It was during the fall of 1992. I was eighteen years young, had, that spring, graduated from high school and applied for the nursing program at the University of Cincinnati. I decided to start learning about healthcare and dealing with the sick and the weathered while I took my first semester of pre-requisites. I was working at the Riverside Nursing and Recover Care Facility. I had moved from Eastern Kentucky and out of the mountains to the Northern plains of central Ohio in hopes of expanding my options regarding life, livelihood and lifestyle. Working at the long term care facility really seemed to be a calling for me at this juncture in life. I had been raised with both parents and two sets of elderly grandparents. I had sat through too many a sessions of mountain folklore, perched on several different swings, gliders and sets of front steps to be bored or stymied by anything these "blue-pelts" could ever concoct. I just knew that there was nothing that could or would shock me. I believed it was because of my natural stand for tolerance and seemed interest that this one gentleman had really taken to me. He seemed to not be able to tell me enough about women and life. Taylor was his name and he would not answer to anything different. No "sir" or no "Mr. Pence", only Taylor.
I will never forget the day it all defied my naïve self-reliance and replaced it with many questionable ideological positions regarding life, death and beyond. It was Saturday October 17th just after dinner. I was due to make a round and visit with Taylor when, completely uncharacteristically, he began screaming and squalling. When I got to his room, staff was trying to hold him steady as his eyes were wide open and he was jerking, shaking, in an almost seizure-like state and uncontrollable. Then it was like he snapped to himself when he saw me. He reached for me. I grabbed hold of his hands and I asked him, "What's wrong my friend?"
"Banshees, I heard them again!" Taylor paused, looked around and his tone changed to a more sane manor. As he squeezed my hands, he exclaimed, "Son, I don't have long and I have to tell you something. Please make these people leave. Please. And hurry. I don't have long". He would not let go and he would not dismantle eye contact.
I looked at the head nurse and nodded. Penny was her name. She asked me, "Are you sure you can handle this?"
"I've got this" I replied.
"OK. But I will have someone stationed just outside the door here"
I later learned that I was the only one that had never been "summonsed" before and the other staff, tenured staff, knew that chances were this wasn't something easy to deal with. They knew from their own experiences and reality that I had to, at some point, go through it.
I saw the other staff out of Taylor's room, shut the door behind them and raised his bed so he was sitting up. "OK, old buddy. What's going on? I am here to listen". I had decided that it was a privilege to be chosen to hear his story.
Taylor began, "First you have to understand that there was nothing I could do for Titus. He never stopped until they got him"
"They? Titus? "
"What I'm going to tell you, I have never told a soul. My children don't have any idea. I managed to live my whole life without going back; without them even questioning. They have no idea who I really am. It has all been for the better, though. I know that much in my heart. I cheated fate once. THAT doesn't happen twice."
"Taylor, buddy. You are going to have to back up and explain yourself better. You aren't making a lot of sense."
"Well, whether you believe my story or not does not matter. It will serve you right to hear it."
"Okay. You have my full attention" as I sat down in the recliner next to Taylor's bed, picked up the television remote control and turned off the television.
"I was born and spent most of my childhood up in a holler they called "Todd Holler" down in the hills of Eastern Kentucky."
"Wait a minute, here. I know where Todd Holler is. I'm from just down the road."
Taylor continued, "Titus was my best friend. We were so close. His mother was my father's first cousin. She nearly died while having Titus, and as result, she could never have another child. His dad was found dead in the McIntosh Gap when he was just a baby, before he was a year old. His mom was what we considered a witch. She was all the time telling scary tales and folklore. She had Titus convinced that it was his fate to face the demons of the hell hole in the McIntosh Gap. She told of that place being a portal where bad things were bound to happen, where many bad men would meet their destiny. I had heard about a bottomless hole there within that gap and I had always been told to never pass through there after dark. She talked about how we are all pre-destined to either be good or bad. She talked about heaven and hell, how the good lie in wait, resting while the bad go to hell and are stripped of all their evil until they are pure again then laid in wait with the good. I have never heard another person explain things that way. It was as odd to me then as it is today. But she was Titus' mom. He loved her and he believed her, even if she was crazier than a June bug. She certainly passed her demeanor down to her only begotten son. Titus was anything but normal. He was determined that he was bound to face those demons. Now what he was convinced he was going to accomplish I never could quite figure out. But he knew. He even knew the date it was supposed to happen. Saturday, October 17th, 1918. Hell, we were only 11 years old! He knew what he was going to wear, the exact time he was to be there. He had something written down that he was going to read off. His mom even had this old ring she gave me, saying, I was to go with him, that the ring would protect me. Would you please get my bill fold out of that drawer?"
