Skip This House on Halloween
Jake Jenkins, 51, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., says witches are conspiring to kill him. He hides out in his home with the door bolted with wood beams and steel bars. “Yeah, wood and steel,” he says. “Nobody’s getting in.” He home-schools his eight children, he says, because “I’m no fool.” And the witches? “The witches are after us,” he says. “Witches are trying to kill me.” He has eight red stakes in his yard that he says point to area witches. “The one up there, she drinks human blood,” he says, pointing up the street. “Police know about it.” But the police say they’ve never had a complaint about witches on the street. After his story came out in the paper, Jenkins was upset, saying he didn’t know his name would be used. He says the story made him sound “like I’m crazy” and is worried that child welfare officials will investigate him since “the story makes me sound like a lunatic.” (Wilkes-Barre Times Leader) ...Yes, well, the first step in getting help is recognizing you have a problem.
Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 11