Chapel Trail Summer

Iowa, 1963

I never really liked school, but at least it was something to do.

Summers in my small town, Chapel Trail, could get pretty boring.

I mean, how many times in a row can you go swimming or bike riding?

There was nowhere to go fishing nearby.

Plus, some of my friends left town for the whole summer since their parents worked for the college. 

See, the town had this college with a gigantic church on campus and there were farms around the edges of the town.

Some of my other friends lived out in the country and didn’t get to town much during the summer.  So, most of the time it was me and a couple other guys, Chuck and Roger, hanging around looking for stuff to do.

Well, at least that’s how it was until the summer I turned 10.

That summer was different. 

Dominick, one of the professor’s kids that usually left was in town that year and another kid, Paul, who’s Dad was gonna be a professor in the fall had moved to town at the tail end of the school year.

So that summer, the five of us hung around and did the usual summer stuff.

Then, one night, Dominick got permission to set up a tent in their back yard and invited us to “camp out.”

We all grabbed our sleeping bags and flashlights and met up in Dominick’s back yard. Chuck’s mom had sent along a whole bag of bologna mustard sandwiches and Roger had a bag of his mom’s chocolate chip cookies tucked under one arm. Paul eyed the cookies and asked,

“You gonna share those?”

“Yeah, replied Roger, “later.”

While we put up the tent, Dominick’s dad built a campfire. We passed the sandwiches and cookies around the campfire and, of course, roasted some marshmallows.

When the fire started to die down we crawled into the tent.

If you’ve ever been on a campout, you know you don’t really sleep. You talk.

At one point, Dominick said, “You know Paul, they say there’s a ghost in that church on the college campus.”

“Nah, you’re kidding” replied Paul.

“No really, it’s true!” said Dominick. “They say that when they were building the church one of the workers fell while he was working on the bell tower. They say you can hear him at night, calling for his wife.”

“Come on now,” said Roger, “Stop joshin” 

“No foolin’! There is a ghost!” insisted Dominick.

“Yeah, like you saw it or somethin” said Chuck.

“I didn’t say I’d seen it, but they say it’s true” replied Dominick.

“They say, who’s they?” asked Roger.

“You know, people,” said Dominick.

“Aw, cut it out, you’re just tryin to scare the new kid,” said Chuck.

“Am Not! If you don’t believe me, maybe you should just go over there and find out”

said Dominick defiantly.

Paul moved around as if getting ready to stand up and said

“I’ll go. Who’s going along?”

Silence.

Then Chuck said, “You can’t go now! That place is locked up tighter than a drum!”

 “Whatsa matter?” asked Dominick “You scared?”

“Oh dry up, Dominick!” Roger said “You know Chuck’s right. It’s all locked up now.”

“Then when is it open?” asked Paul.

All four of our heads turned to look at Paul.

“What?” he asked. “Dominick?”

“Well, I , er, uh, um,” stammered Dominick.

“Well?” all four of us said at once.

Dominick thought for a minute and said, “If you really want to go, they’re painting inside the church, so it’s unlocked for the paint crew. I suppose we could sneak in before they leave for the day.” 

“What’s wrong? Are you scared Dominick?” asked Paul

“No! No, I’m not scared. It’s just….” replied Dominick, “Just… we could get in a pack of trouble if we got caught.”

“Then we won’t get caught” declared Roger. 

We made a plan. Dominick would get his dad to leave the tent set up. We’d meet back here in two days, sneak into the church and find the ghost.

The next day Paul and I met up after lunch and walked over to the campus to see what we could find out. 

There were two doors to the church that were unlocked, one in front and one in back. We asked some questions and found out that the paint crew usually left about 5:30.

The following afternoon, we gathered in Dominick’s back yard. Everybody had their flashlights and Roger and I had brought our pocket knives. You never knew when you’d need one, especially ghost hunting.

We sat in the tent until we heard the church bell toll 5 O’clock. Then we all walked over to the college. On the edge of campus, we split up and agreed to meet up inside the church after a few minutes.

One by one, we snuck in the back door which had been propped open by the paint crew. 

