Is there a house that you know of that is rumored to be haunted? Did you go inside of it? I went inside of one. Let’s just say it wasn’t what I expected.
In my old neighborhood, there was this old house that was supposedly haunted by confederate soldiers from the Civil War. The rumor was that they died there while hiding from the Union Army. As far as I know, this story of the soldiers was never authenticated. Of course, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. As for the house, it was the epitome of what you would think a haunted house would look like. It was an old, rickety wooden two-story house that was always dark and foreboding.
If you saw a picture of it, you would probably never guess that this house was located behind a small church. When the land was bought to build the church, the old house came with it. They did put a “No trespassing,” sign on the porch. Now, there were some kids who did sneak into it, but as far as I heard, nobody experienced anything but a few splinters. When I was in the eighth grade, the church held a haunted house in it. The youth was trying to raise money for mission trip. Since it was October, they thought this would be a great way to do it.
Naturally, I wanted to go. I went with my cousin Julie and her friends. This is the same one that was pulled down for walking in front of the TV in my article “Going Down.” Anyway, my mom said she would take us, but she wasn’t going inside. We all were giddy with excitement since it was our first haunted house, so we went inside with no trepidations. Personally, I expected to see people dressed in scary and creepy costumes trying to frighten us. While we did see this, they weren’t just standing around waiting to grab us and yell: “Boo!” They were acting out disgusting and terrifying scenes like you would see in a horror movie. There was were also strobe lights which helped to give an eerie appearance. Of course, people all around us were screaming. My gut reaction was to run out of there the fastest way I could, but then I realized how that would make me look to others. I knew I had to stick to it out. So, I kept my head bent down and my eyes squinted. I only had them open enough to see where I was walking. Once I was out of that terrible place, I said I would never go into a haunted house again.
“ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV).
If I had opened my eyes and looked at the haunted house scenes, I would have been affected and not in a good way. The god of this world works in the same manner in that he tries to keep people from opening their eyes to reality. He knows they would be amazed and forever changed if they truly saw the Glory of Jesus that is all around us. Can you see it?
Did I stay true to my word about ever going into a haunted house again? Yes and no in that I accidentally went into one. When I was a teenager, I went to the fair with some of my friends. There was this attraction about aliens. We went in expecting something like “ Star Wars” or “Star Trek.” Boy, were we wrong. Instead, it had horrifying scenes very similar to the haunted house next to the church. Again, I squinted my eyes and kept my head down. When we finally got to the end, there was somebody standing next to the door who fired a gun with blanks. Let’s just say we were all relieved that we had stopped by the restroom first.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.