Rip Haywire by Dan Thompson for October 28, 2022

Elm Street? This sounds like a Inception moment.

“Say hello to Jet for me. And Uncle Freddy!”

R.J. think of those pancakes with pure Maple syrup.

Hey, they have a motto: the twinkle, twinkle lucky town. I hope there’s plenty of luck to go around. They’ll need it.

Its Ka-Pumpkin time!!!

PAN-KA-CAKES!

RJ, you actually believe that what happened in your nightmare will actually take place? Since when do things in your dreams really happen. Of course, this is Rip Haywire adventures. The absurd happens daily, here.

ka- maple syrup

Hmmm…I should’ve known it would be on Elm, since Freddy K showed up in yesterday’s strip! Ka-Krueger time!

Go save Not-Zatanna RJ!

How long was this last adventure a dream sequence?

Pancakes with boysenberry… Atta-boy, RJ! You’re thinking like a Haywire!

KA-BOYSENBERRY!

Ah, so there really is a Jet after all. (In this comic, that is.) Hope RJ can get to her in time.

So I got to thinking are there any places named Starlight in the US? Turns out there are two. Starlight Indiana an unincorporated community in Wood Township, IN. A post office was established at Starlight in 1892, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1902. According to tradition, Starlight was named when a new light fixture in the local store shined like a bright star. Other than that, not much happening here.

Then there’s Starlight, PA. in Buckingham Township PA. Ever since it was settled, there have been reports of unusual sightings, hauntings and paranormal disturbances. Frequently, there are reports of a young girl in a soaking-wet evening dress. Reports say the girl tells people she was involved in a boating accident and needs to get to an address on Depot Hill Road. When she gets into the car’s back seat, she disappears. This report has been heard since settlers were arriving in the days before automobiles, and the young woman would disappear from the back of a horse and buggy. Another haunting includes the proprietor of a long since burned hotel that once stood on the shores of the lake. People would flock to the lake to get away from the heat of the NY summer and reports state that a man dressed in 19th century clothing, floating along the shore, hearing his laughter echoing over the waves. They say the best time to hear his cackles is just before the sun goes down. In 1890, on what was the old Cottage Road bridge, a drifter was murdered because his landlord thought the drifter was a warlock who had placed a hex upon him. It was a particularly gruesome murder and after it was done, the drifter’s body was thrown in Shehawken Creek where it floated to the middle of the lake, froze deep in the winter ice, and could not be removed until the following spring. It is said that the hex is activated any time someone does or says things 3 times in a row.

Reports continue to this day that the drifter’s body can be seen in the lake from the bridge and after uttering the same phrase three times. In the mid 1800s, the surrounding property was a successful poultry farm. The owner’s daughter was engaged to a Frenchman who owned a large plantation in Haiti and who was rumored to be a high priest in the Voodoo religion. One evening during a new moon, when the girl’s father and her fiancée discussed the wedding ceremony, the Frenchman described some of the religious rituals he wanted to include in the wedding ceremony, including live chicken sacrifices, the father erupted and told the Frenchman to get out and that the wedding was off. This disturbed the girl so much that she immediately ran out of the house in the pitch black, got on her trusted horse and took off. In the darkness of the new moon, she didn’t see a low hanging branch of a familiar tree near the lake, and was knocked off the horse and immediately killed. Her mangled body was found the next day by her father and the horse was never recovered. The Frenchman is said to have cursed the father and it is often reported that the mangled girl can be seen in her nightgown wandering near the lake in the week following the new moon. Occasionally, there are reports of a lone horse walking in the distance along Starlight Lake Road. I also learned that The Restaurant at The Inn at Starlight Lake – Starlight, PA has excellent Buttermilk Pancakes.

Ka-premonition!