Bump in the Night               

by Mike Santos

Ever wonder what goes bump in the night? Well that’s easy, it’s me, Michael Santos setting up my outdoor Halloween display until 12:00 Midnight, where even I dare not stay outside with the Ghosts and Ghouls that I’ve set up outside my door.
The mist on a cool dark night, rolling and rising through the vacant, dreary streets. The sound of the wind howling and the rustling of leaves from the trees. The open moon creating shadows from the naked dead like trees. Illuminating yet, almost moving. You sit still, don’t move, and you listen carefully. You can hear your heart beating, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP But you’re still not sure if that’s the sound of your heart, or the Spirits of the LIVING DEAD, lurking in the shadows of the dark night, in search o f a poor soul to feed upon.

SORRY! I get so carried away, caught up in the hype of Halloween. HUH! "a bump in the night," is much too polite. For me it’s a scare in the air, means DEATH is near.

Other than marriage, Halloween is the only other thing that scares the S#*! out of me and that’s what I love best. Halloween is an invitation to all with imagination and that is in every one of us. We’re not just Mystery Riders because we ride, but because there’s a lot of "mystery" in each and every one of us. And that is why I’m inviting all of you, your family and friends, to bring that mystery that you carry in you, to this year’s MMR 2006 Haunted Halloween Bash!

I’ll be your Host, the host of the living and those no longer of the living. Dare to be scared with this year's haunted display? Dare to put on your mystery costume? Dare to eat the SCARY and not so scary delights?

Then, BOO! I DARE YOU. This year’s Best Halloween Costume for male and female prize of $100 again will be mine, unless!, you open your minds, (not literally) ask a friend, (of the living) or search the web (watch out for spiders) and come up with a comical, hilarious, original or my personal favorite, something from the UNDEAD.

Then you, will be this year’s New Best Halloween Costume. I DARE YOU! Get out of your COFFINS, jump in your HEARSE and drop those little critters off at the baby sitting MORTUARY and come down to the John Alden Sportsman’s Club on Saturday, October 28’th from 7:00 to the WITCHING hour of midnight. $5.00 per person. Bring a dessert or appetizer (something DEAD please.) Music by DJ "CRAZY" EDDIE, and HAUNTING by ME. We’ll have a HELL of a time. See you there, if you DARE…

 

Frightening Things on a Bike    
by Paula McCallum

Scary Bad Poetry     

By Paula McCallum

Just after dusk on a crisp autumn eve
An eerie noise of impending doom we perceive
Sending shivers up the spines of the innocent
What unholy thing is invading Manomet?

Frozen in our spots, the pure tremble in fear
Terror festers as the beast draws ever near
Out of the dark shines ghastly yellow torches
We gaze in horror as the monster approaches

The phantom emerges beneath the shadows
Revealing wicked things that no one knows
For this haunting beast is a sickening swarm
Infinite numbers descend upon us like a storm

The creatures dismount their chariots from hell
Devoid of humanity for surely we can tell
Moving as one, spreading their heinous gore
Just what have they come here looking for?

They are mere vermin with tattooed bodies
Leather is not attire for people in their forties
Filthy biker scum turn up for an ice cream cone
But why, oh why, can’t they just leave us alone?

Paulatics                       
by Paula McCallum

We knew. You can’t say we didn’t know it was coming. We’d seen the illustration of the menacing rain cloud on Saturday’s weather forecast. A chance of late afternoon thunder showers. We even prepared for it by packing our raingear. All except one, “Bubbles” soaked to the bone, had to buy her Gloucester fisherman’s post-storm at a local hardware store.

It all started as a typical New England getaway to Vermont. We blew off work on Friday to head to western Mass. First, a stroll down the Bridge of Flowers in Shelborne Falls, stopping at the glacial potholes while trying to score a taste of what turned out to be the elusive Maple Creamies (Maple flavored soft serve - delish!)

The pack of 10 MMRs hit the roads early on Saturday winding our way up Rt 8a to Rt 100 after a disappointing breakfast because Gould’s Sugar Shack didn’t open until 8:30. We rode past Killington to a town called Rochester for gas. After filling up, we felt a few drops of rain descend. A poll was taken. I lost 9 to 1 . We continued North.

The skies began to open a bit as a bolt of lightning forced us to pull over to get into our rain gear. Another poll was taken yet my voice must have just gotten lost in the wind. Let’s head back…. We journeyed forward to our destination, Mad River Glenn. The only thing “mad”, as I saw it, was this small band of bikers. “What’s a little rain?” “Big deal, it can’t last forever.” “It’ll blow over.” All common sense had simply flown out the window. So into the deluge we rode with the rain now pelting our faces like merciless little needles.

Bill threw out the question first, “Do you think we should turn around?” “YES. Most definitely. Turn around!” But we rode on. Between ingesting mouthfuls of water, as I slowly began to drown, I gulped “Let’s turn around!” He ignored me as we rode in the pouring rain, thunder clapping over head. Finally, he stopped because, I imagine, his glasses had fogged up as badly as mine had. “What do you think? Should we turn around?” For the love of God, man. “YES!” But again, we had to take a poll. Just what is there to discuss? It’s cut and dry. That’s it, enough is enough. I had to pull rank as Vice President of the Manomet Mystery Riders and declared that indeed we were turning around, end of discussion. My damp feet had spoken. Luckily, they bought my wrath, and thank you Jesus, we turned a round.

