Barbara Stanley’s house was the perfect venue for a Halloween party. It was an old, three story Victorian home, located along a vast tract of farm land in the beautiful hilly countryside of eastern Pennsylvania. There were no neighbors within five miles in either direction of the main road and the house sat back about a quarter of a mile from the street. On the opposite side of the road sat an old cemetery. It was very creepy looking and not well maintained. Most of the grave markers were broken, or they were covered with thick moss, making it difficult to read the names that were inscribed upon them.
Barbara gazed out of the window toward the road. It was 6 pm and the skies were darkening fast. This annual get together was an occasion that she really looked forward to. It was the one time of the year that people could visit without her being embarrassed by the general lack of up keep to her property. To most of Barbara's guests the house really didn't appear to be in bad shape, but she was always overly sensitive about it.
Her parties were never really extravagant. Six or eight guests, at the most, would show up. She had been hosting it every year since 1976, and this would mark her eighth one.
Shortly before seven, the party goers started to arrive. There was her sister, Tracy, along with her husband, Beau. They had been the first to show up, dressed as Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
There was also Bob Baino, who worked with Barbara at the bank. He was a very attractive man in her eyes, and she had a huge crush on him. His tight fitting Zorro costume made her want him even more.
Megan, the girl who styled Barbara’s hair and probably knew more about her personal life than anyone else, came dressed as Lucille Ball. Barbara hoped that none of the guests would mention that Megan looked nothing like Lucy.
Russ and Connie, friends of hers for years, showed up as Laurel and Hardy. It was hysterical because Connie was a big woman and Russ was a bean pole. Connie played the fat man role so well.
There was also Alice and Sam. Alice was a housekeeper by trade, and she came dressed as a French maid. Sam, who was a locksmith, didn't know what costume to wear, so he arrived wearing a chef’s outfit. Barbara thought that he looked more like a butcher.
Her old neighbors who used to live down the road, George and Louise, did not attend. They had moved out of the country, and had relocated in Manhattan’s upper west side. They had really moved on up and away from country life. She hadn't seen them in ages.
The party was festive event. There was punch, and food, and the usual catching up that people do in social situations. The jovial mood was interrupted by a knock at the door. Barbara opened it, and in front of her stood a man dressed up as a soldier. He looked like he had just crawled out of the trenches.
“Can I help you?” she asked him.
“I heard that there was a party here,” he said with a grin.
Barbara felt that one of the other guests had probably invited him, so she let the man in.
“I’m Barbara,” she said, extending her hand. She had dressed herself up to be a witch. “Come on in and grab some punch.”
The soldier shook her hand but he did not offer his name. “Thank you,” was all that he said.
She began to ask her other guests about the man in the military costume. None of the other attendees had ever seen him before. Barbara decided to confront him.
“Excuse me,” she said, gently tapping the man on the shoulder. “I don’t mind that you're here. You seem like a really nice fellow, but no one here recognizes you.”
“That's always the case," he replied. He was going to continue, but then there was a loud shriek!
Megan, who was looking out of the front window, had let out the chilling yell.
“My God! Come look at what's happening in the graveyard!” she wailed.
Everyone went and looked out of the front windows. A light fog had developed, but they could still see across to the old cemetery. There was something moving among the tombstones.
“I count five,” Russ said.
“They don’t look right,” added the man in the soldier outfit.
The shadowy figures no longer drifted around the tombstones. They were now on Barbara’s land and advancing slowly toward the house. The fog was ever thickening, and soon their outlines had become nothing but images in the night mist.
Bob Baino said, "Who or whatever they are, they're not coming here for the party.”
They were all scared now. Maybe it was the tales that they had just been telling, or just the fact that it was Halloween. Alice began to cry and Sam tried to comfort her the best that he could. Everyone was getting nervous.
Beau looked out of the window and saw nothing. “I think that they're gone.” he said.
Suddenly there was a loud crash from above. The sound of breaking glass echoed throughout the house. Everyone jumped at the exploding windows.
“The Phone! Where’s the phone?” Russ asked in a panic.
There was now movement outside of the lower windows , on the front side of the house.
“In the kitchen!” Barbara yelled back at Russ.
Beau ran in and picked up the phone. It was dead. There was another loud thump and the sound of more breaking glass.
“They're coming in”, the soldier said, “We have to make a stand somewhere. We're sitting ducks here.”
