A few minutes after midnight I stepped out into the cool night. As I approached the end of our driveway, the pale crescent moon suddenly disappeared in red haze. It was pitch black. Then, slowly, a sparkling full moon appeared. I thought that was strange. But knew it would aid me on my visit to the salt marsh.
The gate into the park was closed, of course. But unlike any other night, a mean looking bird was guarding it. His long bill was sharp and his left foot was raised as in a warning.
No admission. But stubborn as I am, I decided to climb over the low stone wall a little further down.
Right away I could see some hunching shapes on one of the small islands in the distance. A gathering of the ghosts perhaps? Halloween party? It was impossible to tell.
Bang! The ground shook and lightning struck from the clear sky. It illuminated the osprey nest. From afar, it looked deserted and seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight.
I was frightened, but there was no turning back. So I walked closer. Suddenly I heard heavy wing beats right above my head. A large bat? I saw a huge creature land on the nest. He looked right at me and I thought his eyes were somewhat familiar. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me flexing his enormous wings.
Just under the nest, I could discern a glowing figure on the ground. Someone else was observing me too. It was spooky. And eerily quiet.
The silence was broken by a bone-chilling scream. An apparition with a huge bill drifted right next to me. I started running.
Further out, I saw more dark shapes starting to gather at the far end of the marsh. Curiosity won over fear and I decided to investigate. Walking along the water line, I spotted large glowing fish in the deep pond. Monsters over three feet long.
I sensed many pairs of eyes were following my every step from the deep shadows. It was unnerving. But I kept going.
As I came to the far end, I noticed action on the water. Someone was running for his life!
The poor fellow was chased by a much bigger creature, who was flapping his wings as he ran on the water. I could feel chills go down my spine.
Suddenly I came to a halt. A creepy feathered being was blocking the trail. He was huge! And he was scrutinizing me from top to toe from the corner of his eye.
I started shaking, but finally he let me pass. I took cover under some short palm trees next to the water. That’s when I saw her. Her pink skirt was flowing in the cool breeze as she performed her dance at the edge of the pond.
All action stopped. No running, no chasing, no fooling around. Complete silence as if all the creatures were holding their breath. Then wings started flapping. Loud applause reverberated in the night. I tried to clap too, but couldn’t. Something heavy was weighing down my left arm. It didn’t move.
I woke up. And Dylan turned to look at me. I must have been screaming because the hair on his head stood up. I had dozed off and been dreaming about my friends at the salt marsh. All transmogrified just in time for Halloween. I turned off the TV and the light, petted Dylan and went back to sleep. Who knows what the night might bring. Happy Halloween folks!
TINY LESSONS BLOG 
Wonderfully fun and clever post Helen. May all your nightmares be haunted by the creepy creatures of the deep, dark salt marsh. 🙂 I’m guessing this is some kind of filter to create the night-like photos?
Thank you Brad, for that good wish 😱 ! I used every single trick in my bag to create this little Halloween treat.
It worked beautifully! 🙂
This is wonderful! The photos look so creepy:-)
Thank you Stephanie. With a few tricks the salt marsh looks really creepy 😉
Spooky!! SPECTACULAR!!! I LOVED it!!! Such a wonderfully imaginative post, Tiny. Happy Dylan was there to protect you 😉 ♡
It was really spooky! It will probably be a year before I will go there at night again 😎 Dylan is such a great guard doggy, always sleeping one eye open. Thank you dear Lorrie 💕
Happy Halloween Tiny. I had no idea the Salt Marsh could be so terrifyingly spooky. Are you sure you were dreaming?
I’m almost sure I was dreaming…my shoes were dry and Dylan confirmed I had not left the bed…he still wanted his late night treat. Unless he fooled me 😉
A case of trick or treat. 🙂
😁
LOL, loved this post, Tiny! 🙂
Happy you enjoyed the spookiness of the salt marsh!
Very spooky! The marsh doesn’t disappoint for Haloween. Great pictures and story Helen. 👀👽👻
Happy you had the courage to visit the salt marsh on this scary night, Karen 🙂
Brilliant Helen! 😊 Happy Halloween to you!
Thank you Kathy! Happy you enjoyed the Halloween tour 🙂
What a hoot! Miss Rosa could never be scary … but Stanley … absolutely!
I agree that Miss Rosa could never be scary, but her neighbors surely can….and were! Thanks for your courage to come along, Val!
Spooktacular! 🙂
It was! Thanks for coming along, Maverick 🙂
You are amazing Tiny! Your Halloween version of the Salt March is fantastic! It’s fun to participate, Tyler had a party Halloween celebration with a School and wore a Robin’s costume (cartoon hero). He had so much fun that was exhausted when back at home. Happy Halloween my friend! 🙂
Thank you my friend, glad you enjoyed the Halloween tour 🙂 I am sure Tyler had a great time…and lots of sweets!
Mixing it up. Love it. And the moon, magnificent.
The moon over salt marsh is always magnificent on Halloween. Glad you had a courage to visit us on this spooky night, David.
What a story, what photographs, what imagination, wow!
Happy you enjoyed this spooky story, Susan!
Happy Halloween!
Thank you!!
Beware on this THEIR night….
🙂 that was even more scary than walking at the salt marsh on Halloween!
Wah-ha-ha
Excellent. Creative and fun!
Happy you enjoyed the Halloween fun at the salt marsh, Kathy!
Superbly imaginative and creative, Helen – a triumph! 🙂
We are happy you enjoyed the nightly walk at the salt marsh, Hariod. The residents did their best to entertain 🙂
These are gorgeous! 🙂
Thank you dear Takami ❤
Now that was a story and a half! How fun. The pictures were spooktacular! 🙂 ❤
Awesome post! Happy Halloween at Salt Marsh!
Happy you enjoyed the spookiest night at the salt marsh, Catherine.
Spooktacular post! I might sleep with one eye open tonight. BOO!
Thanks Nancy! The residents of the salt marsh know to be spooky when they want to….at least once a year 🙂
What an amazing story Tiny, so well told, you had us going there for a while. We are not into Halloween over here, it is not an Aussie tradition, though many of the young ones have taken it on. Enjoy your week my friend:-)
Thanks for peeking into the Halloween party at the salt marsh, Ashley. Halloween is not a tradition where I’m from either, but my feathered friends are from here…so they decided to put up a show 😀
Ooooh, that was scary!
Hahaaa, Helen; your tale was captivatingly good. Loved it.
Happy Halloween..!
That was scary indeed…I can take it once a year 😀 Happy you mustered the courage to come along, Carolyn!
What a spooky dream! Now that you’ve taught me what transmogrification is I must say your images illustrate the concept perfectly! Love that mean-looking snowy egret…
I think I captured the only moment when the Snowy Egret has ever looked mean, but then, it was Halloween 😀 Happy you came along for this night-time walk, Barbara.
Very very clever Helen – your post-processing definitely transmogrified the marsh!
Thank you Tina! The post-processing was laborious but fun 🙂
I got such a kick out of this, Helen. Even the Salt Marsh characters have a spooky Halloween. Really well done, photos and words — thanks so much.
I am happy you enjoyed this goofy post! It was so much fun to transform the normally so peaceful characters that the story practically wrote itself 🙂 Thank you, Jet.
Great spooky post and captures, a lot of fun, Helen!
You know the characters, Donna – they were resisting the “transmogrification” process quite a bit 😉
Love this but it is BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!