Alas, Poor York

"Oooh," the kids said.

Paul and his little friend Rylan barged in the second we opened the cabin door. I followed and dropped my pack in a corner. "It is a nice cabin," I agreed. "Welcome to Codorus State Park in York County."

"I want to see the pool," said Paul.

"We'll get to the pool in a bit," I said. "We have all sorts of good stuff planned. Got some cool side trips to go on, and there are ghosts to find here. Gettysburg isn't too far away, and when it comes to ghosts in Pennsylvania, that's the boss fight."

"Is there a microwave in here?" Paul asked, looking around.

"Nope, we'll have to cook on a fire," I said. "But we can do that. It is a really nice cabin, though."

"How far is the pool from the cabin?" Michelle asked.

"Not too far, depending on how much you're willing to cut through the woods."

"I think we'll drive."

"Tell you what," I said. "I'll ride over with you, then cut back this way. I want to get a little hiking in. I'll meet you back at the cabin, and then we'll run out and pick up some food."

"Can you come in the pool with us, Daddy?" asked Paul.

"How about not today, but I will before we leave? You know I'm not much of a swimmer."

"Get changed into your swimsuit," said Michelle.

"I'm already in my swimsuit," said Paul.

"By the way, Rylan," I said,"Almost forgot. Got something for you." I tossed her a purple shirt, with her name and the Ghost Gang symbol on it. She caught it and grinned. "You've earned that."

"You're on the team!" Paul said delightedly.

The kids were delighted with the pool from a distance, seeing the huge pool and the slides. The thing looked like a waterpark. I left them at the fence and then walked back to the cabin, gathered my pack, and found the Mary Ann Furnace Trail.

I'd begun the summer by damn near dying in a hospital. I'd been doing things since then, but not enough---I'd been a bit hesitant to take too many risks. It was time to fix that; I wanted to prove I could still do stuff. I headed out with just the backpack, wearing the "Paranormal Investigator" shirt I'd treated myself to for my fifty-fifth birthday.

According to everything I'd seen---I'd done a little research before coming---This one led to the ruins of an old farmhouse that was said to be haunted. I found the trailhead down behind the playground, and walked down, taking the easiest route. It was well-marked, I had to give them that. Every corner had a sign on it. I'd still brought a map. Every time I visit a state park, I immediately grab a map. The purpose of the map is to sacrifice itself for my safety; I carry it in my pocket constantly and beat it up so I always know where I'm headed.

The farm ruins on the other end turned out to be really cool. A silo still stood, and I could see the floor of an old barn. There was supposed to be the ghost of a woman in white running around down here someplace. I got out my EMF detector and checked around. Nothing, so I switched to the thermometer reading; it was my all-in-one.

That got some flickers. On an eighty-degree day, I shouldn't be getting temperature readings in the fifties, and yet there it was. I dropped it back in my pack and headed out; I was pleased enough with this for a start.

I was about halfway back when I started to get dizzy.

I stopped for a moment to lean against a tree. It took me by surprise, and I took a few steps before realizing it wasn't going away. I stopped and took stock.

Dizziness. Slight headache coming on. Thirsty. I suddenly realized I hadn't had any water since morning, and it was now late afternoon.

I was dehydrated.

I checked the map. I was still at least a mile from the cabin. I couldn't find any streams nearby.

I continued walking, and I could feel some of the muscle cramps coming on. 

I was going to die. Again.

Okay. Keep walking. One foot in front of the other. I pushed myself down the path, trying to keep a steady pace. Should have brought water. Stupid. Rookie mistake. I only hoped I lived long enough to not learn from it.

I passed an orchard I remembered on the way out, and then the low point on the path that I knew brought me back close to the beginning. I emerged near the playground and hiked up toward the cabin, looking around to find a water pump nearby for my water supply.

I sat down on the porch and drank some water. It helped; I started to feel better in a few minutes. Okay, first day and I'd almost killed myself. All downhill from here.

Monday morning we visited the Utz potato chip factory, took the tour, and came out with a free bag of chips each.

When the kids headed to the pool, I rode along just long enough to get near the cemetery I wanted to explore. As Michelle drove down the road, I said,"I'll hike back to the cabin. Unless something goes seriously wrong, I'll be back by the time you guys are done."

