Haunted Blogfest ~ Reminiscing about Flo

Hello, my blogger friends!!  I'm back.  Sorry I missed you all last week.  But, I'm here in full force today to participate in Bish Denham's:

The challenge is to write a haunted story - preferably real - in 300 words or less.  I fear mine is more of a reminisce/short vignette - but, it's a fun memory from my teenage years.  I hope you enjoy!

(source)

Florence Louise Grange, or as she’s more famously known as, “Flo”, was the ghost of ghosts back in the day. The best way to get Flo to come out and play was to drive to the top of her cemetery lane at night and park the car with the headlights pointed down towards her headstone. A brave volunteer would walk down to her headstone, recite the words carved on it precisely, then turn and walk back up the lane without looking back. Flo would erupt from her grave as a glowing green ball and follow (or chase) you up the street. (*TIP: this is where a date comes in handy, because I had a good excuse to fling myself into his arms…)



She would hover and hang around for a while. And if you got lucky, she would even morph into her original form – a sad young girl in a long dress. I only ever saw her as a ball of light. But, she’d say “hello” often, as often as we went to see her.


As more and more people started to visit Flo, the cops started to patrol the cemetery in force. My friends and I had a way around that. Instead of driving in, we would park in the neighborhood across the street and walk into the cemetery. This was an even bigger rush, at least for us. Not only were we excited to visit Flo – but the added “cool” factor of dodging the cops just amped up our fun. We dived behind headstones a time or two, leaning into the shadows and away from trolling patrol-car searchlights.


But, Flo never seemed to mind. Headlights or not – if we held to the ritual, she’d appear. As a grown-up with my own teenager, I can’t say I’d recommend this date/hang-out activity to my daughter. I’m a parent, of course. That would just be…wrong. Of course, if my stories and reminisces of my youth spur her to seek out these haunts on her own? I hope she’ll tell my old friend Flo that I say “hello”.

 
I hope you'll all click on Bish's name above to visit the others participating in the blogfest.  And thanks, so much, for stopping by.  Happy Wednesday!!