The series of essay's written by 8th graders at The Learning Center! are winding down-only one left after today's post. Hope you enjoy today's essay and thank you again for taking time to encourage these young Appalachian Writers with your comments.
A Hazel C reek Story
By Whitney Roberts
Meet a ghost from Hazel Creek and they can share their story.
The thought of rundown houses, underwater towns, and old worn out belongings of people they use to be always made me think of old horror books or movies. That was my favorite type of genre for a book or movie since I was younger, total gruesomeness. Still to this day, I hadn’t grown out of my habit of going down to the basement of my house and reading Stephen King books or anything in that category.
Tomorrow I was set out, with two of my friends from my school, Tripp and Lacey, to an abandoned community near Fontana Lake, North Carolina. My blood was pumping at the idea of going to a place that was filled with, bats, nasty bugs, wet buildings that have been half-way torn down, and most importantly…natural beings of the paranormal. I know we had a paper due on Hazel Creek Community, so I suggested that we really got some good information about what it looked like.
Dude, I don’t think this is such a good idea of a trip.” Tripp scared me half to death, appearing out of thin air, while Lacey and I were walking to our vehicles one afternoon once school was over. It was raining and hard too. At that, we all three had the hoods of our jackets over our heads, shielding our hair and my glasses.
“Dude, I’m not a dude.” I said to him instantly. I smiled at him then said, “Man I just wanna go and see supernatural…ness.” Lacey giggled as I added the “ness” at the end. Tripp still wasn’t convinced. Instead, he had wrapped his arms around his upper torso, with his hands under his armpits
“Whitney, you know how I hate the idea of scariness and who knows what else in that category.” I could hear poor Tripp’s teeth chattering while he talked. Ever since he was a brat of a 6-year-old, he had never liked the idea of horror like I did, he had a hard past life. So I considered not fully forcing him to go. Just when I did consider it, Lacey jumped in and basically yelled at Tripp.
“Hey! We have a paper due on Hazel Creek Community next week. You’re going whether you like it or not, mister I-don’t-like-horror.” Lacey always had a deep natural voice to her, but it had always sounded like a girl to me. She hit puberty big time at an early age. This time her voice got real high-pitched when she yelled at Tripp, I could see a vein popping out of her neck as she strained her voice. Tripp had lost the battle against Lacey and I, his green eyes practically yelled it at me that he didn’t want to go at all, it was the way he looked at me.
Lacey’s platinum blonde hair had almost turned a light brown because of the rain, and Tripp’s messy brown hair had almost slicked back all the way when he ran his hand through it to get it out of his face. My dark brown hair had clung to my neck.
Because of the rain, it had gotten absurdly cold. I had to get out my big fur jacket that I rarely use. Lacey had agreed to ride with me to my house while it was raining, she didn’t like the thought of driving alone while it was raining. I drove my dad’s old truck from when he had a mullet, which I don’t know when, maybe the seventies. The rain was coming down heavily as we arrived at my house. Once Lacey and I hurried into the house, my dad had left a note on the fridge, it was so easy to tell his chicken-scratch. The note said:
Gone out of town, trusting you to behave on at home and on the fieldtrip for your report. Love you, mom and dad.
It was funny because my parents didn’t know I was going alone with Tripp and Lacey. It was just us, exploring a supposedly “haunted” community.
“Well, my parents are doing the same with me. Mind if I spent the night with you, Whit?” Lacey asked me flatly as she read the note over my shoulder. I nodded and set out a place for her to sleep on the air-mattress in my bedroom.
It was midnight before we knew it, I wasn’t sleepy, and neither was Lacey. I could hear Lacey shifting her weight on the air-mattress, making air slowly ease in and out of the air-seal. “I can’t sleep.” Was all she said after making herself comfortable. I chuckled.
“Nervous about the trip tomorrow? You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Heck, I’ll go by myself if I have to.” I said the last part with courage, hiding the true fact that I really am a little nervous…and scared.
