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LIST
OF STORIES:
1) The Golden Arm (jump)
2) The Vanishing Hitchhiker (eerie)
3) The Mummy (funny, jump)
4) The Vampire in the Taxi (jump)
5) A Tall Tale (tall tale)
6) The Little Ghost (funny)
7) The Viper (funny; surprise ending)
8) The Book of Death (eerie, poignant, sad)
9) Black Bubble Gum (funny, scary)
10) The Return of Brigit O'Hara (eerie, ghost,
surprise ending)
11) The Blood-Covered Vampire aka The Bloody Vampire (funny
joke)
12) Ghost Toasties (not too scary poem)
13) The Graveyard Song (jump,
participation)
14) The Ghost of Jean Lafitte (eerie, ghost, jump)
15) Dead Men Working in a Cane Field (eerie, zombies, can be gruesome)
16) The Ghost With One Black Eye (funny, ghost)
17) A West Virginia Ghost Story (eerie, ghost)
18) Mr. Fox (scary, gory, some jumps)
19) I, Lilith (occult, child-killer, feminist)
20) The Raconteur's Revenge (eerie, unjust hanging, ghost, revenge)
21)
The Werewolf (eerie, shape-changing, baby killing)
22) Witches'Alphabet Soup (funny, gross, witches, participation)
23) The Gunniwolf (funny, rhythmical, song, a little scary, for younger kids)
24) My Darling Frankenstein (song parody, funny, participation)
25) The Ghost Bride (eerie, ghost saves life, haunting)
26) Tillie (eerie, suspense building, jump)
27) Cough Drops Stop Coffin (shaggy dog)
28) The Hobyahs (funny, scary)
29) Demon Goat (eerie, scary/funny, song parody)
30) The Whistling Tsonaquas (scary)
31) Dingle Dangle Scarecrow (song, funny, participation)
32) A Rap Story (spooky, surprise funny ending)
33) Shortest Scary Stories in the World (funny)
34) It was a Dark, Dark Night (jump)
35) Captain, Tell Us a Story (spooky, scary, tell in the dark)
36) The Hopping Pumpkin (funny, surprise ending, for all ages)
37) The Initiation (a jump tale, not for tiny tots)
38) The Haunted Treasure (scary, suspense building, surprise ending, all ages)
39) Dracula is Coming to Town (song parody, funny, all ages)
40) Halloween, Oh Halloween (song parody, funny, all ages)
41) Jack-O, the Red-Nosed Pumpkin (song parody, funny, all ages)
42) Pumpkin Bells (song parody, funny, all ages)
43) Shivery Yells (song parody, funny, all ages)
44) This Old Ghost (song parody, funny, all ages)
45) We Three Ghouls (song parody, funny, all ages)
46) The 13 Days of Halloween (song parody, funny, all ages)
47) There's a Monster in My House! (a scripted puppet show, funny, for younger kids)
48) The Ghost Who Didn't Want to be a Ghost (funny, all ages)
49) The Green Ribbon (suspense building, surprise ending, older kids)
50) The Graveyard Voice (funny, all ages)
51) The Skeleton Woman (scary, suspense, older kids and adults)
52) The Cow That Ate the Piper (gory, tricky, jump ending)
53) Mary Culhaine and the Dead Man (scary, narrow escape, dead to life)
54) The Dancing Skeleton (ghost, haunting, funny, gory, gross)
55) The Boy Who Sought Fear (eerie, surprise ending)
56) Thor Retrieves His Hammer or Thor as a Bride (giants, Norse underworld)
57) The Tinker and the Ghost (ghost, haunting, gross, gory, funny)
58) Rub-a-Dub-Dub (from the nursery rhyme, funny, for younger kids)
59) Jack O'Happy (pumpkin cookies, paper cutting/tearing, funny, for younger kids)
60) A House for Morty Mouse (flannel board, fun, for younger kids)
61) One and Only Christmas Ghost (funny, poignant, for younger kids)
62) Esteban and the Ghost (another version of #57; ghost, gross, gory, funny)
63) The Vanishing Pumpkin (funny, unpredictable)
64) La Llorona (revenge, murder of children, grief, atonement)
65) Too Much Noise on Halloween Night (funny witch, for younger kids)
66) The Tiger Witch (from Taiwan, witch, gory, scary, funny, adjustable)
67) Pretty Maid Ibronka (from Hungary, scary, gory, devil, for older kids)
68) The Monkey's Paw (adult audience, scary, supernatural wishes)
69) White Cap (ghost, eerie, suspense, surprise ending)
70)
The Old Woman in a Pumpkin Shell (from Iran, young kids, participation)
71) The Conjure Wives (elementary school, short, optional participation, spooky/scary)
72) The Vampire Skeleton (middle school and older, scary/rising from the dead)
73) The Piasa (elementary and above; scary creature, legend)
74) Wicked John and the Devil (elementary – adult/ 20-25 minutes/ devils)
75) Loup Garou and the Shawl (wild animals, scary, eerie, older kids and adults)
76) Going on a Monster Hunt (young kids, participation, funny, a little scary maybe)
77) Soup Bone (old woman, skeleton, funny, surprise ending, for young kids)
78) The Witches' Song (funny, witches save the day)
79)
Five Little Pumpkins (participation, preschool with finger plays, lively)
80) Ruby Red Lips (funny, semi-scary, jump story)
81) T&S (draw and tell story, exciting, funny, surprise (hopefully) ending)
82) Bring Me a Light (ghost, spooky, suspenseful, happy surprise ending)
83) Meg Wesson (evil witch, scary, eerie, supernatural, true story)
84) A Horrible Thing (participation, tandem telling, a little scary, more fun and funny)
85) A True Ghost Story (ghost, spooky, eerie, eyewitness account)
86) If You're a Ghost and You Know It (4 songs, 2 fingerplays, funny, younger kids)
87) El Cadejo (from Costa Rica, lazy youth, father's curse, turns into howling dog)
88) La Cegua (from Costa Rica, seductress of unwary men, shape shifting, fatal kiss)
89) The Oxless Ox Cart (from Costa Rica,
eerie, theft, crime does not pay)
90) Ghost Dog at the Biltmore (eerie, scary, ghost dog leads to skeleton)
91) Loftus Hall (ghost, unexplained physical disturbances, devil appears as human)
92) The Pumpkin Giant (scary, funny and, perhaps, serious all at the same time)
93) Tailypo aka Tail Een Po (scary, builds suspense, for older kids, could be jump tale)
94) Another Look at Tailypo (an alternative version of the story)
95) The Legend of the Lady and the Ring (scary, ghost, live burial, not for tiny tots)
96) The Sticky Man (scary, young boy and "invisible friend," eerie)
97) The Strange Visitor (jump story, adaptable for various age groups)
98) Grim, King of the Ghosts (ballad, grisly, brave woman outwits King of Ghosts)
99) The Buried Moon (English fairy tale, eerie, scary, full of Evil Things, older kids)
100) Teig O'Kane and the Corpse (corpse, burying a corpse, could be funny to terrifying)
101) Wait Until Martin Comes (cats, waiting for a monster, funny, could be a jump)
102) Haunted Harp (Twa Sisters) (haunted, sad, spooky, revenge, justice)
103) Scary Urban Legends (scary; added 11/1/04)
104) Room for One More (eerie; premonition; scary) (added 11/16/04)
105) Room for One More (alternate version) (added 11/16/04)
1) THE GOLDEN ARM
[Mark Twain started most of his programs off with this
story . . .He even wrote a monograph called "How to tell a Story" and used this story as the model. I always figure if it's good enough for Mark
Twain . . . It's good enough for me! It is a traditional jump story that can be played to the hilt and everyone still loves it. From English Folk and Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs. Full text may be found at:
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/jacoba24.htm
In dialect by Mark Twain:
http://www.folktale.net/golden_arm.html
Bones: John and Mary were sitting on the front
porch of the old country cabin . . . John was just rockin' and smokin his pipe
and Mary . . . She was stroking her Arm . . . Not just any arm, but an arm made
of solid GOLD! You see, Mary had had a terrible accident out in the mining country
where she was born and had lost her arm. He dad had felt so bad about her losing
that arm that he had made her an arm of Solid GOLD . . . That arm was her pride
and joy and she would sit for hours stroking that arm . . . "John, You
gotta promise me that when I die . . . You're going to bury me with my golden
arm!" "Well, all right, don't see any reason why not . . . "
Well, as fate would have it, and fate always DOES have it in stories like this,
Mary did die! John had her laid out in the front room and he was looking down
into that plain pine coffin and he saw that Golden Arm, a gleamin and a shinin!
John thought: "Huh . . . That Golden Arm is not going to do HER no good.
Not where SHE's going. Hell, it might even melt!" And he took that golden
arm and put it behind the door and took Mary out to the burying place.
Later that day, John was out on that front porch again just a rockin and a smokin
his pipe . . . when he saw something different . . . It was a cloud . . . Oh,
he had seen clouds before, but this one was different . . . It was gray and
purple and yellow and ugly, and it was coming up the draw, and John could hear
the wind blowing in that cloud and he thought he heard something in that wind
. . . WHO'S. . . GOT. . . MY. . . GOLDEN. . . ARM. . .
"NOOOO, it couldn't be! I put Mary in the ground myself! and EVERYBODY
knows . . there's no such thing as GHOSTS!" But he kept watching that cloud
and it got closer and it was gray and purple and yellow and ugly, and the wind
was louder now and he heard it and there was NO mistaking . . .WHO'S. . . GOT.
. . MY. . . GOLDEN. . . ARM. . .
John ran inside the little cabin, he slammed the door, threw the bolt and pulled
in the latch string . . . And waited . . . The wind began to whip and turn all
around the little cabin and suddenly it was completely still. That's when he
heard it. From outside that door . . . WHO'S. . . GOT. . . MY. . . GOLDEN. .
. ARM. . .There was only one way out of that little cabin, and it was right
past WHATEVER was out there. John grabbed the golden arm and went into the little
bedroom and locked the door . . . Then, from that locked and bolted door . .
. Screeeeeeeeeeeech . . . The door was open, and whatever was outside . . .
was NOW . . . INSIDE!
John began looking for somewhere to hide . . . The little closet, of course,
the perfect spot, nothing would find him there . . . He went into the closet
and stood in the darkness . . . Waiting . . . Then it came, from inside that
locked bedroom…WHO'S. . . GOT. . . MY. . . GOLDEN. . . ARM…
There was nowhere left to RUN . . . Nowhere left to HIDE . . . He just stood
in the darkness . . . Clutching that golden arm to his chest. . . AND WAITED
. . . He couldn't see anything in the darkness . . . He didn't hear anything
at all . . . HE FELT IT! THE COLD, CLAMMY FEELING OF DEATH, in the closet with
him . . . and for the last time, he heard it . . . WHO'S. . . GOT. . . MY. .
. YOU. . .YOU'VE GOT MY GOLDEN ARM!
They found John the next morning . . . The Doctor said that after Mary's tragic
death, John must have died of a broken heart . . . But they never found . .
. the GOLDEN . . . ARM. . . .
•••••
Contributed by
Steve Otto
Stories by Steve
i-tell@juno.com
http://www.storynet.org/tellers/SteveOtto.htm
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2) THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER
[Slightly eerie, not for under 10 maybe. I often introduce with a warning to be careful driving
and never pick up strangers . . . but then who could leave a child out all alone
on such a cold night? When I first see the child. it's one of those spooky,
shivery moments. I had a boy ask if it really happened, and I told him that
sometimes I wasn't sure afterwards myself. He shook his head and said, "Maybe
you just dreamed it."
I have seen and heard many versions of this story, including
on a Jackie Torrence tape and in a Hawaiian book of Chicken
Skin stories. Often the hitchhiker is a young woman, picked up by young
men on the way to or from a dance. Many variations are at:
http://thefolklorist.com/horror/hitchhiker.htm#The%20Vanishing%20Hitchhiker%20#
I tell it in the first person, following advice from Chuck Larkin, and
use the following variation:]
Bones: Driving alone on a dark night, unfamiliar
streets because of a wrong turn. I see a young girl alongside the road, all
alone. I stop and try to find out what she's doing there . . . finally put her
in my car. She is cold, so I wrap her in my jacket (that was my mom's). She
gives her name, Sarah, and points the way as I drive. I stop in front of an
old house with overgrown lawn, go around to help her out, but she is gone. I
go to the door, to make sure she got in okay. No one answers, but as I'm turning
to leave, the door creaks open, and I tell the elderly woman that I just wanted
to make sure Sarah was safe. She cries and runs inside. I reach to close the
door she has left open, and an elderly man comes out and says he will explain.
We go around back, where there is a family grave plot, neatly fenced in. His
flashlight shows me a marker, engraved Our Sarah . . . . (date of death 20 or more years ago). He tells me she was killed in an accident coming home from
a party and says, "On the anniversary of her death, some nice person always
tries to bring Sarah back home, and we appreciate it." He asks if I'm missing
anything, and I tell him just my jacket, but it's okay. His flashlight beam
lowers and there is my jacket, neatly folded on the grave. "We raised her
right," he says. "She always returns whatever she has borrowed."
•••••
Contributed by
Mary Garrett
mgarrett@mail.win.org
http://www.motell.org/directory.htm
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3) THE MUMMY
[Funny, seven years old and up—another story I've
heard everywhere. Funny ending, but perhaps a jump as well.]
Bones: I set my version in the St. Louis Art Museum,
since we have two mummies, and I ask how many of the children have seen them.
I say the mummy is my favorite exhibit. I visit it all the time, but one time
the room was closed. I was so disappointed that my favorite guard let me in
and showed me the work they were doing to preserve the treasured mummy. He was
called away but let me stay if I promised not to touch anything. Then I noticed
a piece of the wrapping coming loose, so I reached over to tuck it back in place.
The mummy sat up and reached toward me. I backed away, but he stood up and followed.
