“Bats in the Belfry” From Cassell’s Natural History (1896)

When I was a teenager, a bunch of kids from my neighborhood knew where some bats were roosting. We went out there and would watch them fly out. It was breathtaking.

We decided to not tell anyone about the bats because we were afraid they’d be exterminated.

Thanks to the fact that social media did not exist at the time, our secret was safe.

When my kid’s school was being remodeled ( which had been my school too) , the demolition crew found the now long abandoned place where the bats used to roost. It made the news for some reason. From that point on the kids in the neighborhood decided that area was haunted and I think that was a nice ending to that story.