Phantom of the Boardwalk
Placed June 20, 2003
"Help me! Help me!"
Owahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Owahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
OoooooowwwwwwwwaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What
in the world? David sat strait up in bed from a dead cold sleep. He
strained to hear but there was absolute silence. He remained wide-awake the rest
of the night but he never heard another sound. Still, he was sure he didn’t
dream it. This was an ominous start
for his first night in his new home over looking the marsh at the Sandwich
boardwalk.
"Should we tell him?" Buddy
asked Erica.
"I really don't know. He might
not…" She grimaced, revealing her new and quite funky glow-in-the-dark
green and silver braces.
"Tell me what? " David interrupted them.
“Well, I guess he’s moved in here
now,” Erica said, still talking to Buddy as if David wasn’t there.
This annoyed David a lot.
“He’s going to find out anyway,”
Buddy said, “so we might as well tell him now.”
"Ok, I guess you’re right.” Erica turned to David, finally, and pointed
out over the boardwalk. “There
is…well…a phantom out there. Every
night he calls out to ALL the spirits from the sea to help him haunt
the…"
"Help him WHAT?" David was aghast!
Erica paused. "Do you want to
know or not?” she retorted.
“I don’t believe in stuff like
that,” he said sarcastically.
“You asked, but you shall NOT
receive!” Erica blasted back indignantly.
Buddy chimed in, “Yeah, we don’t have
to tell YOU anything. You can just go home and try to sleep another night in
your new ROOM!”
David could see he was not gaining any
popularity points with his new neighbors and decided to humor them even though
he thought they were, well, a little weird.
“OK, OK, I’m sorry.
I really do want to know. Really.
Come on! Tell me what happens out there.”
Erica was exasperated with him but
she’s accepted his apology and told him it’s only for the summer and it
really doesn’t matter what happens out there, because there is a magical
osprey that watches over the area and protects them.
They grew up there and they have never had anything bad happen to them
because of the witch.
David was now pretty certain his new
neighbors were a tad crazy but he thought it best to be nice about it.
At 13, he was also older and therefore, believed he was wiser. Buddy was
only 6 and Erica was 11, so maybe Erica was just allowing this myth to go on for
Buddy’s sake. It would be unlikely at her age that Erica actually believed
in such thing as phantoms… and gobbledygook!
“Hmmm, there’s probably some
reasonable explanation to what is happening out there,“ he said, trying to
think of what it could be. He wondered if someone might have been in trouble.
There was a haunting thought!
Buddy was not as forgiving as Erica and
popped back at him, “Well, just maybe we should just take you out there
tonight after midnight and let YOU find out for yourself!”
“Great idea!” David said, with a sly
grin on his face. He suspected
Buddy was all show. “I’ll meet you at the boardwalk at midnight!”
He said as he turned and walked away.
Erica and Buddy were speechless!
At midnight, Erica got a spotlight and
held Buddy's hand until they reached the boardwalk. "Don't worry,
Buddy," she said. "The osprey was on her nest this afternoon. She will
protect us. Nothing bad will happen. Grandma said so before she died."
Buddy was silent. The truth was they had never been out on the boardwalk after
dark.
Though it was a full moon, the dense fog made it impossible to see.
The fog just reflected Erica’s spotlight back. David was not
waiting at the entrance to the boardwalk.
Buddy said," This was a big dumb
idea!”
“YOUR idea!” Erica reminded him.
Suddenly they heard the bushes behind
them rustle. Instinctively they
froze. Then
AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They almost jumped out of their skin,
screaming and grabbing each other and stooping to cover their heads all at once!
Then they heard a roar of laughter as
David jumped from behind the beach grass!
"You scared us to DEATH!" Buddy
yelled.
"I thought you weren't scared of this place at night," said David with
a smirking grin on his face.
After a cold moment of silence, Erica
said calmly, "Let's just get going.”
The
unusually high tidewater almost covered the marsh. This made the part of the
boardwalk that didn’t have rails seem even more treacherous in the heavy fog.
Erica grabbed Buddy's hand and they made their way down the boardwalk toward the
bridge. David trailed behind them.
They couldn't see more than a couple of boards ahead.
But the marsh was alive with noise…frogs croaking, crickets chirping,
mosquitoes buzzing, and coyotes howling. They were relieved when they
reached the rail for the bridge. At the top, David climbed over the rail
as if he were about to jump.
"Go ahead," said Buddy tantalizing him a
little. "We jump all the time at high tide."
"Yeah, RIGHT!" said David. He
had already figured out that Buddy was full of it.
“I dare you!” Buddy prompted.
“NO, I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU!”