(Then a series of moves, out the door, down the hall . . . I always end up crouched
under the big staircase, a great place to hide), but the mummy followed me to
each place. There under the staircase, the mummy approached slowly, slowly (build
suspense), reached out toward me, touched my arm, and said, "Tag, you're
it!"
•••••
Contributed by
Mary Garrett
mgarrett@mail.win.org
http://www.motell.org/directory.htm
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4) THE VAMPIRE IN THE TAXI
[This story was told to me by Bernd, a participant on a
teacher-training course in Halle, Germany. I wrote out the skeletons and it
is definitely NOT copyright material. It is suitable for kids as well as adults.
NOTE ON TELLING: The jump
story is a folk genre especially popular with children. Bernd was very quiet
as he came to the end of the story, showing how his emotions slowly moved from
unease to fear to utter terror as he asked the final question. He came close
to the woman sitting next to him and then sprang at her neck as the vampire
yelled "YES." And she really DID jump.]
Bones: I was driving a taxi. It was late, about
to go home, but was hailed by a man in a dark street.
Dark coat, hat pulled low over eyes.
Just said: "North Cemetery."
Drove him there in silence.
When he got out he told me to wait, "And if you don't wait, you'll be sorry."
Well, didn't feel very comfortable, but wanted the money, so waited.
After a while he came back, seemed to be wiping something from his hands.
Just said: "South Cemetery."
Same happened again.
Feeling even more uncomfortable, but waited.
He returned, brushing something from his clothes.
Just said: "East Cemetery."
Same.
Returned, wiping his mouth.
Just said: "West Cemetery."
Although very frightened, determined to get my money - and to see what he was
doing.
Followed him into dark cemetery.
He went to fresh grave, used hands to dig down to coffin.
Open lid, bent over corpse.
So terrified I couldn't move in darkness.
He came out of grave, came up to me.
I managed to stutter, "Are you a vampire?"
"YES!"
•••••
Contributed by
Richard Martin, Germany
http://www.tellatale.eu
http://www.tellatale.eu/tales/vampire_taxi.htm
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5) A TALL TALE
[This story was told to me by Bernd,
a participant on a teacher-training course in Halle, Germany. It is definitely
NOT copyright material. It is suitable for kids as well as adults.
NOTE ON TELLING: As a tall tale should be told,
Bernd began this as a personal anecdote about himself, adding a few details
so that we assumed this really was something which had happened to him. As the
tension then built up, we were so carried along by the tale that the scatalogical
punch-line (with Bernd pointing very seriously to his anus) got a big laugh
of delight as we realised how he had fooled us.]
Bones: "Summer camp, I was one of two inexperienced
group leaders.
A night walk in forest with children - of course we got lost.
Children exhausted, walked by the same meadow for third time, children wanted
to rest.
All children fell asleep.
I said: Kids will sleep for hours, may as well leave them and see if we can
find a way out of forest.
Saw light in distance, was a cottage with a high wooden fence around it.
Looked through window, saw old woman.
Can you tell us way out?
Yes, but first come in, eat and drink something – you look tired.
She opened the gate for us. In the house everything smelled so good, kids would
still be asleep, so in we went.
Old woman disappeared into kitchen to get food and drink.
Was away a long time. I went to investigate – saw her at back of house
sharpening a knife on whetstone:
At last someone has come. At last someone has come.
We crept out of front door as quietly as we could. But now the gate was locked.
I helped my friend over the fence.
But old woman heard us.
Came running with knife.
My friend was on top of fence, pulling me up.
But old woman coming closer, screaming, waving knife.
My friend couldn’t pull me up fast enough – old woman came just as
I was still on the fence – she stabbed me with knife right in the middle
of my backside.
And from that day on, I've always had this hole in my bum!"
•••••
Contributed by
Richard Martin, Germany
http://www.tellatale.eu
http://www.tellatale.eu/tales/tall_tale.htm
Back to top of page
6) THE LITTLE GHOST
[1st grade level and below. You can expand this with any
foods you want and the little kids just "eat it up."]
Bones: Little Ghost gets lonely at night
and goes to kitchen to get something to eat.
Looks in the fridge and doesn't see much but eats bowl of Blueberries.
Floating back to bed, passes full length mirror in hall . . . AAAAAAAGH.
There is a BLUE ghost in the mirror. Runs to mommy ghost and she screams"Go
Away BLUE ghost, you're not MY little ghost . . . He has a clean pressed white sheet!"
Little Ghost is sooooo sad and feels he has to go back to the kitchen. Looks
in the fridge and sees carrots. He eats a whole package of carrots and feels much better.
Floating back to bed, passes full length mirror in hall . . . AAAAAAAGH
There is a ORANGE ghost in the mirror. Runs to mommy ghost and she screams "Go
Away ORANGE ghost, you're not MY little ghost . . . He has a clean pressed white sheet!"
Little Ghost is sooooo sad and feels he has to go back to the kitchen. Looks
in the fridge and sees TOMATO JUICE.
He drinks the whole can and feels much better.
Floating back to bed, passes full length mirror in hall . . . AAAAAAAGH
There is a RED ghost in the mirror. Runs to mommy ghost and she screams "Go
Away RED ghost, you're not MY little ghost . . . He has a clean pressed white
sheet!"
Little Ghost is really depressed and feels he has to go back to the kitchen.
Looks in the fridge and sees nothing left but a bottle of MILK. He drinks the
whole can and feels much better. Floating back to bed, passes full length mirror in hall He hardly knows what
to do . . . he doesn't want to look in the mirror but finally he LOOKS! . .
. AND . . .There HE is! A little white ghost in the mirror. Runs to mommy ghost
and she screams " OH THANK GOODNESS YOUR ARE HERE little ghost . . . There
have been three other little ghosts coming in here all night, but I know YOU
are MY little ghost," and little ghost got to spend the rest of the night
with mommy ghost.
•••••
Contributed by
Steve Otto
Stories by Steve
i-tell@juno.com
http://www.storynet.org/tellers/SteveOtto.htm
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7) THE VIPER
[Funny, unexpected ending; suitable for all ages.]
Bones: She had just moved away from home and her
parents were worried about her being alone in the big city. She had graduated
from college and "knew everything" so she said "Don't worry Mom
and Dad . . .as soon as I get a phone, I'll call!" She got a GREAT new
apartment on the third floor and immediately called the phone company to start
service. It wasn't over ten minutes later when the phone rang . . ."What
great service. It's already started my phone . . ." But when she answered,
came a mysterious voice "I . . . am the Viper . . . your turn is TODAY!
. . ." She quickly hung up and couldn't believe what she had gotten herself
into. She picked up the phone again to call for help . . . but NO dial tone.
She quickly locked all the doors and went to the window to see if she could
contact anyone below but the streets were empty. Just then the phone rang again.
She picked it up and heard "I . . . am the Viper . . . I am on the first
floor, I will be at your place soon! . . ." She screamed and tried to find
something to protect herself with. She ran to the window again and this time
an old man was standing on the street . . . "Call the police! I'm on the
third floor and someone is trying to kill me!" Just then the phone rang
again . . . "I . . . am the Viper . . . and I am on the second floor. .
. YOU are NEXT! . . ." She was completely panicked. She just curled up
in the corner and cried. . . Then came the banging on her door . . . What should
she do? Was it the police that the old man had summoned OR . . . Was it the
VIPER? . . . She figured that she had to find out. She rushed to the door, undid
all the locks and opened the door . . . There stood a straggly dressed man with
a strange tool in his hand! He looked at her with a snaggle-toothed grin and
said "I . . . AM . .. THE VIPER! . . . I am here to VASH AND VIPE YOUR
VINDOWS . . ."
•••••
Contributed by
Steve Otto
Stories by Steve
i-tell@juno.com
http://www.storynet.org/tellers/SteveOtto.htm
Back to top of page
8) THE BOOK OF DEATH
[Eerie, poignant, sad. Not suitable for tiny tots.]
Bones: 14-year-old Laura Wilson loved BOOKS! She read all the time and
was thrilled when she got the summer job at the library where she could be around
books all the time. The only downside of the joy was Old Mrs. Martin, the librarian.
She was old fashioned and MEAN. She spelled out everything for Laura to do and
NOT do. Among the NOT to do's was "Do not under any circumstance go into
the room downstairs marked NO ADMITTANCE!"
Laura was doing fine and had even gotten some compliments from Mrs Martin when
one night, just before closing, she was instructed to go downstairs and make
sure the basement door was locked. As she was returning, she noticed THE DOOR,
the one marked NO ADMITTANCE! was standing partially open. Being a teenager,
she peeked inside. There was nothing special in the room. Just one table with
a dusty book lying open on it. No one was around so she went inside and began
to look at the book . . . It was full of names . . . In an ancient script .
. . Names of people from town who were DEAD! She looked at the last entry and
she saw that it was Mr. Johnston, the principal of her school! Mr. Johnston
had gone home early that day but was certainly alive . . . at least at 4:00
o'clock . . . she read the words . . Bernard Johnston, Principal, Oakwood Middle
School, . . . Heart Attack! Laura couldn't believe what she saw . . . The names
of everyone in town who had died and from what cause! Just then as if by magic,
words began to appear on the page. The name of someone ELSE. Laura turned and
rushed toward the door, but THERE . . .STOOD MRS MARTIN . . . "I TOLD YOU
NEVER TO GO IN THIS ROOM . . . GET OUT AND NEVER COME BACK . . . YOU ARE FIRED!
Laura ran crying from the room. She went home and went to bed. She didn't even
go to supper, telling her mother she didn't feel well. About eight o'clock she
could take it no longer . . . she slipped out the window and started through
the rain toward the library. She knew from work that the window at the back
of the building could not be locked and SHE HAD TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING!
She silently slipped into the basement and with her flashlight made her way
to THE ROOM .. . She went inside and opened the book. There were names of people she knew. Her grandmother and grandfather
. Then the letters in the book began to appear again in that ancient script
. . . L A U R A W I L S O N . . . ACCIDENT! Laura screamed like she had never
screamed before! She ran from the room and out the window and headed for home
. . .
Police patrolman Josh Turner was responding to the call . . . The silent alarm
at the Library had been tripped again . . "Probably some teenagers, but this time I'm going to catch them and teach
them a lesson" he thought . . . He turned into the parking lot of the library
going faster that usual. The lighting flashed and he caught sight of the person
starting across the lot. On the wet pavement he could not stop and heard the
terrible thump of the body as the patrol car hit it, and he watched it fly over
the top. He stopped the car and rushed to the limp body . . . as he showed his
light, he immediately recognized Laura Wilson . . . This was terrible . . .
He couldn't believe what he had done . . . Laura was the daughter of his best
friend . . . And she was DEAD . . . Patrolman Turner went back to the car and
radioed for an ambulance which he knew was NOT needed . . . His guilt was overwhelming
and as he slumped in the seat of the car he felt he could not face his friend.
. . His hand dropped to his side, by the holster that contained his service
revolver . . He took it from the holster, never knowing that inside the library
in a little room marked "NO ADMITTANCE," an ancient script began to
write . . . Josh Taylor . . . Suicide. . .
•••••
Contributed by
Steve Otto
Stories by Steve
i-tell@juno.com
http://www.storynet.org/tellers/SteveOtto.htm
Back to top of page
9) BLACK BUBBLE GUM
[Bones compiled by Mary Garrett, adapted from the award-winning version by Cynthia Changaris at CChangaris@aol.com (502-451-7144), who first heard it told by Francis Caffrey, whose original story was inspired by The Affair at 7 Rue de M. by John Steinbeck. Mary prefers to tell it in the first person. Mary's niece especially loves it when Mary blames the mystery on her own "teasing brother"—the niece's dad.]
Bones: Halloween night, trick-or-treating with
friends and no adults! (Describe costumes and excitement.)
Rules: stay together, only go to houses you know, and don't eat anything until
Mom and Dad check it out.
We went on all the streets we knew, and then decided it was okay to go on the
streets that branched off from the ones we knew— stretching rules. We saw
a big, old, scary-looking house, overgrown lawn, sagging porch steps, iron fence.
My friends dared me to go to door. (I didn't know then that you don't have to
take a dare).
Up the stairs (creak), knocked with old-fashioned knocker, just about to leave
when door opened, old woman in black said, "Oh, I just love little children," and she took a treat from bowl by the door (cobwebs on that bowl?). I ran back
to my friends, and we ran to the streetlight. I fished out that treat, black
with a white skeleton, and smelled it -- mmm, licorice, my favorite. I tasted
it (tasting isn't eating, right?); then I couldn't resist, and I put it in my
mouth (you don't actually EAT gum, right?)
When I got home, Mom asked what was in my mouth -- and didn't buy my argument
that it wasn't exactly eating. She told me to brush my teeth and go to bed.
I didn't want to throw away that wonderful gum, so I put it on the bedpost and
fell asleep, but woke up with gum in my mouth. Hmm, I must have only thought
I put it on the post. I made sure this time, but soon woke myself up again,
chewing on that gum. Must have been a trick by my brother to put it in my mouth.
I put it back and pretended to sleep; I'll catch him, but I must have dozed
off. I woke myself up again, chewing on that gum, or was it chewing me? I threw
it in the wastebasket, and halfway slept, but I felt something tickle my face.
It was that gum, crawling toward my mouth, with pencil shavings on it, saying, "I just love little children." I opened the window, threw it outside,
and slammed that window shut.
Morning -- I smelled pancakes and ran to kitchen. Mom was mad -- gum on her
slipper. "Haven't I taught you to wrap gum in paper and throw it away properly?"
I scraped the gum off her slipper, wrapped it in a piece of newspaper, and put
it in the trash can. Soon, I saw something from the corner of my eye -- the
gum, climbing across the table toward me, flecks of coffee grounds on it, and
saying, "I just love little children." I screamed; Mom smashed it
with the spatula. Dad came in as Mom was scraping that gum into a Mason jar.