I immediately and too late realized I'd said the wrong thing. Michelle said,"What could go wrong? What are you planning to do? You should take your cell phone if---"

"Relax," I said. "I'll be fine. I've died once already this summer. It's overrated."

"Will you stop that? I had to watch them give you CPR. It's not funny."

"I wouldn't know. I can't remember much of it."

"I wish you'd stop talking about it, Daddy," said Paul from the backseat. "Because something happened to my father, and I don't even know what it was."

"Hey. Don't worry. I'll be fine. Meet you guys back at camp, and we'll go hiking later, okay? There's a really good hike down the road."

I got out of the car and crossed the road, feeling the calm I always felt at these times. It was almost like becoming someone else, getting away from the family and exploring, doing what I always do best.

The Old Dubs Church Cemetery was not far down the road, an ancient cemetery with rows and rows of graves. I walked through it, looking them over. How much of my life had been spent in places like this? How many hours had I walked around in these places, the cemeteries, the old ruins, the haunted spots?

I shook my head. It was my thing, it was what I was best at. I'd never have made it as an accountant or a lawyer or something. This was me. The haunted forests, the old cemeteries....For better or worse, these places were where I belonged.

"Are we almost there?" Paul asked, following along behind me. I checked the map.

"Should be right ahead," I said. "We cross the next path, and there's a really old cemetery out here in the woods. It's called the Old Wildasin Cemetery, and it has a grave that goes back three hundred years."

"Three hundred? That's a lot," commented Rylan.

We walked along the path, rounded the corner, and I saw it. I said,"That's it up there."

It was in a small, overgrown field. There were maybe twenty gravestones, all broken, lying on a concrete pad. Clearly there was some sort of restoration effort going on. Many of the stones were unreadable. All of them were very, very old.

The kids looked around, and I took a couple of photos. I said,"I can't believe I get to see stuff like this."

When we got back from our hike, I started the campfire. The kids ate a hot dog each, and then went straight to roasting marshmallows. I sat on the porch and supervised things.

Paul sat down at the picnic table, spearing another marshmallow.

I said,"Paul, earlier you said you didn't know what happened to me in the hospital. What do you want to know?"

"Nobody explained it to me," he said. "I don't know what happened."

"Okay," I said. "Essentially, your heart pushes blood everywhere in your body. All of your body needs blood. My heart stopped for some reason, and I passed out because the blood wasn't getting to my brain. With me so far?"

Paul nodded. "Yeah."
"They still don't know why my heart stopped. When I got to the hospital, it stopped again, and I needed CPR to start it. Do you remember during COVID, when we learned CPR?"

"Yeah. We did it on my duck."

"Yes. They did that to me to bring me back. But that was two months ago. Nothing happened since, and I'm fine now. Okay?"

"Okay," he said.

"I'm gonna be in the cabin for a minute," I said. "Try not to burn anything down while I'm in there."

I walked inside and started digging around in my bag, looking for the lantern. Michelle was sitting on the bed.

"Hey," I said.

She looked up.

"If anyone should be scared after what happened to me, it's me," I told her. "I literally died, and the doctors have been useless. But I refuse to get scared, okay? Because if I get scared, I'm going to have to stop doing a lot of things I love, and I won't be me anymore. So I'm going to have to look at it like a big adventure I had, and laugh about it. Because that's me. Death gave me its best shot, and I took it and laughed."

Michelle nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "I understand."

Tuesday morning we went to the Turkey Hill Museum. It was our third time in the past couple of years.

Again, I hung back at the cabin while the kids went to the pool. I'd never been much of a swimmer anyway. I'd reached the point in the trip where I was missing Lock Haven---It always happened sooner or later. I gave Tif a call on my cell phone.

"Hey, hon. How's things?"
"Dad! Are you still away at camp?"
"Yeah, still in York County, but I was getting a little homesick. Figured I'd see how things are going."

"I got your mail. Dogs seem fine. Is Paul having a good time?"

"Yeah, he's at the pool right now. He loves this pool; it's almost a carnival ride. I've been running around looking for ghosts."

"Find any?"

"A few readings. There's a neat abandoned farm that may be haunted. And we hiked to a cool ancient cemetery last night. Gonna go check out a haunted lodge later. I notice the ground is covered in quartz."

