CMO70: PEG LEG SAM

 

Who is "Peg Leg Sam!?"

Many years have passed since I heard the story of "Peg Leg Sam!" In fact, it has been so long that I cannot recall the particulars of the story. If memory serves me correctly, Peg Leg Sam was a boy who lost his leg while cutting firewood and died. This apparently took place during the winter months. I cannot recall if he lived on a farm or in the mountains.

According to my cousin Al (may he rest in peace) who told us the story of Peg Leg Sam, "...if you are bad and disobedient, on the eve of Halloween, Peg Leg Sam will come looking for you. You will know him by his silhouette in the window made possible by the light of the Halloween moon. He raises his right hand to the top of the window and draws it down slowly. If he does this three times, you will not make it to November 1st."

When my cousin told this story one Halloween night, he had another cousin standing outside the bedroom window. The shade was drawn and a light was shining against the shade, giving the impression that the moon was full.

When my cousin got to the point of the story when Peg Leg Sam appeared at the window, he pointed to a silhouette figure of what appeared to be a young man standing at the window with his right hand raised. Upon the third draw of the hand, as my cousin described it, the figure in the window lifted up what appeared to be an axe.

That is when my cousin shouted that the Peg Leg was there for me.

Everyone, including me, bolted from the room as fast as our little legs could take us. I locked myself in the bathroom. With tears running down my face and my heart racing at a speed I never experienced before, I was absolutely convinced that the figure I saw at the window was Peg Leg Sam and he was there to get me.

It took my brother and cousins quite a while to convince me that the story of Peg Leg Sam was fiction. There is no Peg Leg Sam...or is there?