Are You Afraid of the Dark? Season 2 Episode 13: The Tale of Old man Corcoran

“I’m gonna smack you” Kiki talking to Eric circa 1992

Tonight’s tale is brought to us from our home girl who loves bandannas, yes folks that is right our resident tough girl Kiki. This is probably one of my favorite Kiki stories in the entire series. As a small child I have found memories of playing hide and seek in the dark (not in a graveyard). I would play with my cousins and we had flashlights and we would play until the wee hours of the morning, this was  during the summer time. Afterwards we would sleep under a giant trampoline.  Also I am trying to get away from the philosophical analysis of the last two episodes as it got heavy really fast, so without further ado, I give you Kiki’s story: The Tale of Old Man Cororan.

The night starts off with a rousing game of hide and seek. The story teller’s chair is home base (safe zone). Frank is the first to say “home free”, followed by Kristen who says “Safe”, then Kiki who says “home free” then The Gary who says “safe”, finally followed by Betty Ann who says “home free”. Out comes David who has been “it” for the last three games, he is kind of sad and doesn’t want to be it again, so Betty Ann graciously agree to be “it” for him. Instead of making Betty Ann be “it”, David says “Why don’t we just tell the story” (he is quick to change the subject). Kristen says “Why are we playing this dumb kids game anyway?, Who’s going tonight”,  Kiki looks shocked at this statement, like she might break some teeth shock. Kiki says “I am, and it’s not a dumb kids game. I wanted us to play hide and seek to get into the mood for my story (Kiki sounds a little sad here, like she is slightly disappointed. Cheer up girl, I’ll play hide and seek with you and I’ll even be “it” for the first round). Then The Gary says “How is a game going to get us in the mood for scary tale?”, Kiki responds with “Because, hide and seek is not like any other game. You start off in a group, but when you’re out there in the dark, your all alone (Betty Ann looks like she is concentrating), you got to hide, and be real quiet cause you never know when somebody might jump out and catch you.” Then they all look at each other and Kiki gives them the stink eye (which is kind of like a glare at The Gary). Kiki continues “My story is about a game of hide and seek, but with a twist, when you play the game in my story, you never know when you’ll get caught. And you never know who or what might catch you.” Kristen is sold, she smiles. Then Kiki submits her story for the approval of the Midnight Society and calls it: The Tale of Old Man Corcoran.

We are introduced to two brothers of African-Canadian decent (I sense a theme with Kiki’s characters thus far), Jack and Kenny Harris. They have just moved from the East-side to a safer neighborhood. They have not made any friends yet. Jack is the older one. Anyway they are playing with squirt guns, when some other kids ride up on bikes. They invite them to come play hide and seek that night with them. The boys are reluctant to join in the game, until they are called chickens.

Bros

Later that night Jack and Kenny show up to play hide and seek, only to find the kids are playing in a graveyard. The kid from earlier sees them and yells “olly olly oxen free” the other kids then pop up from their hiding spots and come towards them and the kid introduces everyone. There is Ron Jacobson, Scott Walden, Laura Ires, Mary-Alice Weirden and Cissy Vernon. Cissy is kind of like Kiki and tells them to just call her Vernon. Cissy asks who invited Jack and Kenny and the kid, says he did because they needed more people in the group, Cissy disagrees and says they have enough already. The kid’s name is Marshall. Cissy says “I hope you don’t scare easy.” To which Jack says “What’s there to be scare about?” Cissy says to Marshall “You  didn’t tell them about the legend of Old Man Corcoran?” Then Cissy tells me about old man Corcoran, she says “he was a groundskeeper here. He used to dig the graves by hand.No machinery. He thought he owned the place. So he’d walk around the place at night all by himself. Just to make sure no one was trespassing. If he wasn’t here he’d be out in the woods by his cabin. Just playing his harmonica.” Jack says “That’s no much of a legend.” Cissy continues “They say he was crazy. They say he caught this kid stealing something from his shack, so he took an ax and cut his hand off, wham!” Then she says he was buried alive. He apparently still walks the graveyard at night and if it is real quiet, you can even hear him play his harmonica. Jack and Kenny say that is not scary compared to there old neighborhood, and they wonder how long Vernon would last there.

