I was told a lot of things as a youngster, not to swim for an hour after you ate, not to run with scissors, never go down to the Charles River was a big one in my house. But most of those things and others I can recall were enforced and explained by adults. There was one and one only that I recollect which was accepted by every child in the neighborhood young or old and that was to stay clear of “The Goose Leger”
I can not say for sure what it is that the Goose Leger did but it was chronicled that whatever she did it was unpleasant and frightening and God forbid if you were caught by “The Goose Leger!” Because it meant the end of childhood as you knew it. Wow to those caught by her!
Silver Lake Ave was a road that ended in the back of a factory. It was not a paved rode and at its end, directly behind the old Cordage Factory in the Shadow of another ominous building “The Ucinite” there was a dying pond. This pond was called Silver Lake and was of sufficient size to make local maps in the 1880’s. But factories create debris and debris has to be dumped and dump the factory did filling in this pond with God knows what until it was about the size of house lot and the color of my Aunt Ethel’s Divan, a pale Pinkish Beige with a couple of 50 gallon drums popping out nothing lived within it’s waters; any way on the far side of this defunct pond and surrounded by shrubs and objects that hung on wooden poles to dry was a Shack. A one room flat roofed shack with a chimney that spewed smoke and this was the Goose Legers hideaway.
I know of no one who passed near that shanty, at least no one that would talk of it, for this was not a joking matter. When the Goose Legger was discussed it was always in hushed whispers and blank stares. I recall once pointing toward the shack and was left in the dust as my pals ran down the road. There was no pointing towards “The Goose Leger”.
Now there was a real woman who lived in that shack and God knows who she was. But she did exist. How this tale was weaved and developed I can not say. But there are those who will read this and acknowledge that she did exist. It is hard to separate a youthful imagination from down right fear but as I recall she would catch kids that went near and they were never heard of again and the fear of even asking a grown up if this was true was taboo because they would only lye so as not to lose another child!
She actually came to school one day and was visible for all to see she wore a Black full length dress with a black scarf around her head. She claimed kids were harassing her and the principal brought her about in so much as to show her as human or perhaps he too had heard of her legend and wanted to put an end to it all. But it back fired as we all thought the principal was now in on her game, I wondered who would be so foolish as to buy into confessing to have mocked her?
As I look back I realize kids are very mean spirited and who ever this poor woman was she deserved perhaps better then the tales from the crypt that were cast about but something happens around Halloween that makes me think fondly of “The Goose Leger”
PaPa Jack
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Originally posted by rookie54That may be valuable to say, but you have to make it valuable to read, sooner in the text -- that is, if you want it read, which is not obvious.
I was told a lot of things as a youngster, not to swim for an hour after you ate, not to run with scissors, never go down to the Charles River was a big one in my house. But most of those things and others I can recall were enforced and explained by adults. There was one and one only that I recollect which was accepted by every child in the neighborhood you ...[text shortened]... something happens around Halloween that makes me think fondly of “The Goose Leger”
PaPa Jack
Good reverie.
"I can not say for sure what it is that the Goose Leger did but it was chronicled that whatever she did it was unpleasant and frightening and God forbid if you were caught by “The Goose Leger!” Because it meant the end of childhood as you knew it. Wow to those caught by her! "
True in the sense that being caught by this woman would have exposed the child's dark fantasy to the mundane reality of adulthood.
We all had and needed a "Goose Leger!"