Change Sucks

There we stood, four twelve year olds, in a circle in the middle of the giant pentagram etched deep into the dirt. Cut off from civilization by a veil of large trees and thick bush, we were convinced there was a traitor among us. Each of us, holding open our now empty backpacks, were attempting to find the face that belies a guilty conscience. Someone took the artifacts that we painstakingly unearthed from this place of oddity and we four were the only ones who had access. The easy money was on Danny, the jovial prankster of the group. However, they say it’s always the quiet ones that you have to watch out for and Seiko was very quiet right now. The longshot was Robert, the go-with-the-flow kind of guy; not one to make or act on devious plans. Then there was me, Jay, the de facto leader of the group. It was my idea, afterall, to explore this area. But before we could hurl any more accusations at one another there came, deep from within the forest, the most bloodcurdling scream any of us had ever heard.

That spring day in April of 1992 will forever be etched into the minds and hearts of our ragtag group of buddies. It was the day that truly bonded four individual kids from different backgrounds that were testing out their newly formed friendship. We all went to the same school in Monterey Park, California. But we had never really spent time outside of school with each other. As we entered Junior High we noticed that a lot of our classmates' personalities and interests were changing dramatically. Puberty tends to do that to kids at that age. Suddenly, the spotlight is now on your appearance, music, more mature movies and T.V. shows and, of course, the opposite sex. Looking back, I’m not sure how cognizant we were of how much the four of us were not changing. But we understood, on some level, that our usual cliques were dissipating rapidly and we gravitated towards each other because of that. We still woke up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons, rushed home to watch Batman the Animated Series after school and took trips to our local comic book store (this was before comic books hit the cultural zeitgeist). Seiko, who was raised in Japan, introduced us to a little something called Dragon Ball Z and we, collectively, lost our minds. Things were changing, just not with us. We still would rather play at the park than go out on dates at our local skating rink. And it was one of these trips to the park that would cement our friendship for years to come.

There’s a park called Barnes Park in our neighborhood and it was the place to be. It covered an entire block and had two playgrounds, a swimming pool, tennis courts, a baseball field, an amphitheater, the fire station, the police station and two giant fields of grass. Everyone went there everyday after school to just hang out. The four of us needed a new place to act out our X-Men storylines away from the judgmental eyes of our now grown-up peers. There was another park called Garvey Ranch. Not many people knew about it. It was a good twenty minute walk from the school and placed awkwardly in the hills. You had to zig-zag your way through small side streets and you had to know where to go to get to it, it was not a place you stumble upon. It was perfect for our newly formed band of heroes. Just like Barnes Park, Garvey Ranch is huge. The difference being, there’s a lot of empty space. There’s two baseball fields and a playground, but it’s mostly just grassy knolls and fields. We played there for about a week when, one day, all four of us were walking the perimeter of the park and discussing the age old question, “Who would win a fight between Jason, Freddy and Michael Meyers?” There was a big piece of land that was at the end of the south side, nestled in between hills and had a ten foot tall fence with barbed wire and no trespassing signs all around it. It had always been there and everyone just kind of ignored it. For some reason, while discussing the monster killer attributes, I stopped, put my hands on the fence and really tried to see what was beyond the boundary. For the first time my eyes were open to how out of place and creepy the lot of land was. The trees are the first thing that pop out; they’re very tall, a multitude of them, and packed densely together. It really looked like a dark forest was transplanted from the mountains of Big Bear into our park. My friends asked me what I was doing and I, in return, stayed silent and followed the fence. All I could see was darkness, trees, and bush. However, as we walked around I started to notice, in between some of the trees, were half built walls and pieces of brick on the floor. I asked my friends what their thoughts were regarding the piece of property. Danny and Seiko never paid any attention to it. But Robert said he heard from his cousin’s aunt’s roommate's uncle’s girlfriend’s dad that it was haunted (I'm exaggerating the level of second hand information, but that's basically what it amounted up to). He went on to describe there was a mansion that was used for Satan worship. It burned down during one of their gatherings, killing several members who now angrily roam their place of demise. I thought to myself that it didn’t make sense. This was the suburbs, why would there be a mansion here of all places? And we all know how reliable the telephone game is. But still, something about that place called to me. Maybe I was bored of the second rate park. Maybe it was because of the creepy subject matter our conversation was about. Maybe it was because there was so much change going on around us that I felt it was coming for me soon and I wanted one last adventure with my buddies. Whatever the reason, I boldly told everyone that we are going over that fence to see what lies on the other side. They all felt the pull too. No one objected to the scariness of it. Not one argument how we could possibly get into trouble for trespassing. No concerns for our safety. Each one of them just silently nodded their head.

