Legends...

Well today I was thinking about some stories I had been told and to this day I still remember one Legend from Bancroft! "The Mad Man." Myself and a few of the "Club" members were on a tennis court playing around (not tennis particularly), but climbing the fences and nets and who knows we may have played a game or two of tennis. The tennis court was in a park, that for the most part, sat in the middle of the town. Beside it was a small patch of woods (small to an adult, jungle to an elementary school kid), and there was a road that traveled right along the park then turn south because of the woods. We had probably explored every inch of Bancroft to this point except that little patch of woods.

While we were playing, a teenage boy came out of the woods and headed toward his house that was across from the tennis court. He said, "You guys want to see something cool?" Of course we all know the answer to that. So we start walking towards his house and he said, "I'll be right back I need to go inside and get it." We all stood there quiet, for the most part, I think we were all picturing in our heads what cool meant. The boy returned with a Katana. We were all semi amazed, a little, as it was not much longer than the "Rambo" knives we carried and not to mention our knives had matches, saws, needles, thread so what use would that stupid sword be? Then he said, "This is no ordinary sword!" Of course "why?," came out our mouthes. "Well you see those woods? There is a man that lives in those woods. He used to carry this sword, and he kills all that enter the woods. If we look we can see him sometimes at the edge of the woods watching. Right now he is extremely angry and watchful, because I went in there one night while he slept and stole his sword!" Well we all were amazed and shown the blood stains that were at the hilt of the sword. We all collected our breathe and went back to the tennis court.

We didn't do much playing as we all stood looking at the woods and taking turns saying we saw him and then spending 10 mins trying to explain where we see him at. The funny thing is I remember for several months after that, venturing toward the woods and then being scared and running away. I do believe that one of our friends Tony broke the Legend. We told him about it and he said not true as that was the woods he used to venture between his and Andrews house!

Think about it what legends did you grow up with? I don't remember quite how long that legend lasted, but I do remember that day, and a few others vividly. I went back there not too long ago and the Mad Man would not be happy! They not only cut the woods down and stole his home, but they built their own, over his! 

Tag your it!

Well the best game and probably my favorite game that the "Bancroft Bunch," as I like to call the club me and friends had, played was flashlight tag! Why kids can't come up with or enjoy games like this now is beyond me. Here is the game in a nutshell; you have to wait until its dark (Duh!), you have to have several people (Duh! Tag by yourself looks wierd), and you have to have a flashlight (Duh! Hence the name.)

Now you have to have a yard or area for everyone to be confined to, or else you will be searching forever! Trees, bushes, cars all in the area make for great hiding spots. Now you have someone who is it. The person who is it gets the flashlight (yeah grown ups would be like I can't see to hide without the flashlight Duh!). Everyone else goes and hides! The person who was it does the whole count to 10....one, two, three, four, fivesixseveneightnineten! READY OR NOT HERE I COME!, and begins searching for the people who have hidden. You must spot them with the flashlight. When you find someone they become it and go count...the others can stay hidden in the same spot if they choose.

Loads of fun, and used to be my favorite game. Well besides the night time whacking of lightning bugs with a wiffle ball bat to make it glow like a light saber of couse! HAHA!

Snipe Hunting!

I know, I know, snipes are real!  I had some older half brothers and they were around from time to time. When they were around I was generally picked on, but most of the time not too bad! It is always good to have people tease you, as you learn not to be so gullible. Well at the time I believe the city we lived in was Red House, but we lived right beside a cemetery. I was maybe in the first grade at the time and well had no real grasp on the whole ghost thing. My brothers however felt different about how I viewed the "Creepy Cemetery."

Just to give a small back story, I had hamasters and such that always got away and was into the small animals. Well my brothers decided to tell me that snipes were small fury little hamster like animals that I could catch only at night.

Well before one can catch a snipe one must prepare the trap! What was the trap? A brown paper bag...I know, I know, what!? Yeah, but there was a catch! I had to color the inside of this brown paper bag black! Lord knows I probably didn't have a black crayon left in my house after that. Yeah I did it and had to wait for night.

Night came and I grabbed my bag and my brother took me out to a nice secluded spot with bag in hand. It was rather dark where he decided to take me. "Now hold the bag open on the ground and when it runs in there close it up tight!," my brother told me. I some how think I can still hear the snickering in his voice when he said it, but who knows. My brother, not the snipes, scurried off to the house and proceeded to wait for me to come running in the house scared! Yes that is all this was about scaring me.

Well the great joy of having scared little brother never came. I sat there waiting for the little bugger to run into my bag and it never happened, instead my brother came out and told me to come in. WHAT?! "No such thing as snipes?!" Yeah thanks buddy my hamster ran off and I had nothing to fill it's cage thanks to you. Hehe, good one! Not! :)

The Fog of War

Bancroft is a small little town that sits in the heart of West Virginia. It sits right on the Kanawha River in the shadow of John Amos power plant. I learned a lot from this little town, as I was elementary school kid. One lesson I learned was something I call the "Fog of War."


We tend to always see ourselves or place ourselves into social hierarchies. We like to try and keep up with the Jones's. Well..., forget them! Make yourself happy.

I had a ton of friends living in Bancroft. I had some very close friends that to this day I consider relatives. We had a little club, as kids seemed to do back then. The problem with friends is we are always trying to impress or one up them. Granted when one of us got a new anything it meant the other was going to have fun with it too.

I had a crush on a girl (sad that I have to state it was a girl), and she hung around us from time to time. She lived on the hill (more like mountain ridge) and was not down in town every day, but often enough that she was considered part of the club. My best friend had two older sisters and this girl was one of those sisters’ friends. For years we all "played" together. When we started approaching our teens, things became a little more complicated. This person likes that person, she likes him, I like her and WAIT A MINUTE, this is a different kind of like! It was as if we went to bed (our own separate beds at our houses) friends and woke up as couples!

Now I go back to the social crap. I liked this girl and she liked me and it was well known. The problem is if I date her how is it going to look? Well as guys tend to do I began to make fun of her and say some things that were hateful, errrr more like hurtful! I was always taught the golden rule and followed it, yet for some reason this instance I just could not get past hurting her to avoid my social destruction, well imagined social destruction. The "Fog of War" tends to have us do things we often would not do. I moved away shortly after this and never got the chance to apologize.

I carried the regret to my new place and swore to myself never to do that again. I forgave myself in hopes that she had forgiven me. I never again allowed a social status to dictate who I would date or possibly date. Yes, oh my goodness can't believe I am about to say this, love is a battlefield, and I hope everyone keeps looking through the Fog to find their true love.