In order for the boy to get to the local grocery shop he needs to cross through the old lumber yard and past the lonesome place.
In the book it says Johnny and the narrator tend to run by the lonesome place when unable to avoid it because of the scary creature that they believe lives there.
As they compare their experiences they conjure up a monster with big clawed feet, scales, a long tail and yet has no face.
When Bobby Jeffers is killed by being mauled by some type of animal, the narrator and Johnny believe they are responsible for the boy's death, since they had left that conjured monster free to feed on another child's fear.
In The Sidney Williams Journal "The Lonesome Place" is described as "one of the perfect chiller stories that focuses on the imagination.