A Visit to the Planetary Seekers, and Star Gazers Society
October 2023 :
Patricia, the grandmother of our youngest member, Luke Labriola, presented this short ghost story that she wrote following her first visit to Seagrave Observatory.
Dan and Patricia met Steve at a social gathering, and excitedly listened as Steve described his participation in an Astronomy group, “The Planetary Seekers and Star Gazers Society”. This sounded like something that their fifteen-year-old grandson, Luke, would enjoy, since he intends to become an astrophysicist.
The next Saturday evening the grandparents and Luke traveled on a dark, remote road, with only the stars and the moon to light their way. Soon, their GPS indicated that they had arrived at the meeting site of “The Planetary Seekers and Star Gazers Society”. However, only open fields appeared as far as their eyes could see! After they continued driving for a while past all known directions, some buildings illuminated by red lights appeared. Then the family saw vehicles having license plates that bore inscriptions with lettering in a language indecipherable to humans. The family was startled, when on second glance, the vehicles appeared to be unfamiliar, circular shaped transports, with rows of tiny windows.
The trio continued walking on a dark and stoney path leading to a building with a flickering scarlet light, and strange gargoyle-shaped steps. As Dan, Patricia, and Luke entered the building, a meeting was in progress, with strange green flashing lights displayed on a large screen. When the speaker came into focus, he appeared to be wearing an iridescent fringed body suit. While it was difficult to hear him, it soon became apparent that he was speaking in an unusual fashion, sounding like he was croaking in beeps and bits. The speaker had a glowing laser pointing at a slide show of round, as well as triangular buildings with portholes. The undulating eerie green light emanating from the buildings was accompanied by a sharp buzzing sound, and there was a strange smell like burning electrical wires.
When the dim lights in the room became brighter, some of the people turned around, and Luke noticed that there were people with blue faces, some with scaly lime green faces, and some with purple skin. Furthermore, their faces were oddly shaped, with oversized eyes, spiral noses, and sloping foreheads. They appeared to have two rows of pointed teeth in their yellow mouths. Luke’s muscles grew tense, and as he began to breathe faster and faster, he felt faint. However, Grandpa brought him something to drink that tasted like an exotic fruit punch, and Luke began to relax. Luke became fascinated by the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that he was experiencing.
As Grandpa led Luke out of the room, past a memorial telescope stand, shimmering people-shaped blue lights materialized. The lights guided Grandpa and Luke to a dark tower-shaped structure containing a one hundred- and fifty-year-old gigantic telescope. As Grandpa and Luke climbed the outside stairs, they became aware that the loosely attached staircase was moving in the wind, and loudly clanging against the tower. They continued to a dark room at the top of the staircase, where a glowing outline of a man and a teenaged boy clad in nineteenth century clothing appeared. The man, named Vincent, had breath that smelled like rotting fish, as he gestured to the barely visible teen named Edward. Vincent proudly explained that he had given his son, Edward, the telescope for his 16th birthday in 1873. Vincent said that they were about to see a satellite, and a spiral galaxy that had not been visible since 1923. Grandpa and Luke were eager to see the sky, so as they got closer to Vincent, they held their breath to avoid the horrid smell, and took turns looking through the telescope. Turning to where Vincent and Edward had stood, Grandpa and Luke saw no one there.
The tower began to move back and forth, and Luke began to smell something familiar and delicious. Luke heard his mom saying: “Wake up, the pancakes are ready, and it’s time to get ready for church”. As Luke opened his eyes, he realized that it was Sunday morning, and he was on his family’s boat, gently rocking in the breeze.
