The Rope is a hangout in my neighborhood when I was a tween. This was around the mid to late 70s Me and my pals would ride our bicycles a few blocks away from our houses and goof around there.
There was a small creek runoff there and a large tree on the edge. Somebody had managed to climb up in the tree and tie on a large rope from a high extended branch. On the other side of the creek was a steep embankment leading up the back of an apartment complex. “The Worthington Apartments”
With the embankment, creek and leangh of the rope, you could get some serious swinging action on that rope. You could run diagonally and swing almost completely around the tree. If you went from the high embankment you could almost feel the g-force. It was quite thrilling to an 11 year old.
I figured somebody really smart had been the one to install the rope. Yes. perhaps some kind of environmental thrill ride engineer to make sure that the rope would swing in a way to not cause a person any harm. But, I don’t think so. Because it wasn’t safe.
I remember kids doing some daring things and getting hurt, but not badly. It usually involved swinging at an angle that slammed you back into the tree. It happened to me in fact. I survived it, however,
It hurt like hell. And it was scary as hell too. I think I cried in agony on my bike riding home.
Still, the place was fun and we enjoyed hanging out there. But before long we started encountering the inevitable fuckers that wanted to give us a hard time. They were older and meaner and put the bully on our asses and made us miserable. But whatever, that’s just part of growing up.
Then we started hearing rumors about things that went down there at night. Rituals and heinous acts of abuse against animals and humans. It just got ridiculous. My parents recommended I quit hanging out there when I came home injured from slamming the tree… Hmmm?
Ya know? That place kinda sucked…
