by Sir Roy Redford

Created on: April 27, 2008   Last Updated: January 04, 2009

Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead

Suspects:
Anna Gables (The Witch)
Jeff Sromboli (The Warlock)
Anne Tweeters (The Ghost)
Dorothy Spencer (The Goblin)

Mystery Story:
It was a dark and scary night; at least I think it was? Don't Halloween mysteries start with a scary beginning? Was that scary enough? Let's try again.

The Witch was dead! Someone had thrown water over her, and as we all know, water causes witches to melt. Like in the Wizard of Oz, if you've seen it, "I'm meeeelllllltttttttiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggggg..." So someone wanted this particular witch dead! And I'm positive it wasn't Dorothy.

The crime scene was the gymnasium where the Halloween Howler was held. Annually, the grade school class would gather just after sunset in the old gym of the local elementary school. All the teachers, parents, and students were garbed in a litany of costumes. There was witches, warlocks, ghosts, Harry Potter? It was almost like watching a Harry Potter movie, without the special effects.

Some of the costumes were quite ghastly. There was Anna Gables with a fake wig of long black hair, with a wart patch on her nose, pretending to fly around on an old broomstick. Anne Tweeters was running around covered with a ridiculous old, stained sheet, with two eye holes cut in it. She kept tripping on the sheet and hitting Dorothy, who wore a dreadful paper mache goblin mask painted a sickly green.

The three girls were, as always, clustered together; the inseparable trio, lead by Anna. Whispering among themselves loud enough to be heard several feet away. I was constantly privy to their unflattering remarks regarding the lesser creatures that inhabited the gym. "Wasn't she suppose to be a beautiful princess...?"

One could hardly fault my exuberance at having to tag along, but mother had strictly told me to make sure my stepsister didn't forget to be home by ten o'clock. I was almost twice her age, hardly comfortable in a gymnasium of children. I would rather have been out with my friends scarring the neighbors or egging someone's house. This was hardly how I had imagined spending my Halloween.

"Would everyone gather so we can start the activities," a teacher called from the sidelines. All the students surged towards her voice. "This year we have a few activities, so let me quickly cover them, and then we can all get started. First we have Bobbing for Apples, this involves fishing apples out of water using only your teeth - no hands. Next we have the ever popular haunted house. Pumpkin carving, to make

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