This is the way the spooky old tale came to me.

There is a trove of what might have been pirate’s treasure buried next to a cemetery somewhere in Acadia Parish. Legend has it if you go to the right cemetery on Halloween night, the exact spot will be made apparent to you — but knowing where the treasure is and actually digging it up are two entirely different things.

According to the tale, one Halloween night many years ago four young couples took shovels, climbed into their cars and drove to a cemetery to see if they could find the hidden riches. They parked the cars so that the headlights would shine into the graveyard and began to look around.

Just as they had been told, a certain spot seemed to pull them toward it. There was an eerie glow coming from it and they were drawn irresistibly to it.

They began to dig furiously. Midnight was approaching and they wanted to find the treasure and be gone from that scary place before the witching hour.

Working hard in the light cast by their cars, they had a good-sized hole dug when the strange thing happened.

It had been a still night, but suddenly the wind began to blow, gently at first, then stronger and stronger. At the same time, the headlights on their cars began to dim. The more the wind increased, the dimmer the lights got, until the headlights went dark altogether.

The eight treasure hunters were left knee deep in a pit on a pitch black night with an eerie wind howling around them.

They did what anybody would do. They dropped their shovels and ran like they were being chased by a ghost.

They jumped in their cars and tried to start them, but the batteries were completely dead. They were stranded in the graveyard with who knows what howling around them.

Then the wind stopped as quickly as it began. All was deathly quiet.

Cautiously, the couples got out of the cars and crept back toward the hole they’d dug.

To their astonishment they found it was no longer there. It had been completely filled and the shovels were neatly stacked on top of the bare earth where only minutes before there had been a pit.

Once again the couples followed their natural impulse and scrambled back to the cars.

This time, they started without any problem. The young people didn’t look back as they drove away.

As far as they or anyone else know, both their shovels and the horde of treasure are still next to that unnamed cemetery, awaiting another brave Halloween adventurer.

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jhbradshaw@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.