David thought about it. He was somewhat older and
wiser, but he still hated to pass on a triple dog dare.
However, he was just teasing them and he really had no intentions of
jumping. So he said, “We’ll
have plenty of time to jump off this bridge.
Right now, we’re out to find a phantom!” He started to climb back
over the rail when suddenly a bunch of screeching bats swarmed their heads and
David fell off the edge of the bridge! Erica and Buddy heard David yell as
he fell head first into the water. Buddy cracked up laughing. David
yelled again as he came up for air in the cold water. The motion had
cleared the fog enough for Erica's spotlight to point the way to the ladder.
A surly David ascended in silence.
Erica calmly took Buddy's hand and said, "OK, there's no rail for a long way here so let's all hold onto each other." They eased slowly, carefully, down the boardwalk. David left a trail of dripping water behind him, but he didn’t dare complain about how cold he was!
When they reached the bench on the left, they stood
on top of it, hoping to be able to see something - anything - but all they saw
was fog. So they proceeded on to the end of the boardwalk, which just
happened to sit on the top of the dune. Just
as they were about to step off into the sand, a huge gust of wind caught their backs and
literally catapulted all three of them straight out toward the Bay.
AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They ALL
screamed at the top of their lungs! But they were able to get a hold on
the rocks at the water’s edge. Just as suddenly as it came, the wind
stopped…completely dead still…and there was total silence…not even the
water swished against the rocks.
Now even Erica was unnerved! "What was
THAT?" The other two were shaking too hard to respond!
As Erica looked up, she gasped and pointed to the top of the path to the
left of the boardwalk. The menacing wind had opened up a large area area in the fog
and they saw lights flickering from the other side of the dune! They
crouched down on the beach and whispered quietly among themselves. What do
you suppose that is? It looks like someone is out there. Could it be
the Phantom? David and Buddy both thought they should try to go back, but
none of them thought the boardwalk was safe. They decided to sneak up to
the top of the dune to see what the light was. Stooping way down, they
quietly and carefully made their way across the beach toward the edge of the
dune near the path. As they got closer and the lights got brighter, they
began to crawl until… until…until they saw them – blazing fires with caldrons in the middle gurgling and
bubbling and belching up smoke! Not
just any old smoke, mind you, but brilliant colors of smoke swirling eerily just
above the tops!
They laid in silence on the sand not sure what to do.
Then Erica whispered, “There’s no one here!”
Bravely, Erica made the first move and made her way toward the first one, which was spewing a lime green iridescent smoke. David and Buddy followed close behind her. David, who was barely breathing, was now holding Buddy's hand. When they got to the pot, there appeared to be nothing but the thick smoke swirling around in it. Erica turned to the others and said, "Ohhhhhhhhh, I just remembered that tonight is a Blue Moon and the spirits of the sea hold a séance on every Blue Moon! It's like a family reunion for them. That must be what this is!"
David did not dispute this. He was beginning to
wonder if just maybe this supernatural stuff was for real.
"But where are they?" David asked.
"Good question," Erica replied.
They made their way down the path looking into each
cauldron. Each one gave off a different bright color of smoke. What they
didn't see was that as they proceeded, the smoke from each caldron followed
behind them. When they reached the water's edge at the marsh inlet and
looked into the glassy still water, they froze!
They could see the reflection of the smoke behind them. Suddenly the
smoke started swirling around and around them faster and faster creating a
tunnel like a tornado! They turned,
but as they tried to run back up the path, they found their feet stuck firmly in
the mud!
They all held their breath and hung onto to each other tightly.
Erica flicked on the spotlight hoping to attract the magic osprey.
But the apparition surrounding them just reflected the light right back in their
faces. They were terrified!
Then, Erica on a sudden impulse that she did not
understand bared her teeth and hissed like a bobcat! Her glow-in-the-dark
green and silver braces suddenly shot out rays of laser-like light that cut
right through the smoke! The
apparition appeared to retreat and then in a swirling flash transformed into the
shape of ….of….of….a PHANTOM looming over them like he was ready to pounce
on their heads! The boys crouched
instinctively and covered their heads. But
Erica stood her ground and faced the phantom with her fangs bared.
The air went completely still and all the night was totally silent.
No one moved…not even the ticks crawling on the ends of the beach
grass!
The boys were stunned, but not half as stunned
as Erica!
"How did you do that?" Buddy whispered.
"I don't know!" Erica whispered back.
The phantom smoldered a few feet over their heads but
did not advance toward them.
"What are we going to do now?"
David said in a low monotone voice.
Erica started to tap on her braces with her ring,
which was a nervous habit she had developed when she was trying to think.
