You will hear it in the distance. The screech of heavy wheels grating over the meandering path of the tracks of steel. With a steady roar, it moves throughout the stillness, sometimes rattling your floor. Until suddenly, a wailing whistle shatters you completely, down to your core. Shortly after it starts, it will cause you great fright, before it abruptly stops… just for tonight.

You’ll come to expect it; it happens every night, its purpose unclear. There is something especially spooky about the ghost train this time of year. The sound of the spectral locomotive travels swiftly and with ease, across the cool, crisp, beguiling autumn breeze.

Some nights, its eerie sounds appear, traveling for miles, before reaching your ears. Other nights its tracks echo and vibrate too near. Peer into your backyard, out into the moonlit clear. The rattle and roll is so loud, you can’t help but think, It must be right here! Again, the whistle blows. The train has passed through once more, moved on to arrive at a station, its location, no one knows.

You’ll learn to expect its passage each night. It’s always the same. It begins in the distance with a bang. Then the engine ignites and the click-clack begins, with a low rumble. Faster, the wheels spin, louder it mumbles. You wonder, Tonight, where will it roam? Am I safe here, at home?

Only a few minutes it lasts, yet you never know how close it will pass. So, pull your blanket up over your mouth and over your nose. Chills will travel from your head to your toes. Hold your eyes shut, squint them up tight. Wait to hear the telling sound of the mighty whistle roar. Then you’ll know it is gone… at least for this night, it is no more.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Hunt Freeimages.com