XXX Question of Security XXX

NOT WHAT YOU THINK
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I'm fully aware that there are members of Camping Babble who have experienced issues in this regard. I'm so thankful that I have never encountered the same. But I do have an issue that came to light again recently.

IT'S ABOUT TELLING SCARY STORIES AND FRIGHTENING PEOPLE
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I do not support, encourage, or promote any camp activity that rattles the cage, makes people feel insecure or frightened and now prohibit the telling of stories that cause feelings of insecurity. When campers [at children's camp] or adult colleagues go to bed at night they need to know that they are safe. The things that go bump in the night are well explained. The last thing I need as a Director is to have a bunch of scared youth. Adults seem to be even more frightened probably because they/I have experienced situations in life that contribute to our/my phobias.

You can tell adventure stories, thrillers for that matter but forget about the other stuff; in today's charged environment we need to have a respite from this stuff.

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Now having said that.

I didn't always feel that way and at one time was notorious for telling stories that would make your hair rise. On one occasion during pre-camp training for our Leaders, with kerosene lantern in hand, I took them out in the wee hours of the night to a "grave slab" that was under one of our senior cabins. These guys were 16 to 19 and were spellbound with the details of a horrific murder that had occurred a number of years earlier. I stopped to make the moment more scary and dynamic. It was intense. At that precise moment, one of my staff approached and accidentally scared the group who were solidly focussed on me. This one guy screams [Oh, we do so!] and really startled me. We were all crouched down sitting around this slab and I jumped up catching my forehead on a nail that was jutting out from one of the joists. The blood just poured down my face. My brave Leadership Team was gone in a flash leaving me bleeding. It was an epic event and probably is still shared today.

Baden Bear here. "Dancer only experienced a flesh wound that was not serious." "It left a three-inch scab on his forehead for a few days."