Only now when she tapped on them, the sound was like someone striking a steel
pole with a hammer. The piercing
sound reverberated throughout the marsh and made the boys hold their ears.
“How did you do that!” Buddy cried.
“I don’t know!”
Erica said.
“Shhhh…Listen!” David said.
They thought they heard the sound echoing back to
them. But then they realized that something or someone was actually replying to
the tapping.
“Oh, please be the Coast Guard!” Erica said. Then
she tapped out
.
. . - - - . . . . .
. - - - . . .
. . . - - - . . .
They listened….and heard back
---..
-----
-
- - - .- -.
.-. - - - … .
.-. .. --.
…. -
Erica translated while keeping her
teeth bared at the phantom. David
wrote it out in the sand.
“But what does that mean?” David said. Erica
instinctively knew exactly what it meant. One thing she was sure of was that was
NOT the Coast Guard!
Taking into account the direction they were facing,
she slowly twisted. She discovered
that when she faced the direction of the message, the phantom lingered a little
further away from them. But if she turned any other way, the phantom stirred and
swarmed toward them emitting deafening screeches. She flashed her braces to keep him at bay.
She also figured out something else
- when she was facing the direction of the message, her feet were free to
move!
Intuitively, Erica said, "I think we need to
stay exactly on the course given to us." So they made a
chain each holding onto the other's back and eased their way along single file.
Erica led the way with Buddy in the middle and David protecting him from the
back. Carefully, they moved one
step at a time, up, up, up, being ever watchful that the phantom did not get any
closer to them.
Finally, Erica said "This has to be the spot!
Now what?" As she spoke, that strange ray of light from her braces
lit up a small bare spot in the beach grass just like an X-ray beam.
It pierced right through small pile of rocks barely visible in the sand
and exposed a small treasure chest hidden underneath.
“Erica! How
did you do that?” Buddy insisted.
“I really don’t know!” Erica said.
As Erica carefully removed the box the phantom let
out an even more deafening screech and multi-colored smoke began swirling wildly
about them. They all huddled
together, but Erica noticed it never any came any closer to them.
“Should we open it?” David was visibly shaking. Buddy was crying and voted to
leave it alone and try to get out of there!
Erica, who appeared completely calm now, thought out
loud, “It appears to me that the Phantom is not happy about our finding this,
so I would think that means YES. We
should open it!” David just shook
his head in disbelief of the way this girl thought!
They all huddled around the treasure chest blocking
any possible view as the screeching became numbing and a strong wind mixed with
many colors of smoke began to howl and swirl.
Erica carefully pulled the lid off and took out the bounty.
What she saw brought a big smile to her face, producing a dancing light
flickering from her braces. As she looked around her the light from her braces
became exponentially brighter and faster and as she moved her head X-rays shot
out and pierced millions of holes through the Phantom.
Erica grabbed onto the boys and held them close to her.
Massive bolts of lightening and thunder streaked from her braces across
the night skies.. Harrowing wails
echoed all across the marsh. With a
huge bang of crackling thunder, the universe sucked up the Phantom taking all
the brightly colored smoke with it. The
kids held onto to each other even after it was gone.
In amazement, they looked around them. The night was suddenly crystal clear and the air was completely still. The tidewater in the marsh glimmered magically in the moonlight. In the quiet moonlit distance, they could faintly see the outline of the Osprey resting atop the pole on her nest. Erica sighed with relief, “Ah, NOW we’re safe!”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Location:
Sandwich, MA, Barnstable County
Take
Route 3 to Cape Cod, Cross the Sagamore Bridge on Route 6, Exit 2, North (left)
on 130
Follow
sign pointing right to Sandwich Center, (Note: public rest rooms are
across the street behind this sign)
Take
2nd left onto Jarves. Go through light to end. Left on Factory to end. Right on
Harbor to end.
Free
parking for 1 hour. Can be crowded in summer….be discreet please,
please, please, PLEASE!
Terrain
– easy
Clues
– easy - somewhat
Time
to find the box….30 minutes if you have your clues well marked….forever if
you don’t.
But
DO allow time to enjoy the boardwalk, the beach and the dunes….
Best
for kids of all ages but dogs are not allowed on the beach in the summer due to
nesting piping plovers.
Before
you set out, take precautions for tick and mosquito exposure.
Before
you set out, please read the
waiver
of responsibility and disclaimer.
This
letterbox is a collaborative effort by Erin, Jacob and Rae…
We
had a lot of fun putting it together.
Happy Hunting and don’t let the ghouls get you!
Please feel free to email us and let us know the condition of the box.
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