We watched it writhing in the jar; it kept coming toward me. Dad taped that
jar with duct tape, put it in a box, took it way out back and buried it deep
in the ground, but sometimes I think I can still hear it saying, "I just
love little children."
So when you go trick-or-treating, follow your parents' rules and be careful
of anyone who offers you black bubble gum, especially if she says, "I just
love little children." (Cynthia's ending is "It's alive!" --
and it's a jump tale!)
•••••
Contributed by
Mary Garrett
mgarrett@mail.win.org
http://www.motell.org/directory.htm
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10) THE RETURN OF BRIGIT O'HARA
[An
original story by Rob McCabe. Please contact Rob at rmccabejr@yahoo.com for permission to tell.]
Full-text story: Sian O'Hara was considered a lucky
catch for any of the numerous single girls in the Irish village where his family
had lived for centuries. A wealthy farmer with a lot of land and standing at
6’ 4" in height, his curly black hair and piercing green eyes were
just some of his attributes. Many of the young village girls would stand in
the village market and stare and sigh as he walked by. But Sian had no interest
in these silly girls. If he was to marry, he often told himself, it would be
a to a woman of intelligence and beauty, which none of the girls in his village
possessed. It was just after his 40th birthday and people in the village wondered
if he would ever marry, that Fate dealt him a winning hand with the appearance
of Brigit Fitzgerald.
One fine spring day as Sian was walking through the door of the village’s
mercantile store, he practically knocked down the beautiful stranger who would
soon change his life forever. After apologizing and making sure that she was
all right, he watched as she walked away down the street. He asked the owner
if he knew who the young woman was and Sian was told that the young woman’s
name was Brigit Fitzgerald and that she had come to stay with her aunt and uncle
for a few months. This was all Sian needed to know. He knew the Fitzgeralds
quite well and decided to pay them a visit that very afternoon.
For the next several weeks, Sian was always seen at the Fitzgerald’s home,
courting the strong-willed Brigit. In Brigit, he found the ultimate woman—clever,
witty and beautiful. And as the seasons progressed, there grew between the couple,
a deep and abiding love. As Fall approached, Brigit told Sian that she had to
leave to return home.
"You don’t have to go back home. Stay here and be my wife," said
Sian.
Without hesitation, she agreed. And so, the two were married that New Year.
From the time of their courtship, people saw that Sian had indeed found the
love of his life. And Brigit was a loving, dutiful wife. They were constantly
seen walking together hand-in-hand, and in Church, their voices rose in unison.
Yes, love was a great part of their lives. And in time, Brigit was due to give
birth to their child.
It was a few weeks before delivery that Brigit experienced intense pain and
started to deliver. The midwife was called, but try as she did, she couldn’t
save either the mother or child—a boy. And so Brigit and the child died,
leaving behind a distraught husband. At the funeral, Sian was so grief-stricken
that he tried to throw himself into the grave and it took five strong men to
keep him from doing it. Following the funeral, people came to Sian’s farm
and tried to help as best as they could. Neighbors brought food and sympathy
for a straight month, but eventually, visitors came less and less and Sian sunk
into a deep despair which never stopped. Night after night, day after day, Sian
wept and called out her name as if to call her back to him.
A year and a day to the date of Brigit’s death, Sian was sitting by the
fire, reading the Bible, when a distinct knock was heard at the front door.
Three soft knocks. Sian out down his Bible and rose to answer the door, when
a strong burst of wind blew open the door. Standing in the doorway was a thin
figure, holding a small bundle to its chest. The figure was dressed in a shroud
which was covered with mould. Without saying a word, the thing glided across
the floor and sat in the rocking chair in front of the fire. Sian was filled
with horror. The thing slowly rocked back and forth in the chair, and the top
of its shroud slipped off to reveal the face of the visitant. It was Brigit
and the baby!!!
Sian stared in shock. The thing which had been Brigit had lost much of its red
hair. The face was decayed and covered with worms. Her eyes had decayed as well
and there was an eerie greenish light which shone from the empty sockets. Her
lips too had decayed and left a hideous skeletal grin. Sian walked to the thing
and spoke.
"Brigit…is it you?"
The thing nodded it’s head.
"Brigit..what happened to your long, bright red hair?"
"No need for hair in a cold, dark, grave," it answered.
"Brigit…what happened to your beautiful green eyes I used to love?"
"No need for eyes in a cold, dark, grave," the thing answered.
"Brigit….what happened to your beautiful red lips I used to kiss?" asked Sian.
Slowly he knelt down in front of the living corpse and asked,
"Brigit…why have you come back?"
The thing looked up and smiled at Sian.
"I’ve come back……..for you!!!!"
•••••
Contributed by
Rob McCabe
rmccabejr@yahoo.com
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/rmccabe
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11) THE BLOOD-COVERED VAMPIRE aka THE
BLOODY VAMPIRE
[This is a traditional joke - no copyright on this version.]
Joke: The vampire went home to his castle at night. He came through the
window. In the room there were a lot of vampires.
They saw the blood on his face and they asked: "Where did you find the
blood?"
He answered: "I can't tell you - it's too embarrassing!"
The other vampires said: "Please, tell us!"
The vampire said: "Okay, follow me!"
He flew into the dark night. Suddenly there was a big dark tower.
The vampire asked: "Do you see the tower?"
The other vampires answered: "Yes, we do."
"Well, I didn't!"
•••••
From Richard:
I've just added an audio file of this tale.
This is the link:
http://www.talesandmusic.de/tales/bloody_vampire.htm
•••••
Contributed by
Richard Martin, Germany
http://www.tellatale.eu
http://www.tellatale.eu/tales/bloody_vampire.htm
Back to top of page
12) GHOST TOASTIES
[An original poem by Mike Myers. Mike gives permission to retell as long as you credit him as the author. If you have any questions, please contact Mike at ouat@kersur.net]
Not too scary.
Poem:
Once there was a ghost
who loved burnt toast,
There once was a witch
who had a twitch,
Once there was a big black cat
who chased a little gray bat
into a tall top hat,
And
There was a spider
who fell in some cider.
Now the ghost, the witch, the cat, the bat and the spider said
"Haloweeeeeeen's coming,"
and the spider started drumming
on the tall top hat,
and the cat and the bat shrieked a tune to the fat full moon,
and the witch with the twitch
danced with the ghost,
and they all ate what was left of the toast (with lotsa jelly)
(Once while telling this, a little girl went "Ooh,
Ooh" as I said "The spider fell in the cider." "What is
it?" I asked. She replied: "Does that make it spider cider?)
•••••
Contributed by
Mike Myers
ouat@kersur.net
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13) THE GRAVEYARD SONG
[I don't sing it, but just tell it, and get the children to do the ooohs and
ahhs.]
Song:
Woman to a graveyard went OOOH AAAHH
She was very old and bent OOOH AAAHH
Saw three corpses carried in OOOH AAAHH
They were very, very thin OOOH AAAHH
Woman to the Parson said OOOH AAAHH
Will I be like that when I'm dead OOOH AAAHH
Parson to the woman said OOOH AAAHH
Yes, you'll be like that when you're dead OOOH AAAHH
Worms crawl in and worms crawl out OOOH AAAHH
Go in thin and come out stout OOOH AAAHH
Woman to the parson said (SCREAM!)
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
Sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
Ewell, Surrey, UK
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14) THE GHOST OF JEAN LAFITTE
[This is an original story based on a Louisiana legend. J.J. Reneaux said that a soldier returning home from the Civil War came across this house and this treasure. I tell this story to all ages with good response. When I tell this in schools I talk about the pirate Jean Lafitte and give some history of the battle of New Orleans and the war of 1812. I also talk a bit about the Cajuns and their superstitions.
NOTES ON TELLING: There can be a bit of a jump moment when the ghost disappears. At the end of the story, I include a loud eerie ghostly laugh.
Bones: A trapper lived in the bayou his whole life. He knew the bayou better than anyone. He also knew he was going to be the one to find the buried treasure of the pirate Jean Lafitte. He had heard stories about this from his parents and grandparents his whole life. Many people thought that the treasure was just a legend, but not the trapper. He was determined to find it. While out in the bayou one day he came across a mysterious house he had never seen before. Inside the house he met the ghost of Lafitte. The ghost took him through the house, each room more spectacular than the one before.
At the back of the house was a small room with a trap door. Under this door was the treasure, but Lafitte told him he couldn't tell anyone else, then disappeared. The trap door slammed shut and the handle broke off in his hands. The trapper couldn't get to the treasure. He goes and gets his friends and returns. He took friends through house which is now old and run down. Each room more run down and decrepit than the one before. They work and work until finally they spring open the trap door and all they find are bones and all they hear is the eerie laughter of the ghost of Jean Lafitte.
•••••
Contributed by
Dianna Waite
diawaite@salpublib.org
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/dwaite
Back to top of page
15) DEAD MEN WORKING IN A CANE FIELD
[For older kids and adults, this story can be made very gruesome or toned down depending on your audience. I've included a little more than bones, but to make it understood I had to tell you more! An aunt once told me that there were zombies working in the cane fields and this is the story that came from that.]
Bones +: Around the turn of the century after the Civil War, it became difficult for plantation owners in and around New Orleans to find workers to bring in their crops. A man and his wife are caretakers for a wealthy plantation owner. They hire workers to bring in the crops and in exchange are given a place to live and money for themselves and to pay the workers. The man thinks the workers are lazy. He is vicious in his treatment of them and pays them very little. The woman does not spend any money on food for them. Just feeds them gruel. But still they don't feel they make enough money.
The man hears that a vodoo woman in New Orleans can help him. He goes to Marie Labou, the vodoo queen, and asks for a spell to make them work harder. She tells him you cannot change the nature of a living soul, but that she can help him find workers. She gives him an Ouanga, a black bag Ouanga, full of animal parts (chicken feet and bat wings—whatever you want) and dried blood, and tells him to shake it over fresh graves and the zombies will rise and follow him. But she warns him never to let salt pass through zombies' mouths or they will know themselves for what they are and return to their graves. He must never let their relatives see the zombies, either. She says she will not help him if he is found out.
So in the dead of night he goes deep into bayou country and robs graves. He takes the poor souless creatures home and puts them to work. Nothing he does will make them work harder or faster. He beats them, but they do not bleed. His wife starves them, giving them nothing but water to drink. She begins to get very creeped out by their eyes. The couple is finally making money because they don't have to pay workers, but someone must stay with them at all times.
The man decides that it is Mardi Gras in New Orleans and he deserves a treat. He leaves his wife with the zombies and goes to Mardi Gras. She does okay for a while but really begins to feel sorry for herself, then sorry for the zombies. She decides that she could take them to Mardi Gras to see one parade. At the parade she buys some pistasche (pistaschio cookies) and gives some to the zombies. They have salt in them. As soon as the salt passes their lips, they stand up and begin marching the parade route through town heading back to their graves. Friends and relatives see them, They are outraged. The man is watching the parade and sees the zombies. He heads for home. Meets up with his wife and before they can get home, they are ambushed and killed by the relatives of the zombies. They are buried near their home, but when the plantation owners goes there the next day, he finds empty graves with a small black bag beside each. Perhaps they are now working in those same fields.
•••••
Contributed by
Dianna Waite
diawaite@salpublib.org
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/dwaite
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16) THE GHOST WITH ONE BLACK EYE
Bones: Baby’s favorite drink – apple juice
No apple juice on table
Baby: I want my apple juice, and I want it NOW!
Father: I’ll go to cellar for your apple juice
Went down – was dark
Opened cellar door – was darker
Heard voice: I AM THE GHOST WITH ONE BLACK EYE
Ran upstairs: I don’t want to go down there any more!
Baby: I want my apple juice and I want it NOW!
Mother – same
Big brother – same
Big sister – same
Baby goes down – it is dark
Opens cellar door – is darker
Hears voice: I AM THE GHOST WITH ONE BLACK EYE
Baby: Well, I’ll give you two black eyes if you stop me getting my apple juice!
Ghost was never heard from again
•••••
Contributed by
Granny Sue
Susanna Holstein
susannaholstein@yahoo.com
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17) A WEST VIRGINIA GHOST STORY
[An original story by Susanna Holstein, based on the story as reported in Pioneers in Jackson County West Virginia: History of Mill Creek and Sandy Valley and Its Early Settlements, by John A. House, 1906.]
Bones: Back when West Virginia was still a part of Virginia, a man named William Davis built a cabin by the creek now known as Big Run, in eastern Jackson County. The area was very wild and full of game, and Davis thought it would make a good place to set up camp. He built a rough shelter, and soon his two grown sons moved in with him.
One of the sons had a wife named Sidna and two little children. Sidna and her children came to live at the camp, too. Life must have been hard for Sidna, with three men and two children to care for in that wild place. She would have had to get her water from a spring or the creek, and probably cooked over an open fire. Shelters in those days were often three-sided lean-tos with animal skins hung over the front for protection from the weather. It could not have been easy for her to cook, care for children, try to keep the place clean, and care for everyone’s clothing.
Sidna became ill, and one evening at supper she fell from her chair, dead. The men buried her nearby in an unmarked grave. A few days later, as William Davis was walking down a path in the woods, Sidna appeared beside the path, and seemed to be trying to speak to him. Davis was so frightened he ran away as fast as he could. Not long after that, she appeared on the path in front of him again, and once again he ran, frightened almost to death.
When she appeared the third time, Davis called up all the courage he had and asked her, "Why do you not rest?"
Sidna replied, "I am worried about my children. I do not think you can take care of them. I want you to find a home for them, where they will be cared for and given an education."
Davis promised he would do as she asked, and Sidna reached out her hand, as if to shake on the bargain. Davis quickly pulled his hand away from her, but not before her cold fingers touched his wrist, leaving two yellow marks.
William Davis kept his word and found a good home for the children. He moved away from Big Run, but those who knew him said that the yellow marks remained on his wrist until his death many years later.
