Spooks infest my camera

Yesterday I went hiking in Millcreek canyon with some adorable cub scouts.

They aren't particularly spooky, mostly just cute.  But let me get to the spooky part.

Right after I took this fancy picture, I accidentally dropped my camera in the little streamlet that was flowing under my feet.

I retrieved the camera but quick and fast popped out the battery and memory card -- nothing seemed horribly drenched but I stashed everything in my backpack wrapped in a spare shirt hoping to prevent any additional damage.

That night (after a semi-crazy day), I remembered the camera issue and pulled all the pieces out of the bag to see how much damage was done.  After installing the battery and memory card, I was thrilled to find that the camera seemed to be working just great -- no problem at all.  Hooray!!

I wend to bed around 11:00 thinking everything was fine.

Little did I know, my camera was now possessed (it is, after all, October -- just the time of year for a good spirit-takes-over-inanimate-object moment).

Just after midnight -- oooooh, spooky -- I woke to a bright flash in my bedroom.  

Strange.

No clouds outside, no tv or computer in the room to have a screen misbehave.

I closed my eyes again.

Another flash.

Now my sleep addled mind started conjuring stories about intruders with flashlights and police flash bangs.

Yeah, no.

So I sat up and waited.

And that's when the innocent looking camera on my night stand suddenly sparked a shower of light into the darkness.

The flighty thing was turned off, it had sat quietly for some time, but as time ticked into the witching hour the spirits that now live within its electronic prison could no longer hold their peace and they burst out in an array of cold brightness.

So I did what any lover of Halloween and sleep would do.  I snapped the battery out and asked the ghosts to get some rest and maybe play with the camera in the morning.

Good compromise.

And that was my night.