big enough to make sense of.

 

The Dancing Butterball

I posted this on Facebook 10 years ago.

 Willow's groomer told me this morning that her sister is now blind and she finally listened to some of her advice and acted. That was to get a seeing-eye dog to help her.

She went on to say that her sister and her husband live on a farm in Ohio. He is always working on the farm and just doesn't want to take time away from working on the farm to give her a helping hand so the seeing-eye dog is working out fine.

That reminded of another farming couple in New Jersey. At one of the many neighborhood bars between where I was stationed, NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Lakewood, New Jersey, one time returning from the movie theater in Lakewood I dropped in a "Dew-Drop-Inn" kind of joint. Back in the mid 60s the bars and lounges had video juke boxes, I sat at the bar and ordered a beer. Next to me was a middle-aged lady quietly weeping. I looked at her and might have asked her was she OK. She told me it was her and her husband's 25th weddding anniversary. He was a chicken farmer and would not dance with her. He resented having to take the time off from the farm to take out to celebrate. He sat beside her, looking straight ahead, listening to ever word we said, and occasionally glanced at the person talking. Finally, I leaned over to him, and saying in a joking manner to "Come on, dance with your pretty wife."

He turned around and glared at me and said, "You dance with her Butterball!"

I laughed like he pulled a good one, and said, "Oh no, I'm not the dancing type.... ha ha!"

He stood up to show me his enormous size, pushed his ball cap back to get a better glare on me, and said, "Dance Butter Ball! Dance!"

I looked at my watch and said I had to run.

I hit the parking lot running.

My lesson for that day was not to meddle in other people's business

The Late Ga's 1st Lady Sandra Deal

Except the last sentence I posted this on facebook about a year ago.

 First Ladies sometimes are a deciding factor of a political race. Georgia's f First Lady Sandra Deal, I'm sure, is an asset to Governor Nathan Deal, not a liability, for his campaign for reelection. This picture was taken when we toured the Georgia Governor's Mansion to see the Christmas decorations a couple years ago. She greeted us in the first room you enter from the foyer. She was very knowledgeable on the items in the room on display and an enthused docent.

She is good, but not good enough to change my mind about her husband.

She passed away 1 year and 4 days ago.

Marietta, Ga Police Force, 1940s

 The doorbell ranged.

I looked at Anna. Anna looked at the door. Willow looked at me

Usually when the doorbell rings it is an unsolicited sales call, like TV cable, or trees to be cut down. I was going to give them a piece of my mind.

I stormed to the door and flung it opened ready for a battle. It was my old friend Lee Moss. Co-student, co-Big Apple carryout/sacker, co -Swabby at NAS ATLANTA.

Lee had a gift. It is picture of my Daddy and his co-workers at the Marietta Police Force. I would recognized that broken nose anywhere.

Lee and Diane (her Daddy's is in the line up too) drove across Cobb County to get this to me. They went to a lot of trouble.

Thank you Lee! & Diane! (Diane's Daddy (Jesse Cooper) is in the lineup too) And here are Ed and Jessie Cooper again.

Gourds, Natural Curvature

 I just could not resist the natural curvature when I took this picture with my not-so natural camera.

Grandfather Wm Elijah Joseph Petty

 Throwback Thursday. You may recall last Throwback was a photograph of five of the six children of Daniel Webster and Sarah Jane Garrett Petty. The one that is missing in the photo is our grandfather William Elijah Joseph Petty (1875-1935). He was born in Fannin County, Georgia.

Was William Elijah a child abuser or a loving father? It is according which child you ask if they were still living. Some of his children claimed he was loving and caring and the others claimed he would blame everything on a certain few and beat them without mercy.

William Elijah had a breathing problem which could have been TB. He moved his family out west to a homestead in Gillette, Wyoming. After a couple of years of near starvation he moved his family back east. First to Appomattox, Virginia, then back to the Murray & Whitfield Countries area of Georgia.

He put Viola and the girls and younger kids on a train to return east. He and his two oldest sons returned by covered wagon, which I'm sure they got quality father-son time in.

Once while homesteading in Gillette, Wyoming, an outlaw gang paid them a visit. They said they did not want any trouble; just food and the barn to sleep in. William Elijah Joseph obliged, but through the night as the outlaw rode their horses hooting and hollering, Elijah sat at the house's front door holding a shotgun.

Back in Georgia, Elijah died with his lung disease. When his son Roy was told of his father's death the following morning, Roy said, "Good!" and turned over and went back to sleep.

He married Frances Viola Petty 2 December 1904, in Murray County, Georgia. They had twelve children, three died as infants.

Notes - You may have heard of Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. It is where General Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to General Grand in 1865.

The picture. As I mentioned, about half of Elijah's children thought he was hateful and cruel. He is holding a bouquet. How nice.

Playing Dangerously in Creeks

 Pictured is the late Dick Sullivan, who saved my life in a creek.

Creeks.  There are some creeks around here that I got to know in my many years.