By maybe twenty after 5 we were all hidden in or under the big wooden pews in the main part of the church.

We waited.

I was under one of the pews near the side, still as I could be. It was so quiet and echoey in there that I was sure you could hear my breathing all over campus. The arm I was laying on felt all tingly and numb. I wondered if I’d ever be able to use it again.

“Pssst” said somebody.

I jumped a little and bumped my head on the bottom of the pew.

“Rats!” I exclaimed.

“Shhhhh!” whispered all four other guys at once. 

“Ya think it’s safe?” whispered Paul.

“Yeah, it should…” began Roger quietly.

“Wait!” came an emphatic whisper from Dominick. “We need to be sure. Nobody move, I’ll go see if the coast is clear.”

Barely making a sound, Dominick slipped out of his pew and tiptoed out of the room.

Minutes seemed like forever. Thoughts raced through my brain.

What was taking him so long? Did he get caught? Were we stuck here till morning?

After what felt like hours Dominick was back in the room.

“It’s safe. You can all come out now.” He said barely above a whisper.

I rolled out from under the pew and was amazed that I could even stand up.

My arm, hanging at my side, was numb and frozen. My fingers were bluish-white.

We all moved slowly over to gather around Dominick. He nodded and, as a group, we walked through the pews and made our way up to the front.

We climbed the three little carpeted steps up to the altar area. There was a mammoth wooden cross suspended in mid-air near the wall behind the big wooden alter.

Chuck ran to the back of the alter and crouched down on his knees. “Hmmm,” he muttered and began tapping on the back of the altar.

“What are you doing?” asked Dominick.

“Looking for the hidden panel” replied Chuck.

“What?” asked Dominick, looking confused.

Chuck answered, “You know, the hidden panel that you open to find the treasure”

“Or bones” added Roger.

Dominick just shook his head.

While Chuck continued his tapping and poking on the altar, Roger went over to the large wooden podium thingy that was used for sermons. He climbed the stairs into it and was engulfed in its dark oak walls. He stepped up to the front, stood up straight and tall, and put his right hand in the center of his chest. He cleared his throat a couple times, “Hrrm, Hrrrmmm” and said “Ladies and Gentlemen”

“SHHHH” hissed Dominick.

Roger sheepishly climbed out of the podium.

Paul turned to Chuck and said “Stop all of that! We’re supposed to be looking for a ghost.”

Chuck answered quickly “Everybody knows where there’s a ghost, there’s treasure”

“And bones” added Roger.

“Knock it off you two” snapped Paul. “Dominick, where do they say this ghost is?”

“Well,” began Dominick, “they say he’s up in the stairway to the bell room.”

“So, how do we get there?” Paul asked impatiently.

“Follow me” Dominick answered and turning, led us down the center aisle of pews, out into the little waiting area past the pews, and up the stairs to the choir loft. Up there were more pews for the choir and a large organ with its bench on stilts.  A little way past the bench was a door.

Dominick held up his hand like a stop sign. “Wait a second,” he said.

We all looked on eagerly as he went to the door and tried the doorknob.

Grinning, he turned back to us and said: “It’s open!”

He slowly opened the door and stuck his head in to look around.

He waved his arm, signaling us to follow. Beyond the door was a small landing at the bottom of a flight of stairs. There wasn’t room in there for all five of us at once. Paul pushed through, then he and Dominick started up the stairs. Chuck went next, followed by Roger and me. Good thing we’d brought our flashlights, ‘cause it was really dark! There was a dusty, musty smell even though it was pretty warm in there. As we climbed up and up, every now and then a stair would creak and we’d all freeze in place. At the top of the stairs was another landing and the stairs continued around a corner.

We were all about halfway up the second flight of stairs when we heard it: a sad, moaning sound like someone crying.

“W,w,w,w…. what was that?” whispered Chuck.

A long, drawn-out “Oh” was the reply.

We all tiptoed back down to the landing between the stairs and huddled together, waiting.

“Oh…” there it was again!

“Where’s it coming from?” whispered Roger.

“It sounds… far away” added Paul.

“Well, it sure isn’t up here in the stairs!” said Dominick. “Let’s go back downstairs.”

