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!
I fit the description of the teenager in question. I lived directly across the road from the tennis courts. I even remember a story that we used to scare the younger kids about the "Mad Man". It generally changed every now and then, from one telling to the next. It bore a striking resemblance, even as I outgrew such amusements to the story that was used to make me wonder about the self-same Mad Man so very few years prior.
ReplyDeleteI've just recently returned to Bancroft after 21 years away and am sad to see that the wood is no longer there. Just more houses...