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll go.” Lacey said, sleep in her voice. After that, I stared at the ceiling, making tiny imaginary shapes in the wood. Lacey was asleep and I was wide-awake, thinking about what might happen tomorrow. What if a ghost was haunting the cemetery? What if there were wolves that ate anyone who visited the community? What if? Just what if. I have a lot of “what if” questions about Hazel Creek on my mind right now.
~
I woke to the sound of the door being slammed shut. I jerked straight up in bed, jarring my head. I groaned and rolled out of bed, hurdling myself towards the door. I opened it and ran down the stairs, half-asleep at that. I was knocking myself into the banister of the stairs and the wall, shaking the family portraits hanging from nails.
“Sorry I woke you, Whitney. I really have to pee.” Lacey said to be, anxiety was in her shaken voice. I opened my eyes wide enough to see her disappear into the bathroom. So, I just went downstairs and made myself some cereal and hot chocolate.
Once done with my cereal and scorching my tongue and the roof of my mouth several times from the coffee I made, Tripp called from his cell and told us to get ready, he was on his way right now to my house. I yelled towards the bathroom, about what Tripp said, to Lacey through the door. She yelled back saying, “OK!”. She was the first one to get ready so I went ahead and changed in my bedroom. I brushed my teeth at the kitchen sink also.
I jumped, startled at the noise of Tripp’s truck’s horn honking. Lacey and I were sitting on the sofa watching the news on a few teens getting busted for drinking and driving near here. My two luggage bags were at the door, so I grabbed them both as Lacey had hers in her hands before I had mine. Tripp honked his truck horn again, I was getting annoyed. Why did I have such a short fuse? I don’t know, I’ve been around Tripp for as long as I could take it.
I jumped in Tripp’s truck first, sitting between Lacey and him. It was still raining so, Tripp had always been a bad driver while it was raining. He had both of his hands clenched around the stirring wheel until his knuckles were white. His face was practically pressed up against the wind-shield. It was a grey day, the sky was bright and I could barely see out the wind-shield it was raining so hard.
“It’ll take at least twenty minutes to get to Hazel Creek.” Lacey said through her teeth. It was especially cold today. I wrapped my arms around my torso and had my head down, my chin pressed against a little lower than my collarbone. The road to Hazel Wood was a little bumpy, considering the limbs and branches that had gotten blown off of the trees and onto the road. The road was concrete, but it was broken in a few places along the sides, there were also cracks in the road that were slightly bumpy going over them.
I remember that we had to take a boat to Hazel Wood. My nerves changed right then, my heart had accelerated at the thought. I was not ready to do that, but I had no choice. I was now truly scared for my life. I never liked the idea of swimming or even being in water, because I never learned how to swim. I know I liked horror movies that had to deal with water, but I never wanted to go through with it in real life.
“We’re here.” Lacey said in a small voice, she was pointing at a sign that looked like it was at least over one-hundred years old. It said: WELCOME TO HAZEL WOOD COMMUNITY
There was a little motorboat that looked like it hasn’t been used in years floating along the gray-blue waters. The concrete road had ended violently and abruptly, with a jerk of the wheels going over the edge of the road that was a few inches down. We were on a, what looked like, a dirt parking lot. Once the truck had stopped, Lacey had already opened the door and was out before Tripp was. I sighed and scooted myself along the seat, hoping out of the Truck. Tripp and I had met around to the front of the truck, our shoulders brushed for the shortest second. He was shaking, and that made me want to take him home right then. I shouldn’t have made him go, but I wanted him to make a good grade on his paper. The other side of the lake had an eerie vibe to it. It looked like a graveyard, with all the mist covering the abandoned community like a blanket. The waters were moving easily over the large rocks, which didn’t look like rocks, it looked like peoples’ belongings from years and years ago.
