It's Halloween, the spookiest time of the year, with beggars night, and scarey movies. And there are always graveyards that get vandalized on Halloween night. But is it really vandalizing, or is someone just trying to get out?

Most midwest towns have their tales of haunted houses which especially seem real at Halloween.

Long ago, not far from a cemetary, there stood a house upon a hill. It wasn't just any house, though. It had ladders going up to the roof, and also on the roof itself.

Legend has it that a girl and her sweetheart used to sneak up to the attic room to be together. It's been said that the father caught them there one night and shot the boy. The girl never got over him. Although the police took her father to prison, she will live alone in the house for the rest of her life. Forever mourning the loss of her sweetheart. But, the story doesn't end there. Late at night, her sweetheart still comes. He leaves his grave to climb the ladders to the attic room where his beloved will be waiting. There's no power on earth more powerful than their love. But come dawn, he must leave. Always knowing, that as long as she lives, he'll always be returning to the house of seven ladders.

This house DID exist. It was on County Line Rd. in Des Moines, Iowa. A couple of weeks ago, I drove past the lot where the house stood for so many years. They've torn the house down now but, I have no doubt that the two are finally together forever. There are other legends of lovers lost. Like the crying bridge. It's said that a girl hung herself from the top of this old bridge because her true love had left her. And late at night you can still hear her crying. I've been to that bridge. And whether it was the wind or her crying, I couldn't tell you. But, it was a very spooky feeling being there.

There are also unexplained things. Such as a vanishing house. Not far from Des Moines, out in the country, you can drive past a house with all the windows lit up. It appeaars to be a very large house. But, if you look back at it after you've driven past, you won't see it. Was it really there? It always was when we came from the one direction. But, we never could find it from the other direction.

Yes, we found out why. And I could tell you but, I won't. Some things are better left to the imagination.

Those are just a few of the tales told around town when I was younger. If you have any you'd like to share, e-mail me and I will add them and a link to your site.