A Scoutmaster's Blog

In the previous blog entry I wrote about scary campfire stories. This time I would like to share with you a couple of experiences regarding the Wolfen story. The first time I told the Boy Scout about the wolfen was over 25 years ago. The troop was attending a camporee and we had a few Webelos Scouts staying with us. We were sitting around the campfire Saturday night when the boys first heard about these creatures.

I must have done a very good job of telling the boys about the wolfen. Shortly after I got home from the camporee I received a phone call a parent of one of the Webelos Scouts. He was a little upset that I would tell such a story to young Scouts who would become so scared they could not sleep during the night.

Okay, the lesson was learned. Do not send the boys to bed when they think there really is wolfen that could attack them during the dark night hours. So I changed the end of the story. Now, after I tell them all about the wolfen and how viscous they are, I look the new listeners in the eyes and tell them that the most important thing to remember about the creatures, the one things that will save them from being attacked during the night, is to remember that they are not real, that they are fictional creatures from a book I read.

There always seems to be the sigh of relief and maybe a nervous chuckle, from the new boys after I tell them the wolfen do not exist.

One winter, while we were at Parker Scout Reservation, we invited another troop that was also there that weekend, to join us for a campfire program at our building. We had a large fireplace so it would give us a little of that outdoor campfire feel to the skits and songs.

The program ended with me telling the Scouts from the other troop about the wolfen. I also told them, at the end of the story, that the wolfen were not real creatures. The boys laughed and told me they knew all along that I was just telling them a story.

But yet, when the other troop left us to return to there own building for the night, the boys were huddled together tightly around their scoutmaster. My troop giggled as we watched them from our windows.

A few years later, that scoutmaster told me just how much the boys in his troop were frightened by the wolfen story. As his boys prepared to go to bed that night one Scout needed to visit the latrine outside of their building. He did not want to go out there by himself so he asked a buddy to go out with him. His buddy did not want to be standing outside all alone so it was finally decided that the boys would go to the latrine in groups of three. No one wanted to be outside alone, just in case that the fictional wolfen were not truly fictional.

It appears that even though I tell the Scouts that there is no such thing as the wolfen, their imaginations do not always get the message.

As Halloween approaches I cannot help but think of the “scary” stories told around the campfires during the last twenty five years of Boy Scouting. The first campfire “ghost” story I remember was from when I was a Boy Scout myself during summer camp at Parker Scout Reservation in central Minnesota. I made the mistake of sitting right in front of the storyteller, a staff member of the camp. He was quite good. When he screamed and lurched toward me at the end of the tale I literally jumped onto the Scout who was sitting behind me.

It was a great story! I wish I could remember it.

Now, I am the scoutmaster, the adult staffer. It has become my duty to tell the troop’s favorite stories at the campfires. I do not mind. When they are told well, a good story will hold a Scout’s attention as well as a television show or a video game. That is my goal while storytelling.

Over the years there have been three stories that have become the favorites of the Boy Scouts of Troop 68. The “Purple Gorilla Story” is one we first heard at summer camp. It is a story about a traveling salesman who’s car breaks down during a bad thunderstorm in the “middle of nowhere”. The story takes place in the days before cell phones. An elderly farmer, who lives alone, befriends the salesman and invites him to spend the night, but the farmer warns the salesman not to go into the cellar.

The story can be quite long as the farmer attempts to discover what the farmer is hiding in the cellar. It is a good story that can be very suspenseful, but not too scary or gory for the younger campers. In fact, the punchline of the story is really a…. Well, I would hate to ruin it for you.

The “Black Forest”, on the other hand, is a graphic horror story that ends with a short poem. It tells the tale of a family that inherits a cabin located in the Black Forest. During their first trip to the cabin a violent thunderstorm hits the area. One by one, the four family members are killed in mysterious ways.

