Well Met By Moonlight

I parked the car and picked my way through the headstones, until I came to my leather jacket, draped, as it was every year on Halloween morning, on my sister Sylvia's gravestone. I hesitated before picking it up, knowing this was the last time I'd ever get to do this, that she was finally gone, and I was desolate without her. I knelt on the cold ground beside her grave and cried for her, because I couldn't go with her, because she'd had to leave without me, and because the thought of replacing her in my heart with someone else was too painful to even consider. I prayed she'd somehow find a way to tell me how I could be with her, because I only had one love to share, and it was for her, always and forever.

I drove home through a blur of tears, slipped back into my room, and begged kindly Providence to spare me the agony of a life without her.

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Related Articles from Freeman Post & Daily Register

Graveyard Vandalism 11/01/99

Freeman Police Chief Rod Lewis expressed extreme disgust at the Halloween vandals who destroyed the headstone in Freedom Hill Cemetery of teenager Sylvia Alice Harlow, killed in 1979 by a hit and run driver while on her way to her Prom.

When asked about the incident, Chief Lewis is quoted as saying "This goes beyond the usual petty vandalism we have regrettably come to expect on Halloween; this is desecration, and we will spare no efforts to bring the culprits to justice. The headstone of Miss Harlow was literally reduced to dust, some kind of explosive material was used, although we haven't yet managed to identify the exact explosive, but it was powerful enough for the detonation to be heard almost a mile away"

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Local Resident Found Dead, No Cause of Death Established 11/03/99

Local resident Robert Harlow, aged 21, was found dead at his home by his younger brother on the morning of October 31, his 21st Birthday. Police do not suspect foul play, and a toxicology report and blood alcohol count were both negative, so suicide has also been ruled out. The Medical Examiner admits to being baffled by the death of this young man; apparently, and to all intents and purposes, he lay down on his bed and died, presumably of natural causes, but all indications are that he was at the peak of physical fitness and had no known health issues. Investigations are continuing.

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'Haunted House' probed by UNL Para-Psychology team 08/16/10

Persistent reports of strange noises, figures and presences at the old Harlow farm in Freeman have prompted an investigation by a team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The farm was abandoned in 2000 by the Harlow family after the unexplained death of the oldest son on his 21st birthday; that it happened on October 31st, Halloween, is seen as reason enough for the locals to shun the place. The alleged sightings revolve around the young man who died, Robert Harlow, and another figure positively identified by several people who knew them both, as Sylvia Alice Harlow, who died 20 years before her brother. Sylvia's headstone at Freedom Hill Cemetery was mysteriously destroyed at approximately the same time her brother died, an incident attributed at the time by police to Halloween vandalism, but the locals aren't so sure. While this newspaper hesitates to make any connection between the two incidents, many local residents are not so reticent, and believe that both the deceased, Robert and Sylvia, now inhabit the deserted farmhouse, their former home. The story told around town, and which has passed into local legend, is that Robert died and Sylvia somehow came back for her younger brother. Local resident Arlo Brewster, who claims to have spent the night at the farm as a Halloween dare tells a fascinating story. When questioned about his experiences he was at first reluctant to go into details, but then relented.

"Yeah, I saw them, I saw them both. Couple of years after the family left, I was supposed to stay from dusk until midnight on Halloween, and I was set-up in the old family room, and suddenly they was there. I knew Bobby, and they both looked real as you or me; Bobby was holding hands with Sylvia, and she was wearing his old Harley biker jacket. I was scared at first, real scared, but they weren't scary, they were just gazing and smiling at each other; and you know what? All I could feel was happiness there, it weren't spooky at all, just happy. I blinked and they was gone, but they sure didn't look like no restless dead to me; they looked like they was at peace. I've never been back there, 'cause I don't want to disturb them; if that's where they choose to be, I don't see as I got any right to go disturbing them, and that goes for you people too. Just leave them be, why don't you?"

We will be sure to follow this fascinating story, and will bring you any updates to this story should anything significant develop.