Ronnie Dee--Night

Night

Ronnie Dee

Photo by Cristhian David Duarte at Pexels.

My grandmother was buried in a cemetery in Louisville and I have never been much on visiting dead people. I mean, they're dead. They are no longer on this Earth. The only thing left are bones, but people have to go there because there is no place else to feel a connection to them.

For the first few years after Mom died, I felt quite alone, so I found myself going to the cemetery quite often one summer. I would go out there usually around 1:00 am or so. The gates were closed but I could easily get around them to walk in and I knew right where her grave was, so I could walk right to it. I usually waited for a moonlit night because it was easier to see, but I could find it in the dark, if I had to.

It was always a little creepy passing the entrance house, because there was always one little light glowing from somewhere inside and I would imagine some weirdo all by himself skulking around in the halls.

I would stroll over to Mom's plot and sit on the grass and smoke a couple of cigarettes while contemplating my current lot in life. Sometimes, I would drink a beer. I usually stayed for half an hour to an hour. It was very relaxing and quiet with no one around. I never encountered anybody else there during my visits, but I guess that is not a peak time to visit a cemetery.

Not only did I not encounter any people, I never encountered any spirits either. I wasn't afforded the luxury of that experience for a number of years down the road.

I always parked across the road so as not to draw attention because I didn't know if I was trespassing or not. Even if I was, I don 't believe they would have had an easy time finding me in the first place. I mean it was a big cemetery.

It could get pretty dark sometimes too, which got me thinking.

We move around pretty well nowadays at all hours of the night. There was a time, not so long ago, when that was not possible. Electricity in homes began around 1880 or so, but very few people could afford it. It did not become commonplace in rural America until the 1950's.

Before that time, not much was done at night. It was just too dangerous. Before cars, people relied on horses and a lot of people couldn't afford a horse, so they walked everywhere. That was asking for trouble. The night was full of terrors. There were bandits everywhere, rivers and creeks to fall into, holes to step into and break a leg, cliffs to fall from, animals to encounter, and inclimate weather. You could easily freeze to death out there.

Even in the city, it was dark and if you were accosted and yelled for help, no one would come to your aid. The so-called night watch would run the other way. The only thing that would rouse people to action at night was, "FIRE!"

In rural homes, people barred their doors and some had vicious dogs to patrol outside. The whole family slept in one bed for warmth with a shotgun close by. Even today, many Amish have to endure harassment and be cautious of a barn burning or other vandalism.

In Africa there are still nomadic tribes who have to protect themselves from lion attacks. Lions for God's sake, in 2026. It's incredible. In the early 1900's a pair of lions killed over two hundred railroad workers in Africa, until they were finally shot by a professional hunter. The movie,"The Ghost and the Darkness," which is what they were named, is an excellent and harrowing movie about the incident. It stars Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer. It is pretty close to the factual story and I highly recommend it.

When I lived in Providence, Kentucky back in the 1940's, it was a dimly lit town and we had a crank telephone and a kerosene stove. In Henderson, we lived on the edge of town on a dead end street and we had electricity in the house, but it was pitch dark outside at night. Needless to say, we didn't venture out after dark in either place.

In Florida we lived on the banks of the New River and I wasn't allowed out at night by myself. Fort Lauderdale was pretty rural itself and the woods were spooky at night, but it was still fun.

During World War II there was a lot of meanness and crime during the blackouts. This was especially true in England where murderers, rapists and robbers took full advantage of the cover darkness provided for them to hide their nefarious deeds.

So here we are in 2026, with lights all over the place and it is still very dangerous for half of the world's population to freely go out at night alone. Do you really call that progress?