The informant is a Freshman at USC studying Biology. He used to attend a camp every year from the time he started elementary school up until the end of middle school. He shares a ghost story he heard one evening at a campfire meeting at ‘4-H Camp’.

Donovan: “I was 13 years old at 4-H camp and every night we always came together for campfire stories, that’s how we ended the day. And it was the night before the last night of camp and it was the counselors’ turn to come up with a story, so they gave us all this ghost story. And the story was about this boy named Timothy. Timothy was in 4-H camp all his life and his favorite part about camp was the campfires at the end of the day so one night, instead of leaving the campfire after everyone had left, he asked if he could stay and reminisce for a minute so the counselors let him do that.”

Me: “Was this at the camp?”

Donovan: “Yeah, same campsite, same everything. SO Timothy was alone and, the thing is, he gets so into watching the fire that he can’t blink. So he’s staring at the fire and doesn’t put it out. So the entire night, he’s sitting at the fire, thinking about his life, and then when everyone wakes up to come back to the campsite, he’s gone. They have these little meetings in the morning at the campsite and when they came in that morning, Timothy was gone and the fire is still burning. So, like, the from that day on, no one ever saw Timothy again. So the story is that if you stay out too late after curfew, then, if you look out towards the campsite, you can see Timothy’s red eyes staring back at you – Basically saying “Look, you better go to bed when they tell you too because I didn’t and look at me.” And another thing is, they say that if you stand near the ice cooler, then you’ll see his handprint on the window.”

Me: “So what happened to poor Timothy?”

Donovan: “They say that a bear got him because he stayed out too late and the bear was drawn to the fire.”

Me: “So was Timothy was real kid?”

Donovan: “Yes, Timothy was a real kid.”

Me: “How long ago did the story take place?”

Donovan: “Let’s see.. I was at camp when I was 13, so 6 years ago, and they said the story took place 10 years before that. So 16 years ago.”

Me: “Okay so how did that affect your experience at camp?”

Donovan: “So from that point on, I stayed inside my room after curfew. And it created a mystery at camp among the campers, so some of us made bets to see who would stay up the longest and see if we saw the eyes in the distance, and some people say they saw the eyes and some people say the saw the handprint. I was not one of those people, but still. It made camp a lot more fun.”

The story is a little creepy but, nevertheless, sparks my interest. I think the informant was smart to stay indoors past curfew. I’m not sure if the story is true, but this narrative can be an example of how some legends are meant to scare children into conforming to the rules, so that they are more obedient and less resistant.