A cautionary tale about why you never go down into Creedy's Swamp, not during the day, not at night, and never, certainly not ever, during the night of a waning moon.

Scary, but PG

Excellent story for Halloween

Published in the 2006 Spring Issue of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay's "Sheepshead Review"

Performed during the "Scary Story Series" at ComedyCity, De Pere, WI. October 2006

Down in Georgia there's a place called Creedy's Swamp. Legend has it during the War of Northern Aggression a pair of Confederate soldiers deserted their posts during Sherman's assault and tried to hide out in Creedy's. Before the war was over they was caught by the army and hanged, right there in the swamp, for treason. The tree where they was hanged is still there, with the two ropes still hanging from the branches.

It's under these branches that the Devil lives, and I do mean the Devil hisself. I ain't never seen him myself, but that's cause I don't go down into Creedy's Swamp, not during the day, certainly not at night, and never, not ever, not even to save my own life, would I go down there at night when the moon is waning. That's when it's going away from full to new, if you didn't already know. Anyways, I don't go to Creedy's Swamp, on account of Lester Brighton.

Lester had two left feet, which might not mean much to you or me, but this was especially bothersome for the man because he loved nothing more than dancing. Nothing he tried could change the fact, however, that God had not given him the grace, or the skill, or even the raw talent to be a dancer. Now, I don't know what goes on in another man's head, but something inside of Lester's said that if God didn't make him a dancer, maybe the Devil could.

Now everyone knows the Devil don't dance. You gotta have something in your heart in order to dance. Dancin' without feelin' is like eatin' without swallowing. Why on earth would you do it? And the Devil, he ain't go no feelings. They all been burned out of him by the fires of Hell a long, long time ago. But just cause the Devil can't do something, don't mean he can't arrange it so someone else can. Devil can't bake a cherry pie to save his life, but don't nobody doesn't like Sara Lee, you hear?