By Gari Voss &
Scott Hageman
On Saturday, October 19, 2024, the Allegan Game Forest will be alive with lights wielded by participants of the Melonhead Games. This is the sixth year that Scott Hageman will unveil five campfire stories that provide coordinates leading to the locations of the tales.
“The first year of the games in 2019, we had about 90 participants,” stated Hageman. “Last year, we had close to 2000.”
The concept is pretty simple. Beginning October 14, 2024, go online to The Allegan Forest Museum of Campfire Stories and message Scott so he knows how many are in your group and their T-shirt sizes. Each participant purchases a Melonhead T-shirt (the ticket) for $10 plus a copy of the story book for $5. On Friday, Oct. 18th or Saturday, Oct. 19th, the T-shirts and books are picked up at the Swan Lake Store 658 42nd St., Allegan. At sundown (about 8pm) on Oct. 19th, participants use the coordinates and enter the Allegan Game Forest armed with a flashlight and GPS.
The coordinates take the participants to a parking area. From there, they follow the marked trails. Seekers might embark on a quarter mile walk or a 2 mile walk, it will vary. Once at the end of the trail, participants will find what the Melonheads left. This prop usually pertains to the storyline. The games continue until all five story locations are found or sunrise on Sunday, Oct. 20th.
Warning: Do not try to find anything the night of Oct. 18th. Scott and Dylan do not put out the markers for trailheads and give coordinates until sundown (about 8pm) on the 19th.
How did all of this begin?
“As a kid in the 60s and 70s, our family went driving through the forest. It did not matter the season of the year,” explained Scott. “This was a normal Friday night outing. It was great!”
The Friday night trip was the thing to do. They lived on a farm between Otsego and Allegan. His mom and dad would load everyone into the old Willys Jeep, stop at the Mighty Midget for snacks then head into the forest.
Then camping season would arrive, and the extended family would spend many days and nights in different parts of the Game Forest.
“Stories were told around the campfire about places like the POW Camp, the Yellow Motel, the Barry Ranch, the Nudist Colony, and so on. Often, my cousins and I would try to find the location where a story happened.”
There were stories about Al Capone and the Purple Gang. Hageman stated that they learned from an elderly camper that the Purple Gang was the one group Capone feared.
The kids watched that man closely because he would go out in the forest with a 6’ length of rebar. The kids followed him, and when he stopped at a certain place in the forest, he would start sticking the rebar in the ground. Hageman used the “The Road of the Dead” story during the Melonhead Games several years ago. The story caught the attention of a State Police investigator who wanted to follow up in case it might uncover some of the bodies that were said to be buried in the forest.
Other stories from the 30s and 40s included Satan’s Tomb. “We were told to never try to locate the tomb,” smiled Hageman. “We were kids, and a statement like that piqued our interest and meant we just had to find this place.”
Then he got serious. “We did sneak out of camp in the middle of the night without flashlights. We left Pine Point Campground and traveled up Swan Creek to a tall embankment. It was a 70 degree night, but as we climbed, the air became colder, and there was a chill. When we got to the top, a fear came over us that we had never felt before on any of our adventures. We just laid on the ground with our heads down and listened to screaming all around us. Though we knew it was not a woman screaming, we just kept our faces in the ground.
“Then we heard branches breaking, but we were too afraid to look. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and it pulled me up. It was my dad who reminded us that we should never come there.
“It was now daylight, so we saw Satan’s Tomb. There are no trails to the solid concrete tomb that is about 6’ long, 4’ high, 3’ wide and arched just like a casket. We don’t even know what it is. I do not believe in the paranormal, but I have taken some paranormal groups out in the middle of the night, and it has creeped them out.”
Hageman assures the participants, “To me, these are just campfire stories… a form of entertainment, but my curiosity wants to find where a story occurred. The Melonhead Games is an opportunity to encourage others to travel through the forest at night. Nothing will jump out along the trails. This is basically a story, yourself, and the forest.”
After participants read the stories, Hageman believes they can use their imagination, but the beauty is exploring the forest at night.
“To me it’s peaceful,” stated Hageman. “I take the opportunity to be out in the forest when I am writing the campfire stories. It is not a frightening experience.”
The adventure can be a lot of fun. In 2023, a bachelorette group from Saugatuck participated in the Games. Hageman was not sure how they got the Party Bus down the trails, but they seemed to have made it.
The only stories that Hageman uses are those he heard around the campfire. Grandparents remembered things from the 30s and 40s while parents and their siblings shared stories from the 50s and 60s. More than one time, there was a “man hunt” for Hageman because his propensity for sneaking out in the middle of the night.
“The Melonhead Games give people an opportunity to interact with nature with a place to go,” summed up Hageman. “The Allegan Forest is a unique place.”
Hageman noted, “One of this year’s stories is The Old Forest, or what we sometimes called it as kids, The Forest of Eyes. No matter what time of day you walked through The Old Forest, you can feel eyes upon you.
“And at night, it can be even worse because you can often see eyes following you.
“As you walk to this location on Melonhead night, you will pass an old foundation and next to it is the old cellar that is now filled in.
“As kids, we would play in that cellar, and I still remember seeing the words Wulver and Mannaro carved into the wood beams. I always figured it was someone’s last name. So, on Melonhead night be sure to shine a flashlight towards the old foundation as you make your way to The Forest of Eyes.”
The Melonhead Games have caught the attention of the rangers and law enforcement. They do not interrupt the fun, but they do watch the lights bobbing along trails trying to locate the treasurers that the Melonheads leave.
The Hageman duo ensure that forest if not littered during the Melonhead Games. The morning after the games, they quickly remove trail markers and clues. In truth, they practice the belief to “take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints”.
As the October 19th Melonhead Games unfold, they hope that all participants will continue to be respectful and enjoy a night exploring the beauties of the Allegan Game Forest.
