It was barely over a week ago that Ms. B. and I met friends Tom
(a.k.a. Skyhawk63) and Linda
(a.k.a. Punkins19) some 700 miles northward in Michigan to go
geocaching at Power Island on Lake Michigan (see "Michigan Misadventure, Madness, & Merriment, Part 2," July 31,
2026). Today, back in our old home turf (Greensboro, NC), Tom and I met up again
to hunt a multi-cache that struck this old dude's most wonderfully sensitive
nerves, for it is set on the grounds of a former haunted attraction that the
co-editor of Deathrealm magazine (Danielle D'Attilio) and I
visited back in the mid-1990s. I recall that time with great fondness because
she and I were the only living souls at that haunted trail at the time, and for that reason, the experience proved to be fucking scary. So, revisiting the setting all these years later was both nostalgic (thanks for the
memories) and beyond cool (because it's bleeping geocaching).
I had a medical appointment in Greensboro this morning, so I'd arranged with
Tom to hunt this relatively new cache (it's been found only once, by
friend/geocaching partner Natalie, a.k.a. Ms. Fishdownthestairs)
afterward. We met at the starting coordinates just after 11:00 a.m., hosed
ourselves down with bug spray, and set out into the woods. We didn't have to
go very far, but in thirty-plus-years' time, the woods have really grown up.
What we found remarkable was that so much of the old attraction still
remained. Granted, it was mostly in miserable condition, but largely still
there.
We found semi-intact old structures. We found countless skeletons, corpses,
spiders, snakes, and abandoned electrical equipment. We found cache stages
that required feats of physical strength and dexterity. We found one hell of a
good (if sometimes frustrating) time exploring the remnants of what was
once a very cool haunted attraction.
As I'd discovered several years ago while geocaching, sometimes finding all
that remains of a creepy attraction can be all the creepier
simply because it's nothing but remains.
A favorite point awarded for "X-treme Fear: Fox's Footsteps" (GCBV1AV).
