Your True Tales
June 2004 – Page 10

Scream from the Grave
by DarkMatter

In October of 1988, I was videotaping a public service announcement for a local cable station. The location was one of the oldest cemeteries in Maryland. We had a full crew and tech set up/ lights, booms, etc. And we were also using a baby crane, a device that allows the camera to raise and lower for the shot. The baby crane weighs a little under a ton.

The shoot was over, we packed up and it was getting dark. Everyone was hungry and tired so I volunteered to wait alone with the baby crane for the rental driver to arrive with the truck. To make the job simpler, I decided I'd roll the crane closer to the cemetery entrance so the driver wouldn't have to cross any plots.

Here's the strange part. As I was pushing the crane, it slipped off the wood I had set as a track and it started to sink into a very old grave. As I scurried to block the crane from sinking further, I started to sink into the grave! Then from the far left corner of the graveyard I heard a scream. It wasn't an owl or a fox, and the cemetery was deserted. I froze, trying to keep the crane from sinking further, trying to keep me from sinking further. Then the scream repeated and it seemed to be closer, although in the darkness I couldn't see.

I don't know how – and I'm not a large guy – but at that moment I physically lifted the crane and placed it back on the wood, and within seconds pushed it up the hill to the entrance and the lights. The driver pulled up moments later and asked what was wrong. I told him what happened, showed him the grave and the indentations and he couldn't understand how I had done it. (It took a winch and a Redi Lift to get the crane into the truck!)

I haven't heard that sound since that moment and obviously I haven't lifted a ton since then either. I guess adrenaline plus the supernatural creates a very potent mix.

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