Monday, December 29, 2008

The Kids Screaming Under The Bridge. Captured!

This summer I did a post about a mystery scream. I've reprinted the post below. Today I just happened to be on my way to work and was able to capture the scream on video!

(Previous post:) For months now I have been unable to figure out why I hear what must be dozens of children screaming at the top of their lungs at about the same time every morning. I've gone to investigate a few times and witnessed one of those kid-chains; many kindergarten age kids all holding one leg each of a sort of huge cloth centipede, with three adults, one leading the way, one monitoring the center, and one minding the tail. The centipede keeps them as one unified mass and I guess this provides some sense of imagined control for the adults but it seems a little counter to the independence I recall feeling on field trips when I was a kid. We didn't need no stinkin' centipede and I don't remember any cases where teachers had to circle the outside of the crowd like sheepdogs. We stayed in a decent line on our own and if anything we held hands. Maybe they're locked or tied to the centipede. Anyway, I figured the scream out. When the kids walk under the bridge, they all scream to hear the cavernous echo of their collective wail. It still freaks me out and I have visions of the various tragedies that might cause all these kids to scream in unison. (below: a photo of the kids this past summer. Click.)

2 comments:

Joey B said...

Those are the kids from The People's Institute... My son used to go there and I always loved seeing him pass the gallery with his friends.

oschene said...

In England, they call these processions, "crocodiles." Go figure.