Luckily it didn’t rain the whole three hours back to our hotel because if it had my inner Bitch would have truly reared her ugly head. Maybe next time they’ll listen to the voice of reason because seriously, riding in the rain sucks!

Point Judith Day Trip           
by Mike Lallier
It was a great day for a ride down to Point Judith, RI. About 13 bikes made the day trip with a stop for lunch on the waterfront in Tiverton, RI. The Point Judith Lighthouse was the first stop on our light house tour. The goal is to gather 12 photos of lighthouses for an annual calendar. If you couldn't make this trip keep checking the MMR Hotline for our next day trip.

Billy Walsh Cancer Benefit
by Mike “Rubber” Walsh

Dear Manomet Mystery Riders,
We would like to begin by once again thanking you for all of your help, support and your donation for our brother Billy’s Cancer Benefit on August 6th.

The benefit went extremely well for such a short period of time that we had to coordinate it. Unequivocally, without the help of your club, the ride would not have been as successful and continuously talked about as quite a memorable ride. It was awesome.

Although Billy was too weak to ride with us, upon our departure from the Sportsman’s Club with 100 plus bikes, he stood at attention, hands folded in front of him with his baseball cap on and sunglasses on to hide his emotions, which was unsuccessful. From (Scott) Smitty and Terry leading us out all the way to the sweep, I could see Billy praying just as hard for our riders to have a safe ride, as we pray for the best for Billy. It was quite moving, I could not see straight from the emotion until we crossed Long Pond Road.

The timing of our ride was coordinated extremely well, that to this day I believe that Smitty and Terry once worked at Mission Control! We rolled back into the Sportsman’s Club precisely @ 2:15; we stopped briefly at the entrance as we switched the pack around and brought all of the immediate family to the front to lead us into the Pavilion. As we rolled down the hill in formation, we all started revving our bikes, there was approximately 500 people standing at attention as we rolled past Billy onto the grass, lined all the bikes up in a formation park and all together revved our bikes one last time for Billy. It was the most emotional experience that I have ever felt. As we shut down, there was an extremely loud applause for the riders and a lot of emotion from a lot of people! It was party time with Billy, and we did just that.

There are many special thanks to so many individuals from your club, road captains, blockers and coordinators, I may not get them all, however I wanted to name a few. Thanks to Smitty, Terry, Anthony, and Glen (a.k.a. Paul Sr. OCC!) Everyone that I show the pictures to thinks that Paul Sr. rode with us! Also wanted to thank Sherri for mapping the ride with Smitty.

Special thanks also to all of the Ferguson’s. We have been family friends with the Ferguson’s all of our lives, they are as awesome as a family today as they were then, they are real people and I would share a fox hole with any of them.

For the Mystery Riders that were unable to attend, and the members that ran Sturgis, your club was extremely well represented by the members that did attend and assisted. I met a lot of new friends through your club and I personally look forward to attending some of your future events.

Again, on behalf of the Walsh family and friends, MMR is an awesome bunch of folks, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Ride Safe,
Mike Walsh, a.k.a. “Rubber”

Missing, Presumed Dead  - The Search for America’s POWs
By Paula McCallum

On August 3, 2006, I boarded an early flight bound for Salt Lake City with our final destination to Rapid City, South Dakota. I had every intention of kicking back and sleeping for 5 hours until we got to Salt Lake City. But then I met Bob. He was an older gentleman going on an Alaskan cruise with his wife Shirley, for their 50th wedding anniversary.

I spent the next 5 hours chatting with Bob and telling him about our plans once we got to Sturgis for Bike Week and about our club. During our conversation, he told me that he was going to send me a DVD in the mail once he got back from his cruise. He didn’t want to tell me what it was about but wanted me to watch it first and then to write or call him tell him what I thought of it. He also asked that I pass it along to my fellow Manomet Mystery Riders. I did guess that it had something to do with POWs because the image was his watch face. My curiosity was definitely piqued.

Last week, I received a package in the mail from Bob and watched his 65 minute movie. I’d like to let the veterans in our club borrow it first and then share it with who ever else it would interest. I found it very thought provoking and definitely worth your time to view.

The film’s cover reads that it is about Bob Dumas’ 50 year search for his brother Roger, missing in North Korea. And our government’s cover-up of abandoned POWs.

When the Korean War ended in 1953 hundreds of American POWs were left behind, abandoned in North Korea. When it became apparent that repatriating these men would not be feasible, the U.S. government declared them, “missing, presumed dead.”

These missing servicemen were forgotten until POW/ MIA advocates forced the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Senator John Kerry, to investigate the many recent sightings of American POWs in Vietnam and Korea.

“Missing, Presumed Dead,” investigates these persistent questions:

For more information, please visit their website www.MissingPresumedDead.com