Sweet Water Creek is in the southwest Cobb/Douglasville area.  When I was 4, 5, and maybe 6  each year on my birthday in July we and our neighbors the Sullivan family would go to Sweet Water Creek and celebrate Eddie Sullivan’s and my birthday.  We lived in the Clay Homes and the Sullivans lived in the same building a few doors down. 

Mr. Sullivan had a flatbed trailer.  He with his family ran the concessions at  Larry Bell Park and used the trailer to haul goodies and soft drinks from one sporting event to another.

We had our  Sweet Water birthday picnics  on a dirt road that went into the creek.  It was like a beach.  Next to the dirt road was a bridge, the new detour that went across the creek.  I think I was about 5.  I waded out into the water and WHOOSH!  I stepped into nothingness.  As soon as I submerged an under water current grabbed me and off we went.

Dick Sullivan, the oldest brother jumped in to save me and so did my Daddy, who was on the bridge at the time, getting a bird’s eye view.  Apparently, they saved me.  I could have drowned.

Sopes Creek is in east of Marietta.  I remember one time Daddy took us out to see the creek.  It was something, roaring white water with rushing water splashing against  the rocks and all.  It was crowded with cars and people.  That day we visited there was also an ambulance there.  Somebody got their head damaged by crashing into a rock in the rushing water.

Anyway, I was impressed.  I told my friends about it and how fun it looked.  Three or four of us got on our bikes and rode out to Sopes Creek.  At the time we lived on Manget Street across from Larry Bell Park, which was a long way to pedal our bikes.  Once we got on Sewell Mill Road, we could just about coast all the way there it was all down hill, which was at least  a mile or two.

When we decided to go I had a flat tire.  I had to push my bike up the long hill of Sewell Mill Road..  Once we got to Roswell Road it wasn’t far to my cousin’s husband’s Service Station, I think if was a Shell Service Stafion..  My cousin Faye Hunter married Frank Rogers.  He first had a Shell Station just almost next to East Marietta Shopping Center, then a Sinclair Station at the fork of Roswell and Lower Roswell Roads. At that time his station was the one at East Maritta Shopping Center.  I used Frank Roger’s phone to call home for Daddy to come and get us.  I do not remember how he reacted.  I doubt if he was happy about my little adventure without telling him or Mama.

As I said we lived on Manget Street and across the street from Larry Bell Park.  Dividing the park almost in half was Manget Creek.  In one area of the creek was a wide area with about a 5 inch waterfall, which we build a dam and had us a nice pond to swim in.  There were banks on the east and west side which gave us a little cliff to “cannon ball” into the boy-made pond.  Onetime I was cannon balling in and in mid air I saw a snake swimming.  It was right right under me, nothing I could do but bomb it.  As soon as I hit the water I got the heck out of the water.  I do not know the fate of the snake.

Another time Marietta had a huge torrential rain.  I walked down to see how the creek was handling this, ZI was by myself.  I took off my shoes and waded in.  I slipped into the rushing water and down the creek I went. Finally about 20 feet away I managed to grab onto a small tree that wasn’t normally in the water, but it was that day.  I held on for my life until I worked myself off the rushing water. 

Well, here I am!  Still here!  But gave up the thrill of jumping on live snakes, hanging by a tree ,or being swep away by an underwater current.  

Mystery Man Revealed!

 Posted on Facebook 10 years ago:

I was doing my walk this morning and haven’t even gone far enough to be off my street when a red pickup truck slowed down, then stopped and the window rolled down. An old fart, about my age, said, “How you doing?”

“So so, how you doing?” “Who is this guy?” I thought.

We talked and talked. We talked about the old days in Marietta and going to the Old Hospital on Cherokee Street, and Doctor Merl Haygood, and more old Marietta stuff. And all the time wondering “Do I know this old fart?”

We talked about our time in the service, he was in the Army about the same time I was in the Navy.

I know it is a Small World, but it would be nice if I knew who I was talking to.

He said he thinks I should get another dog. It seems he knew about Willow’s departure.

I am not sure, but I think it could have been the same guy that between 5 and 10 years ago at the bottom of the hill on the street near by in the morning before daylight I saw the flickering of flames in the back of a house. That was before I carried a cell phone, so it must have been nearer ten years or more. I bangedf on the door of the house and no one came. About that time a pickup truck slowly rode by and I ran out in the street and waved him down. He had a cell phone so he 911.

The firetrucks came and what it was flames were surrounding the LP gas bottle and the fittings. The put the flame out and woke up the woman that lived there then and told her.

Ironically, a week or so later while walking I saw the woman in her yard and I told her that I was the one who called 911 (which really it wasn’t, it was the guy in the truck). I expected a pleasant “Thank you” for saving her and her daughter’s life, but just got a glare, “Why don’t you mind your own business?”

Anyway, back to the guy in the truck this morning, that might have been the person that called 911, if he had on his mask this morning, like he should have, I could have said,

“Who is that masked man?”

All rea