HUNTING FOR GHOSTIES

So, Tyler, Chris, myself, and another friend went on an 'adventure' earlier this week, and ended up on a creepy back road that Chris insisted he'd been on before, and ended up unknowingly driving deep into the wampanoag reservation in the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, which; well, to call it disreputable would be a harsh understatement. Had Tyler not spotted the sign as we were leaving one of the most dangerous areas in the region, we would never have had a clue that we'd just cheated death.

Upon getting home, Chris decided to see just how much trouble we could have been in, and did a bit of googling. Turns out, we were mere feet away from the Hockomock Swamp, square in the middle of the Freetown Triangle, one of the most concentrated areas of paranormal sightings in the world.

So, naturally, we had to go back.

I packed a native american exorcism kit and a camera. Tyler brought a night vision monocular and a flashlight. We were good to go. Well, except for the part where our Mystery Machine for the evening (a beige oldsmobile coupe) was low on gas, and neither of us had eaten. So, our adventure began in Fall River, in the Harbor Mall parking lot, where I stopped to deposit a paycheck so we could put gas in the car.


Next stop: Stop and Shop for gas. Alas, they were closed. Unthwarted, we moved on to Taco Bell so Tyler could get some quesadillas. Not wanting to risk death by stomach ulcer, I opted to get Wendy's. After ten minutes of waiting in line and not even getting to order yet, I lost my patience, and we shot up the road to stop for gas.

I made the mistake of making Captain Kirk get out and pump, so of course, one of his exes pulled up to the next pump. Ten minutes of awkward conversation later, we had a full tank, and made our escape. We were almost ready to go ghost hunting, but I still had no food! So, we detoured into the very same parking lot we started in so I could get Burger King. Now we were ready to go find us some ghosts!

Our first stop for the evening was Route 44 in Rehoboth, so we could track down the Red Headed Hitchhiker, made famous by Charles Turek Robinson's book "New England Ghost Files." Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to find any information more specific than that he showed up on that road in that town, so we decided to be thorough and drive the entire length of it. Twice.

Now, the first thing you should know if you decide to go looking for the Hitchhiker is that 90% of the stretch of Route 44 that resides in Rehoboth is occupied by businesses and homes. Car dealerships, package stores, and restaurants litter the roadside frequently enough that it's hard to find a stretch of road that looks like the kind of place where someone might find a hitchhiker, much less a phantom one.

About two miles from the Seekonk line, however, there is a long corner that looks feasible for a haunt, with fields and forests stretching out beyond the guard rails. We slowed down for this leg of the trip, pulling over a few times to let impatient drivers get by. No dice. We made another pass, pulling over to take pictures and scan the area with the night vision monocular. After about ten minutes of sitting by the road, we gave up and decided to move on to our second landmark of the night: The Hornbine School.

First, it's worth noting that nothing traumatic ever happened in the Hornbine School. It didn't burn down with a class trapped inside or anything that might justify the rumors that the school is haunted by phantom children.
Second, it's also worth noting that all roads that lead to the Hornbine School are terrifying, pitch-black, twisting country back roads that wind through old, run-down farms and overgrown woodlands, all of which look like they were taken straight out of a particularly effective horror movie.
We were genuinely creeped out for the entire ride through rural Rehoboth. We decided to leave the radio off so that any little sounds would scare us half to death, genuinely wanting something terrifying to happen, even if it was just a deer jumping out of the woods. Alas, no such luck. The trip to the Hornbine School was painfully uneventful, and upon arrival, we discovered that the windows had been boarded over for the winter, so even if there were creepy ghost children giving us the stinkeye from the windows, we wouldn't have seen them. Disappointed, we didn't even get out of the car, agreeing to return in the summer when we might actually be able to see something.

Conclusion? A return trip in better weather is needed. Possibly with Scooby Gang costumes.