Links:
http://www.wvghosts.com
A website containing over 200 West Virginia Ghost stories, lore and legends
http://www.wvculture.org/history/notewv/wizardclip1.html
One of West Virginia’s most noted ghost stories, this version is by a noted West Virginia historian.
http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/studyg/West/htm/grghost.htm
Probably the best-known of West Virginia’s ghost stories, the version on this website includes a recorded version of the story you can listen to, and a link to an activity that allows you to put flowers on Zora Heaster Shue’s grave by correctly answering questions about the story.
http://www.callwva.com/hauntings/credits.cfm
The WV Division of Tourism has collected ghost stories from around the state and from other websites.
http://www.flatwoodsmonster.com/
Devoted to one of West Virginia’s most famous UFO stories. Be sure to look at the pictures of the Monster Festival, which include photos of Kathleen May and her sons, who reported sighting the Flatwoods Monster in 1954.
http://www.mothmanlives.com/
http://www.prairieghosts.com/moth.html
Two websites with information about Point Pleasant’s strange story of Mathman. The first site offers information about the annual Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant. WV. The second provides an account of the sightings and a list of books about Mothman.
•••••
Contributed by
Granny Sue
Susanna Holstein
susannaholstein@yahoo.com
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18) MR. FOX
[Trad. English story (cited BY Shakespeare - so no worries about copyright!) A scary story - not for younger kids. It is the English Bluebeard. An article, Discussing Mr Fox, on the methodology of using this story to initiate a classroom discussion is at http://www.hltmag.co.uk/jul02/sart6.htm in the e-zine Humanising Language Teaching
http://www.hltmag.co.uk ]
Bones: Lady Mary, seven brothers, and many suitors. Rejected all, until she met Mr. Fox. No one knew who he was, nor where he came from. He told her about the house where they would live, but never took her there.
She wanted to know.
Day before the wedding, rode through the forest to find it.
Came to a wall, above the gate was written: Be bold, be bold.
She was bold - went through the gate.
Came to the house, above the door: Be bold, be bold. But not too bold.
But she was bold - went in.
Staircase - went up.
Small door: Be bold, be bold. But not too bold - lest that your heart's blood should run cold.
But she was bold - opened the door.
Hanging from hooks on the wall, row upon row, bodies of young women, white
wedding-clothes stained red by their own blood.
Screamed, ran down stairs.
Saw through window, Mr. Fox coming, dragging yet another woman, her white
wedding-clothes stained red with her own blood.
Lady Mary hid as Mr. Fox dragged woman to stairs.
Young woman with last strength put out her hand (a hand with a ring) to hold onto banisters.
He saw the diamond ring. Drew sword, cut off hand.
Hand flew through air, landed on Lady Mary's lap.
He couldn't find hand, dragged body upstairs to bloody chamber.
Next day, wedding feast. "My dear, you seem so pale."
Bad dream.
"Oh, dreams are always the opposite. But tell me your dream."
I dreamt I rode to look for your house - wall - gate - Be bold, be bold.
Mr. Fox: "It is not so, nor it was not so."
Door - Be bold, be bold. But not too bold.
"It is not so, nor it was not so."
Small door - Be bold, be bold. But not too bold - lest that your heart's blood should run cold.
"It is not so, nor it was not so."
Bodies. "It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid that it should be so."
You - dragging another young woman.
"It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid that it should be so."
Diamond ring.
"It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid that it should be so."
But it is so, and it was so. Here's hand and ring I have to show.
Lady Mary's brothers drew swords - cut Mr Fox into a thousand pieces!
•••••
Contributed by
Richard Martin, Germany
http://www.tellatale.eu
http://www.tellatale.eu/tales/mr_fox.htm
Back to top of page
19) I, LILITH
[Occult, child-killer,feminist. I first became aware of Lilith from my interest in mythology and Feminism. I later read that Lilith was also discussed in Jewish Midrash and after some considerable reading on her, I also discovered that the King James Version of the Bible has two creation myths in the Book of Genesis concerning the first Man and Woman. It is written that “In the Beginning God created man and woman—He created Them.” And yet in the next chapter, it was written that God took a rib from Adam and created Eve. Unfortunately, Lilith’s strength was looked upon as a negative aspect of womanhood, and she was demonized for her individuality by the Patriarchy. What follows is a story I wrote from Lilith's perspective. Rob McCabe]
Full-text story: The first thing I remembered was opening my eyes and seeing the man’s face close to mine. He smiled.
“Who are you?” I asked with a mixture of fear and great curiosity.
“I am Adam. God has created you to be with me here in the Garden.”
“And where is this Garden?” I asked as I rose up from the ground. The man laughed and took me gently by the hand and waved his hand in a sweeping circle. “All of this is the Garden. The Garden of Eden. And you, what name am I to call you?” he asked with great curiosity.
I didn’t know how to answer. What was my name? Did I have one? I closed my large dark eyes, swept my long, luxurious black hair back and listened to my innermost voice. From deep within my self-hood I heard the name whispered. “Lilith..thy name is Lilith.” I smiled at the man and answered. “I am called Lilith. That is what you may call me.” Leading him by the hand, I asked him to show me around the Garden. I asked him many questions that day and the many days that followed.
Adam explained to me that the Lord Our God had created him out of the earth (adamah) and that his name was Adam, because he was created from the earth and dust. He also went on to explain that I had been created by the mighty hand of the Lord our God from the same Earth and that I had been created to ease his loneliness and to be his mate. This seemed like an extraordinary thing to me , but since I had no previous memory of anything except Nothingness, I accepted all that the man told me.
Time went by and for a while we lived happily as we explored the world around us. Adam showed me the fruits of the vine and trees. He also showed me the creatures of the air and the animals over which we had dominion and which we could eat for survival. He also showed me a large tree that grew in the center of the Garden. The tree that contained fruit that could not be eaten--the forbidden tree—the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God, Adam explained, forbade us to eat from that tree because we were not able to understand and that if we disobeyed Him, His wrath would know no
bounds!!!
One night Adam told me that the Lord God had commanded him to become fruitful and multiply by coupling with me. He laid me on the ground on my back and began to try to control my body to be a receptacle for his seed. I pushed him away saying, “You and I were created from the same earth. We should treat each other with dignity and respect. If you wish to couple with me, let us lay side by side and meet with mutual dignity.”
Adam was angered and tried again to force himself upon me, saying, “I am your Lord and Master and it is your duty to obey me in all things!!!” I was filled with rage!!!! How dare he command me!!! I pushed him away on the third attempt and cried aloud the sacred, ineffable name of God that gave me great power and flew away into the night. His cries of despair could be heard for miles, but I did not wish to return to him. He was arrogant and cruel. I flew away to cave near the Red Sea and there I made my home.
Days, weeks, months passed and I grew lonely for the soft voice and gentle touch of a man. Having no human near, I willingly gave myself freely to the ancient Spirits of the Earth and Air. These Spirits filled me with their seed and I gave birth to Spirit beings, which flew, throughout the world.
Now, it came to pass, a few months later that a trio of angels came to me to beg me to return to Adam. Their names were Senoi, Sansenoi, and Sammangelof. They informed me that following my departure, Adam had cried out to God, “Oh Lord of the Universe, the woman Thou hast given me has fled from me!!!” And so God sent them to retrieve me and bring me back to Adam to ease his loneliness. Even if it was against my Will!!! I laughed cruelly in their faces and said that nothing could induce me to return to him. And, I added for extra effect, that if Adam and any future wife of his were to ever have any children, I would come and kill them. Boys would be left unharmed for nine days and girls for 21 days—thereafter, I would rage into a blood-drinking child-killer and destroy them. These angels argued hotly with me for several hours until they laid a hold of me and tried to destroy me by drowning me in the Red Sea. We fought for a long time, and just when I thought my life was nearing its end, with a final burst of energy I pushed them away and screamed, “Wait!!!! If you let me live, I will make a bargain with you. If mothers placed sacred amulets around the beds of their sleeping infants, with your names on them, I shall leave them unharmed. What do you say???”
I prayed silently within myself that they would accept my bargain. It took them several minutes while they discussed the matter for some considerable time. Please, I thought to myself, please let them accept the bargain. Finally, Senoi approached me and said, “It is agreed upon Lilith. We shall let the people know of thy danger and they will arm themselves against you and your offspring. But take care, woman…let no harm come to Adam or any of his progeny or future wife of his, or else we WILL return and destroy thee.”
So saying, these angels took their leave of me and I was left alone in my solitude. And so it was that superstitious Jewish mothers of an earlier age, placed four sacred amulets, one on each wall, inscribed with the names of these three angels and a sacred chant, “Lilla—abi!!” (Lilith Begone).
You know the rest. God created Eve from Adam’s rib to be his dutiful, yet submissive woman, and the race of Man came from their union. And as for me?? Here I remain, waiting, seeking, and living my life on my own terms. I am She who said No!!!! I am She whom some say dared to go against God and say that I was equal in all things.
I am Lilith!!!!!
•••••
Contributed by Rob McCabe
rmccabejr@yahoo.com
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/rmccabe
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20) THE RACONTEUR'S REVENGE
[An original story by Rob McCabe. Please contact Rob at rmccabejr@yahoo.com for permission to tell. Eerie, unjust hanging, ghost, revenge]
Full text: Long ago in a small French village there lived a reclusive young man named Jean who was loved by all of the people in the village because he was a raconteur--a storyteller--of remarkable talent. The people of his village fed him and housed him from time to time and by way of thanking them for their kindness and hospitality, he would regale them with age-old fairy tales and folktales. Yes, everyone in the village loved Jean—everyone that is, except Marie, a self-righteous, overly pious woman who loved reading the Bible and lived her life for God and His Word. Marie hated the joy that Jean spread to her fellow villagers. After all, she had said repeatedly, only God’s Word should be spread, not those heathenish, Satanic tales of faeries, monsters, wishes, mystery and imagination.
No one in the village paid her much mind because of her vicious tongue—even the village priest Pere Roland had spoken to her several times about her cruel and bitter nature. “Marie” he had said, “ Judge not, lest ye be Judged. What harm can these tales really do to those pious creatures who repeatedly come to me for spiritual guidance?” Marie would accuse even him of impious behavior. “Mark my words, Pere Roland, nothing but evil will come of Jean’s magical tales. Just wait and see. He is promoting Satanic messages to the children!!!”
Many years passed and the children who had heard Jean’s tales became themselves parents, and they too raised their children on the fantastic tales Jean told around the village bonfires and in his friends’ homes. Over the years, Jean had built himself a small stone house and raised a small collection of animals: chickens and pigs and a cow and a small garden of vegetables and herbs. Over the years, the people had been good to Jean, and he continually returned their kindness with stories. Through the years, Marie had become more and more bitter. She had eventually shunned the villagers and even the priest himself. More and more she could be seen sitting outside of her house, reading her Bible and muttering to herself. Her animosity towards Jean had grown so much so that she would spit in his direction and call him names as he passed.
One day, it happened that two children from the village had disappeared after visiting Jean’s house. Try as they might, no one from the village could discover their whereabouts and after three days, they approached Jean to ask for his assistance in finding the missing children. Jean had just finished slaughtering a pig and was covered with blood when they approached him. Marie was walking with them and when she saw Jean covered with blood. She screamed. “ Look neighbors, it has finally come to pass. This spawn of Satan has murdered our children to his dark master. See how he’s covered with blood?? The blood of the Innocents.!!!”
Jean was shocked. He pointed to the pig’s carcass hanging in the yard. But no one took notice. In the yard where Jean had slaughtered the pig, they found a child’s ball and that was all the proof they needed. Someone grabbed Jean and slapped him hard and accused him of acts against good Christian souls. Another neighbor bought out a rope and flung it over an old oak tree. The mob was filled with anger and before anyone could stop them, two men grabbed Jean and hanged him.
As he swung slowly from side to side, creaking in the wind, a woman in the crowd screamed. Coming out of the forest were the two missing children. They had been lost and had only found their way out due to the voices of the crowd they had heard. No one knew what to say or do. The children were embraced by their parents, and the sound of weeping filled the air. Everyone wept for Jean—everyone, that is, except Marie who looked defiantly at the swinging corpse. Jean was buried in the churchyard and his murderers were brought to justice. From that day, no one spoke of the horrible injustice done to Jean, the raconteur. The village priest offered several masses for the soul of Jean and eventually the village returned to its daily routine.
A year passed. Marie, who had been rebuked by her fellow villagers, still lived in her modest cottage, reading her Bible and praying that God was going to watch over her. It was just past midnight on the anniversary of Jean’s murder, when Marie woke with a gasp from a horrible dream. She lay in bed trembling with fear. In her dream, an angel of God had turned his back on her saying that because of her evil tongue, Jean had died a horrible death. Why would she dream such a thing? She hadn’t really been responsible. It had been those men who had hanged him. Suddenly the door blew open with a loud bang and standing in the doorway was a figure. It was Jean!!! The wind blew fiercely through the open door and his hair was mottled with filth. It looked as if he had climbed out of his grave, and as Marie watched in horror, unable to scream or speak, the wraith approached her bed and stood by her side. Marie finally found her voice and shrieked.
Jean's face was badly decomposed and the maggots dropped from his face onto her bed. And then the thing spoke in a voice filled with melancholy. “Marie. It was you. It was always you who hated me. It was through your momentary madness and lying tongue that my friends killed me. Your lying tongue that brought about the disaster of my destruction. I have come here tonight to exact my revenge upon you. You will never use your viperous tongue to speak evil again!!!” So saying, Jean leaned forward, reached out and held Marie’s mouth open while he viciously ripped her tongue at the root. She shrieked once and fainted dead away.
