This one actually happened to me. I was about 5 or 6 years old and as any young boy would do, I often got into trouble for not minding my parents. My next door neighbor, James, was a year younger than I and his grandmother would often babysit him so his parents could go out. Because we were close in age (and probably because it kept James occupied), she would sometimes allow me to visit when she was there.

To keep us close, in one room, she made sure all the lights in the house were out, with the exception of one light in the one room we were in. When we'd get a little rowdy, she would knock on the side of her wooden rocking chair and say, "the BaldBellear will come and get both of you if you don't be good." Needless to say, although we had no idea what a "Baldbeller" was, we'd be frighten half to death. We'd quieten down and stay close to her the rest of the night.

I became very leery of visiting when she was there, because of the "BaldBeller." One night I became very brave and told her I didn't believe in such a thing. She said, "well you should! He is shaped like a big brown spoon and he gets very angry at bad kids. He screams at the top of his lungs and will take you away to a bad place." I thought to myself, "what harm can a big spoon do, anyway?" Nevertheless, I thought about what this thing might look like and when she threatened us with it, I would always quieten down.

I know young kids are impressionable, but what happened to me one day after I learned of the "Baldbeller" was more than unnerving. I remember distictly sitting in our living room on the couch. It was summer and the sun was shining brightly outside. My mother was in the kitchen washing dishes and I could see and hear her from the sofa. There was no one else in our small two bedroom house, because I had just walked through every room (you could walk in a circle, first in the living room, then left into the front bedroom, through the front bathroom door, then out the back bathroom door into the back bedroom, right into the kitchen, then back to the living room). I could see into our front bedroom from the sofa and had a clear view of the bathroom door right off that bedroom.

I don't recall exactly what Mom asked me to do, but I know I responded angerly and told her I wouldn't do it. She said that if I didn't, she'd "switch my little behind" and make me cut the switch. I remember that I was unimpressed and must have said some pretty bad things to her. Next thing I know, I am looking right at the "Baldbeller." He had slowly opened the bathroom door off the front bedroom and was looking straight at me with the most evil face I had ever seen. It was the most terrible experience I had ever had in my life and I quickly ran to my mother, screaming and crying. I told her what I had seen and she told me it was nonsense and Grandmother Pitts shouldn't have scared us kids that way. I would not calm down, so she slowly took me through the house to show me there was no one or no thing there. I told her how sorry I was to have backtalked her and from that day on, I minded when she told me to do something.

This seems trivial and silly today, but I still wonder about it. Has anyone else ever heard of the Baldbeller? I can't find one friend that was ever told of such a creature. Strangely enough, I have seen pictures of this thing --- it looks like pictures of aliens drawn by those who claim to have been abducted. A little chill just went up my spine as I sat here and recalled this story. Happy Halloween and don't let the Baldbeller get you!

Jim