20 Stoneybrook: The Midnight Society

 I would like to thank Julie Demers for helping me with this chapter. She did a lot of work helping me work out Karen's story for the Midnight Society. We couldn't wait for you all to get to this chapter and we are finally here! Pizza toast!

The Midnight Society

Dawn could not wait until that night. They were finally going to be holding the first meeting of the Midnight Society. She and Bart had put all the goody bags together. Mary Anne and Mona had made up all kinds of food for the kids. Claudia and Karen, we're going to be on hand to help out. Stacey was coming to be the first guest storyteller. It was going to be magical! 

They packed up the cars with food, bags, t-shirts, lawn chairs, cooking equipment, and other supplies they were going to be using that night. About 30 kids had signed up but they knew. some would not show up for every meeting. They all met Bart at the park to set up. Bart started a fire in the fire pit. Logan started up the grill to make hamburgers and hot dogs. Dawn had also set up a folding card table with fruits, veggies, and dips. Next came Karen and Claudia. Claudia had brought her new fancy camera to capture photos and film the event. Karen was dressed up in her witch costume and was scheduled to tell a story that night. Ben showed up with his guitar. 

Once they set up the kids started trickling in. Karen started handing out goody bags. She instructed the kids to put on their t-shirts and capes included in the bags. Bart came up and started the first meeting.

"Hello everyone! We would like to welcome you to the first meeting of the Midnight Society. You are now a member of the most elite and awesome group in Stoneybrook. I would like to introduce myself. I'm Bart Taylor and I am the head of the Parks and Recreation Department of Stoneybrook. This is my friend Dawn, she is your host and the founder of the Midnight Society. Everyone give her a round of applause!"

Everyone clapped and Dawn stepped up to address the crowd.

"Thank you, everyone. We would like to thank our sponsors for this program. The Stoneybrook Historical Society, Karen Brewer the owner of Crookshanks, Shannon and Robert Brewster, Logan and Mary Anne Bruno, and Claudia Kishi for the logo for all of our official merchandise. Now to kick things off we would like to invite everyone to grab some food and save room for dessert. While you are eating my friend Ben Hobart is going to play some spooky tunes for us and get us in the mood for some spooky stories."

She turned things over to Ben who played a variety of songs, including "Witchy Woman", " Monster Mash", "I Put A Spell On You", and " Somebody's Watching Me". Then Dawn got. back up to start the main event.

"Everyone give a hand to Ben Hobart, who you may know locally as the lead singer of The Junk Bucket! And now we are going to start with our stories. Tonight's theme is local legends. And our first speaker is my friend Stacey McGill, whom you might know from Stoneybrook news!"

"Thank you, Dawn! Even though I have been living in Stoneybrook I originally came from New York City. There is a local legend not far from there in Pine Barrens, New Jersey. And now I would like to submit for your approval by the Midnight Society..." Stacey took her bag of spices that Mona and Mary Anne had made to sprinkle on the fire to make it spark and change colors," The Tale of the Jersey Devil." In 1733, Mother Leeds was pregnant with her 13th child. Crying in frustration, she cursed the child saying that it would be the devil. On a dark and stormy night, Mother Leeds gave birth to a normal child. But soon the baby changes to a creature with hooves, a goat's head, bat wings, and a forked tail. It beat everyone with its tail and flew up the chimney and ran off into the woods. There have been many sightings over the years that the Jersey Devil is still out there. Some say the story originated involving early New Jersey politicians Benjamin Franklin and his rival, almanac publisher Daniel Leeds that resulted in describing the Leeds family as monsters. But during the week of January 16-23,1909 newspapers published hundreds of claimed encounters and attacks. It caused some schools to close and workers to stay at home. Remember if you see a Jersey Devil stay perfectly still until....you may hear the Jersey Devil Fight Song!"

Been started playing the New Jersey Devils goal horn song and everyone laughed and sang along. Everyone clapped in the end.

Dawn jumped back up to speak. "I, too am not a native to Stoneybrook. My other residence is in California. We have a lot of things in California, movie stars, healthy food, and yes, Bigfoot. Also known as Sasquatch. I would like to submit for your approval by The Midnight Society 'The Tale of Bigfoot'." Dawn sprinkled the herb dust on the fire and it sparkled. "Bigfoot has been called many names and has been seen in the United States and Canada. The most famous encounter with a Bigfoot was filmed in 1967 in Northern California and is known as the Patterson-Gimlin film. The footage was taken by Bluff Creek. They were riding along on horseback around 1:30 when they came on an overturned tree. When they rounded it, they saw it at the same time. Patterson said it stood nearly 6 to 7 feet tall. He was about 25 feet away and got his camera out of his saddlebag. Gimlin got his gun out and followed. The Bigfoot walked away from them and Patterson ran after it. The Bigfoot glanced back around its shoulder and Patterson fell to his knees. They then lost it in the trees. They went back and made plaster casts of the footprints. He likes to hide out in wooded areas and higher altitudes. They could be anywhere, even in these very woods. Hiding. Spying. And just waiting for an unassuming victim. So if you go out into the woods, kids, be careful. Always bring a buddy and always let someone else know where you are."

The crowd clapped. "And now we are going to be serving smores for dessert. Been will play is some songs while we eat then our final guest, Karen Brewer will be telling our last story of the evening. We hope you have enjoyed yourselves and we will see you back next week."

Dawn stepped down and Ben played some spooky songs while everyone ate. Finally, Ben began playing the theme song to Harry Potter, which was the signal for everyone to get back in their seats and prepare for Karen's story. 

Karen got up and started. "This story is more local than Stacey's. It's so local that it took place within walking distance from here. And it involves everyone in our community. I hereby submit for approval of the Midnight Society...," she threw the herbs on the fire so they changed colors and sparked," 'The Tale of Humphrey Porter'. A long time ago not so far away there was a man that lived here in town. He was a doctor, and part of the Porter family that invented and sold children's chemistry sets. At first, the chemistry sets were thriving, but we're later banned due to harmful substances. Because Humphrey was a doctor, he did not know enough about chemistry to keep the sets within the regulations and soon the facility closed. Around that time, Humphrey became under investigation due to malpractice. He had been in charge of treating patients with different types of disabilities and using experimental tactics and methods to find cures. One day a child he was treating escaped the hospital and was ran over in the street. His grieving parents pressed charges and his position was removed from the hospital. What they didn't know was he continued his practice in private to a few patients that stood by the unconventional methods. One day there was a horrible accident with a patient. Scared he would get in trouble he convinced the client to keep the patient 24/7 for observation. Then there was another incident with a different patient. He convinced these clients to go under observation too. Instead of keeping them at his house, he began to transport them and their families through a secret passage in his home and into the abandoned chemistry manufacturing facility and no one was the wiser. Rumors in town began flying about where the families had disappeared. The parents of the child that had been run over knew Humphrey had something to do with it. They began to hold a weekly meeting with others that thought so and we're against alternative medicine practices. They worked on finding evidence to turn him in. They began to protest at city hall. Just when they thought they had enough evidence to bust him, Humphrey donated the building to the city to make it into a school. His only condition was to keep it a private Montessori school, which is now Stoneybrook Day. The city was grateful and had a big ceremony. The group against him was so disliked by the citizens they eventually moved to the outskirts of town where they continue to practice their old-fashioned ways to this day. No one knows what happened to the patients Humphrey had been hiding in the building. It's like they just disappeared."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then they burst into loud applause. Dawn got back up and thanked them for coming. She knew as soon as everyone left that she had a lot to talk to Karen about.