Here is a tale told to me by Uncle Chester Temple, and I believed every word of it......... Moonless Night By Anthony Joe Ulmer Before the bridge was built, there was a ferry to carry people back and forth from the swamp into the high land, and it was located just where the high land bluff joins the river at the old Egypt School. Along this bluff was a trail, that I assume was used for years to travel from houses that used to be along the bluff on the old Rapp place , to the store up at Donnells, or perhaps on to Crowville. At any rate, it passed just west of the grave yard. It was along this trail that my Uncle Chester was walking one fine moonless night on his way home from a party. Only the stars gave light, but it was enough for him to see the white dirt path, though only faintly. When he was passing the grave yard, he took note that someone was camping out, for he could see a campfire, and reflected in the light of the flames, he plainly saw a huge white sycamore log, and the figures of people sitting beside the log. “ Someone with trot-lines out” he said to himself. The Ward place is where Uncle Chester lived, and many times he, and my mother told me of the old steam ship that had sunk there, and how they used to swim around it as children. So it was no great surprise to find out about it being “discovered” a few years ago. They told me of the pot of gold that had been buried around there some where, and how my Grandpa had found it,only to be foiled by some pesky night goblin with black leathery wings, fiery eyes, and a loud spooky moaning voice. The Ward place is about a mile north of the cemetery, so Uncle had time to think of the fire he had seen. It bothered him, that something didn’t fit right into the picture he had in his mind, for he knew every clod of dirt on the trail, and every tree on the trail, for he had walked it day and night for years. It was after he was in bed that the truth dawned on him, and that’s when he started wondering. So after a sleepless night, daybreak found him standing on the trail just west of the grave yard looking at the spot he had seen the campfire. When full light came, he looked, and looked close, but never found any sign of a fire, much less the sycamore log. For that was the one thing that didn’t fit into the picture, for he had never seen a sycamore log any where near the grave yard before that night (Moonless Night is copyrighted by Joe Ulmer, published by Louisiana Legends magazine)
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 02:34:28 +0000