Halloween in Iowa (Des Moines, Burlington, Centerville: how much, house, neighborhoods)

[Mercruiserdr]

Halloween always brings back the great memories of strategizing just what neighborhoods to plunder and running from door to door with my friends and relatives in search of that big bag of bootie.

It also reminds me of the terrifying ordeal that befell yours truly one night near the time of that infamous spooky eve.

What I am about to relate to you is a true story , it honestly did happen in an old two story farmhouse near a small town in Southern Iowa very close to the Missouri border.
Many of you as you read this tale of terror will probably be thinking this guy's a nutcase ,,, things like this dont really happen.
However it did ,, I just urge you read the story to the end , so you know the truth of what dark terrors lurk in the backwoods of rural Iowa.

I call this frightening episode from my past "THE NIGHT OF THE DEMON ".

I cannot recall the exact date when this incident took place , however I know it was in the early seventies due to the movie involved that had been recently released , and the fact I still didnt have a drivers license.

My cousin 'Jeff' worked as the projectionist at the local movie theatre and had helped me get the position as ticket taker and doorman , my first "real" job so to speak.
However due to not yet having a drivers license I was only capable of working on evenings when Jeff did due to the fact I was reliant on him for transportation.
Because we were both still in school we only worked the weekends.

On this particular friday night my parents along with my little sis had traveled to Des Moines to visit some relatives for the weekend leaving me alone in the old two story house south of town on the farm.

Two things were creating an air of excitment that weekend for those of us working at the theatre , the upcoming halloween night , and the premier showing of the much talked about "Excorcist" at our small theatre.

For quite some time I had been overhearing my older "in the know" coworkers chattering about this film and the strange occurences that had supposedly taken place wherever it was shown.
There were even rumors of people dissapearing without a trace and never to be heard from again !!

This was the first night that movie was to be presented at our theatre so those of us working were pretty excited, we knew we would be busy , however all of us wanted to sneak a peak when we could muster the time.

I found that time when the doors closed , and the movie began and the crowd finally settled down.
To be very honest I didnt see what the big hoopla was , yes the movie was interesting at the time,, but I didnt see anything that bizzare or outstanding.
I am also happy to report the evenings presentations went without a misshap and no reported missing persons.

With the final showing Jeff and I closed and locked the place up and headed for home.
We were both pretty worn out from the long day at school and night at work , so without incident he dropped me off and went on his way.

I entered the dark house flipped on the lights and pulled out a chair and removed my shoes then began foraging for food and drink.
After a late night snack I sauntered up the stairs and hit the sack , I was pretty tired so I didnt notice anything amiss and fell instantly asleep upon my head hitting that pillow.

I have no idea how much time had passed,, but I awoke to having thought I felt a strange bump on my bed ?
I layed there still groggy when suddenly I felt another bump !
This time I was certain I had felt something !

I sat up in my bed in that very dark room trying to wake up and figure out just what was going on , when suddenly I felt another sharper bump and heard something run out from under my bed and begin thrashing about on the comic book strewn all over my bedroom floor !

I knew no mouse could have delivered these bumps,, they were way to powerful , and from the sound of the thrashing comics I knew something pretty good sized was in my room with me !

I was now wide awake and straining to see in the darkness !
Then ,,, whatever it was started making noises !
The noise it made was a bizzare growling and whistling noise ,,, and from what I could tell it was running all around my room wrecking havoc and knocking things over !!!

My families farm is just about a mile from the local municipal airport , and at that time the airport had a large beacon that ran all night rotating its powerful white and green beam across the countryside.
With each rotation of that beam there would be a brief flash of light angle into my bedroom window.

With one of those flashes of light I caught a brief glimpse of the silhouette of the thing in my room ,, it was apparently standing there looking at me .
One prominent feature stood out on this creature in my room ,,, it had two pointy protrusions sticking out of the top of its head !

THERE WAS A DEMON IN MY ROOM !

I was now utterly terrified !
All I could think about was this is what I get for watching that damn stupid movie !

I quickly pulled my blanket up close around me , with this movement the demon went into a frenzy and again ran back under my bed !
I could feel it bumping around under their making that weid growling and whistling noise all the time,, it sounded like it was really mad now !!!!

I was so utterly terrified i couldnt muster the courage to just jump out of bed and run for my life for fear the demon woul grab me if i dared !

Then suddenly it went silent,,, I could still feel it bumping around under the bed, but couldnt tell what it was doing.

Then I felt a tug on my blanket , then another, then a stronger tug and I realised my blanket , my only existing protection from that creature from hell istelf was being drug away from me to the foot of my bed by the demon !!!!!!

In a panic I gave the blanket a quick jerk and it came back over the end of my bed WITH THE DEMON ATTACHED !!!!!!!!!!

Out of sheer terror I threw the blanket over the demon and bolted for my bedroom door screaming like a stuck pig !!!!

I tumbled down the stairway picked my self up and ran blindly for the kitchen and the back door ,, in the darkness I failed to see the chair I had left in the middle of kitchen floor when I took of my shoes ,, upon colliding with it I was sent painfully sprawling across the floor !!!

I layed there briefly in pain ,, until I heard the demon coming down the stairs !!!!

I tried to get up but tripped over that darn chair again and ended up by the door, I was now completely disoriented and couldnt find the door knob however I could see the glowing light switch for the kitchen , so i reached for it.
At the same time I heard the demon enter the room.

I crouched there in terror ,, from what I could tell it wasnt doing anything,,, I had my back to it so I couldnt see it ,,,,, however I could feel its presence.

Then I had this panicked idea that maybe light would scare it away !

So in a flash i reached up and flicked the kitchen light on and quickly turned to face what I estimated would be my quick demise !!!!!!!!