“There's a cellar door that is pretty well hidden. You have to go through the kitchen pantry to get to it. We could lock ourselves in there,” Barbara informed the others.
“Yea, that worked well in “Night of the Living Dead”, Sam added. “Remember, everyone died?!”
The front door began to rattle. They all headed for the basement. There were no more discussions; fear dictated their actions. The cellar was dark and the light bulb was burnt out. Barbara didn't go down there very often, so she had no idea that there was no source of illumination. The group crowded on the stairs and locked the door behind them. No one made a sound as they listened to the world above. There was more breaking glass and a few large crashing sounds, and then there were heavy footsteps. The beings had entered the house. The party goer's only hope was that the creatures wouldn't find the cellar door.
Just then there was a noise from below. It was coming from the darkness at the bottom of the cellar steps. Something furry ran across Tracy’s leg. Beau cupped his hand over her mouth before she could scream.
“ It’s just rats, don’t yell,” Bob said softly.
“I think I would rather take my chances with the zombies. I hate rats”, Russ whispered.
The noise above them continued. The house was being ransacked. The intruders were either searching for something of value, or maybe just looking for them. It went on for at least an hour. With crashes from upstairs and rats in the darkness below, it turned into one hell of a scary Halloween party. Then the racket from above stopped. After that, they sat on the stairs in the darkness for what seemed like an eternity. It was Russ who finally decided that they needed to go up and take a look. They all reluctantly agreed.
The party guests came out the darkness to find that the morning sun was just starting to emerge over the horizon and that they were alone in the house. The intruders had vanished. There was broken glass everywhere, doors were left open, and the furniture was overturned. Barbara was in a state of shock. After a few minutes of silence, something suddenly occurred to her.
“Has anyone seen the soldier guy?” she asked.
Everyone looked around. The soldier was gone. They knew that he couldn't have gotten past them. How did he disappear? Too many weird things had happened that night. Barbara just wanted to put it behind her and pick up the pieces.
The morning sun began to peek over the mausoleum where the boys had decided to spend the night. It was a rite of passage to say that you spent the night in a graveyard, but these boys had taken it one step further and had actually spent Halloween in the cemetery. Tommy Slater was the first one to open his eyes. It hadn't been much of a sound sleep that he had gotten. It seemed like every little noise had caused his heart to jump, disturbing his light slumber. By daybreak he was awake and examining his surroundings. It was the first time that he had seen the cemetery up close, in the daylight. He suddenly felt sad, like he shouldn't be there. He looked at the little headstone directly in front of where he had slept. There was a tiny American flag, the kind that you would wave at a parade, stuck in the ground. It looked like it had been there for ages. The tombstone read:
Unknown soldier WWI Go with God
Tommy was ashamed of himself. He woke Dave Hanson, who had fallen asleep next to him.
“Let’s get out of here Dave, this ain’t right. My Dad would kill me for being here, especially with the soldier’s grave. My Uncle died in Vietnam. My Dad cries when anyone brings it up.”
" Yea, I want to go home and sleep some more in my bed, anyway. This sleeping bag wasn't very comfortable,” Dave replied.
They woke the other three boys and began to make their way out to the road. Tommy looked across the street at Barbara Stanley’s house and then he turned to David.
“Do you think that we'll get in trouble for what we did last night?” he asked.
“Hell no,” David said, “Old lady Stanley died in 75’. That house needs to be torn down anyway. They say that if you look in the house at a certain time on Halloween, you can see her and her friends having a party. Did you see anything last night?”
“No”, Tommy replied.
“Then stop worrying about some old abandoned house!”
“You pussy”, one of the other boys added as they all walked away.
A few days later, a car stopped on the side of the road. Tommy got out of the passenger side and his dad emerged from the drivers seat. Tommy led him to the grave of the unknown soldier. His dad removed the worn out flag and replaced it with a new one. Tommy placed a bouquet of flowers in front of the grave marker.
“Don’t ever come here unless you show respect, son. These people had lives and families and they deserve that much from you.”
Tommy looked over and saw a Moss covered tombstone which read:
Barbara Stanley Beloved to all
He felt compelled to tell his Dad about the vandalism. Tommy Slater grew up quite a bit that Halloween.
The man in the soldier suit smiled. It was nice to finally be recognized.
