Soybeans & Beer...

I've been doing quite a bit of reminiscing, and remembering stories and events from the past. It's all been very interesting. Most of what I have blogged about can be found on my other blog "musings from the marsh...". "musings" has developed a certain tone, and I think this tale to be better suited for this blog ("42")...which has become sort of my 'general' blog. A place for 'everything else'.

It was the early '80's. Around 1983-84. I was attending Georgia Southern College (it has since become a University), and as I did on a number of occasions, I headed over to the campus apartment complex 'The Pines' to hang out with friends. Before I start rolling along with the story, I'll point out that I'm not 100% sure of one of the individuals involved in this little escapade. Here is the cast of characters as I remember them: me, Mark, Lisa #2, one of the neighbors from the apartment below, and (here's the person I'm not completely clear on) Alan. Mark and Alan were the friends whose apartment I was visiting. My best friend, Sandy, was there but took a pass. Also, I'm not sure if Jay or Glenn was residing there with Mark and Alan at this particular time, but it doesn't really effect the story either way. Whomever it was had opted to stay behind. See? Irrelevant.

We were hanging out engaged in our usual time of watching TV and drinking mass quantities of beer. There was probably the usual amount of juggling going on, too. It was what we basically did most of the time when we weren't in class...aside from hanging out at the radio station, which is what I did a lot. BUT...I digress...

Since I've already mentioned "one of the neighbors from the apartment below", I think it has been established that Mark and Alan lived on the second floor. The downstairs neighbor (whose name escapes me) was a bit of a tool, and I seem to remember that there had been past scuffles with him over loud music. I don't know why he happened to be included in this, but he was. (Now that I'm thinking about it, I think there was a certain amount of flirting going on between the neighbor and Lisa #2.) So we were all drinking mass quantities of beer, most likely Milwaukee's Best...at $5.00 a case, who would pass that up? It was your basic piss in a can, but crappy beer + college students = good time. It was during that evenings buzz that an idea was born.

GSC is located in Statesboro, GA, a town most known for the Allman Brothers tune "The Statesboro Blues". I'm sure it has grown since those days, but at the time it was kind of a wide place in the road. A town surrounded by farm land, and the like. There were a few spots outside of the confines of the campus that students would visit. I remember one was a covered bridge...don't recall the allure of the location, other than it being a covered bridge on a dirt road. Another was the center of the brilliant idea. On a quiet road that ran between soybean fields was an old house. Most of the students thought it to be haunted. At least that's what the rumor was. It was a creepy looking place. Two stories high, with scraggly trees around it. A fence with 'No Trespassing' signs on it ran around the little plot it occupied. The only other signs of habitation were a farm house a few block lengths down the road on the opposite side, and a trailer in the other direction that sat a short ways off from the house. It was known to be the abode for the caretaker of the haunted property.

So...what was the brilliant idea? To try and go inside said haunted house. We were a small band of buzzed twenty-somethings. How could our little plan go wrong? Correction. We didn't really have a plan. In retrospect, the only plan we did have was to drive to the vicinity of the house in my Corolla station wagon. The rest would be figured out later. Actually, I think we just ended up making it up as we went along. (The more the story forms in my mind, the more Alan is coming into focus...I'm pretty sure he was in attendance.) Grabbing jackets and flashlights, we piled into my car and were off.

The roads were dead quiet. Not that it was a shocker, or anything. There weren't really any streetlights, so it was extremely dark. If you looked up, all of the stars were present and accounted for. As we neared our target, we made note that the farmhouse to our right was dark. As we neared the haunted abode, the trailer looked dark, as well. Perfect. I did a casual drive by, and turned around to head back the other way a bit. We had spotted a small dirt road that went along a fence. Obviously there for farm equipment, and such. It was decided that it was the best place to pull the car off. We would proceed the rest of the way on foot through the field. We were having a great time at that point. What could go wrong? Aaa, who were we kidding...we were a bunch of idiots...

