Back to
“OUR HAMLET” Stories

Halloween
a truly scary night - 1960
by:  Jean Raby Nelson

As a kid growing up in Hamlet, we loved Halloween and the free food it would net us. This was a wonderful time in life when we were innocent and “bad” was not a part of our world.  Little children were cute going door to door.  Even way back then, we had to be told to watch our candy and not eat it in the dark because mean people do things to  hurt others for no good reason.   I remember one year getting 2 Bayer aspirin ..not that that would have hurt anyone.

    Halloween night 1960 I was on Oak St. near the Austin Street intersection all the way from my home on Spring Street.  I was out that night begging for goodies with Beverly Frye and Aundrea Turnage and someone else I can’t remember right now..  As we were going down the hill, Aundrea said she saw someone leaning against a tree and it looked as if he had a rifle.   I am thinking "yeah right" .

    We went on down Oak and somehow ended up at the Lackey home on Main Street.  They had seen this person too so "en masse" we went to investigate the person leaning against the tree.  There were possibly 30 of us in this large group.  We walked around the corner probably making as much noise as a herd of buffalos.  Well, this person opened fire on us and we were running back to the Lackey home.  I was running and seeing sparks from the bullets ricocheting off the pavement in front of me. 

    This did not make big news because it was one of our well known citizens who was drunk and "hopefully" not in his right mind.

     All I can say is "Thank God he was a bad shot".

     I don't remember who it was, nor do I need to.

     I am glad that after that night "I Remember Hamlet".

     I  haven’t celebrated Halloween for 27 years now choosing instead a Christian alternative with all the goodies.  My kids may not have liked it but they did survive.