Are you brave enough to read this? Read a spooky story about the adventures of Billy Jack and the happenings at Halloween time on Chestnut Street.

The whole town of Haintville knew the real reason the Bradner family fled their home on Chestnut Street. Twenty years ago, they up and fled in the middle of Halloween night. Some say, that the spirits went wild that night. They say the haints were determined nobody would live in the house unless, they were a haint themselves.

It seems the spirits only wanted witches, warlocks, ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, and other creatures, if you believe in such things.

Billy Jack Bruce sure didn’t.

"I've never even seen a haint or any kind of creepy creature come from that old house," he said. But most folks in town had seen something. How come I haven't seen anything? he wondered.

"People are always talking about the weird happenings at the Bradner house," Billy Jack said. He did heard some strange sounds a time or two, but he blamed it on the wind, dogs, or anything logical he could think of.

Billy Jack opened the french doors in his upstairs bedroom, and walked out onto the small deck. The deck faced the side of the old house. "Besides, it wouldn’t be no ghost in the state of Virginia anyway," he said, with confidence. "I figure the ghosts all spread out to other states when they followed the immigrants over here on the ships." Surly they wouldn’t hang around in Virginia. They’d want to go exploring in the New World. Wouldn't they? He wondered.

Saturday morning, Billy Jack peeked out the french doors. He fancied himself a kid detective. “Now some jerk has to move in the ole Bradner place two days before Halloween," he said, in a pouting voice. "Just when I planned to scare my friends silly.” He flopped down on his bed, and looked at his new Halloween bedspread.

He loved it. He rubbed his hand across the decorated images of ghouls, ghosts, and creatures of the night, then looked up at his matching curtains.

"Shoot, I ain't afraid to sleep under a spooky bedspread," he said. He picked up his new library book, and started to read about ghosts. The sound of a vehicle pulling up caused him to spring from his bed, knocking his new ghost novel onto the soft rug on the hardwood floor.

Billy Jack pulled back his spooky Halloween curtains, made by his mother for his french doors. A strange truck parked in the driveway of the Bradner house. "Creeping Crickets! Who is that?!"

A mysterious fellow slid out of an old Ford pickup truck. Somehow, the man seemed to know the boy was watching, for the man turned, and looked straight into Billy Jack's eyes. The frightened boy released the curtain back swiftly “How did he know?” Billy Jack swallowed hard. "I guess this detective work can be pretty tough."

Between spying on the Bradner house, and reading his new novel, Billy Jack fell asleep on his bed. Later that evening, he woke up to the sound of howling, as if some sort of creature, ghoul, or thing was in his yard.

But then . . .

Something started scratching on his french doors. He dashed from his bed, pressed his body tight against the wall, and slid little by little, to the edge of his doors, peeking out from behind the curtains.

“Whoa! Can't be,” he said. He swallowed so hard it hurt his tonsils.

Running away from the doors, and down the steps of the deck, was some sort of creature - ghoul - or thing, walking on all fours. The terrified boy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then looked again. “Whoa! Now he's running like a man. And he's going straight for the old Bradner house.”

The next morning - the eve of Halloween, the Bruce family was in the kitchen getting breakfast, and making final arrangements for their Halloween party. Billy Jack's father, Albert Bruce, set his cup of steaming coffee on the kitchen table. “I thought I heard a dog scratching on the side of the house last night. Anyone else hear it?” he said to no one in particular.

“I heard it! I saw it!” Billy Jack felt his eyes grow bigger. His shaking hand reached for his glass of orange juice. In seconds, orange liquid flowed across his mother’s white tablecloth.

"That's our little ace detective!" Jewel, Billy Jack’s oldest sister shouted. “All that freaking pizza you eat - you’ll likely to see anything,” she said unconcerned.

Traci, his youngest sister set a plate of sausage on the table. “Look at you, knocking over your orange juice. B.J's a thirteen year old baby,” she said, turning up her lip. Billy Jack didn’t care, he was too busy inhaling the aroma of fresh scrambled eggs covered with cheese. His mother scraped a portion onto his blue willow plate, causing his mouth to water.

"There's a creature in our neighborhood,” Billy Jack announced. Everyone at the table lifted their heads to look at him, and then returned their attention back to their breakfast. Dad continued eating his eggs, and reading the morning paper. Mom went about making sure everyone had enough food on their plates.

Another day of normal life on Chestnut, or was it?

Billy Jack was convinced that the new neighbor next door was a creature of the night. Some sort of creature - ghoul - or beastly thing he figured. Maybe even a werewolf - but then again there wouldn’t be any werewolves in Virginia, and especially in the little hamlet of Haintville. Why in the world would a werewolf want to come here? Billy Jack wondered. He sure wished his cousin, Kriss Colville was here. She knew all about such things.

"Nothing in Haintville but a bunch of happy kids running all over the neighborhoods," Billy Jack's mother said. Could she read his thoughts? Billy Jack swallowed hard to get his sausage down. “Perfect setup for a thing of the night,” he whispered to himself.

Later that night, Billy Jack waited for his new neighbor to come prowling. He knew he would. "How could he not? Creeps like that can’t stay in at night," Billy Jack said. The flashlight moved in his trembling hands as he stood next to his bedroom window, but he wasn’t scared. “No sir, ain’t no such thing as a dang werewolf,” he reassured himself.

"The stranger sure looked spooky enough though, with that ole devil beard, and his long frizzy black hair scattered all over his head in curls like a mad scientist." Only a person of true horror would dare to move into the old Bradner house, so the new neighbor must be some kind of haint - ghoul - or creeping thing of the night.

Then . . .

Screech! Screech!