Lisa #2 was probably the most nervous of the group. Mark and "the tool" were in the lead, and me, Lisa #2 and Alan followed. We were traipsing along between bright green rows of soy bean plants. Rows that had been watered not too long before. It was very muddy...and very sticky. We all had mud caked on our shoes. As we crept forward, we came close to a rickety old barn that stood outside of the fence barring us from our destination. Wait...did you hear that? A faint rumbling. Like an engine being started. *flick* Are those headlights? It seemed that the inhabitants of the trailer were there after all. Slowly the truck (it was a pick-up truck) pulled down the drive and out onto the asphalt of the road, and carefully made it's way past the posted property. All of us dove into the mud below the soy bean plants. They were good cover. Lucky for us. The truck made it past our location, we heard it go up the road a short ways, turn around, and head back toward us. *flick* What the...is that a spotlight? At that point I think we all may have peed a little. Visions of shotguns danced through our heads. My first thought was that they must have seen my car parked behind the fence. They knew we were there. Somewhere. They sat there scanning the field for any signs of life, and we stayed low in the mud and silent as the grave. After a few minutes, I guess they...well, I have no idea what they must have thought. Whatever conclusion they came to, they drove back up to the trailer, went inside, and it went dark once more.

Okay, here's where it really gets interesting. All was quiet except for the usual country crickets, and low laughing and whispers from us. Mark was on a mission. He was determined to find an area of fence that he could maneuver. The field side where we were was not that manageable. I think the difficulties stemmed from barbed wire, but for some reason I'm vaguely remembering something about an electrified fence...I could be wrong though. At any rate, Mark and "the tool" headed to the fence that ran behind the house. Mark hit pay dirt and found a section that was passable. Then...

Did I hear something? There was a dull rustling/rummaging sound over by the house. We couldn't see a thing as it was pitch black in the houses immediate vicinity. Something didn't feel right. There was another sound...like the dragging of a chain. Simultaneously, our mental bulbs flickered on. There was a dog on the property. That's all we needed. For the dog to start yapping. If anyone was going to start the chained canine barking, it was going to be Mark. As I remember, Alan took off quickly towards Mark to alert him. Then it happened. An ear piercing scream knifed through the air. Maybe not so much a scream as a blood curdling screech. Like an irate Banshee. Mark, Alan, and "the tool" were hauling ass towards me and Lisa #2. Not only did the house have it's own watch dog, it also had a watch peacock. (Peacocks are known to be effective watch animals because of the noise they make...something we experienced first hand.)

I think we probably would have made the Keystone Cops proud. All of us were assholes and elbows, slogging through the muddy field. Lisa #2 lost a shoe in the muck, and insisted on going back for it. Was she new? I mean, that WAS her standing there next to me when all hell broke loose...right?! Alan helped her get her shoe back, but I think he was about to the point of leaving her to deal with it herself. The lights were on at the caretakers trailer. No idea how long they had been on by the time we started booking it between the soybean bushes. At that point I just wanted to get back to the car and get the hell out of there.

We made it back to my car, and piled in. I do remember the truck coming back to life and start to follow us. They probably had just been sitting inside out of the chill, waiting for something to alert them to our location. They knew we were out there. They were right. The truck was on the road with the spotlight on when we made it back to the car. I was a little freaked out, and I;m pretty sure I wasn't the only one. I managed to get the key in the ignition, fire up the engine, and back out onto the road where I slammed the car into first and floored it. Our mission thwarted, the guys watched out the back window as I sped off. The truck didn't follow. Thankfully. Getting in a car chase with some shotgun wielding farmers wasn't something I was prepared to deal with.

We got back to the apartment in one piece. Mud was dealt with, and mass quantities of crappy beer were consumed. I don't recollect the response given by those we shared our story with...I'm sure they thought we were nuts. (hehehe)

Mark and Alan, I'm hoping that you can fill in some blanks on this. Maybe you remember some stuff too, Sandy. I remember a number of the key points, but I'm sure you three might remember some details that I don't. There might be some of the stuff I mentioned that you remember differently. Please share.

Ah, the recklessness of youth...snerk...