"Does that have to do with the hauntings?"

"Maybe. There's some theory that the geology can attract more ghosts---Sort of like if there's enough iron in the ground, you get more magnetism. Quartz is thought to bring ghosts in, being a kind of crystal. Want me to bring you a piece of quartz?"

"Sure. Why not? Hey, I gotta get going---Time to head out from work."

"Okay. Ride careful, hon. See you when I get back."

"Which way?" Michelle asked as she drove down Dubs Church Road.

"Turn right at the end," I said. "We're looking for Black Rock Lodge."

"Do I have to get out of the car?"

"I mean, not if you don't want to. This place is said to be where a Revolutionary War soldier died, and he's been seen haunting the place. We're gonna check it out."
Michelle pulled onto the path leading to the lodge. We got out. The kids were wearing their Ghost Gang shirts, and I had my LHPS uniform on. The lodge was a big stone building set back some from the road, in the forest.

"I feel a cold spot," said Paul. "Right over here."

Ryland had the thermometer. She checked. "It says seventy-three degrees."

"That's a little cold," I said. I looked at the EMF---No readings. "Just a minute, I'm gonna switch to the thermal imager."

"Does someone live here?" asked Paul.

"It's a rental," I said. I pulled out the imager, and ran it around the area. Everything was in reds and oranges, but when I aimed it at the lodge, it turned deep blue.

"Good going, guys," I said. "Look at this. The entire lodge is one big cold spot."

Wednesday morning, our last full day in camp, we went to a giant slide in Maryland. Paul and I had discovered it a few years ago when we'd been hunting for a Snallygaster.

On the way back to camp, we made a run to Gettysburg. I put on my black travel vest before we got there, and the fingerless gloves. I had my equipment loaded into the pockets, which was what the vest was there for.

I turned in my seat to look at the kids in the back. "Okay, you guys learned about the Civil War in  school, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Rylan.

"This is where a battle was fought. For three days in July of 1863, they battled here. A lot of guys died. Because of this, it's highly haunted. So, you guys ready to investigate the most haunted place in Pennsylvania?"

"Yeah!" said Rylan.

"I mean, Gettysburg is a big one. If you can't find a ghost in Gettysburg, it's time to retire."

"How did they fight a battle for three days? Didn't they sleep?" asked Paul.

"Well, they would be taking shifts. Some of the guys were fighting while the other ones slept. It was pretty busy."

"Where do we want to go?" asked Michelle.

I looked at the map.

"Little Round Top."

We drove toward the hill. My EMF detector went off. Paul said,"Do we have a ghost in the car?"
"Maybe near the car. But I am getting some activity here."

Parking was tight, but we managed a space, and climbed out of the car. We walked up to the overlook, where Paul immediately became enchanted with the cannons.

"I want to live on this cannon!" he said. "Do you think it's okay if I sit on it?"

"Probably," I said. He climbed up on sat down on the cannon.

"This is really cool."

"These things are probably a hundred and sixty years old."

We walked along the ridge, looking out over the battlefield. I said,"See, they had the high ground here. When the south came out attacking them, they shot from up here, and won the battle. A lot of men died here; they had a huge battle."

We walked down the path to the 44th New York Infantry monument. It looked like a giant castle, towering over the field. I said,"We can go in this. Come on."

We walked inside---The monument is big enough to have a staircase leading up to the balcony. As we walked up the stairs, Rylan said,"I'm getting something."

Her EMF detector was beeping. I said,"I'm getting it too. No power lines, no lights in here. There's no reason for it."

We got to the top, and stood high, looking out over the field. I said,"Still getting my reading. We have activity, guys. This is great. We did Gettysburg."

When we got back to the cabin, Paul said,"Will you come swimming with us today, Dad?"

"Yeah, I will," I said. "I'm not a big swimmer, but I'll come in the pool with you for a while."

Paul beamed. "I'll get changed," he said.

As we got out of the car later and walked down to the pool, I said,"It's been a really good summer. So what's been your favorite part of the trip, little man?"

Paul thought it over. "The pool," he decided. "What's your favorite?"

"Spending time with you."

We held hands as we walked down to the pool together.