The sound of claws dragging down Billy Jack's french doors made him drop his flashlight. He leaped on his bed in a state of terror. His eyes grew bigger and bigger until they darn well popped out of his shaking head. He felt his heart jump right out of his chest, and run in the next room with his parents. Billy Jack couldn’t move. His whole body was frozen, and no matter how hard he tried to run – he couldn’t.

"Ma- Ma - Mom!"

* * * * *

When Halloween night arrived, Billy Jack flat out refused to go trick or treating. “No way, I'm not going out and let no freakazoid werewolf - ghoul - ghost - or creepy thing get me!” Usually Billy Jack went out for an hour or so, and came back to his house for the big party, but not this year. "No Sir!"

"Geez!" Billy Jack gasped. His new neighbor waltzed into the Bruce's front yard. Billy Jack looked at his father. “You . . . you didn't invite him, did you?” he asked. His voice was shaking, and his teeth chattered.

His father looked at him in a strange way. "What?" he asked.

"Dad, am I the only person around here who gets it? Something is wrong with this new neighbor – and nobody believes it – except me."

All through the evening little kids trick or treated, and the neighbors of Chestnut made merriment as they ate, drank, and bobbed for apples. About nine o'clock, the new mad scientist neighbor left, unnoticed.

But, Billy Jack noticed!

He knew what the strange man was up to. It was basic arithmetic. "If you're a freaking werewolf, you have to leave the party to go shape shift. You're certainly not gonna do it in front of everybody in the middle of a Halloween party! "He looked at everyone in the room. They were laughing and dancing. Not one person noticed Billy Jack.

He ran from room to room making sure all windows were locked. He heard his father's voice. He ran to the front door, and found his new neighbor in the doorway. The man held onto the collar of a full-grown St. Bernard dog.

"Here’s your werewolf son," his father chuckled, rubbing the dog’s huge head. "I've been trying to keep him a secret for two days." Albert Bruce couldn't stop laughing. "I've been hiding him at Professor Ledbetter’s, because I wanted to surprise you on Halloween."

”Professor Led...Ledbetter?” Billy Jack asked. He swallowed hard.

”Yes, our new neighbor at the edge of Chestnut,” Albert Bruce said. The professor peeked inside the door, and smiled in a wicked way. Billy Jack's father pulled his son to the side. “He's not a werewolf, Billy Jack. He's the new history professor at the college,” he whispered.

Professor Ledbetter stepped forward. “The dog must have known this was his new home. I had to come down here and get him every night. For some reason he didn't want to stay at my place,” he said with a devilish grin.

Billy Jack didn’t grin - smile - or even be polite. He knelt down to hug the barking dog, and ignored the Professor. Billy Jack had wanted a St. Bernard for years, and now before him was the most beautiful dog he had ever seen, all fluffy brown and white.

The professor crouched next to the boy and his dog. “You know he's used to me now, knows my scent,” he said, bearing that same devil grin. Billy Jack didn't grin.

That night, Billy Jack's new companion slept at the bottom of his bed. He named him, NoGhost because the St. Bernard had solved the case of the house at the edge of Chestnut. “No more ghostly things, or werewolf. It was you, all along,” Billy Jack said. He rubbed the dog's head and laughed.

It was unusually hot on this night of Halloween, so Billy Jack opened one door, and locked the screen just in case a burglar might stop by. "After all, it is Halloween. Some sort of ghoul might come calling. Who knows?"

He hugged the big dog. "NoGhost, how did you reach my french doors to make that creepy sound?" The dog gave a big bark. "Guess you climbed up the steps to the upper deck, huh?" the boy said, as he closed his tired eyes. "That one was easy to figure out."

Later, as the full moon rose higher in the night sky, the slow, screeching sound of a claw dragging across Billy Jack's bedroom doors made his eyes open quickly. NoGhost, hearing the sound, barked loud and dashed to the french doors. A terrible howling noise made Billy Jack scream out loud! "Help! Help!"

NoGhost busted through the screen door, and chased the horrible creature down the steps. Billy Jack and all his family hurried down the stairs. By the time they reached their new dog, he had fought the creature to the point it could only crawl back to the old Bradner house.

Billy Jack didn't know if it really was a creature. Now it looked more like a man. “Creeping Crickets! The wolfman is turning back into a human!” the boy cried. The frightened teen looked up at the heavens. Praise be to the good Lord above, he thought. The first light of dawn was now breaking through the sky.

The police came and searched all around the Bruce house with flashlights, while Billy Jack cleaned and bandaged the St. Bernard's wounds. For sure he had fought with some dog - wolf - or creepy thing. “You fought as brave as any good knight would,” Billy Jack said, patting his dog on the head.

Downstairs, the young teen and his dog stepped out onto the front porch just in time to see Professor Ledbetter. He was bandaged from head to toe, limping on one leg. He made it to his old Ford truck with a suitcase in his hand. He drove away slow, as the fading moonlight could still be seen through the treetops on Chestnut.

"I wonder where he will go next," Billy Jack stated.

The professor-werewolf was never heard from again, and all his belongings left behind were donated to charity. His books on werewolves and creatures of the night were collected by Billy Jack and hid in a secret place.

Billy Jack couldn’t help but think that if not for NoGhost, he could have ended up as a Halloween treat for a werewolf who drove an old Ford pickup truck. "Now, with a dog like NoGhost, it's no telling the cases we can solve together."

He’d think of a great name for their new detective agency tomorrow, but for now he just wanted to cuddle up in his bed with his heroic dog, NoGhost. This was one Halloween Billy Jack would never forget.

Could you?

©1999jpinkerton