THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF MAPLE GROVE

Every year on Halloween there's a tradition in the town of Maple Grove, Mr. and Mrs. Herrington have a haunted house for all the children.  They own a huge older home on a large corner lot.  Frankly, even when it isn't Halloween and all the decorations have been taken down, the house still looks like it's haunted.  The older children in town make sure the smaller kids think so anyway.

Over the years Mr. Herrington has really gotten good at dressing like a vampire.  His outfit looks very realistic.  Mrs. Herrington's outfit was equally as good.  She is a very pretty lady with long black hair and when she is dressed in her costume, she really looks like a vampire.  Halloween was the Herrington's favorite holiday.  They went all out to set up a haunted house the children would never forget.

The Herrington's cousin, Bill, always played the mummy and the children loved him.  It took his wife hours to get him all wrapped up to play the mummy.  One thing about it, Bill didn't have to act when he got up and started walking around.  His wife had him wrapped so tight it was hard to walk.

One thing the children had never been able to figure out was a trick   Bill did where he chased his head around the room.  More than one child decided to head for home about that time!  This night, the first to leave was Ellen who had dressed like a little witch.  Ellen decided seeing mom and dad was a good idea.  She had collected a lot of candy before the haunted house party and was happy just to get home and leave Bill to chase his head!

Wilma the witch, who was really the Herrington's maid, was busy cooking up some kind of green drink for the children.  Wilma kept tasting it until she had it just right.  A lot of the children weren't to sure about trying Wilma's green stuff, it looked pretty yucky!  Surprisingly thought, when they did get a taste, it was really very good.

By far one of the strangest things at    the haunted house was the girl in the well.  She came up each Halloween just to Trick or Treat.  She seemed to just move around without even walking and looked a lot like a ghost.  No one ever knew who she was, just that this was one strange girl!  Everyone in the town of Maple Grove had talked about her for years and that would continue for years to come.

After she got her candy from Mrs. Herrington, she would always sit, never saying a word on the front porch and watch the children come and go.  That is if she could see through her long black hair that covered her face.   Midnight, the Herrington's black cat sat on the other side in her pumpkin and watched the kids too.

  Speaking of pets, Mrs. Herrington had some strange ones.   Midnight the   cat was the most normal pet she owned.  When she walked her dog, who's name was Bones, she really got attention.  Everyone figured Bones was just a mechanical toy that ran on batteries.  What no one knew, was Bones was just Bones, no batteries included!   Another of her pets was Nightwing, her pet bat.  He was really a cute little guy.

The Herrington's had a bob-for-apples tub set up.  The kids       had fun with that and most got pretty wet.  Then they were all served some great tasting punch.  Mr. and Mrs. Herrington sure knew how to set up a great party.  This punch was almost as good as Wilma's green stuff!

Now it was time for the Herrington's to put on their little show   for the children.  Each would sneak around looking pretty scary, like they were looking for something they couldn't find.  Suddenly in the corner of the room a dark dangerous looking figure appeared.  His appearance even seemed to scare the Herrington's.

A couple of the children heard the Herrington's say that the Prince   of Darkness had arrived.  Dark he was too!  The children were more afraid now than they had been all night.  This was the most realistic haunted house anyone had ever been to, or ever would.  As the Prince moved to another room a skeleton walked in.

The only problem for this fellow was that he had to carry his head.    Wow, he looked so real too.  The children just couldn't figure out were the batteries for all these neat toys could be put.  They looked him over real well and couldn't find a place for batteries at all!  Mr. Herrington was still searching for something.  No one knew what it was.

Just about then a man ran by, followed by a hooded guy with a big    knife. Mr. Herrington let out a big scary growl and the hooded man ran off and left the guy alone.  Mr. Herrington didn't want anyone hurt at his party!  Boy, were the kids impressed with those teeth of his.  They all talked about asking what Halloween store he had gotten them from so next year they could get a pair.

Mrs. Herrington was treating a really neat ghost.  The  children couldn't get a look at his legs because he just seemed to float in the air.  Boy, next year they were going to find out where these folks got their costumes, they were great!  When the ghost left, he followed a poor guy down the street who looked pretty scared. 

A guy dressed like Frankenstein raised to see what the   noise was about.  He saw the skeleton doing a dance because he had finally gotten his head back on.  It was getting late and most of the children had to start heading for home.  Mrs. Herrington was giving them all a final treat to take along with them.

The girl from the well started heading back for it.    This time she just crawled.  The kids figured she was just tired.  One thing for sure, she was weird!  Nightwing was flying all around the house.  No one had seen Mr. Herrington for awhile and the kids wondered where he was.  All the children thanked Mrs. Herrington and told her they had a great time.

  As they were leaving, suddenly out of the bricks on the side of the house a skeleton stuck his head out and scared the kids one last time.  That was enough for most of them.  Tommy and Greg took off running for home.  As they ran they looked up and thought they saw Wilma the maid flying off on a broom!  No it couldn't be, could it?

  Mr. Herrington was getting ready for bed too!  He told Mrs.   Herrington he thought their party had been a wonderful success and she agreed.  As he spoke Nightwing changed from a bat to Mr. Herrington.  He then got ready to go to bed in his casket shaped bed and so did Mrs. Herrington.

  Neither Mr. or Mrs. Herrington got out of their   costumes.  What was going on here?  Is it possible, really possible that they didn't have costumes on after all.  Maybe, just maybe this was what they wore all the time?  Maybe the girl in the well really did live there!  For hundreds of years, kids in Maple Grove had been asking those questions and still only the Herrington's and their friends knew the answer.

SOMETIMES IN LIFE WE FIND NOT EVERYONE IS WHAT THEY APPEAR TO BE!