Lacey was already in the uneasy-looking boat before Tripp and I had time to blink twice. “C’mon, people! Let’s get a move on. I don’t want the police come here after us.” Acid sarcasm dripped in her voice heavily. I glared at her as I patted Tripp’s shoulder, leading him towards the boat slowly. Tripp got into the boat before I did, I had a solid grip on his hand, so at that, I got into the boat about the same time he did. The boat gently rocked and creaked as we planted out feet on the old wood. I was worried that the wood might cave in or break, making my foot slip and fall through and breaking my ankle instantly.
I shook my head, getting out of my wonderland of horror. Lacey had started the motor of the boat with a jerk of her arm with the cranking string in her hand. The boat was moving before I had time to protest. When the boat jerked forward, Tripp had jumped and almost landed in my lap. I laughed and patted his knee. Lacey smiled slyly at Tripp. I looked down at the water below the moving boat, it looked like there was something moving beneath the water. Hopefully it was a fish or something. At that, I scooted away from the edge of the boat, which I was blocked by Tripp in my way. So I just kept my eyes on what was ahead of us.
Before we knew it, we were at the other side of the water. Lacey had jumped out of the boat like a professional. It was like she had done this before, knowing her, she might have done it several times. Tripp and I got out at the same time. Poor Tripp. He was trying so hard not to make a big deal out of this, he always liked trying to impress people.
“Wow, look at that.” Lacey said, pointing to a cemetery. Before I had time to look, she had already ran over to the place she had pointed at.
“Lacey!” I whispered fiercely, beginning to run in her direction. I was half-way to her when Tripp had begun to run with me, not wanting to be alone in this place. When I had gotten to Lacey, she was standing on one of the graves that looked like it was going to cave in at any moment.
“Lacey, get off of that grave you’re on!” I yelled at her viciously. But I was too late, the ground started to shake and the dirt and soil was beginning to crumble. Lacey noticed what was going on and staggered back a few steps onto fertile ground behind her. Tripp was hyperventilating next to me, and I just stared in amazement. There was loud groaning filling the misty air and the sound of wood snapping was unreal.
“What’s happening…?” Tripp breathed. I shook my head as the one thing in front of me was absolutely incredible. The sight of a, what looked like over a century old, coffin was standing straight-up right in front of us. The wood snapped at the coffin door sprung open. What was in the coffin was a skeleton, the joints were displaced and every bone looked broken, almost dust. But right before our eyes, the skeleton started to take form of a human. It started to grown long red hair. Muscles were starting to reattached themselves to the bones. Eyes were popping back into it’s head that were a bright green color. Finally, fair pale skin started to cover the muscles slowly.
“Who dares disturb my slumber?” The “skeleton” asked courageously. Lacey had backed away from the skeleton and bumped into me, which I grabbed her shoulders to keep her in place. I thought Tripp had fainted when he grabbed my arm, practically digging his nails into my skin.
“I-I-I’m sorry,” I stuttered in a shaken voice. “We were just visiting the area.” An idea popped into my brain, it felt like a light-bulb turned on above my head. “We have a paper due soon. I was wondering if you could give us some insight on the area. I believe you lived around here, Miss…?” I said, with a stronger voice now. I couldn’t believe I was talking to a ghost! It had gotten darker, the moon started to show in the dusk sky. The ghosts’ hair glowed in the dark, the same color as the moon, just not as bright.
“Patience Rustin Procter. I was the first settler here with my husband, Moses Procter.” Patience said, keeping her chin up. I take it she was going to give us her insight after all. “Us Proctors, which we had briefly settled in Cades Cove, we crossed the crest at Ekaneetlee Gap in 1829 and built a cabin on a hill in Possum Hollow. The cabin was located at what is now Proctor Cemetery.” Patience gestured behind her, making sure we saw the cemetery located where we were standing.