I got into the nightstand drawer and pulled out his wallet. I handed him his wallet. He pulled from it an old metal ring, nothing fancy, quite rough. It looked as if it had been handmade and hammered. He handed me the ring and asked me to put it on.
"No. Taylor. That's yours"
"Put it on your finger or get out of here. If you leave, take the ring with you. It belongs to you now. It protected me and it will protect you."
I began to get worried about Taylor. This did not seem sane or realistic. I told myself that I needed to comply with his wishes and be there for him, that his system was shutting down, as result he was losing oxygen and imagining things. I had to keep telling myself these things because it was becoming almost scary.
Taylor quit talking. It seemed as if a few minutes passed when I picked up the ring and put it on and asked "Is that better?"
"It's what supposed to be, son. Do you know what a Banshee is? When you hear Banshees it is supposed to mean your time has come and that they are coming to get you. It was Saturday October 17th, 1918 and I was over at Titus' house playing. It was a pretty day and all the trees had turned the reds, oranges, yellows and browns. The ground was covered with leaves. When it came time for me to go home for dinner, Titus' mom told me to make sure and be back there at 11:30 that night. That's when she gave me that ring and made me put it on before I went home and made me promise I would not take it off.
So, when I returned to their place just before 11:30 that night, there they were. Titus was dressed in his black outfit with his coal oil lantern and the paper he was to read from in his jacket pocket. His mom made sure I had that ring on then she knelt down and held Titus close to her, whispering in his ears. I know I saw a tear run down Titus' face. His mom then turned to me and told me that I was Titus's safeguard. She said that without me there, things would go wrong for her baby. She said I was a God-send. I was confused but I just knew my best friend wanted me to be there with him. I asked myself what could go wrong.
As we walked that path up to the gap, it was the first time in our lives that I knew of Titus being without words. He was quiet. Titus was never quiet. Titus was the smartest kid in our school. He was so smart he seemed weird at times. His imagination made him hyper, it seemed, and he just could never stop talking. I knew it wasn't like him. Something told me to not question; to allow him this. We were about a hundred yards away from the gap when we heard this God-awful squalling noise. Titus turned to me, raised his lantern and whispered, BANSHEES! We stood there for at least a minute, just staring into each other's eyes. Another spine-curdling squall let out. With a tear in his eye, Titus himself straightened up and said 'Let's do this'. He turned around and I followed him on up the path."
Taylor stopped talking and started crying. I tried to talk to him. He placed his hand over my mouth and held up his index finger as to suggest I give him a minute. So I waited.
He continued, "When we got to the gap, my friend pulled out the piece of paper and began reading something. I have no clue what he was chanting but it wasn't English and it seemed to stir things up. The squalling was so louder I couldn't hear him anymore. It did not stop. There was this black cloud like mass that came from the ground up. It blacked out the lantern. I couldn't see anything. I heard my friend chanting and the next thing I knew I was laying on the ground with the lantern sitting on the ground next to me. I woke from an apparent sleep and I was alone. There was no sign of Titus, anywhere. I didn't know what to do. I was scared. I didn't want to leave Titus but he was answering me and I couldn't find him. Suddenly, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and it was a solid white Owl. Its eyes glowed in the dark. They were red. I grabbed the lantern and ran. I never stopped running until I hit my bed. They found Titus' mom dead that next morning, said she had a heart attack in her sleep. No one ever said anything about Titus. I was afraid, scared to talk about it. t just so happened that my family moved to Ohio just two weeks later. And I have never returned. My children don't even know I am from there. The Banshees are calling again, my friend. I only ask that you wear that ring until you wake up in the morning. No need in asking me any questions or me going any farther."
I spent the rest of my shift wandering about Taylor's story. Was he telling me the truth or was it his low oxygen level? I did as he asked and wore that old ring. I figured I owed him that much respect.
After my shift ended, I got home to my apartment, brushed my teeth and climbed into bed. I had dozed off when almost like dreaming that I was falling from a tree, I jerked and woke as I thought I heard something outside my window. It was a loud screeching noise. When I opened the blinds, there it was, on a tree limb outside my bedroom window, a white owl with glowing red eyes. The owl flew off and into the darkness. I called Riverside. Taylor had screamed one last time only minutes before my call. Staff said he screamed, "Banshees!"
I have yet to get rid of the ring. I assume I will know who to give it to.
