Although I was with my grandparents in Tampa at the time I lived in Okeechobee, FL, a small cow town at the north end of the lake by the same name. The courthouse had been built in the 30’s and had open halls that my friends and I used as play space whenever we chose. There was a display of local history pictures in one of the halls and it had a couple of pictures of people being publicly hanged in front of the courthouse. My friends and I were VERY affected by knowing that right out there on the front lawn men had died by hanging. We would avoid the area at night for fear of ghosts. A lot goes on in the mind of 12-year-old boys, especially back in those days!
Thanks for the story. I really enjoy hearing first-person accounts of events that I remember!
Yes, what we remember from when we were very young can affect our later lives. I was frightend by my father and we we got home I told my mother what happened and my father explained and my mother said “Good”!