When the last of the little chocolate bandits have finished their looting and gone home, I like to pour myself a soothing libation, settle down in a comfortable chair and read something spooky. It should be something that will spark my imagination.
Most likely to trigger the spooky mindset of Hallowe'en for me is a poem written away back before the turn of the 20th Century. It was nicely crafted by Alfred Noyes, a Brit with a dark and foreboding imagination.
For the benefit of those who have forgotten their high school reading assignments, The Highwayman is a tale of love and heroics from the days when robbing horse-drawn carriages and delivery wagons was a viable occupation. Apparently it was regarded with some measure of heroism by people like the Innkeeper's beautiful daughter.
In the verse, Noyes builds a spine-chilling scene on a moonlit night when the lawmen of the day lay a trap for the highwayman using the girl as bait. It all comes to a gruesome conclusion against a spooky backdrop of intermittent moonlight.
The Highwayman can be accessed on the web.
Warning: Find a quiet corner in your home and give your own imagination free rein when you read it. Ignore the accompanying film clips offered. They mostly feature sound tracks voiced by people with no feel for horses, gorgeous women or sixteenth century lifestyles.
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