About 20 years ago, I was helping the manager of Palisades State Park with a nature program.  We were climbing just above the river on the north side of the bridge when we felt a cold wind blowing in our faces.  As it was a warm day, I asked Marty where that cool air was coming from.  He said that some of the cracks in the quartzite lead to deep caves that push cold air out. We then climbed up on the west side to a small cave.  Marty said word was it that Jesse James’ and three of his gang hid out in that cave. We could see the initials JJ carved in the cave wall, but the story has it that only Jesse made it out alive, as the rest were never seen again. I asked what happened to them. He said no one knows.  Then he told me a strange story.

   A long time ago, back in the 30’s, some strange things happened at Palisades SP.  There was a yearly church camp run by a friendly preacher who let kids attend for free.  He was a strange looking dude with a lot of strange tattoos of animals.  He was very strong and often showed off by lifting a camper in each hand, clear off the ground. His wife was the camp cook, but was shy and not seen much.  They would just show up at the park and only for the weekend of Halloween to offer their free camp.

One of the activities at camp was taking the campers on nighttime goblin hunts.  Supposedly, the goblins would try to come out of the cracks in the quartzite at midnight, and the campers were supposed to grab them, except if you did not hold them tight, the goblins would pull you into the cracks and you would never be seen again.  The counselors had no idea where that activity and legend had started, but was loads of fun.    Usually a counselor would pretend he was grabbing a goblin and scream as he pulled his bloody finger back, of course he had brought fake blood with, and all the campers would run back to their tents screaming.     On this particular night, there was a full moon as the counselors’ were getting the campers ready to go “Goblin Grabbing”.  Just as they were leaving, the preacher came by and told them they should not go on this particular night, as the full moon did strange things to people.

     He even mentioned that the term “lunatic” was invented because of the moon’s strange effect it had on some people, as the moon’s real name is Luna. But the counselors insisted, and the preacher could not talk them out of it, as it was a camp tradition. The kids went to the cracked rock and watched for any sign of strange activity.  Right at midnight, some strange sounds and a cold wind crept out of the rocks. The campers and counselors looked down the cracks and saw some strange bright flashes. As it was against the Goblin Grabbing rules to bring flashlights, they could not see far down the crack, so they picked up some rocks and threw them down the crack, but the flashes got brighter. One of the brave counselors reached into the crack, all ready with his fake blood to pretend his finger had been bit, when suddenly a large, hairy hand with long fingernails grabbed his hand and started to pull him into the crack.  The campers screamed as two brave counselors tried to pull the gnarly hand off the counselor’s. It would not budge, and the counselor was being pulled into the large crack in the quartzite.  A second before the counselor would have disappeared, one of the other counselors took his camping knife and bravely cut the hairy hand clear off, and it fell into the crack, followed by a blood curdling scream.  The group ran back to camp and told their story to the preacher, who reminded them he had warned them about going out under a full moon. The counselors, except for the two who were involved, thought it was a prank.    The next day was the last day of camp, and the campers were to eat their last lunch before taking the bus home.  On the menu was tomato and sausage soup, with delicious pieces of sausage in a thick broth.  As one of the campers took a spoonful, he screamed as what looked like a fingernail on one of the sausages that was in his spoonful of soup.  The campers all laughed as they assumed the counselors had placed it there.   After they ate, they boarded the bus and all waved goodbye to the preacher, who was standing next to his wife, the cook, and they both waved back at the kids.      One of the counselors at the back of the bus, was the last to see them waving.  This was the counselor who had cut the gnarly hand off.  He saw something that made him almost scream, for the wife was waving only her left hand with its long fingernails, as the other hand, at the end of her hairy arm, was missing. No one ever heard from the preacher again. So if you ever go to Palisades SP, and feel cold air coming from a crack in the rocks, don’t reach in!!!!!