In the morning, Marie opened her eyes and groaned in pain. What a nightmare she had had she thought to herself. But the pain made her vividly aware that it had been no dream—for she looked down and saw that her bed was covered with blood—in fact, it was a miracle that she was alive. She tried to call out, but she had no tongue and she wept tears of anger mixed with regret. Taking her Bible, she turned to a passage she had heard the priest tell her many years before…a passage that was underscored in dried blood. Her blood!! “Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged.”
•••••
Contributed by
Rob McCabe
rmccabejr@yahoo.com
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/rmccabe
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21) THE WEREWOLF
[An original story by Rob McCabe. Please contact Rob at rmccabejr@yahoo.com for permission to tell. Eerie, unjust hanging, ghost, revenge]
Full text: Long ago and far away in a remote village in the Pyrenees Mountains, there lived a poor farmer, Jacques, for that was his name, lived in a modest stone house he had built when he had first arrived in the village of St. Martin and it was here that he lived alone, save for the few chickens, a cow and pigs he raised for his food. He also had a small tract of fertile soil on which he raised wheat, barley and vegetables. As I said, Jacques lived alone and as the years progressed, he continually wished that he could have found a wife to share his life and to give him a strong son to whom he would leave his small farm once he had died. Already in his late 30s, it looked as if he would never marry and he had resigned himself to being alone when fate stepped in and played his lucky card.
It was the night of April 30th, May Eve, and Jacques was at the tavern, drinking some ale with his friends, when he stopped short and stared at the beautiful raven-haired serving girl who had approached his table. She was tall for a woman of that country, with long black hair, a voluptuous figure with fine child-bearing hips, an enchanting smile, and the most unusual eyes that seemed to flash gold in the dim light of the tavern.
“What’s your name, girl?” asked Jacques.
She laughed and smiled. “Isabeau.”
When Jacques heard that name and the merry lilt of her laughter, his heart beat with the wild energetic rhythm of youth. He smiled and from that day his heart was lost.to the beautiful Isabeau.
Many months passed and Jacques spent as much time as he could at the tavern to see Isabeau and hear her melodious laughter ringing through the room. She was a popular serving girl, but she was not too busy to stop briefly and talk with Jacques. On her days off, the villagers would often see her and Jacques talking quietly together as they walked through the village. The people began to gossip about the couple and after a year of courtship Jacques made the announcement that he and Isabeau were to be married in the spring. Everyone rejoiced for their good fortune and as the marriage day grew nearer, Jacques wondered why Isabeau never bothered to send word to her family. And when he asked her, all she would say was, “I am alone in the world, save for you, my dearest. Please don’t ask me about my family again. For all purposes, they are dead to me and in the past. All that matters now is our future together.” And that was that. The couple were married on May Day and while the villagers danced and sang, Jacques and his new wife danced the Maypole dance and drank May wine. And that night, Jacques and Isabeau consummated their relationship and tied their futures together.
A few nights following their marriage, Jacques and Isabeau were sitting in their cottage eating dinner. Isabeau was unusually reticent and whenever Jacques tried to talk to her, she would mumble an answer. Jacques was puzzled and finally asked her if anything was wrong.
“No my dear. I’m just restless, that’s all.”
Jacques continued to eat in silence. Then, out in the distance, he heard the howling of a wolf. Isabeau bristled a little and Jacques noticed that she had turned her back to him and was looking out the window. In the distance,a bright full moon could be seen in the clear night sky. The wolf howled mournfully again and Isabeau rose to her feet and walked to the window. Jacques got up from his seat and walked behind his wife and held her close. He nuzzled the back of her neck with his beard and asked, “Isabeau…are you all right?” She turned towards her husband and answered him with a passionate kiss.
Months passed and all seemed well, except for the night of the full moon which always affected Isabeau the same way. She would be sullen and restless, but a few nights later she would be her own charming self. Jacques wondered if she was the type of person to suffer from moon madness, a curious disease of the mind which seemed to come only at the time of the full moon. Whatever the problem, Jacques loved his wife with a passion he hadn’t known in years. She made an excellent home for him. She cooked and cleaned and was the perfect companion, help-mate that he had been looking for. And two years following their marriage, Isabeau gave birth to a fine, healthy son. Jacques was overjoyed and Isabeau shared in his delight by loving and caring for the infant.
A week following the birth of his son, Jacques was in the field mowing hay when he heard Isabeau calling his name. He dropped the scythe and ran to the fence. “What is it dearest?” he asked. “ I must run to the village for a few hours, will you keep an eye on the baby? Why don’t you feed the chickens and milk the cow? The field can wait for a few hours.”
Jacques smiled and walked towards her. Of course he would watch his son. He knew that this time of the year colds and draughts could take the life of healthier people. And winter was approaching causing the wolves to prowl the countryside looking for food. He kissed Isabeau and told her to come back as fast as she could. “Be careful love, the wolves are beginning to come out and if they are hungry, they might attack you. Already several chickens and small animals have been killed. So promise me you will be back before nightfall." She promised she would, and with a wave of her hand, she walked down the road to the village.
A few hours had passed, and night was beginning to fall. A cold wind was blowing through the trees, knocking down some of their rust-colored leaves. Jacques looked outside the window waiting for Isabeau to come. The cold harvest moon was high in the sky. It was full and cast an eerie golden glow on the surrounding countryside. Suddenly, he heard a wolf howling. It seemed to be rather close to the house. The baby stirred and started to cry. Jacques picked up the baby and began to rock it, to soothe it the best he could. Where was Isabeau? She should have been back by now.
Then he heard the sound of a wolf howling a few feet from his door. The chickens were cackling rather loudly and he realized that the chickens were being eaten. Putting the baby back in its crib, he ran to the wall and got his gun. He opened the door and was pushed roughly to the ground by a huge, grey she-wolf with golden eyes. The animal snarled and bared its teeth and Jacques yelled loudly. The wolf snapped at him and then jumped over him and ran to the crib. It only took a moment, but Jacques screamed in anger and fear as the wolf grabbed the screaming baby and ran through the open door. The infant’s terrified screams could be heard in the distance and Jacques was running as fast as he could to catch the monster who had taken his infant son. Gun in hand, he ran through the woods. Although it was night, the moon’s light cast eerie shadows in the woods and Jacques could see bits of flesh and blood in the pathway. He knew his son was dead, and he also knew that the wolf would pay with its life. The trail led to a cave and he poised his gun ready to kill the monster who had robbed him of his future.
He entered the dark cave and heard nothing but the wind blowing through the cave entrance, but as he walked further into the darkness, he could see the flickering of a fire burning in the distance. This was strange, he thought to himself. Why would there be a fire burning in a cave in the woods? When he finally came to a great cavernous hall within the cave. He stood there gasping in horror at the sight which lay before him.
The hall was filled with bones—animal and human. The earth was caked with blood and in the corner he saw the badly torn body of his infant son. The blanket that he had wrapped around the tiny body was torn and bloody. He let out a scream and embraced the bloody corpse. Tears stung his eyes and he yelled and screamed for the wolf to come out. The cave echoed with his anguished cries. Finally, he looked around the cave and found, tucked in the corner, a grey wolf skin. He picked it up and examined it. It was covered with fresh blood. He muttered something under his breath and flung it into the fire. No sooner had he done so, than a piercing shriek came from behind the rocks and a naked woman rushed from behind a group of boulders and tried to pull the skin from the roaring fire as it burned. Jacques screamed in horror. The woman was Isabeau. She turned a face of hatred on her husband and ran to attack him, when she suddenly burst into flames. The skin and the woman were burnt to ashes within seconds and Jacques was left alone in the dark cave.
When he had fully recovered his senses. Jacques walked out of the cave carrying his dead son. He buried him in the field, made a tiny cross of two sticks tied together and went into the cottage. Weeks passed and no one saw Jacques in the village or at the tavern. No one had seen Isabeau either. And when their curiosity was at its peak, the villagers went to Jacques’ farm and found a horrible sight waiting for them. Hanging from the rafters was Jacques. It was obvious to everyone that he had been dead for several days because the room was close and the stench of death was overpowering. They saw the overturned crib and the bloodstained floor and knew that something terrible had happened to Jacques and the baby. In the field, where they hurriedly buried Jacques, they found the tiny grave and knew that some great tragedy had befallen Jacques and his son. And try as they did, no one ever saw Isabeau again.
•••••
Contributed by Rob McCabe
rmccabejr@yahoo.com
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/rmccabe
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22) WITCHES' ALPHABET SOUP
[An original story by Linda Spitzer © 2004. Inspired by Alphabet Soup by Mirko Gabler. Contact Linda at Storybag@aol.com for permission to retell. Funny, gross, witches, participation.]
Suggested Opening:
You’re not going to believe this, but Witches have to go to school, too. Just like everybody else. And learn the same things, reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. How else could they cast their spells, make potions and get instructions for flying on brooms??? This is the story of how Willie and Wendy, the witch twins went to their first day of school.
Full Text: Willie and Wendy, the Witch Twins went to school. On the first day of school they were shy and sat in the back of the class. The teacher sat them alphabetically, though they didn’t even know what that meant. You see their last name was Witchypoo.
They loved school and learning their ABCs and by the end of the first day, they could both recite the whole alphabet. Their teacher said, “Children, I have a homework assignment for you. I want each of you to make a batch of Alphabet Soup and tell me tomorrow what ingredients starting with every letter of the alphabet you want to add to make your soup.”
Willie and Wendy were very excited and they walked home singing their ABC song. (ABCDEFG, HIJKLMNOP sing out loud). What they didn’t notice was that a boy in their class decided to follow them and find out where they lived. His name was Ziggy . But--- the twins did not know Ziggy was following them.
“Halooooooo, We’re home” the twins chanted. From out of the Witch’s cave home came Mother Witch. Ziggy thought she looked like a monster—she had a green face, a long orange nose and hair that just stuck straight up under her witch’s hat.
“Oh, witchy kids, I’m so happy you’re home. What did you learn at school on your first day?” she asked.
“We learned the alphabet and we have homework. Will you help us make alphabet soup? We have to add one or more ingredients for each letter of the alphabet. Will you help us? Tomorrow, we have to tell our teacher all the things we added.”
“Sure ---this‘ll be fun for me, too. Here’s my favorite cauldron. Let’s start a fire under it. Willie, get some water, Wendy, get some wood.”
Willie started the fire. Mother Witch filled the big black cauldron to the top with water. The big black pot sat right over the fire on some logs. Remember Ziggy? He was hiding behind a tree . Was he doing his homework? No, he was not. He was watching what the Witch Twins were doing.
“Let’s see, what shall we add for A? I know,” said Wendy.“Look there’s an ant hill right here on the ground, all crawly and red. Let’s add the ants.”
“Perfect!” said the mother. “Now for B, I happen to have some bats,—just go in the cave and get them out, Willie.”
“Ooooh, I wanted to add boogers” said Willie. “Can we add both?”
“Sure. For C, let’s add some catsup for flavor or some______? (get audience to help from here on.)
“D, let’s add dandruff or dog’s breath, poopy diapers."
“For E, we can add some earwigs, eels."
“F, we can add frogs, fleas, fungus."
“G, we can add gobs of mucous.”
“H, we can add these hairballs.”
I,J, K, L, M (just say these letters fast or it gets too long)
"For M, we can put in these mice or mosquitoes."
“N,O P, we can add pus, puke, and a little pepper for seasoning.”
"Q,R,S, Oh let’s add spiders and snakes and stinky sneakers."
All this time Ziggy was watching the witches making soup with amazement.
While the twins were adding ingredients to their alphabet soup, their mother was stirring and singing, “ Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble, Make our Alphabet Soup."
"T,U V for vipers and vomit."
"W,X Y Hmmmm, let’s add Wine."
Suddenly, there was a voice from somewhere out there. The voice yelled out really loud---“Wine doesn’t begin with Y, it begins with W.”
“Who said that?” asked Mother Witch. The Twins turned around and there was Ziggy. “Oh, that’s Ziggy, he’s a boy in our class.”
“Ziggy, Ziggy, that starts with Z. We need a Z in our soup, don’t we?” said Mother Witch.
Ziggy started to run. He climbed a tree, but Witchy Mom got her broomstick and started to chase Ziggy. She flew to the tree and reached up to grab Ziggy, but all she got were his stinky sneakers as he climbed up higher. She pulled those sneakers so hard, why, they came right off. Ziggy climbed even higher to get out of her reach. “Well, we didn’t get Ziggy, but we got his stinky sneakers to add to the soup. His pants have a zipper, and that begins with Z, so we can leave him alone and go throw in a zipper in the soup. I just happen to have one in my sewing box. Let’s go, kids, and finish making our alphabet soup.”
They finished making the soup and it tasted so fine they had all their witchy relatives over for dinner. The family liked it so much they wanted to make it an annual holiday food.
Next day the Witch Twins handed in their list of ingredients for their alphabet soup and they got an “A." They looked over at Ziggy. He looked so shy and lonesome. Willie and Wendy made a point of playing with him on the playground that day and including Ziggy in all their games, and they became the best of friends.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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23) THE GUNNIWOLF
[Funny, rhythmical, song chorus, a little scary, for younger kids]
Bones: There was once a little girl who lived with her mother very close to a dense jungle. Each day the mother would caution Little Girl to be most careful and never enter the jungle, because - if she did - the Gunniwolf might get her! Little Girl always promised that she would never, NEVER even go NEAR the jungle.
One day the mother had to go away for a while. The mother was hardly out of sight when Little Girl noticed some beautiful white flowers growing at the very edge of the jungle. "Oh," she thought, "Wouldn’t I love to have some of those-I’ll pick just a few." Then, forgetting all about the warning, she began to gather the white flowers, all the while singing happily to herself:
Kum-Kwa, Khi-wa, Kum-Kwa, Khi-wa
All of a sudden she noticed, a little further in the jungle, some beautiful PINK flowers growing. "Oh," she thought, "I must surely gather some of those too!" On she tripped, farther into the jungle, and began picking the pink flowers, all the while singing happily:
Kum-Kwa, Khi-wa, Kum-Kwa, Khi-wa
When she had her arms full of white and pink flowers, she peeped a little further, and way in the middle of the jungle she saw some beautiful ORANGE flowers growing. "Oh," she thought, "I’ll take just a few of those, and what a pretty bouquet I’ll have to show my mother!" So she gathered the orange flowers too, singing to herself all the while: (song)
When SUDDENLY - up rose the GUNNIWOLF!!! He said, "Little Girl, why for you move?"
