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Fw: Happy Halloween from LowCountry Joe



Here's an interesting email I received from a guy I know on Daufuskie
Island, SC...I THINK it's appropriate.


From: "Joe Yocius" <joe@lowcountryjoe.com>
To: <Fred@counterculturecoffee.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 2:44 PM
Subject: Happy Halloween from LowCountry Joe


Bats in your Belfry.aahhh.Pear Tree
The constant whirring sound of the "in window" air conditioner has been
hushed as welcomed Fall breezes from the North cool the Carolina
Lowcountry. Laying there in the upstairs bedroom of the old Bloody Point
Lighthouse, the unaccustomed silence seems eerie and even small sounds
of old timbers adjusting to the lower humidity sound creepy and
threatening. Not to worry, however, as I snuggle close to my Bride and
with a reassured sense of security I begin my voyage into La-La land. I
am just about to enter the Province of La when I am brought back by what
seems to sound like the flapping of wings. A bunch of small screeching
sounds follow along with a "flurry of flapping" ...more flapping ...a
bit more screeching and then back to silence. My first thought was to
break out the trusty flashlight along with the twelve gauge shotgun and
go out to investigate. After a quick reality check, however, I realize
that whatever is "out there" cannot come "in here" so why in heaven go
"out there'...Smart thinking right..you bet and as I instinctively pull
an extra cover over my head for added security,  I snuggle a bit closer
to Mary, and once again I am in La.
Awakened by the local mockingbird doing his imitation of a Carolina
chickadee I make a bee line downstairs, trudge outside in the security
of daylight and check out what last nights fuss was all about. At first
all seems normal, but then I notice a lone pear under my prize tree. As
I look higher, it is clearly evident that whatever had visited in the
darkness of night had a fondness for fruit. Not a pear was in sight and
my long awaited pear pie would have to wait till next year.
At this point, please let me regress just a bit so that I can thicken
this 'pear plot". When I first arrived on Daufuskie, my old friend Larry
at Freeport Landing did his best to scare the bajeebees out of me by
relaying all sorts of spooky "happenings" at Bloody Point. They ranged
from headless Indians riding rampant over the golf course to visions of
the Lighthouse's former owner, Keeper Papy Burn, walking each night
towards the Silver Dew Winery. But I was really intrigued by one story
about Walter Cronkite, the once famous orator and commentator that
frequently visited the Island. As the story goes, he, along with a
prominent local, had visited the Bloody Point Lighthouse one dark Fall
evening and got chased out by GIANT BATS!!!
Okay..fast forward to just last year...I'm on the Haig Point Ferry
relaying the story to a fellow passenger when Chuck, our capable mate
interjects.."Those bats are big as hell aren't they". "What did you say
Chuck" I hastily and quizzically ask. "Those bats are huge". "What Bats
Chuck" I blurt out. "Its those huge fruit bats at Elba Island just a
short distance from your house as the crow flies on the Savannah River".
He continues "When I worked on the harbor boats we used to shoot potato
guns at them so that we could see them fly...hundreds of them..huge old
bats..massive black wings..must have stowed away on one of the South
American freighters..wouldn't doubt that they were still there".
Once again I have turned the air conditioner off..once again there is an
eerie quiet in my bedroom at Bloody Point Light and once again my prize
pear tree is loaded with pears...and once again I will cover my head if
I hear a flurry of flapping and screech sounds. It's not just because I
am a scaredy cat. It's because of what Paul Harvey calls "The Rest of
the Story". You see, the home of the Old World Fruit Bat just happens to
be the same home as the South American Vampire Bat..and they are known
to fly together. These guys are equipped with razor-sharp incisor teeth
and each vampire bat requires two tablespoons of blood per day. Maybe,
just maybe, on decided to hitch a ride with the fruit bats..and when I
think about it, if I was a vampire bat, I couldn't think of a better
place to have a late night snack than a place called Bloody Point.
So the moral of the story is, if there is a moral, if you are planning
on making a visit to Bloody Point this Fall you might want to look to
the sky and cover your neck.
Have a great Halloween
LC Joe
Keeper/Bloody Point Light