Hazelwild Memories
The following were sent from campers who emailed me and shared stories and experiences from different places around camp.
If you have something you would like to add, send me a message at matth6@hazelwild.net
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I received several emails from campers who experienced there first kiss at the tunnels under interstate 95.
"ROMANTIC"
Supposedly this is where the infamous- "Tom" or "Black Tom" lived.
This is how the story was told to me when I was a camper back in the mid 80's.
While they were building 95, They had to tear down an old woman and sons house. The old woman did not want to sell the property and her son knew this. The state, construction company and the woman went back and forth until finally she said yes. While packing her things the construction crew thought she had already vacated the house and began to bulldoze the house. The son just coming home, saw this and heard his mother screams. He did not know she had struck a deal and thought they were trying to kill her. He ran off into the woods vowing revenge. Well, as construction proceeded weird things started to happen around the site. Workers would arrive to find knives sticking through the seats on the equipment for them to sit on. One night a foreman was working late in a construction trailer reviewing blueprints. The next morning when the workers arrived, they found blood all over the trailer and a trail into the woods. His body was never found. All suspicious activities stopped at the construction site and no one ever saw "tom" again. Some people say he still lives in the woods around Hazelwild, but no one knows for sure. -- A Hazelwild urban myth.
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I remember once every two weeks the canoeing class would take a canoe to the pool, flip it and fill with water. Then practice flipping it back out without filling water back in again. It was always a good time because swimming class also got to join in .
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THE LEGEND OF THE YELLOW SLICKER
This is what was told to me about the "Legend of the yellow slicker".
Back in the day of open cockpit biplanes, A plane was flying during a terrible thunderstorm and began to have engine trouble. Looking for a place to land, The pilot wearing a yellow raincoat "slicker" spotted an open field. What he didn't see was the pond at the end of the field. The pilot brought his plane down but couldn't stop in time before he crashed into the pond. The pilot and his plane were lost. Fast forward 30 years, Aunt Sis started the camp. Everything seemed to be going fine, the campers were having fun and suddenly something wearing a "yellow slicker" appeared on horse back out of nowhere. It rode through camp at lightning speed and into the deep woods of Hazelwild. Every once in a while it will make a surprise appearance at camp. Some believe its the ghost of the crashed pilot who was never found and whose plane wreckage still lies at the bottom of the pond. But you can make your own judgment.
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PAIRING OFF!!!
A CAMPERS STORY SENT TO ME.
There was a standing rule in camp from Aunt sis: "NO PAIRING OFF" meaning no romantic relationships. I remember as a camper in the 80's un-tacking horses at the white barn. The older kids were always sneaking up into the hayloft to "pair off" instead of unsaddling the horses in the afternoon. Aunt Sis got wind of what was happening and she went to investigate. She showed up one afternoon unannounced. This got everyone a little nervous both counselors and campers alike. She was determined to go up into the hayloft to catch the kids red handed. Well, Forrest the counselor didn't want the campers to get into trouble. So while she was at the ladder going up, He kept asking her loudly "Are you sure you want to go up there Aunt Sis". The kids in the hayloft heard this so they crawled to the back side of the barn and jumped down into one of the horse stalls. Aunt Sis never did catch anyone.
--David Lewis 86-88