The troop’s favorite campfire story is not really a story but more of a lengthy description of an animal that has been recently discovered by man. The creature is thought to have been around since before the dawn of mankind. This creature, the Wolfen, is thought to be the animal from which the legends of the werewolf evolved. The wolfen is nature’s ultimate fighting and killing machine, a natural hunter known to prey on mankind. Scouts usually do not want to go to the latrine by themselves during the night after hearing about the wolfen for the first time.

Of course, the real fun comes with the telling of the stories. Even a bad story can be pumped up and made more frightening with a little creativity from the storyteller. The Scouts have the imagination to create the images better then any Hollywood moviemaker could ever put on film.

It was the weekend of Mike’s Eagle court of honor. I awoke Saturday morning with a song in the head that I thought would be great for the opening credits of the video I planned to create from taping the ceremony. I sat down at my computer, scanned some pictures of Mike from his years in Scouting, and began to edit the opening to the video.

I began taping troop courts of honor and Eagle courts of honor shortly after our city started a community access television station. I thought it would be a great way to add further recognition for the achievements of the Scouts, and it would be one more way to keep Scouting in the public view.

I always gave the Eagle Scouts a copy of the tape of their award ceremony. I felt that it would make a nice souvenir they could watch later in life. Did any of them ever watch the tape? I don’t know, but I hope they did.

Back to Mike’s court of honor….

Later that morning I received a phone call from Mike’s mother. One of the guest speakers had called her to tell her that he may be a little late arriving at the ceremony. She asked if I had any ideas what could be done to fill some time if he came late. I explained that I was editing a slideshow of pictures of Mike for the opening in his video. I could add more photos and lengthen the slideshow, thus making it into a four or five minute presentation. She liked the idea and offered to find some pictures of Mike from his years as a Cub Scout.

Thus, my two minute video opening became a four and one half minute presentation. The guests attending the ceremony enjoyed the slideshow, as did Mike and his family.

Since then, I have had to make a slideshow for each of the troop’s Eagle Scouts for their ceremonies. I have also had three Scouts from other troops ask me to edit a show for their court of honor. The slide shows have become quite popular. When I find the time, I have been making shows for the previous Eagle Scouts from our troop.

To date, I think I have done twelve Eagle Scout slideshows. Yes, they take some time to put together, but the smiles and chuckles from the guests, the families, and especially the Eagle Scouts, have made the time seem well spent.

Several of the slideshows can be seen on our troop’s website. Check them out at:
http://melrosetroop68.org/EagleHall.html
There are slideshows for about half of the troop’s Eagle Scouts so far, with more coming in the future.

In my last blog entry I asked the question, “Who’s job is it to promote Scouting?” I believe that the regional and national offices should be doing a better job of promoting Scouting within our states and on a national scale.

However, I will admit that troops and packs need to do some promotion within their own neighborhoods, and even in their cities. Here are a few ways we promote Scouting within our community of 3200 people.

The schools are always a good place to start, if the school district will allow you into the schools. The very loud and vocal minority of Scout haters has been trying to close down this option across our nation. This year we hung posters in both elementary schools. We also had a booth during the district’s open house held before school began.

Two local weekly newspapers have been very willing to print articles I write for them, along with one or two pictures per article. The articles usually pertain to a court of honor, or review what the Scouts did doing an activity or camping trip.

Our community access television station has been very supportive about playing shows we provide them with about our courts of honor and activities. Of course, I am usually the one filming, editing, and producing the videos. A local business sponsors the programs so there is not any airing cost to the troop.

The web is another way to promote Scouting locally. It is a great place to place pictures and keep the community informed. Of course, you need to get the word about your site out to your community. And you need someone to take care of it and keep it updated. Our troop has had a site for several years and has gotten to be quite large.

Last, but not least, there is old fashioned word of mouth. Scouts need to enthusiastically talk about Scouting to their friends and piers, and not hide the fact that they are a Scout as if it is something to be ashamed of being. The same applies to adults and parents. After all, if we are afraid to promote Scouting within our own community, what kind of message are we really conveying to others?