Tremblingly she answered. "I no move."
The Gunnifwolf said, "Then you sing that guten sweeten song again!"
So she sang: (song)
And then the old Gunniwolf nodded his head and fell fast asleep. Away ran Little Girl as fast as ever she could: Pit-pat pit-pat pit-pat pit-pat
Then the Gunniwolf woke up! Away he ran: Hunker-cha hunker-cha hunker-cha.....Until he caught up to her. And he said, "Little Girl, why for you move?"
"I no move," she answered.
"Then you sing that guten, sweeten song again!"
Timidly she sang: (song)
Then the old Gunniwolf nodded, nodded, and went sound asleep. Away ran Little Girl just as fast as ever she could: pit-pat pit-pat
And again the Gunniwolf woke up! Away he ran:
hunker-cha hunker-cha
pit-pat pit-pat pit-pat
hunker-cha hunker-cha
until he caught up to her and said, "Little Girl, why for you move?"
"I no move."
"Then you sing that guten, sweeten song again!"
So she sang: (song)
Until the old Gunniwolf again nodded, nodded, and fell asleep.
Then AWAY ran Little Girl:
pit-pat until she came almost to the edge of the jungle!
pit-pat until she got away OUT of the jungle!
pit-pat pitty-pat until she reached her very own door!
From that day to this, Little Girl has never, NEVER gone into the jungle again.
•••••
Contributed by
Granny Sue
Susanna Holstein
susannaholstein@yahoo.com
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24) MY DARLING FRANKENSTEIN
[To the tune of My Darling Clementine)
Two online sources:
http://www.scoutscan.com/songs/o/osong013.html
http://www.creighton.edu/~bsteph/pack114/library/songs.html
Song Parody - all ages, humorous]
REFRAIN:
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Frankenstein
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Frankenstein.
VERSE 1
I was working with some test tubes
in my laboratory fine
Then one day, I broke my glasses
And created Frankenstein. (refrain)
VERSE 2
He was handsome, he was charming
As his head, I screwed on tight
His teeth were sharp and they were pearly
And his eyes popped out at night. (refrain)
*VERSE 3
Then Dracula came to help me
But, from him I had to part
He cooked my steak to tough for dinner
So I drove it through his heart. (refrain)
*VERSE 4
Then the Wolfman came to help me
I said, "What's that in your mouth?
He said........fangs...........I said your welcome!!
And he still is heading south. (refrain)
VERSE 5
Oh Frankenstein, helped in the kitchen
We were mixing up a cake
But, he fell into the mixer
And got whipped up by mistake. (refrain)
VERSE 6
Cooking nicely in the oven
Oh that cake it came out fine
Told my friends those lumps were raisons
But those lumps were........Frankenstein! (refrain)
[*Verses 3 & 4 are "extra" that aren't needed for the storyline. Might be used with older audiences and omitted for younger ones. Another tip is to keep it lively and moving - eliminating 3& 4 helps this. Using the refrain as an opening or gathering song is great, especially with a mixed group where adults will know and respond to the song and the children will be thrilled to hear it's about Frankenstein.]
•••••
Contributed by
Ina Valeria Doyle
ivdoyle@rochester.rr.com
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25) THE GHOST BRIDE
[A ghost story from Lake Superior, adapted by Linda Spitzer from Twenty-five Ghost Stories by W.B. Holland. Copyright 1904, J. S. Ogilve Publishing Co. Source is Stories to Tell or Read Aloud, A Collection of Folk Tales, Legends and Myths, selected by Anne Simley. Burgess Pub. Co, Minneapolis, MN. Eerie, ghost, haunting]
Full text: The winter nights up at the Great Lakes in Canada are white and luminous as the Milky Way. The silence is also as white as can be. The stars seem brighter and seem higher than anywhere else. Peter had planned to leave early in the day to skate out over the new ice on Echo Bay. Those were his plans, but you know how plans go. His business had delayed him. He worked later that day than he expected, so he left later. He was compelled to make the journey at night.
But Peter enjoyed the feeling of exhilaration. His skates were sharp, his legs fit for a longer journey and the tang of the frost to him is what the spur is to a spirited horse. Peter felt like he was the only man on the ice that night, it was so peaceful. He was going to skate across the ice to attend the wedding of a friend, his best friend John. In fact—Peter was going to be his best man.
As he skated on that night, he began to have fancies. It seemed to him that he was enormously tall---a great Viking of the Northland skating over the icy fjords to his love. That reminded him that he had a love---a thought that was usually with him. To be sure he had not yet told her because he had seen her only a few times and had not had the opportunity. But she lived at Echo Bay and was going to be one of the bridesmaids at his friend’s wedding, which was another reason he skated as swiftly as the wind, and now and then shouted with exhilaration.
The drawback was that Julia’s family had money, and Julia lived in a fine house and wore otter skin jackets and satin-lined mink boots when she went sledding. These things made it almost impossible for Peter to say anything more than “I love you.” That much he intended to say no matter what came of it.
This determination grew on him as he sped along under the starlight. Venus, the love star, made a path to the west, but he had to turn his back on it and face northeast. Suddenly he felt as if he was not alone. His eyelashes were frosted and he thought maybe it was an illusion, but he rubbed his eyes and there he saw a tall white skater in fluttering garments who sped over the ice fast as ever a werewolf went. Peter called out “ Hey there, Hey out there, slow down, wait for me..” but there was no answer.
However fast he went, the skater went even faster. After a while he was convinced as he glanced at the North Star, that this white skater was leading him out of his direct path. He wondered if he should not keep to his planned route, but his strange companion seemed to draw him irresistibly—so he followed as if he were a magnet in the night. I don’t think this is a human, is what he thought. I wonder who she is, or—what she is, he thought to himself.
Up in those latitudes, people see strange things in winter. His own folks lived on Lake Superior and had told eerie tales. So Peter followed the white skater all night and when the ice flushed red at dawn, and arrows of lovely light shot up into the cold heavens----she---was---GONE! But Peter was at his destination. As he took off his skates he happened to look lakeward and saw a great open place where waves showed blue as sapphires beside the gleaming ice. “If I had gone along my intended path, watching the stars to guide me, as fast as I was going, looking up at the stars, I would certainly have gone into that cold grave. Oh my God, that white skater was my guardian angel," he said to himself.
Peter walked all the way to his friend’s house expecting to find all the gaiety and frolicking young people have before a wedding. But instead the groom, his best friend, met him with a solemn face. “Is this your wedding face?” asked Peter. “There’s going to be no wedding today,” said John. “Julia died last night.”
“Julia--?”
“Yes, she died last night. She had been skating in the afternoon, and came home chilled and wandering in her mind, and all the time she talked of you. We wondered what it meant. We did not know that you were lovers, but she said
that you were on the lake and that you did not know the ice was breaking up. She cried that you needed to come in by the the old French Creek,--- if you only knew—“
“ I did come in that way,” Peter interrupted.
“How did you happen to do that? It’s out of your way and much, much longer,
isn’t it?” asked John. Peter told him what had come to pass, what had happened to him as he skated that night on the ice.
That next day as they all stood at the Julia’s funeral, the bride and Julia’s best friends said prayers for her. Then they buried her in her bridesmaid’s white dress, and Peter was at the altar with her, but not as he intended. The next day Peter’s friends were married and they laid their bridal wreaths on her grave. Three nights later Peter left for home. They wanted him to go by sunlight but he had his way and went when Venus made her bright path on the ice. He hoped to see the white skater, but his only companion was the wind, and the only voice he heard was the baying of a wolf on the North Shore.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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26) TILLIE
[This story is passed on in the oral tradition. I’ve heard many tellers tell it, but have no reference for it except to say that it is passed on orally. There are two possible endings to the story – the soft ending that is the conclusion in these bones and a jump ending when Tillie removes the covers and a the teller yells “Boo!” Eerie, suspense building, jump.]
Bones: Tillie and her mother and father live in a big house with no electricity. Tillie must go to bed but can’t leave a candle on for fear of fire. She gets ready for bed but isn’t really tired so she plays some imagination games by talking to her imaginary friends (elaborate). Then Tillie hears the creak of the first step on the stairs to her bedroom and a voice that whispers softly, “Tillie, I’m on the first step.”
At first she thinks it’s her father, but that’s not his voice. (a little louder) “Tillie, I’m on the second step” Must be her mother to read her a story, but that’s not her mother’s voice. (little louder) “Tillie, I’m on the third step.”
(You can add whatever you like to the 8 or so steps with the voice getting louder and higher pitched each time. You can even make a creaking noise and just say (louder each time) I’m on the fifth step, creak, I’m on the sixth step, creak , I’m on the seventh step, creak, I’m on the eight step, creak (pause – build silent suspense) before saying “Tillie, I’m at your door” Creeeeeak, the door opens, “Tillie, I’m at the foot of your bed.” Tillie I have hold of your covers.” “Tillie, I…”
Just then Tillie threw back her covers! …and nothing was there. You see, it was just a game that Tillie liked to play, an imagination game. Sometimes what you imagine can seem real…sometimes your imagination can get the best of you!
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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27) COUGH DROPS STOPS COFFIN
[This is a shaggy dog story with a groaner of a punch line. I have heard it told many, many different ways. How you get to the punch line is half the fun. Every teller who tells it in first person takes his/her own experiences and makes it into a personal story. That’s what I did for this story. It keeps the audience thinking that this really happened.]
Bones: Little girl lives with little old man and little old woman. They make her do all the work. The only thing that loves her is her Little Dog Turpie. One night the Hobyahs come… (chant) but Little Dog Turpie hears those Hobyahs and he begins to bark (audience – bark) and all the Hobyahs run away.
Next morning the little old man is so angry at not getting sleep that he takes LDT into town to sell him for 15 dollars, but no one will by a barking dog for $15.
Repeat the Hobyahs that night. The next morning the little old lady is so angry she tries to sell it for 10 dollars, but no one will buy it.
Repeat the Hobyahs that night. The next morning the old man gives the dog away.
(This is very different from the original – in it, the old man cuts off the dog’s four legs, and, finally, the dog’s tail – the dog dies. I never kill off the dog in a story. Also, the chant in the original is different)
That night…(repeat) but there was no LDT to hear or smell the Hobyahs coming. So they come into the house and eat up the little old man (tasted like Kentucky Fried Chicken) and the little old woman (like a Hostess Twinkie). Then, because the sun is going to rise they find the little girl stuff her in a bag and bring her to the cave, drop the package outside the cave, rush inside, and fall asleep (snore)
Little girl knows she’s in trouble. She yells “help me, help me.” It so happens that a man with his big black dog is walking by that part of the mountain and he hears the cries. When he opens the bag he finds…his little girl whom he has been searching for. (in the original it’s a stranger and she goes off with him – didn’t like that ending so…) She recognizes her father and tells him the whole story of the little old man and woman and how they gave away LDT. She tells him about the Hobyahs. The man takes his dog and puts it in the bag and ties it up. Then, they go into town to find LDT. But that night, when the Hobyahs wake up…they come creeping out of the cave singing “Hobyah’s, Hobyahs, Hobyahs, we will eat up the little girl.” They open the bag and out pops the dog (audience bark) and eats up all the Hobyahs. That’s why to this day you will never see, hear or smell those Hobyahs. The only thing left is this story.
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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29) DEMON GOAT
[An original story by Marilyn Kinsella based on the old song Bill Grogan's Goat. Contact Marilyn at
markinsella19@hotmail.com for permission to retell.]
Full Text: It was a dark and stormy night. The Grogan family hauled into their old blue Chevy pick-up truck and headed for town. There was a town meeting in the back of Jackson's feed store. Bill's wife Mary and their son Jack would catch the Tom Mix movie at the movie house. But... the family never got to town.
They were about halfway to town when a pair of yellow glowing eyes seemed to appear out of nowhere -the yellow light reflecting in truck's headlight. Bill slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting whatever it was in the middle of the road. Young Jack jumped out of the truck's cab to see what it was.
"Dad, come here. You won't believe this. It's a goat - a baby goat. Just a kid. Gosh, Dad, we can't leave it here. Can we take it home? Can we?”
"Well, what in tarnation is a baby goat doin' out here in the middle of nowhere on a night like this? Ole Scratch himself must have put him out here."
Bill had a funny feelin' about that goat. But he knew he couldn't leave it out there, so he said, "Oh, put in the back of the truck. We'll take him home. Bet nobody shows up for the meetin' anyway. This night isn't fit for man nor beast."
By the time they got home that poor little goat was tremblin' and looked to be half drowned. Jack took the goat to the barn and grabbed some towels to dry him off. After that, Jack got some hay and put it in the corner stall and placed the goat down so it could go to sleep. As he carefully laid the towels over the stall to dry, he looked down at the goat and said, "There you go, little fellow. Now you're all nice and dry and ready for a good night's sleep." But that goat didn't make any noise, just stared at Jack as he walked away. Jack blew out the lantern and it was dark...real dark. Jack felt the hair on the back of his neck rise...like something was starin' at him. He turned around. And there in the darkness he could see those two yellow eyes like burning embers starin' at him. Jack stopped short as he remembered his father's words, "Ole Scratch himself must have put him out here," and a shiver ran down Jack's spine.
