What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word, "Halloween"? Is it going trick or treating? Maybe it's seeing who dresses up the best or it's bobbing for apples? Or maybe it's about the thrill of getting scared whether at a cemetery, during trick or treating or going to a haunted house? Well, my personal thrill of Halloween is being scared and yet knowing that I am safe, as well as having a blast because that is always important.
     This year my uncle insisted that Svenja and I attend our first haunted house and that’s when I discovered the Bates’ Saw Mill in Millington. I decided to do a little research on the Saw Mill. My research led me to the story behind them mill, and that it actually has a haunted history. The legend, as described on the Bates Sawmill Website, is that in 1881 a fire destroyed Saginaw Valley and the cause of the fire was unknown. People believed that Millington was cursed and that all of their hardships started after a Sauk Indian Tribe had been killed. Only only native had survived and it is said that he had cursed the land.
Soon after that a man named William Bates bought 500 acres of Millington Hills so that he could continue with his family's saw mill. This soon became a well known business throughout town.
     One night, a fire started (nobody knows how). The fire was so violent that 100 men, women and children perished. Bates lay on the ground engulfed in smoke and barely breathing when a smokey figure appeared and carried him to safety. When Bates woke up the figure was gone but, legend says, the figure was the last known spirit of the Sauk Indian.
     According to legend, Bates indeed did die but the Indian brought him back to life with the taste of human flesh. Bates soon understood that if he was to live he had to cure his hunger by feeding on the bodies of humans. This caused Bates’ soul to be restless and caused extreme pain in his stomach if he did not feed.
In 1995 the Bates’ Saw Mill caught fire again, and this time William Bates perished in the fire. It is said that his soul is damned to roam the hills of the Bates’ Mill, so walking through the mill people hope to catch a glimpse of William before he catches them.
     When we arrived, I met the owner’s friend and his wife Rickie. They explained to me that they have only been doing the haunted saw mill for two years and the first year they donated their money toward their town's drama department. This year however, without a drama department to fund, they decided to donate toward some other charitable cause.
     At this point I was excited that I had decided on the haunted sawmill. After hearing the story, I felt anxious to head through the mill. Squeezing the back of my Uncles shirt and grabbing my sister’s raincoat, we started our journey into the darkness.  Every step that made a sound made me jump and every breath was deep but we made it as far as the first turn when our first scare screamed at us.
     We continued on the winding boarded-up path with plenty of surprising scares and followers along the way until we came to a door. We entered slowly. Beyond this door were many different faces and sounds and each one made me let out a bit of a yelp. As we made our way through door after door and from passage to passage, the feeling of someone following us grew more intense.
     Inside the mansion, we meandered from room to room venturing through bathtubs, refrigerators and blankets, only to find ourselves going in a twisted up circle. Meantime our bodies stayed stiff and alert as we prepared ourselves for anyone that attempted to scare us or follow us with an axe.
     Holding tightly to our uncle’s arm, we had the nerve to continue our way through the diminishing light and into the shadows of the dark. As we walked through the shadows, voices could be heard around us and chainsaws could be heard shrieking in the darkness, growing closer to us as we moved farther away from them. We endured the rest of the mansion with more scares than I dare to mention. I’ll leave the other frights for your enjoyment along the way.
     After the mansion, we made our way into the mill and had creepy, masked figures follow us and screech through the curtains at us as we pass them by. With the terror level elevated and one last maze to make it through (the cemetery), we found our way into the open light where the owners and friends meet you and ask about your experience. But wait...there is more.
     If you want to be even more scared, do what we did. Go through not once, but twice and see what changes and see who follows you this time. Be sure to check your back, you never know when you may be in the mood for a scare…

-Ashley Johnson