THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN
THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN
In honor of Halloween being this week, I thought I would share a family tradition that we do here at the Rohlinger house. It started a long time ago with my brother. He was a huge Andy Griffith fan and loved the actor Don Knotts. My brother, Steve, was also my youth pastor growing up and would show the movie "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" to our youth group for movie night. That is where I fell in love with it. After I married Greg, I initiated him to the movie and somehow we started watching it with our kids and eventually our friends and their kids and it became our movie of choice for the weekend before Halloween. Now each year, we gather around, eat good food and even better treats and watch it together, with me being super annoying and quoting all the lines. I just can't seem to help myself.🤷🏼♀️ There are so many good lines! "When you work with words, words are your work."
Here's a little history of the movie: After leaving the Andy Griffith show in the early 1960's Don went on to make movies, one of them being the Ghost and Mr. Chicken. It's a "scary" movie (though not really) about a lowly typesetter, Luther Heggs, who works for a newspaper in Rachel, Kansas and has big dreams about becoming an investigative reporter. And wouldn't you know it, there happens to be a haunted house where he lives. The house is haunted because of the murder/suicide that took place there with the old man Simmons raging and killing his wife, manically playing the organ afterwards before throwing himself out the window. People still hear the eerie organ music being played on the anniversary of the tragedy. Fortunately for Luther, he happens upon a murder right in front of the house! The only problem was that there wasn't really a murder, just an angry woman and a drunk man who show up at the court house right when Luther was telling the chief of police about the dead man. (Chief of police: "Alright Luther, just calm down." Luther:"Calm? Calm? Do murder and calm go together? Calm and murder???") The alleged "dead man" and Luther get into an argument over the fact that he should be dead, but is really not dead and hilarity ensues. ("Calver, what are you doing here? You're dead!" "A person is never dead until their pulse is stopped, Luther.")
Luther is the lovable loser and underdog with an out of control imagination that drives him to be put in the position of spending the twentieth anniversary night of the murder/suicide inside the house by himself. I won't spoil the ending for you, but there are twists and turns and of course, Luther ends up going from loser to hero. Just the way I like my stories; with a happily ever after.
Luther is asked to give a speech to the community about what happened to him while he spent the night at the haunted house. This is my absolute favorite part of this movie. Maybe because I feel like I have been in Luther's shoes before. If you have ever spoken in front of a large crowd to tell them about what has happened in your life, I am sure you can relate to Luther too. He is so super nervous and of course, his prepared speech flies away with the wind and then he is just winging it. I don't even need my notes to fly away to get sidetracked speaking in front of people. I'm following my notes and then all of a sudden, I'm wondering to myself how I got off on a tangent! Stick to the notes!!
In honor of Halloween being this week, I thought I would share a family tradition that we do here at the Rohlinger house. It started a long time ago with my brother. He was a huge Andy Griffith fan and loved the actor Don Knotts. My brother, Steve, was also my youth pastor growing up and would show the movie "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" to our youth group for movie night. That is where I fell in love with it. After I married Greg, I initiated him to the movie and somehow we started watching it with our kids and eventually our friends and their kids and it became our movie of choice for the weekend before Halloween. Now each year, we gather around, eat good food and even better treats and watch it together, with me being super annoying and quoting all the lines. I just can't seem to help myself.🤷🏼♀️ There are so many good lines! "When you work with words, words are your work."
Here's a little history of the movie: After leaving the Andy Griffith show in the early 1960's Don went on to make movies, one of them being the Ghost and Mr. Chicken. It's a "scary" movie (though not really) about a lowly typesetter, Luther Heggs, who works for a newspaper in Rachel, Kansas and has big dreams about becoming an investigative reporter. And wouldn't you know it, there happens to be a haunted house where he lives. The house is haunted because of the murder/suicide that took place there with the old man Simmons raging and killing his wife, manically playing the organ afterwards before throwing himself out the window. People still hear the eerie organ music being played on the anniversary of the tragedy. Fortunately for Luther, he happens upon a murder right in front of the house! The only problem was that there wasn't really a murder, just an angry woman and a drunk man who show up at the court house right when Luther was telling the chief of police about the dead man. (Chief of police: "Alright Luther, just calm down." Luther:"Calm? Calm? Do murder and calm go together? Calm and murder???") The alleged "dead man" and Luther get into an argument over the fact that he should be dead, but is really not dead and hilarity ensues. ("Calver, what are you doing here? You're dead!" "A person is never dead until their pulse is stopped, Luther.")
Luther is the lovable loser and underdog with an out of control imagination that drives him to be put in the position of spending the twentieth anniversary night of the murder/suicide inside the house by himself. I won't spoil the ending for you, but there are twists and turns and of course, Luther ends up going from loser to hero. Just the way I like my stories; with a happily ever after.
Luther is asked to give a speech to the community about what happened to him while he spent the night at the haunted house. This is my absolute favorite part of this movie. Maybe because I feel like I have been in Luther's shoes before. If you have ever spoken in front of a large crowd to tell them about what has happened in your life, I am sure you can relate to Luther too. He is so super nervous and of course, his prepared speech flies away with the wind and then he is just winging it. I don't even need my notes to fly away to get sidetracked speaking in front of people. I'm following my notes and then all of a sudden, I'm wondering to myself how I got off on a tangent! Stick to the notes!!
Luther talks about how some people have called him brave for spending the night alone in the scary house. He then explains that brave is short for brave-er-y, all the while "clarifying" what he means. In the midst of his funny speech, he say something very profound. Luther explains that being brave is "a symbol of doing ones duty no matter what is scaring him personally." Being a person of the scaredy-cat nature and a big imagination, I can really appreciate this. How many times in life do I shy away from things that make me afraid? I would much rather be known as a person who does what is set before me no matter what is scaring me personally. It is scary to be alone. It is scary to not know what the future holds. It is scary to be a single parent. It is scary to not have direction in life. And yet, scripture tells us over and over again to not be afraid, but to trust in God. 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Yikes. Power, love and self-control? Then why do I find myself like Luther Heggs, shaking in my loafers sometimes?
I don't think being scared is the problem - that is a natural reaction to things. But do I let fear take control of my reactions and decisions? Sometimes. I need to remind myself that even though life can be scary, I have the power within me to be brave because though it feels like I am alone, I never am. I have Christ within me! And together, we can overcome the scariest of situations. Because of the power of Jesus within me, I can face the unknown scary future with brave-er-y even in my beautifully broken life.
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