The next morning the rooster crowed to greet a cloudless sky. When Jack walked outside he noticed right off that it was quiet... almost too quiet. Jack went to the barn to check on the goat. But the goat was gone. The stall was empty - no goat, no towels, no hay - just an empty stall. It was then that Jack saw the goat silhouetted in the doorway of the barn. Jack thought maybe it was a trick of the light but that little goat didn't seem as little as it had the night before. It seemed bigger…and hairier. As Jack passed by that goat, he saw those yellow eyes starin’ at him as he made his way to the back kitchen door.
Jack ran inside. "Mom? Mom, did you wash those towels I used last night?"
"Landsakes Jack. I'm busy gettin' breakfast ready. What makes you think that I've got time to do the wash?"
"That's not what I meant. What I mean is the that the towels are missing that I used."
"Well, you probably threw them in the corner like you do all your clothes."
"NO, I remember laying them over the stall to dry."
Just then Bill walked in.
"Dad, did you pick up the towels in the barn?"
"Really, Jack, I can't be worried about no towels. Three of my best layin' hen disappeared last night. That ole fox must be back."
"Did you see the fox?"
"Nope, didn't see any trace of him. There's no chickens, no feathers, no nothin'. Nothin' but that goat we picked up last night. Say, you know I thought that was a little kid goat, but he doesn't look so little this morning."
"I know," said Jack, "I know."
That night when Jack went to bed he couldn't sleep. He kept seeing those yellow eyes. And now he knew what those yellow eyes were thinking..."I'm hungry...I'm hungry." Jack hid under the covers. Finally his mother came to check on him. "Law, Jack, what are doin' under those covers?"
"Oh, nothin', Ma. Say, would you mind keepin' the night light on for tonight?"
"Okay, Jack, whatever. Just get some sleep."
But, even with the light on, he still saw those yellow eyes peeking out of the closet or under the bed.
The next morning there was no doubt about it. The goat was bigger and hairier. It had a long beard and hair all around its long face. But, even so, you still see those eyes.
And, since that goat had come, all sorts of things disappeared - a horse blanket, three cans of garbage (which nobody really missed), a 50-lb. bag of cement, a tractor tire and, it seemed to Bill, that his sheep herd was lookin’ a little light.
Bill had had enough. So he took a metal chain and chained that goat to a metal pole in the middle of the barnyard. "There you go, you ole rascal. See if you can get out of this. I'll call you Houdini, ifn' you do!" Bill left to go work in the fields. While he was away the goat made himself comfortable under an oak tree and pretended to sleep.
Mary came outside to finish the wash. She had to wash her Sunday-go-to-Meetin' clothes for tomorrow’s church services. She had an old leaky wringer washer that she kept outside so it didn't mess up her floors. She took Bill's favorite red flannel shirt, her new red silk blouse and Jack's new red Cardinal’s T-shirt washed them, rinsed them, and put them on the line to dry. Then she went back inside to finish her baking.
Now that old goat was not asleep. He watched Mary through half-closed eyes and waited till she left. After she was gone, he walked over to that clothes line and proceeded to eat those clothes, clothespins and all, and then, topped it all off with the washing machine. Bill turned the corner just in time to see the goat wolfing down the last of the wringer. "That does it! You've done et your last! The devil probably put you out on that road cause you were eatin' the Old Man out of house and home."
Bill was so angry that he took a stick and gave that goat 4 or 5 mighty whacks. It didn't even phase that goat. He just looked at Bill with those yellow eyes and said, "I'm baaaaaad! I'm real baaaad!" Bill couldn't take no lip from no old goat so he took the goat to the back forty where the train tracks bordered his farm. Bill worked feverishly to get that goat strapped down before the 4-20 on it way to Bakersville came barrelin’ down the tracks. As he walked away, he could hear the whistle blowin’. "Good riddance!" And he never looked back.
That goat was down, but he wasn't out. He began gagging and spitting. He coughed and sputtered tryin’ to bring up those shirts to flag the train. He almost had it too...except the buttons from Bill's flannel shirt got caught in his throat.
What happened next, no mere words can describe. Just to let you know that there weren't nothin’...I mean nothin' left of that goat. It makes the words "blown to kingdom come" take on new meaning. So, you see, to this day there's nothin’ left of that goat except this song. You might know a different version than I, so let’s sing it with a call and response.
Lyrics:
Bill Grogan’s goat/ Ate all kinds of matter/ So BGG/ Grew fatter and fatter.
He ate three chickens/ And the kitchen sink/ he ate some sheep/ as quick as a wink.
BGG/ was feelin' mean/ Ate three red shirts/ And the washing machine.
Bill took a stick/ And gave him some whacks/ And tied him to/ the railroad tracks.
The whistle blew/ The train drew nigh/ Bill Grogan's goat would surely die.
That goat it shook/ And gasped in pain/ Coughing up those shirts/ to flag the train.
But the buttons got stuck/ In the middle of his throat/ And that was the end/ Of Bill Grogan's goat.
When you go to bed/ and turn off the light/ two yellow eyes/ will give you a fright.
It's BGG/ lookin' for to eat/ He'll eat your head/ down to your feet.
So don't you cry/ and don't you moan/ Or Bill Grogan’s goat/ Will chew your bones.
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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30) THE WHISTLING TSONAQUAS
[This story had its origin among the Native Americans in the Northwest. It is spelled phonetically, and I have seen it spelled differently – even with a “D” instead of a “T”. My friend, January Kiefer, and I used to tell it in tandem. She adapted the story, but the basic framework is the same. There are many, many mosquito stories from different cultures. Many of the Native American versions have a monster of some sort being burned and the ashes turning into mosquitoes. Scary.]
Set up: Describing the WTs – “great huge wide foreheads with tiny little red beady eyes stuck way back in the back of their skulls and mouths that stuck out like this oogh” (mouth stuck out). They only came out at night looking for humans. You could hear their sound (high pitched – “mmmmmmmm”) If they got close, you could hear the words “We will whistle in your ears, we will whistle in your ears and we will suck your blood.”
Bones: Two adventuresome boys are given something to protect them. Father gives them a rock and the mother a comb made from the bones of a fish. One day playing hard they don’t notice that it is getting dark. Then they hear “mmmmmm – we will whistle…”) There is a big Tsonaqua boy with…. “a great huge wide forehead…. “ He picks the boys up to take home for supper.
They see the boy’s house and the old woman inside, but the Tsonaqua boy scrapes his leg against a broken piece of wood. Mother comes up to lick that blood. Taking the opportunity, the boys break away and start running. First boy throws the rock and it turns into a huge pit that the WTs have to climb in and out of. The second boy throws the comb and it turns into a forest that the WTs have to cut down. (after each throw the WTs cry “We will whistle in your…”) The boys make it back home.
The parents start setting a trap inside their lodge – digging a pit but put a fire at the bottom with green grass on top; planks of wood over the hole, bear skins over wood; plates and platters filled with food. They hear the WTs coming (repeat “mmmm, We will whistle…”) When WTs come, they offer the food. The WTs eat ravenously not noticing the family inch off the bearskins to the corners of the room or even their bottoms getting hotter. Then, there is an explosion and the wood, the bearskins, the plates and platters, and the WTs fall in and burn up.
As they burn, they make one final curse – (repeat) “We will whistle in your ears….”
Some ask if this is a true story. Well, after the Ws burned and there was nothing left but the ash, a wind came along and carried those ashes into the air. And those ashes became…mosquitoes! And that’s the story that the NW c oast Indians tell of how mosquitoes came into this world.
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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31) DINGLE DANGLE SCARECROW
[Preschool/kindergarten with audience participation]
[The poem has been around awhile - several versions of it along with other nursery school rhymes and participation activities. Also a song at this site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/songs/d/dingledanglescarecrowfull.shtml
There's a book version - Dingle Dangle Scarecrow by M. Russell Smith fromThe Useful Book (ABC Books)
http://home.earthlink.net/~npernarelli/songs.htm
Even an animated version
http://www.rhymesandsongs.com/nursery_rhymes/dingledangle.html
Cute version with directions
http://www.tessarose.co.nz/songs/dingle.html ]
Bones:
1. When all the cows were sleeping, (Tuck arms and legs under self)
And the sun had gone to bed (Hand "sets" behind other arm in front of body)
(Long pause followed by shout which gets the Jump effect)
OUT jumped the scarecrow,
And this is what he said:
REFRAIN:
"I'm a dingle dangle scarecrow (Flop like a scarecrow)
With a flippy floppy hat. (Use hands to flop hat)
And I can wave my arms like this, (Wave floppy arms)
And shake my feet like that." (Shake feet - sitting or standing)
2. When all the hens were sleeping. (Tuck head under wing/arm)
And the moon went behind a cloud. (One hand behind the other.)
(Pause a little longer as they'll be anticipating shouted "out")
OUT jumped the scarecrow
And said out loud:
"I'm a dingle dangle scarecrow (Flop like a scarecrow)
With a flippy floppy hat, (Use hands to flop hat)
And I can wave my arms like this,(Wave floppy arms)
And shake my feet like that." (Shake feet)
3. When all the pigs were sleeping, (Wiggle as if rolling in mud)
And the stars were shining bright. (Fingertips to make flashing stars)
(Pause much longer until you get some giggles)
OUT jumped the scarecrow,
And said with all his might:
"I'm a dingle dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat,
And I can wave my arms like this,
And shake my feet like that."
TIPS: Elicit each time from youngsters how a particular animal sleeps.
•••••
Contributed by
Ina Valeria Doyle
ivdoyle@rochester.rr.com
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32) A RAP STORY
Bones: Men are not scared, I was twelve at the time but twelve is when boys become men. It was September and I had been twelve in July, so since I was twelve I could not be scared, Frankie and Butchy were going to meet me at my house and we were going to get hickory nuts at a special grove that I knew.
I could imagine the way the air would turn gold as the afternoon sun splashed through the brownish-yellowee leaves the night frosts had painted on the hickories, and imagine it I did as I waited for Frankie and Butchy at my house, just as I imagined the fun they would be having at my grove.
As I ran along the path that ran between our houses, they were not on that path or at their homes. I had not told them about the shortcut through the Fitzsydner place. Butchy would have made fun of my reluctance to use it. He would not have accepted the facts that the path had strange chills, and the piles of pine needles never got dry where the sun didn't shine and the piles gave off weird smelling mists in the daytime and worse smelling glows at night.
Butchy would have said that I was scared. I was twelve and men were not scared. When I got to the shortcut I had no choice. I had not caught up with Frankie and Butchy. I could not let them get to the grove ahead of me. I had to take the shortcut. I was not scared as the path drew closer to the Fitzsydner place and I saw the boards pulled loose from the cellar window. I was not scared when I heard faintly from the window the rap, rap rapping sound. I was not scared when I stood on the musty smelling trash that covered the cellar floor.
I was not scarred when I brushed the webs from my face and hair. I was not scared when I wondered at the size and location of the spiders that had woven the webs. I was not scared when I ran up the open stairs to the kitchen, even though the rap, rapping was louder up there. I was not scared when I stood in the rapidly fading light that came in through the cracks in the boards over the windows. I was not scared when I listened at the bottom of the stairway to the second floor, even though the rap rapping was louder up there. I was not scared when the creaking of the stairs was louder then the rap, rapping sound. I was not scared when I stood at the base of the attic stairwell and the beads of sweat on my forehead were caused by the heat stored in the slate roof, not by fear, as I stood at the top of the stairwell. I was not scared as I looked toward the window and saw the old steamer trunk. I was not scared as I undid the leather straps that held it closed. I was not scared as I lifted the lid. I was not scared by the ugliness I saw as I looked inside.
But I tell you true, it was the ugliest looking wrapping paper that I have ever seen— going rappedi, rap, rap.
•••••
Contributed by
SOS The Caring Community
wayfayer@goes.com
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33) SHORTEST SCARY STORIES IN THE WORLD
[Each one I've heard called the shortest scary story in the world.]
1. A boy sat down on a park bench next to an old woman. She turned to him and asked, "Do you believe in ghosts?" "NO!" said the boy. "Well, I do," said the woman as she disappeared.
2. A man awoke in the middle of the night, and terrified, he reached for a flashlight. It was placed in his hand.
3. The last person on earth was alone in a house. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
[Along the same lines, I heard this from another storyteller, and think it may have been the idea of someone specific, but I'm not sure who.]
All the Scary Stories in the World in Six Seconds
"Give me my golden arm."
"You've got it!"
"Give me my tailypo."
"You've got it!"
"Give me my hairy toe."
"You've got it!"
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn McPhie
mcphie@cts.com
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34) IT WAS A DARK, DARK NIGHT
[This is a classic jump tale. With each line get quieter and quieter and lean in a little closer and closer, until you...SAY THE ENDING LOUDLY AND WITH A JUMP!]
It was a dark, dark night.
And on that dark, dark night, there was a dark, dark woods.
And in that dark, dark woods, there was a dark, dark house.
And in that dark, dark house, there was a dark, dark room.
And in that dark, dark room, there was a dark, dark closet.
And in that dark, dark closet, there was a dark, dark shelf.
And on that dark, dark shelf, there was a dark, dark box.
And in that dark, dark box..THERE WAS A GHOST!
•••••
Contributed by
Wendy Gourley, Utah
Storyteller/Storyteacher
storywings@msn.com
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35) CAPTAIN, TELL US A STORY
[Here’s another little story that my brother and sisters and I would tell each other when we were young. First, we would climb into the vacuum closet and shut the door. It was cramped and completely dark. Then the designated storyteller would start in his/her most spooky, low voice:]
And this is what he said:
It was a dark and stormy night, and as we sat around the campfire, someone said, “Captain, tell us a story.” And this is what he said:
It was a dark and stormy night, and as we sat around the campfire, someone said, “Captain, tell us a story.” And this is what he said:
It was a dark and stormy night....etc.
[I remember getting chills each and every time and of course, it would eventually dissolve into giggles.]
•••••
Contributed by
Wendy Gourley, Utah
Storyteller/Storyteacher
storywings@msn.com
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36) THE HOPPING PUMPKIN
[Funny, surprise ending, for all ages]
Bones: Once upon a time there was an old woman. She looked at her calendar and saw that it was just about Halloween.