Getting in was easier said than done. After searching the perimeter we decided that going over was not feasible. The fence was tall, so if we climbed it we would be very visible to anyone taking a glance in that general direction. There was also the barbed wire, it was not something we wanted to get close to. Going through the fence was not an option either. The fence was in really good shape, like it had just been put there, no holes or gaps anywhere. We did, however, get lucky in one area that was at the base of the hill. The fence was built into some relatively loose dirt. We came back the next day with shovels, hammers, hoes, and small pickaxes that we commandeered from each of our dads’ arsenal of tools. We quickly found out that digging dirt in real life is not like it is in the movies. It was very exhausting and time consuming for such a small amount of progress. We each took turns digging and, after two hours, made a hole big enough for us to comfortably fit our bodies under the fence. Once each of us made it to the other side of the fence we all stood there in awe of this mysterious and slightly majestic place. We spent so much time and effort trying to get to that spot that we needed a moment to realize we finally made it. We felt so small in that dark and heavily forested area. We walked slowly and cautiously, not just because we couldn’t travel a foot without branches in our face, but to take in how far away we felt from anything or anyone. We truly felt that we crossed the threshold into another world. It was exhilarating. We felt the struggles of almost being a teenager, and all that entails, were left on the other side of the fence. We were just a group of kids having fun exploring the unknown. Someone jokingly suggested that we play hide and seek and we all laughed at the absurdity of such a thing. We were having a lot of fun. Then we discovered the pentagram.

We didn’t know it was a pentagram right away. We made it to, what was our best guess, the middle of the forest. We walked through the brush to a swath of clearing where there were no trees, bushes, plants or even grass. It was just dirt and those broken walls I spied before. It felt incredibly odd. Robert noticed that the ground was uneven and some parts looked like the dirt was dug up. The dug up parts, about a foot wide, seemed to be etched-in lines and he started to follow them, thinking it might lead to something. That’s when Danny got another idea and climbed a small tree. When he got to a high enough point he looked down, cursed loudly and beckoned us up there. We each took a turn and became thoroughly creeped out. The entire area where everything was cleared out was a giant pentagram, the Devil’s Star. I was the last one up the tree so I took my time. Having been raised in a Christian family during the Satanic Panic of the 80s made me extremely frightened when staring down at this call sign of evil. As I was thinking about whether we should stay and explore or get the hell out of dodge, I noticed something shiny at the very edge of the dirt boundary. I made my way over there and found something sticking out of the ground. It was a rather large piece of glass that did not want to be pried from its resting place and we had to use the tools to dig it out. The glass looked like it belonged to a large bowling ball and on it was a painted pentagram and skulls at each point of the star. The paint was dark red. There was something else that we uncovered in the dirt when we took out the glass. It was bigger than the glass and looked like something akin to pottery. It was going to take some elbow grease and time, but the sun was going down and time was what we didn’t have. We’d have to return the following day.

We could not make it the next day though. We had too many different things going on that would prevent at least one of us from making it back there throughout the week. And we all promised that we would only go back when all four us could make it. Friday would have to be the day. Every day waiting was excruciatingly painful. We talked about it everyday at school; our theories about the place, what tools we were going to use, hopes of what we were going to dig up, and the added validity to the haunted rumor. We called each other constantly to see if anyone's day freed up so we could go earlier. Friday could not come fast enough.

The day finally arrived. The walk there seemed to take forever. Not just because of the anticipation but because the amount of tools in our packs made them very heavy. We made our way to the heart of the forest and started digging. We dug up the pottery and were surprised by what was on it. In the same dark red paint as the glass, were symbols and figures we could not decipher. That one piece led to us digging up so many weird objects with the same painted symbols; more pottery, more glass, a boomerang, polished staffs, polished sticks, and a bullet. We spent hours there in the dirt, having the time of our lives. The weird broken down walls were examined and shown to have the same symbols. Even the bricks that were on the floor had the paint and some of those had elaborate skulls carved in. All these items were happily put in our bags. We felt like Indiana Jones discovering a rare find and putting it safely in a museum. We had no idea what we were going to do with our artifacts, but we knew we needed them because no one was going to believe that we found these things here without some proof. The day came to a close and we were about to pack it in when Danny called us over to the edge of the dirt. Behind one of the bushes was some more of the half walls, but one was intact. Danny made a great observation that this fully pieced together one looked less like a wall and more like an altar. This altar too, had red paint all around it. It was at this point that we decided to get out of there.

