The Boogeyman's Playground

## The Boogeyman's Playground by Scared Senseless TV

(Michael Myers was created by John Carpenter)

October 31st, 2019. That date has been lingering in the back of my mind for the last few years. That night I came face to face with something that still makes my skin crawl to this day. I was never big into Halloween itself, but I did love dressing up in costumes and going to Halloween parties. That year, me and some friends dressed up as sexy zombie nurses. I was pretty excited to show off my costume to everyone at the party and I was fairly certain that all eyes would be on us. I was a bit of an attention seeker, so every year I went all out on my Halloween costume.

On the way to the party, me and the girls randomly started discussing some of the creepy stuff we had experienced over the years. How this topic came up escapes me, but I guess we were all feeling a little spooky that night. My friend Donna told us about an encounter she had the day before last Halloween. Donna said that she was in the kitchen, washing the dishes when she looked out the window in front of her and saw a masked man standing in her backyard, looking directly at her. Donna ran into the living room and alerted her parents, but by the time they got to the window the man was gone. I'm not gonna lie, that story creeped me out pretty good.

The fear in donna's eyes as she retold the events made me feel kind of bad for her, so I went ahead and deliberately changed the subject. We arrived at the party and it was absolutely packed, almost every teenager that resided in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois was there. I had never seen anything like it, it was the most people I could remember seeing at a Halloween party. About two hours in, I got a phone call from my dad. I couldn't hear what he was saying due to the loud music, so I went outside. Dad sounded distraught. I asked what was wrong and he said that my uncle Erwin had been in a motorcycle accident. It wasn't looking good, so he and mom were gonna go to the hospital.

Dad asked if I could come home and babysit my younger sister Abby. I of course said yes. I went back into the party and told my friends that I had to go home. They were disappointed I was leaving but understood given the circumstances. Donna asked if I needed a ride. I said no and that I was gonna walk home by taking the shortcut to the park. She gave me a hug and said she'd call me later. I left the party and began walking into the atmospheric night. It was absolutely freezing, and I was regretting not bringing a jacket with me. As the cold breeze grazed against my skin, I remember looking up at the night sky and seeing the dark clouds hover over me. It looked like a storm was on its way.

As I walked up the path that led into the park, a feeling of nostalgia came over me as I remembered my parents taking me here all the time when I was a kid. Those were the best of times. I hadn't been anywhere near it for a very long time, and it looked exactly the same as it did back then. I looked ahead in front of me. A swing set started to emerge from within the moderate fog. Even more memories flooded my mind. It was all coming back to me now. I had forgotten how much I loved coming here back in the day. My cell phone started ringing. It was my dad again. He asked me how far away I was from the house. I said I would be at least 10 minutes. He sighed and told me to hurry up. Before I could respond, some heavy wind blew towards me, which caused the phone to slip out of my right hand and fall onto the concrete path behind me.

I turned around and picked it up. The screen was cracked but the phone itself seemed to be working fine. Then, for whatever reason, I looked off into the distance. Within the fog, about 20 feet away from me, stood a man in a white mask. He was staring in my direction, which made me feel uneasy. The story that Donna told me earlier in the evening entered my thoughts. This man seemed to fit the description of the individual that stood in her backyard a year ago, but I obviously couldn't be certain as to whether that was him or not. I just remember the intense fear the blankness of his white mask gave me. Not wanting to alert him, I slowly stood up, turned around and continued walking through the park. About a minute or so later, I looked behind me. The man was now nowhere to be seen. Slight relief came over me and I chuckled to myself a little.

I was now in the main section of the park. Some of the fog faded and I could now see everything a lot more clearly. To my horror, I noticed that the steel chains which held up the seats on the swing set were dripping with blood. I didn't know how to react. Then I saw something grab my attention out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head, and what I saw was a Siberian husky hanging from a rope tied to the monkey bars. Disturbed beyond belief, I backed away in fear but then tripped over something and fell backwards onto the grass.

I got up and started shining my phone screen to the grass to find whatever it was I tripped over. My eyes widened with terror as I saw a young girl laying in the grass with her throat cut. Tears filled my eyes. She didn't look that much older than my little sister. What kind of monster could do something like this? My heart almost skipped a beat as I started to hear heavy breathing. I looked back over at the monkey bars and staring at the hanging dog curiously, was the man in the white mask. He was just standing there, tilting his head from left to right. It was almost like he was fascinated by what he was looking at. Then he turned his attention to me. That's when I noticed the bloody butcher's knife in his hand. I immediately started running as fast as I could. I looked back a few times as I ran and each time, I saw the man casually walking towards me, which sent my adrenaline into overdrive.

I looked behind me once more and the man was now out of sight. Just up ahead, I could see an old woodshed. I ran to it and went inside. I leaned against the wooden wall while trying to catch my breath. I was gonna dial 9-1-1 but then I heard footsteps and heavy breathing coming from outside. I slowly kneeled down beside a rusty toolbox that was half open. I reached inside and got a hold of a decent sized screwdriver. The footsteps and heavy breathing seemed to have stopped. All I could hear was the October night breeze whistling through the trees. Five minutes went past. I felt like it was safe enough to call the cops. I started dialing 9-1-1 into my cell phone. I got the scare of my life, when a disfigured hand came crashing through the wall of the woodshed. It grabbed me by the throat and started choking me with a force I had never felt before in my life.

I could feel my face turning blue as he gripped my neck with freakish strength. I thought I was going to die. I gripped the screwdriver that I held in my right hand real tight and proceeded to stab it into the man's forearm. His grip on my neck loosened just a little upon impact, which barely allowed me to break free from it. I managed to get to the door of the woodshed, open it and take off running. Somehow, I was able to make it back to the house with my life still intact. As soon as I closed the front door behind me, I fell to the floor in complete exhaustion. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital bed with a large purple bruise around my neck.

The man in the mask was never apprehended but there have been alleged sightings of him since and all of them took place around Halloween. The image of that young girl laying in the grass will forever plague me. Some people say it was Michael Myers, an escaped mental patient who murdered multiple people in 1978 and had been missing since 1995. Others say it was just a random psychopath that was clearly infatuated with the legend of Myers. Honestly, I don't care who it was. I just want the man to pay for what he's done. Every time I pass that park, I will always think of... *him*. My nostalgic memories have been washed away by evil. My uncle Irwin thankfully recovered from his motorcycle accident. I however, haven't mentally recovered from my almost deadly encounter. It's been a couple years and I haven't been to a Halloween party since that night...

The night the local park became the Boogeyman's playground.