A Frightful Night with Private Sullivan

Veteran's Day was Monday, so we got an extra day out of school. This three-day weekend was going to be a blast! I have always been thankful for our soldiers; my mom and dad served in the Marines during wartime. Right now, all that I could think about was going camping. Four of my friends and our parents were going deep into the mountains. One of those friends, Cynthia, was a girl that I had a crush on. She was quite the opposite of me. She was afraid of the woods and I, on the other hand, was an avid camper. She did spend a lot of time feeding the squirrels at the park, though. That was good enough excuse for me to camp with her. Best of all, my friends were going to ride with us. We sat and waited for Darren and Alfred to climb down from the tree in my front yard. It gave us just enough time to eat from the buffet of Barry's many snacks. My friend Barry didn't go anywhere without food.

Most of the trip was spent listening to my parents stories about soldiers and war. The first one my mom told us gave me the creeps. It was the true story of Private Sullivan. As we drove up the windy, dirt road to our camp-site, I began to think about it again. Private Sullivan had served in the Army during World War I. She told us that his friends and comrades described him as a very brave soldier and very kind family man. Before Private Sullivan traveled to battle overseas, he brought his family to these woods. He left them in a cabin with plenty of food for the rest of winter and a bountiful garden to eat from during spring. The nearest neighbor was about ten miles across the once dangerous mountainside.

Three months had gone by and Private Sullivan had not heard from them. It took him three months more to journey back to the cabin. Sadly, he found it empty. None of the neighbors had seen his wife and children in a very long time. They did tell him, though, that the rocks and boulders were unstable at times. So he spent the rest of his years overturning every rock possible and searching every nearby town to find his family. It is told that Sullivan became very angry at the mountain and didn't trust anyone. About ten years went by before he too disappeared. There is a rumor that his ghost still roams the mountainside. Although I felt surrounded by a small part of history, an eerie feeling came over me. There were four people never found, in right in this area!

After a long time, of setting up camp and collecting firewood,

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