GUEST COLUMN, J. Basil Dannebohm
Every year around this time, as the leaves begin to change and the days grow shorter, I spend my evenings revisiting some of my favorite Halloween movies. It’s become an annual tradition that I kick off the season with “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.”
The film tells the story of Luther Heggs, a typesetter who aspires to be a reporter in the fictional town of Rachel, Kansas.
Heggs lands his big break when he sets out to solve a hometown murder. Hoping to land the story of the year, he stays overnight on the 20th anniversary of the crime in an abandoned house where the tragedy unfolded. There’s just one problem: Heggs is a chicken, and local lore suggests the house is haunted.
Like Luther Heggs, I hail from a small Kansas town that has its fair share of ghost stories. On occasion, I share his desire to be a journalist. I’m also not afraid to admit that when it comes to the paranormal and occult, I’m a chicken.
Besides watching Halloween classics, I tend to find myself waxing nostalgic around this time every year.
In a previous seasonal piece, I wrote about some hometown Halloween memories that happened above the surface. This year, if you’ll indulge me, I would like to take you down below.
Yes. You read that correctly.
My hometown of Ellinwood, Kansas is known for its underground tunnels. Over the years, they’ve been the subject of all sorts of local ghost stories. Just like that house where Luther Heggs was forced to face his fears, I had a couple of "Mr. Chicken" moments in those subterranean passages.
Back when I was in middle school, the hometown museum was in the Historic Dick Building, directly above one section of the tunnels. Every Sunday, I volunteered to man the front desk. It wasn’t a particularly difficult task, which probably explains why the historical society trusted a seventh grader with the job. If four people visited it was considered a busy day. The only time business picked up was when a tunnel tour was scheduled.
One cloudy autumn afternoon, Adriana, a historical society board member, stopped by the museum. Since her family was the namesake of the Dick building, she was the unequivocal expert on the history of the tunnels below. Her visit that day was aimed at preparing me to lead tunnel tours, a job I had long coveted. To say she trained me in meticulous detail would be an understatement.
Perhaps it was the overcast day or the fact that Halloween was approaching, but that afternoon, I decided to ask Adriana if she had any ghost stories to share involving the tunnels. Looking back, I can only imagine her delight when an obnoxious little red-headed kid was soliciting stories sure to scare the snot out of him.
Adriana did not disappoint.
A week later, I found myself once again sitting alone at the museum desk. This time, I was on the edge of my seat, listening in a most paranoid fashion for any noises that sounded “other worldly.”
A couple of hours later, as sure as the nose on my face, I heard footsteps in the tunnels below.
What little hair I had on the back of my adolescent neck stood up as the steps got closer and closer to the back stairwell that led from the tunnels into the museum.
Then it happened.
The footsteps began to ascend the stairs.
My heart was racing, and I was ready to make like a bakery truck and haul buns out of the museum when suddenly, Adriana appeared at the top of the steps. She had entered the tunnels through the main entrance and was making her way up to the museum to let me know she had a tour scheduled.
Seeing that I was petrified, she asked, “What’s the matter? We’re you afraid I was a ghost?”
Then she laughed mischievously as she descended the stairs to go and welcome the tourists.
I recently read that the Historic Wolf Hotel, in association with the Ellinwood Underground City Foundation, is hosting haunted tunnel tours this October. Something tells me it’s probably far more frightening than any ghost story Adriana ever shared with me.
In a previous Halloween-themed column (available to revisit at www.dannebohm.com), I shared another fright-filled tunnel story involving the Wolf Hotel. One thing is certain: Yours truly, Mr. Chicken himself, will spend this All-Hallows’ Eve above the surface!
To learn more about the Ellinwood tunnels and the "Tunnel of Terror" tours, visit www.ellinwoodunderground.com.
