Seriously Spooked

 

A couple of weeks ago I did a letterbox located on the grounds of the old Harrisburg State Hospital, also known as the State Lunatic Hospital.  As a child, I remember playing in the park-like grounds of this mental hospital as my mother visited her aunt who eventually died there.  I didn't know at the time that it was a mental hospital, I just remember it being beautiful and my sisters and I would run around and enjoy the beautiful location with our dad.  The hospital closed many years ago and has gained the reputation of being haunted.  There have been other letterboxes located on the grounds and I have to admit to an eerie feeling whenever I visited there.  Every other visit was done with another letterboxer, I never was there alone. However, on this day, I was in the area and since this was rated as a driveby, I decided that I could make a quick stop.  Well, it WAS spooky.  There are a lot of old buildings here and it was almost totally deserted.  The box was located at the bottom of several groups of stone steps.

 

 I went down the steps and found the box and have to admit that I was very nervous the whole time I was there.  As is my custom, when I leave a boxing site, I always turn around and look to be sure that everything looks normal and that I haven't left anything behind.  Everything looked good.

I walked back up the steps and reached for my car keys but they were NOT there.  My keys are on a very long lanyard and when boxing, I wear them around my neck for easy access.  The lanyard is a Pittsburgh Steelers lanyard and is black and very bright yellow and is very easy to see.  When I found they weren't around my neck, I checked all  my pockets and then dumped my letterboxing bag out looking for them.  Nothing.   By this time I was frantic and figured I had to retrace my steps down to the box to see if I had dropped them.  So back down the stairs I went.

I was really spooked as I got back down and saw, right in the middle of this round bench, a yellow and black lanyard. If I wouldn't have totally remembered that I had done my normal check before leaving the area, I wouldn't be too concerned about this but since I firmly believe that there are spirits roaming the earth, I also firmly believe that one of them pulled my keys off of my neck to lure me back down into the woods for one more visit.  I wonder if it was my Aunt Alice!