In a small clearing nestled in the woods of Northern New York there was a family gathered around a campfire on a dark night with a star-filled sky enjoying the forgotten pastime of storytelling.

It all came together one fall morning thanks to the imagination of a young boy.

The eldest of two brothers who lived in a meadow had been watching old episodes of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" a 90's television show in which teens gather around the campfire and exchange spooky stories.

The boy had embraced the idea and wanted to give it a try himself. He'd decided that if they were going to have a campfire they might as well make a camping trip out of it.

So the boy found a spot nestled among trees he had helped plant years ago and set about with his family building a fire pit, gathering wood and setting up a tent.

Over the course of the day the young boy had helped erect a new campsite and he waited patiently for dusk to arrive.

Enjoying the fruits of his labor, the young boy proceeded to spin tales he had created in his head drawing from pieces of fiction he'd watched, read and heard of the years and weaving in characters he created and borrowed into a tale all his own.

And he loved every minute of it.

It had been everything he had hoped for and he was satisfied. His little brother had started to get scared, but he quickly changed the ending of his tale to be a prank, which alleviated his sibling's fear.

As the night went on more stories were told and eventually the father joined in, who told a story he'd heard at a summer camp stay in his youth. The ending was bit much for the two boys, much to mom's dismay, and coupled with the loud and disturbing howling of a bobcat nearby, the brothers decided that perhaps it was best to sleep inside after all and while that was the end of story, it was the beginning of tradition which the family has gone on to enjoy several times since.

In a world full of screens and obligations, it's easy to forget that our ancestors often passed evenings telling stories around the campfire.

You see the trope in cartoons and movies, but it's something I hadn't done since I was a child and it was a refreshing change.

It was amazing to see the kids rack their brains and let loose their imaginations and be encouraged to know that the art had been lost despite my failures to nurture that lost art over the years.

I think far too often we miss out on great fun in our own backyards. Much like the board game renaissance my boys brought back into my life when they discovered chess. They have now returned the childhood wonder and old-fashioned fun around the fire to my life, just in time for Halloween.

While we’ll certainly be enjoying some spooky television, movies and music this fall, we’ll also be continuing this tradition of campfire tales until the weather turns. If you can swing it, I highly recommend joining some friends around the fire and taking a crack at one of humanity's older traditions, that is of course if you aren’t too scared.

Jimmy Lawton is the News Editor of North Country This Week and NorthCountryNow.com