Halloween night was a scary night, in olde Yellowknife town, as rumors began to abound and ricochet around, of many strange and frightening things.
One old timer swore that he had see a ghost of a prospector, sitting on top of pilots' monument laughing hysterically and threatening to bring down a thunderous sound, if he didn't get another slice of pepperoni pizza pronto.
Another old time swore he had walked by Niven Lake and heard a gurgling. Went he went over to investigate a couple of trolls were digging a hole to reenact the Great Niven Lake Sewage Lagoon Explosion from decades ago, when the Great Green Slime Monster was born. So, if you see a green slime monster running around Niven you will know why.
Yet another old timer swore. You might see a pattern here that old timers swear a lot. Which may or may not be true, but in this case, once again it was. He swore by the great gods or goddesses of the Ptarmigan Feathers, that he had seen the Dump monster thump, thump, thumping his way into town. Scarier still legend had it that on Halloween night the dump monster would thump anyone caught littering.
Now, it is a little-known fact that every lake in the north has a water sprite. In the case of Frame Lake, Old Mabel as the sprite was called, was a in right foul state and had crawled out of the muck around the museum. She was heard to say she would put a mighty stench on the next person who threw a cigarette butt or beer can into her water.
Betty, who was also an old timer, swore by Thor's hammer that the Kam Lake Area monster was roaming about. A fearsome beast that looked like a really big pig dragging a big bag of dog food. Moaning and groaning. T'was enough to send a shiver down your spine.
Now some people are going to say that the reason all these creatures were showing up was because weed was now legal, and the old timers were reverting to their hippie days. But this is not the case. Yellowknife has always been plagued with mythical beasts.
The wolves could be heard howling as they closed in on town, just like the winter was. The wolves were looking for treats of their own and it didn't pay to be a stray household cat or dog out alone late at night.
No one had ever heard old tom Doornbos chuckle, but he was down at the Gold Range chuckling, as he joked with 100 per cent Pete, two-gun Kelly and Stan the man. Everyone thought that they were just folks dressed up for Halloween, until one of the patrons walked right through them. Then most everyone ran from the bar screaming "They're back."
The cops had their usual Halloween mischief to deal with and then all these tales of other worldly beings started to flow in. There was even a horrifying rumor that all the former northern politicians and civil servants who had retired south were returning by the bus load, just to scare the bedbugs out of everyone else and to demand an increase to their pensions.
There was a rumor that one or more alien space craft was circling the town as they checked things out. So that alien at your door saying, "trick or treat." Is it a kid dressed up as an alien or is it an alien imitating a kid dressed as an alien? Probably doesn't matter as each is looking for a sugar high. At least they are being nice about it and asking politely.
The prize for the scariest costumes of the year would go to five or six people dressed up as federal political leaders. Rather than shout, "trick or treat" when you open your door they holler "We have come to debate." Then they proceed to call each other names and shout over one another. Now that would be spooky and scary, silly and sublime.
Now just remember that in the north, Halloween night is often cold and slipper, so be careful and safe and enjoy.