Old man Corcoran

Marshall explains the rules, the tree is home-base and they can hide anywhere they want, anything outside the fence is out of bounds and the last one in is “it”. Ron is the first one up to be “it”.  Ron starts to count and the kids go and hide. Jack and Kenny see a freshly dug grave and Jack wants to hide in it. Then all of a sudden they hear a harmonica coming from a shack. Kenny wonders if it is old man Corcoran. Jack thinks it is the others trying to scare them and wants to go over and check it out. They go over and hear someone cutting wood. They then see a harmonica sitting on a stump and decide to leave. They then run into old man Corcoran and runaway from the graveyard to go back home.

The graveyard Gang

The next day Jack and Kenny are cleaning out the garage, because Kenny ripped his pants. They talk about how much they wish they didn’t move. Marshall and the gang show up and ask them the come out again and play that night. They boys say that they don’t want to play, until Vernon makes fun of them by making chicken noises.

That night the boys go back to the graveyard, and the kids are impatient and want to start. Vernon thinks the guys are not going to show up. When Kenny and Jack show up Vernon mentions old man Corcoran and if they are scared. Since they left the game early the last time, they are now “it”, and look for the others.

While looking for the kids, they once again hear a harmonica, and Jack decides to steal his harmonica. They go back to the shack. As they are about to grab the harmonica, old man Corcoran comes back to fetch it and leaves to back into the shack playing it. Jack decides that they must go inside the shack to the harmonica, while Kenny goes to get the others and prove to them that old man Corcoran is real.

Jack goes into the shack and Kenny comes back, with the harmonica. Jack is happy and asks Kenny to hand him the flashlight back, only he isn’t holding the flashlight, old man Corcoran is, he chases the boys out into the graveyard. Once in the graveyard, they hide in a grave, where Vernon is and she tells them to get out. Jack says “Sorry I didn’t see your name written on it.” Vernon says “well look a little closer next time.” under her breath. Marshall pops up and invites them to hide with him in the grave, only to be stopped by old man Corcoran. He grabs them both and asks them what they are doing in a graveyard alone at night.

The boys tell him they are playing hide and seek with their friends, and they list the names. Only old man Corcoran tells them that is impossible as he dug the graves of those kids with his own hands. He says that is not funny and tells them it looks like they have seen a ghost.

Then our girl Kiki says with a smile on her face “The end, so does anyone want to play a dumb kids game again?”  Kristen says “No it”, Betty Ann says “Not it”, Kiki says “Not it” and David says “Not it”, leaving just Frank who is now “it” and he starts counting as the rest of the Midnight Society goes off into the woods and hides. The Gary is also nowhere to be found and does not declare the meeting over or put out the fire.

Moira’s Thoughts:

1. I really like this episode, it is the season finale of season 2 and I think it ends on a great story. This is also the last time we will see Kristen and David as The Gary tells us that their families have moved away.
2. I like how Kiki ended the story and we are left to figure out what happened to Jack and Kenny with our imagination.
3. I like that the Midnight Society can have fun, and be social by playing hide and seek. I think it adds a great element to the show, I do miss the cuts to the Midnight Society during the story however as my favorite parts of the show is seeing the interactions among the members.
4. This brought back all the memories I have of playing hide and seek in the dark with my cousins. If you have not played it before, I highly recommend it as it is very fun, just not in a graveyard.
5. I would want to join the Midnight Society just to be able to play hide and seek with them as they make it look like a lot of fun to play with them.

Lets give it up for our girl Kiki and her tale of a game of hide and seek in a graveyard in The Tale of Old Man Corcoran. Next up on the summary list is another story from our girl Kiki, The Tale of the Dream Machine.

If you want to tweet it at anyone in particular like *cough*Ross Hull or Raine Pare-Coull or Jodie Resther, *cough* to make them aware of me wanting to interview them, that would be cool. I feel that if enough people tweet at them or Facebook them, they will think it is a good idea. As a thank you, I will upload a video of me doing the nea nea and if you all help me get all three, I will upload a video of me singing He Mele No Lilo in full Hawaiian (since I took 2 years of the language). Mahalo for your continued support in this endeavor.

Photo credit:  Google image old man Corcoran  Bros  The graveyard gang

Until next time…..Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this story: The tale of Moira’s Afraid of the Dark? (But not really) Season 2 blog 6.