by Clifford Kurt

Created on: August 12, 2009

In the late 1970's, the isolated road leading east off of the Michigan end of Flanders Road in Toledo, Ohio was dubbed Spook Road. It was there that we had our very own urban legend before the world even knew urban legends existed.

As the story went, there were mutants living in the woods on either side of the dirt path. Unfortunate souls driving down the isolated road at night, particularly on a weekend night and especially under a full moon, risked running the wrath of these mutants. They'd attack your car, break out your windows and kill you and your occupants.

None of us claimed to believe the legend. But our trips down the dark road were spooky indeed. I personally never dared to challenge the legend with fewer than three people in my car. Not so much for backup. My friends and I weren't fighters we couldn't box our way out of a paper bag. No, not for backup, but for witnesses.

One of the crowd we ran with is married to an attorney now, so I'll refer to her as Jane Doe. Jane hadn't heard the legend of Spook Road, and she, like the rest of us, claimed not to believe it.

Kids are intuitive. They sense things. We knew that each of us, though we claimed to disbelieve the story of Spook Road, was scared on those many excursions. Each and every one of us but Jane Doe. When we took her to Spook Road for her debut visit, she was fearless.

This was wrong. Although she was one of the brighter students at Notre Dame Academy, and she went on to become an architect, (not a George Costanza architect, a real one), she still had no right not to be afraid of Spook Road. This, I decided, must change. And so I devised The Great Spook Road Caper.

I wasn't one of the smarter kids among the St. John's Class of 1979. I did graduate in the top two-thirds of the class. But this caper was to be my one glimmer of ingenuity. Countless hours sitting clueless in third year German class, pulling gentleman D's from Mr. Paderi, God bless him, were spent designing this scheme. I planned the party.

About twenty people were at the party, all in on the secret except Jane Doe.

At a pre-appointed time, I announced that we were low on beverages and was going to make a run to Joseph's grocery store. Jeff and Lynda came with, and we asked Jane Doe to join us. She agreed.

After we left Joseph's, we decided to take a quick, impromptu trip down Spook Road. By my calculations, everyone from the party should have parked their cars out of sight

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