Old Rusty

Ryan, Rhianna and I came to YMCA camp all last summer and have been here for half of this summer so far. We know the story of Old Rusty as well as we know the trails through these woods. We also know that it’s baloney. Old Rusty isn’t the one banging rocks together, trying to scare all the campers. It’s just Brent. So this time, Ryan, Rhianna and I get to be behind the scenes, scaring all the other campers.

We go into the cave with the rest of the group, but we go into the right tunnel instead of the left and hide until Brent gets everyone to turn the lights out and sit quietly in the entrance to the right tunnel. Now it’s time to wait while Brent tells the story of Old Rusty and how he was trapped in the cave eighty years ago by some kids. He gets to the part about communicating with Old Rusty. “He can’t talk anymore, but he can throw rocks at the wall he’s trapped behind,” Brent informs everyone.

We can barely contain our excitement as Brent cues us. “Old Rusty, are you there?” We bang a rock against the wall. The other campers begin to ask him questions. We bang the rocks together louder and louder. We also start to roll pebbles towards the front row. Some of the campers scream.

“Oh no, he’s getting mad! We need to get out of here before there’s a cave-in.” Brent shouts. Everyone scrambles out except for Ryan, Rhianna and me. We wait in the cave for a while and scratch ourselves up a bit. We also pile up some rocks to make it look like there was a cave-in.  After what feels like a very long time, we leave the cave and find the rest of the group. We tell them all about the cave-in we were trapped in and are so excited when they actually believe us. Our secret is safe. None of us can wait until next week when there will be a whole new batch of campers who’ve never heard of Old Rusty.