The Hokey Pokey

Do you remember those old childhood nursery rhymes? Then you actually research them and find out that they have dark origins? To those who don’t know, I will give them an example: Ring around the Rosies was based on the Black Plague (or Black Death, whatever you want to call it), and described the symptoms of the sickness. Such curiosity made me suspicious about one particular dance/song. You may very well remember it: the Hokey Pokey. You would think that someone would be interested in the matter enough. It’s a ring of people doing a weird dance, now try and convince me that you do not find it the least bit suspicious. But there was nothing, no suspicions raised on the Internet, no Forums that had anything concerning the Hokey Pokey. Nothing. But I wasn’t satisfied. I had to know for sure that there was nothing wrong, or disturbing about the dance. So I decided to conduct my own test. I bought a CD player and a CD that contained the Hokey Pokey song on it and locked up the house and closed the curtains. I didn’t want anyone to see what I was about to do, or my reputation would be sabotaged. I put the CD into the player and just listened to the words the first time around. The familiar music and cheery voice greeted me. You put your right foot in You put your right foot out You put your right foot in And you shake it all about You do the Hokey Pokey And you turn around That’s what it’s all about.

Yep, it’s the right one. I put it back to the start and prepared myself. I pressed play again, and this time danced to the silly song. I danced to the full song around ten times in a row, only stopping to replay it, when I started to get a… strange feeling; the feeling that I was doing something wrong. I continued another three times, which was when a part of me wanted to stop. I had the most uncomfortable feeling that something was actually happening. And, like a fool, I continued another two times. At the end of the fifteenth time of going through the song and dancing to it, the feeling went away. I was about to replay it when I heard something. It was laughter! But that’s impossible, no-one could have gotten in without triggering my alarms (hey, you can’t judge me for setting them up, I didn’t want anyone seeing me doing the Hokey Pokey). I listened for any more sounds, anything that would alert me of someone else’s presence in the house. Silence. It must have been my imagination. No-one could be in here. I breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the play button again. This time the song was skipping and distorted. You put your right foot i-i-in You pu-u-u-u-ut your right foot… Yo- ut- r- ri- oot- n And YOu sHakE iT aLl aB- yOu dO t- Hokey Pokey And… turn ThAt’S … iT’s alL about-

oH t- Hokey PoKeY Oh tHe hoK… kEy … The Hokey Pokey That’s what it’s all about…

It cut out there, leaving me feeling very disturbed. Was this it? Had I just solved a mystery that no-one has ever enquired about? Unfortunately, things weren’t over yet. I waited there in the silence, pondering my findings, when a sound broke the uneasy silence, and made me wish that I hadn’t done any of this; that my curiosity hadn’t gotten the best of me. That creepy laughter came again. This time I knew it wasn’t my imagination, as I began to hear running footsteps echoing throughout the house. The footsteps were that of bare feet, slapping the ground, and the laughter was growing more eager. Where was it coming from? I couldn’t pick up which direction the footsteps were. I slowly backed up to the front door. It was close now, I could hear it. My hand reached for the handle, and I turned the lock, my back was to the door, I wanted to see what the great big mystery was about the Hokey Pokey, even if it were a big risk. I had to know. Surprisingly, the lock didn’t turn. I looked at it, and tried again, same result. What was happening? I put more force, and the lock snapped. The door was deadlocked, and I couldn’t get out. And the footsteps were getting closer… Instinctively, I ran to one of the windows and tried to open it, but it was nailed shut. I grabbed a chair and smashed it against the window, but the chair broke and the window was intact. I swore and I noticed something was different. The laughing and running footsteps had stopped. I felt a shift in the atmosphere. Something was not right. I stopped dead, and slowly turned my head. Right at the front door, watching me with the eyes of insanity, was… to be honest I don’t really know what it was. It was practically a skeleton, with a thin layer of flesh covering its bones. Its eyes were hollow black sockets with a flaming orange iris that stared into the soul. It had shaggy black hair that came down the front of its face, and its mouth… plastered in a permanent, sick smile had needle-sharp teeth that were yellowed and blackened with decay. With a laugh of madness, it rushed at me. I bolted, adrenaline rushing through my body. I had to get out. But how? How could I escape when every door was deadlocked; every window nailed shut and seemingly unbreakable? The running footsteps and creepy laughter began again, causing me to panic even more. I wanted to stop this, to just pause everything so that I could think straight. The phone! I had to get to the phone! I took a sharp turn to my left, and grabbed the phone from the charger. With that, I took the loop the front door to get to the stairwell leading up the stairs. That was when the creature suddenly cut in front of my path. It wasn’t stupid, it knew exactly what I was doing.