There’s nothing unusual about the house on Scenic Drive. Scenic Drive, itself, is quiet. On one side of the street is a wooded lot where people often walk their dogs. On the other side are long, over-sized brick ranches. And this one is no different. It sits at the top of a hill and has, by all accounts, a cheerful disposition.
Still, most dogs still won’t go in the front yard. There’s a way that the hillside is cut away that suggests something hidden and you’d think that the dogs would be curious, but they’re not. Most will, if given the opportunity, cross the street to avoid going too close.
It is, strangely enough, the old bear cave. When the zoo was out here, this is where the bears were.
And the story goes that they will still follow you, the bears.
It’s a rite of passage for Lipscomb students to walk, alone, in the dark down that street, starting at Glendale Lane, and heading north. If you are brave enough, your friends will wait for you where Scenic hooks to the right and becomes Tower Place, and cheer you on.
Most kids never get that far. They say they hear the noises coming from the cave and they either turn back towards Glendale or, if they are too far, they’ll scramble through the wooded lot, back towards campus.
This has lead to a companion ghost story, of a lone young college student, who, if female, had just gotten engaged and was walking to her parents’ home to tell the the news when she was hit by a car. So violent was the impact that the ring went flying and was never recovered. Or, if male, that he was walking to hisbeloved’s parent’s home to ask them for her hand in marriage when he was hit by a car. And so on.
In either case, it is said that, if you drive down Scenic at night, often you see him or her walking slowly down the street, searching for that ring.
Tiny Cat Pants 