“Us Proctors were always on good terms with the Cherokee, which we lived further up the hollow. But let me tell you more about Hazel Creek.” Patience offered firmly. She sat down on the ground slowly. I thought she would just seep right through the soil, but she didn’t. She looked like just a regular human being. Except for her hair, it was on fire.
“Hazel Creek is a tributary stream of the Little Tennessee River in the southwestern Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. The creek's bottomlands were home to several pioneer Appalachian communities and logging towns before its incorporation into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hazel Creek is now a back country campsite and historical area.”
Tripp had gotten a little more calm as she spoke to us. We all three sat down when Patience did. She began talking again after a moment of silence. Lacey was basically sitting in my lap, she was shaking and so was Tripp. I could feel him shaking against my arm. Me, personally, I was fascinated.
“In the 1930s, the Aluminum Company of America, which operated a large plant north of Maryville, bought up 15,000 acres (61 km2) above the town of Fontana as part of a plan to build a large dam to provide power to its plants. The operation moved along slowly until the outbreak of World War II, when the demand for aluminum skyrocketed. ALCOA turned its 15,000 acres (61 km2) over to the Tennessee Valley Authority, which quickly completed the dam in 1944. That year, the TVA bought out the remaining North Shore settlements, including those along Hazel Creek. As most of the land along the creek had little financial value, TVA could only offer prices that most of Hazel's residents found absurdly low. Those that refused to sell, however, were forced out via condemnation suits. The last families left Hazel Creek in November 1944, before the rising lake waters inundated the only major road out. The land was turned over to the recently-created Great Smoky Mountains National Park shortly thereafter, effectively extending the park boundary to the shores of Fontana Lake. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which had been operating a camp at Proctor since the late 1930s, repaired bridges, tore down buildings, and improved trails along the creek's watershed.” Patience took in a deep breath. “I’ve been in the ground for a long time, but I still know what’s going on around here.” She said with a small smile.
“Although only a handful of families had settled on Hazel Creek by the 1860s, the Civil War still had a major impact on the valley's history. Like most of the North Carolina side of the Smokies, the small population of Hazel Creek supported the Confederacy. This put them at odds with their cousins on the Tennessee side of the mountains in Cades Cove who were staunchly pro-Union. Union supporters fleeing Confederate North Carolina often fled to Cades Cove via Hazel Creek and Ekaneetlee Gap. Bushwhackers and vigilantes in Cades Cove and Hazel Creek launched raids against one another, usually to steal livestock and crops.” Patience finished off with a sigh and looked at Tripp…Lacey…then me. Her eyes burned a hole right through mine.
“Is that enough information for you?” Patience asked me gently, hopefully trying not to scare me. When I nodded once, she stood up. Her red hair floated just above her shoulders. She entered her coffin all ghost-like, and turned around towards us.
“Do not disturb me again, children.” She said, her eyes glowing red now. My heart started to accelerate when that happened. The coffin’s door slammed shut, and the coffin descended into the ground again. The ground started to close in around the coffin when it reached the bottom. It was like Patience had never moved an inch.
“Did you catch all of that?” Lacey whispered to me. Her voice was uneasy. I nodded, I had a very good memory.
“Let’s get the heck outta here!” Tripp yelled at me. When we were back in Tripp’s truck, it had gotten completely dark. It would be tricky getting back home.
~
Two weeks had went by since that day. Tripp, Lacey and I had all three done our papers, but it was difficult. I had to help them both, they didn’t have a good memory at all.
I was standing in front of my teacher’s desk waiting for my grade on my paper. “Well,” Ms. Christy said. “I’ll let you see your grade for yourself.” She handed me the paper. I glanced at it. I had to do a double-take.
For the rest of the day, I was happy. I had made an “A” on my paper, so did Lacey and Tripp.
“I think the ghost should get the credit on our papers.” Lacey said, smiling.
Written by Whitney Roberts
Hope you enjoyed Whitney's scary story as much I did-leave her a comment and I'll make sure she reads it.
Tipper
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