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I Thought the “Scary Man” Yelling was Normal
A harmless sixth grade ghost tour “went wrong” when a scary man frightened the whole class. Most were crying. I wasn’t.
The school trip
In sixth grade a class a school trip was scheduled. Around thirty children and several teachers traveled to the local islands for a week of fun activities. The days were spent biking around the island, gawking at shelves with quirky items in souvenir shops and elbow-fighting classmates when it came to determining who’d get to shower first after mudflat hiking or a boat trip.
A classic activity on primary school trips was the “ghost tour”. A predetermined route was set out through a forest or a neighbourhood with sheltered areas. The teachers and assistants would dress up as something along the lines of monsters or zombies and purposely try to scare the children by unexpectedly jumping out from behind trees or bushes.
The kids would walk through the area in smaller groups, tightly arm-locked, anticipating someone to jump up at any time. It was an activity most looked forward to; the equivalent of roasting marshmallows and telling each other scary stories around a cozy campfire in the woods.