Seiko was the first to get back to the area with our loot and pick up his bag. He looked very upset and started to yell that we stole the stuff he dug up. The rest of us, looking very confused at each other, denied ever touching his property. Then we all ran to our bags and became upset at the emptiness of them. Every single backpack was devoid of objects. We started to turn on each other and accusations went flying. But it didn’t make sense. We were all together when we were digging, surely we would’ve seen someone take something that didn’t belong to them. And even, on the off chance, someone was despicable enough to do such a thing, where would he have even put them? Every bag was empty! As we stood there dumbfounded and at a loss for words, the scream that would haunt our dreams bellowed from somewhere within the trees. We had never been more scared in our lives. We ran as fast as our feet could fly, carrying only what was in our hands when the scream came out. We could feel the evil in the air and it was following right behind us. We ran crying through the bushes and trees, hitting every branch that seemed to reach and lap out at our arms and faces. We jumped over logs and fell in ditches. We helped each other up, called out warnings of what was ahead and guided each other to safety. Once the last person was out from under the fence we continued to run all the way to my house without stopping. As we ran away I swear I heard the scream turn to laughter. My house was a twenty minute walk, we made it there under eight.

We tried to talk about what we experienced in between the sobs. We had no other explanation than the devil worshipers sacrificed people there and the ghosts were very angry. We unknowingly disturbed a actual haunted place and the ghosts confiscated the objects that belonged to the land and scared us away. Confiscated all objects but one. I had put one of the bullets in my pants pocket instead of my backpack and I pulled it out for all of us to see. There was talk about putting it back. And when we put it back we could grab all the tools we left there. I wasn’t sure if I wanted my dad mad at me or the ghosts. We concluded that we were not in the state of mind to make such a decision and would discuss it the following day. We all slept rather horribly.

Saturday came and I got a call from Danny early in the morning telling me to hurry over to his house. He couldn’t explain why, we just had to see it. Robert, Seiko and I arrived at Danny's house all around the same time. Danny looked terrified when he answered the door. He didn’t say a word. He just walked us to his backyard and we followed. When we turned the corner we all stopped in our tracts. On his lawn was every object that disappeared and every tool we had left behind. We all were stunned beyond comprehension. What did this mean? Were we cursed? Seiko began to cry. Robert was about to take off. Then, we heard it. That same laughter I thought I heard the previous day. But it was coming from Danny's house. Danny looked as confused as the rest of us. The back door opened and out came Danny's 17 year old brother, Jeff. Jeff was laughing his ass off.

It turns out we were not cursed and the land was not haunted. Jeff had overheard Danny talking about our plans on the phone every day. He just so happened to be hanging out at the park with his buddies on Friday. They overheard our loud banter while digging and exploring. They found where we snuck in and hid in the trees. Jeff told us they were just going to jump out and scare us but at the last minute we all went out of sight to check out the altar. They decided that taking the stuff out of our packs would be funnier and they were going to jump out after they screamed at us. But, we all ran so fast out of there that we didn’t give them time to jump out. They figured it would be easier to just play the long con and let us sleep in our terror instead of chasing after a bunch of crying twelve year olds. It took him a while to relay all this to us, with all the laughing he was doing. To say we were relieved would be an understatement. There are no words to convey what it felt to be duped like that. We truly thought that we messed around with the supernatural. We laughed, we cried, we vowed revenge on Jeff. But mostly we laughed. It truly was a brilliant prank. A little too brilliant. I always had my suspicions that Danny helped him out somehow. But he swore he had no idea his brother was up to something.

We four became inseparable after that. We had bonded through blood, fear, tears, and a whole lot of laughter. We took our change in stride as we grew up. We gave each other leeway and never gave anyone grief when their interests started to “mature.” I was the first to move away, but we kept in contact as best we could in the 90s. As far as I know, not a single person from our group ever went back to that patch of land. I refused to even set foot in Garvey Ranch. Even if the terrifying event was just a prank, the place still remained creepy. Altars, pentagrams, broken pottery, painted skulls, boomerangs and bullets were all very real. With the advancement of the internet I tried my best to find some type of answers as to what was going on with that place. Property inquiries, crime info, reddit, haunted databases, you name it I checked it. Nothing in the way of information. But that’s ok. Sometimes the mystery is better than the answer. And besides, when I think back about that place I’m not hung up on the weirdness of it all. When I think back I smile. I smile because it’s where my childhood had one last great adventure with the best buddies a 12 year old could ask for.