We crept back down the stairs and into the choir loft.

“Oh, Mary, Mary” cried the same distant voice.

Without a word, we formed into a tight little bunch.

“What now?” asked Chuck in a trembling whisper.

“Sounds like it’s maybe…” started Paul.

“My dear Mary!” sobbed the voice.

“Is there a basement?” Paul asked.

“I think so…” nodded Dominick as he led the way out of the choir loft and back to the main floor. He padded silently in the direction of the front door and then motioned for us to follow.

In the entryway near the big double front doors was a stairway that led downwards. We inched down the stairs, one step at a time, waiting between steps for the voice. We were all at the bottom of the stairs and had not heard anything. Maybe we’d just been imagining the voice.

We stood at the bottom of the stairs looking blankly at one another.

The sobbing began again, this time from somewhere close by. We all looked around curiously until Dominick pointed with his left hand and nodded. We tiptoed down a dim hall. Dominick stopped just before a door on the left side of the hall. We all stopped a few feet away.

The voice moaned again. It seemed to be coming from the room behind that very door!

Dominick got down on his hands and knees and looked through the keyhole.

He turned and looked at us with a look of surprise, motioning ‘come here.’

One by one we crept up to the keyhole and looked through.

There was a man in the room! A real, live flesh and blood man! I watched as he sobbed, shaking his head. I moved away from the door and Paul crept back up to look in but then pulled quickly back from the door. Before any of us had time to move, the door opened and before us stood an older man in shabby jeans and a tattered shirt.

His eyes were red and swollen from crying. He looked down at us, bewildered.

“What are you boys up to?” asked a gruff, hoarse voice.

Dominick began “We were…. We thought…”

Paul took over “We’ve heard stories about this church. We were just…. Well, um,”

“Oh, you were looking for that ghost, were you?” asked the man. “Well, I ain't no ghost, so you better git.”

Somehow Chuck had moved up to the front of our little group and said

“Hey, Mister, we don’t want any trouble.” He paused. “You’re right, but we… you…”

“Who’s Mary?” Roger asked in a shaky voice.

Anger flashed across the man’s face, followed by pain so intense it looked like he was being stabbed.  He leaned against the doorway then crumbled to his knees sobbing again.

“Mary, my dear Mary…” he said between sobs.

Chuck reached out a shaking hand and placed it on the man’s shoulder.

“She was… my dear wife” came the breathless answer. His weathered hand reached up and patted Chuck’s. Chuck put both of his hands around the man’s hand in a way that looked like he was praying. They stayed this way for a couple of minutes. The man took some deep breaths, patted Chuck’s hands with his free hand and sat back on his knees.

We all stood watching in wonder and a bit of fear.

“Mary and me, we had a little place. She’d fixed it up real nice, checkered curtains and everything. I was between jobs, but still, she made the best of it and would fix a good meal for me at the end of the day.” He took a deep breath. “One day she was frying something when the phone rang, so she went to answer it. When she got back to the kitchen, it was on fire. Tried to put it out. Couldn’t. Spread. She was trapped…” he sobbed again. “Whole house went up. Now she’s gone. Gone.” He sat silent for a bit. “I left town. Got no reason to go back. I’ve been roamin’ around, thinkin’ about what to do without her. I’ve been staying here this summer, but I’ve got to be movin on pretty soon. I just don’t know…” 

Roger moved over next to Chuck and whispered something in his ear. Chuck turned to him with a look like a light had just come on and nodded.

“Chuck’s dad owns this store here…” began Roger “I’ll bet he’d be able to use some extra help when the summer high school workers go back to school.”

The man looked skeptically at Chuck and Roger. “Now why would you… You don’t even know me. Why would you do something for a stranger?” he asked.

“Jesus said, when I was a stranger you welcomed me” replied Paul quietly.

All five of us guys nodded.

“Well, if that don’t…” began the man, wiping tears from his eyes.

He stood up and walked into the hall. He stretched out his arms to encircle us all.

“You boys… You boys!” he said shaking his head.

We all stood there in that little circle for a bit.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH” an eerie voice wailed from far above.

“The Ghost!” we all said at once.