There he stood ,,,,,,, Snickers,,, my pet Raccoon that had been missing for several months.

Apparently the furball had heard the call of the wild some time ago but decided to come back for a visit.

I later discovered that he had entered the house through a broken window in the basement , then since he knew how to open doors had free reign from that point.
Upon hearing me come home he must have sought me out for another round of rough housing as we had so often engaged in.

So there ya go ,, Thats my halloween tale of terror ,, now do you believe me ?

[Dport7674]

That wasn't a post that was a book.

[Mercruiserdr]

Im glad you liked it.

[lilred0005]

That was cute! Pets, ya gotta love 'em. Btw, half my family is from Burlington. Was your "tale of terror" anywhere near there?

[Mercruiserdr]

South Central Iowa, Centerville to be exact , the movie theatre was the late great Majestic ,,, I had a lot of fun with friends hanging out there.

The Majestic was a modified Vaudville theatre with the old stage , curtains and antiquated lighting still intact.
Just in front of the stage was a sunken area "fenced" off from the auditorium where the bands could perform for the acts on the stage.
Under the stage was a large open area where the dressing rooms were located , as well as access to the drop doors in the stage floor.

The theatres owner during the time we worked there was open to anything as long as it was safe and wouldnt get anyone hurt or insult the local citizens.

We had a monster marathon that lasted all night one halloween, that involved skits with the whole crew and some crude special effects between and even during the flicks.

Some of the simplest things we did were the most effective.
During one dracula flick we had an old style coffin that had set on end at one corner of the stage , it was sitting there from the begining of the marathon so no one payed it much heed.
What the crowd was not aware of was the fact that that coffin covered a vent that we had removed the grille from that was big enough for our Dracula to crawl through and into that coffin unseen.

During a tense scene in the flick when a coffin began to open slowly and errily,, so was ours ,, then out jumped our dracula with a banshee yell causing mass screaming and popcorn and soda to fly !
No one expected anything to come out of that box that had sat there for so long !

One special effect scared the hell out of everyone,, even us ,, because we had nothing to do with it !

One of the old stage lights I mentined earlier decided it had been in place far to long so it picked that very night to crash onto the stage !
Everyone was sure we had done that on purpose,, even some of the fellow employees were just sure a couple of us had set it up,, but we were innocent.

Our antics that evening gave the theatre a reputation that took a while to live down.
During the showing of one of the well known disaster flicks during the seventies no one would take the firemen seriously when they tried to get everyone to exit the theatre due to the attached building at the rear of the theatre being on fire !!
They all thought it was the Majestics employees up to their old tricks.

[El Rhino]

Anyone ever been to the haunted bridge south of Des Moines? Pretty creepy.

[Mercruiserdr]

Where exactly is this bridge located , and whats the history behind its "haunting" ?

I have encountered some pretty errie stuff in the Sedan Bottoms area of Appanoose county not far from here.

Years ago my compadres and I used to do a lot of dirtbiking on the trails surrounding a sand pit near the Chariton river there.

One sunday evening while taking a brief rest we heard the weirdest scream deeper into the woods, and on another occasion we caught a glimpse of some very hard to explain fog drifting through the tree's that put our hair on end !

In fact that sighting alone pretty much put an end to our gang ever returning to that area.

During my early teens a couple of young ladies and myself snuck into an old long abandoned two story house not far from where I live now to find out what the glowing was in the upper bedroom window we had spotted for several nights.

This old house was very large and was at one time a showpiece with a curving stairway and a large fireplace as well as two smaller ones for the upper story.
The last time it had been occupied was sometime in the mid sixties , so this strange light was a mystery.
Its owners at that time reportedly lived in Chicago , and rented the surrounding farmground to local farmers who took care of the crops.

The house wasnt locked or boarded up so we simply opened the door and snuck in armed with only a small flashlight, the dust that had collected from the broken windows and nearby farm fields was pretty deep but we could see there had been recent activity !

We were all huddled together and working our way through what appeared to be a kitchen or some sort of sun porch , when suddenly we could hear footsteps on the floor beyond the doorway in front of us !

I never saw anything , but those two girls let out a shrill squeal that sent chills up my spine !
With that we began a mindless blind scramble back out the way we came in all three of us colliding at the doorway to the outside in a three stooges like jam till I backed off and allowed the still screaching girls out first !

We then ran all the way back to my place with enough velocity to make any olympic distance runner proud !

I never did find out what that light was or who or what was in there, however we never saw the glowing in the window again.

That errie old house was demolished around fifteen years ago , and many legends of errie happenings were buried with it.

[El Rhino]

If I remember right to get to the bridge you take County Line Rd to Clover Hill and then go south on Clover Hill Rd a ways. It eventually turns into a dirt road with an "enter at your own risk" sign. It's a one lane bridge.


I've heard a couple stories but they pretty much all include a woman and her baby. In one a horse drawn carriage (or car) falls off the bridge and kills the woman and baby. Apparently you can sometimes hear a baby crying or a woman calling for her baby. There's also a bit of rope hanging from the overhead rafters that they say was where they cut down a noose from when some guy hung himself there. According to the legend you park underneath the rope and shut your car off for 30 seconds and they say it won't be able to start up again or something like that. I remember my uncle taking us down there when I was a kid and making it so the car wouldn't start and making noise with a clicker he had hidden in his hand while we were "stalled". Pretty scary!

[IowaTexasDC Guy]

I grew up hearing a story about a bridge near Chariton right by Red Haw SP that was supposedly haunted. If you looked in your rear view mirror and saw a little girl on it.....you were about to die. LOVE small town ghost stories!

[JannAZ]

OP, you are a fine storyteller. Gave me goosebumps!