“Oh my goodness! Those kids will be around dressed as spooks and goblins. What’ll I do? Then she saw a big pumpkin still in the garden. She brought it in and cut off the top. Then she scooped out the slimy insides and with her best knife carved a truly scary face on it with wicked eyes, a hook nose and a leering grin. Then she found a stub (show thumb for size) of a candle and took it outside. She put the pumpkin on a wooden post and lit the candle.
The old woman looked at the pumpkin and the pumpkin looked at the old woman and it went WAAAH!
“Wo-oo!” went the old woman and she ran off.
“Ho-Hum,” said the pumpkin. “That was fun.” And he went hop, hop, hop on his one wooden leg down the road till he came to a fisherman beside a river.(hop with upraised thumb)
The fisherman looked at the pumpkin and the pumpkin looked at the fisherman and it went WAAAH!
“Wo-oo!” went the fisherman. He threw his rod one way and he dived into the water and swam to the other side.
“Ho-Hum,” said the pumpkin. “That was fun.” And he went hop, hop, hop on his one wooden leg down the road till he came to a bakery where the baker was just taking a big tray of cookies out of the oven.
The baker looked at the pumpkin and the pumpkin looked at the baker and it went WAAAH!
“Wo-oo!” went the baker, up went the tray and cookies fell like rain.
“Ho-Hum,” said the pumpkin. “That was fun.” And he went hop, hop, hop on his one wooden leg down the road till he came to a farmer who was trundling a wheelbarrow full of turnips to feed his hungry pig.
The farmer looked at the pumpkin and the pumpkin looked at the farmer and it went WAAAH!
“Wo-oo!” went the farmer, down went the wheelbarrow and the turnips rolled all over the field.
“Ho-Hum,” said the pumpkin. “That was fun.” And he went hop, hop, hop on his one wooden leg down the road till he came to the farm.
The farmer’s wife was on the porch saying, “Where is that man! He only went to get turnips for the poor hungry pig.”
And the pig in his pen said,” Where is that man. I am so hungry.”
The pumpkin went hop, hop, hop on his one wooden leg up to the pig pen.
“WAAH!” said the pumpkin. Was the pig scared? No, the pig was hungry! So he ate the pumpkin, wicked eyes, hook nose, leering grin and all, and he even ate the stub of the candle.
“Ho-hum,“ said the pig. “That was fun.”
•••••
Contributed by
Jane Dorfman
Jane.Dorfman@montgomerycountymd.gov
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37) THE INITIATION
[A jump tale by Sandy Pomerantz, not for tiny tots]
Bones: I tell the audience about the snobbish cliique of about 10 students, mostly seniors, I belonged to in college. A couple of freshman girls wanted to join our club, so we set up an initiation. They had to meet us at an old delapidated mansion at the edge of the college town on Halloween. Supposedly, the place was abandoned years ago because someone was murdered there.
They met us and we told them that they had to go in with flashlights (sometimes it’s candles) and shine them through the window on every landing of the four floors to prove that they went up all the stairs. We had pulled open the door, which was falling off its hinges, and they went in (shaking, of course) We saw the light on every floor and then nothing. We waited a while and when they didn’t return, we went in ourselves, thinking that they planned to turn the tables and scare us after hearing how badly we had treated some of the other students who wanted to be a part of our group.
We saw their footprints on every landing as we went up into the attic with our flashlights. There we saw something red and sticky and assumed it was catsup and that they went out through an attic window that was open to the roof and lowered themselves down or had help waiting silently for them.
The next day we were picked up by the police for questioning because they never made it back to the dorms. They were never found and we were suspended for a week, our reputation was ruined to the point of the dissolving of our clique, etc.
Ten (twenty?) years later on Halloween night, one of the girls from the group died mysteriously, the next year (you can make it every 5 years, etc., depending on your age) another of the group went crazy, the next year one died in a fire, the next another hanged herself, etc.
"And this Halloween I’m the only one who’s left - BLAHHHH!"
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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38) THE HAUNTED TREASURE
[Scary, suspense building, surprise ending, for all ages]
Bones: My car breaks down on a lonely country road at dusk and I walk back to an old mansion I passed a short time before. It looks delapidated and I’m not sure if anyone lives there, but the front door is partly open and I see candle light flickering from another room. I call out, and when no one answers I try the door, which is unlocked. I go to the room with the candlelight and find a table with a scrumptious dinner set for one person. There is a roast turkey with all the trimmings, even wine, and I decide to sit and enjoy it while it is still warm.
After eating and walking around the first floor with a candle, I see lots of old furniture covered with dust, but no people. I decide to try an upstairs bedroom for a night’s sleep. I plan to walk to a major road for help the next morning. I find a room with the door open in invitation to a four-poster bed with a thick mattress and the covers turned down and clean sheets beneath as if awaiting me.
I get in and am almost asleep when I hear a noise, and in the dim light of the candle I see the ghost of a man in the doorway. He tells me not to be afraid. He glides to the foot of the bed and tells me his story. He is the owner of the place. His partner in a mining operation murdered him for the second half of the gold treasure they had shared when they struck it rich. The dastardly murderer never found where he hid his gold. Before he crosses over, he has decided to give his treasure to the first person who came along and accepted his hospitality despite their fear. If I will follow him outside, he will show me where it is.
I take the candle and follow him as he glides before me down the staircase, out the door, and around to the back of the house. There is a strand of young, pine trees there and he points out the one under which his gold is buried. He suggests that I wait till morning and get a pick and shovel from the nearby shed to retrieve the gold. I turn towards the shed as he points it out, and when I look back he has disappeared.
Oh, no! How will I know which pine tree is the one where I need to dig in the morning? I am desparate and the candle has almost burned out. Ah hah! I know what I’ll do. I’ll bite around the tree iin a circle and mark it like a beaver. I begin to scrape the bark with my teeth, spitting out the yucky bark splinters. I go around the tree a few times when suddenly the canopy falls on my head and wakes me up. I have bitten clear through the bedpost.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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39) DRACULA IS COMING TO TOWN
[By Sandy Pomerantz. Song parody to the tune of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."]
Refrain:
Oh, you’d better watch out
You'd better not cry.
You’d better not pout
I’m tellin’ you why
Dracula is coming to town.
He’s biting your neck
Tasting it twice
Gonna find out who tastes naughty or nice
Dracula is coming to town.
He bites you when you’re sleeping
He won’t let you awake
He’ll know if you taste bad or good
So taste bad for goodness sake.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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40) HALLOWEEN, OH HALLOWEEN!
[By Sandy Pomerantz. Song parody to the tune of "Hanukkah, O Hanukkah."]
Refrain:
Halloween, oh, Halloween
It’s such a muh-hyah
Witches in black schmahtahs
Way up in the sky-ah
E.T. and Annie are outside on the streets.
Let’s hope that they won’t find
Cyanide in their treats
And while they are praying
That someone will answer the door
Ghosts and Godzilla
Once such a gedillah
Just aren’t quite the same any more
With folks so afraid
Of crime, pills and razor blades
It’s just not the same any more.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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41) JACK-O, THE RED-NOSED PUMPKIN
[By Sandy Pomerantz. Song parody to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."]
Refrain:
Jack-o, the red-nosed pumpkin
Had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw it
You might even say it glows
All of the other pumpkins
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Jack-o
Join in any Halloween games.
Then one foggy Halloween
The witches came to say
Jack-o with your nose so bright
Won’t you guide our brooms tonight
Then all the witches loved him
Do you know the reason why?
Because he was so tasty November first,
When they ate him up as pumpkin pie.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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42) PUMPKIN BELLS
[Found on a 30-year-old Hallmark card. Song parody to the tune of "Jingle Bells."]
Refrain:
Dashing through the streets
In our costumes bright and gay
To each house we go
Laughing all the way
Halloween is here
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to trick-or-treat
And sing pumpkin carols tonight
Oh! Pumpkin bells! Pumpkin bells!
Ringing loud and clear
Oh, what fun Great Pumpkin brings
When Halloween is here.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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43) SHIVERY YELLS
[Found on a 30-year-old Hallmark card. Song parody to the tune of "Silver Bells."]
Refrain:
We’re on sidewalks, we’re on porches
Dressed in costumes to scare
Through the city we’re ringing the doorbells
Trick-or-treating, candy eating
Gooey stuff in our hair
But the most fun is shrieking out loud
Shivery yells, shivery yells
That’s the Halloween nitty-gritty
Moan and groan, leave us alone
Halloween’s just one night a year.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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44) THIS OLD GHOST
[By Sandy Pomerantz. Song parody to the tune of "This Old Man ."]
Refrain:
With a boogety, boogety, boogety boo
This old ghost says, "Howjado?"
This old ghost
He scared one
He thought scaring folks was fun.
This old ghost
He scared two
He scared us when he yelled, " Boo!"
This old ghost
He scared three
Then he flew through the air
And hollered, "Whee!"
This old ghost
He scared four
He even scared a dinosaur.
This old ghost
He scared five
He jumped on them with a power dive
This old ghost
He scared six
He played lots of spooky tricks
This old ghost
He scared seven
He even frightened my friend Kevin
This old ghost
He scared eight
Then flapped his sheet to celebrate
This old ghost
He scared nine
He was the ghost of Frankenstein
This old ghost
He scared ten
They didn’t trick-or-treat again.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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45) WE THREE GHOULS
[By Sandy Pomerantz. Song parody to the tune of "We Three Kings."]
Refrain:
We three ghouls of Halloween are.
Seeking gifts we travel afar
Apples, candy, gum is dandy
Traveling by foot or car.
Oh! Ghouls of wonder, ghouls of fright
Trick-or-treating in the night
Our eyes are gleaming
Children screaming
Running from the scary sight.
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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46 ) THE THIRTEEN DAYS OF HALLOWEEN
[Found on a 30-year-old Hallmark card. Song parody to the tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas."]
On the first day of Halloween
My true love gave to me
A hoot owl in an oak tree.
Thirteen cauldrons bubbling
Twelve bats a-flying
Eleven masks a-leering
Ten ghouls a-groaning
Nine ghosts a-booing
Eight monsters shrieking
Seven pumpkins glowing
Six globlins gobbling
Five scary spooks
Four skeletons
Three black cats
Two trick-or-treaters
And a hoot owl in a dead tree. (or "oak tree")
[This song has become the popular finale of my Halloween programs for elementary and even middle school age kids. I have done artwork with permanent markers representing each line on large sheets of manilla tag paper which I have laminated. On the back at the top, I have printed in permanent black marker what is pictured on the other side.
I get thirteen kids to volunteer and stand in a row in the front facing the audience and holding the cards with the back towards the audience at the start. As each item is added from left to right, that kid turns the card around and holds it at chest level for the audience to see At the end of each verse, we sing "And a hoot owl in a dead tree. Boom, boom!" On the "Boom, boom" everyone who has held up their pictures face out during that verse lowers them on the second boom from chest level to hips level. Everyone raises them again when their card's line is sung. I demonstrate with the first child, and the rest get it right away.
If you don't like any of these lines, change to spiders spinning, witches (or brooms) a-flying, etc. Sometimes I say hour instead of day.]
•••••
Contributed by
Sandy Pomerantz
sandytelling@earthlink.net
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47) THERE'S A MONSTER IN MY ROOM!
[A scripted puppet show
by Granny Sue.]
Cast:
Puppets: boy, woman, monster 1 and monster 2 Props: bed, window
Play:
Narrator: It was bedtime. Sammy hated bedtime—you know why? Because every night, as soon as his mother left the room, MONSTERS started making noises under his bed. Now you probably don’t have this problem at your house. But Sammy did, and it was a BIG problem for him.
Mother: Goodnight, Sammy.
Sammy: Aw, do I have to go to bed now? Can’t you tell me one more story? Please?
Mother: No, Sammy. We’ve already read 23 books and I’ve told you 6 stories. We read Where the Wild Things Are, Goldilocks, Make Way for Ducklings….
Sammy: Yeah, but we didn’t read Green Eggs and Ham! Read Green Eggs and Ham. Please, Mom!
Mother: No, it’s time for you to go to sleep, Sammy.
Sammy: But Mom, I have to read 50 books for the library so I can win my t-shirt! That’s only 27 more. We could get it done tonight! Then I could get my shirt at the library tomorrow when we go there for storytime!
Mother: That’s a good try, Sammy, but it’s not working. We have all summer to read those books. Let’s save some for another night. Now, you lie down and close your eyes. You’ll be asleep in no time. You’ll see. Then tomorrow we’ll go to the library and you can watch the puppet show! You know you like puppet shows.
Sammy: Oh…okay. I can’t wait to see the puppet show. And I like storytime. Do you know what the puppet show is going to be?
Mother: No, but I think the storytime is about monsters.
Sammy: Monsters! Did you say MONSTERS?!
Mother: Yes, dear. Won’t that be fun? Now, good night. Sleep tight!
(She leaves the stage)
Sammy: Mom! Mommmmmmy!!!!!
(no answer)
Sammy: Oh no. She’s gone. They’re going to come, I just know it. They always come after it gets dark.
(Monster 1 appears on stage))
Monster: (sort of singing) Oh Sammy, I’m heeee-re. Can you hear me, Sammy? It’s me, that terrible monster that scares you so much. Grrrrr…
Sammy: Go away! Go away! MMMMMOOOOOOMMMMM!
(Mother comes back onstage, monsters disappears)
Mother: Sammy! What on earth are you yelling about?
Sammy: The monster! He’s here, Mommy, he’s here. Save me!
Mother: Silly boy. There’s nothing here. You’re just imagining things.
Sammy: No! He’s under my bed! Look under my bed!
Mother: (bending over to look under the bed)
There’s nothing here, Sammy. Just some dirty socks, a toy….
Sammy: Nothing? You’re sure?
Mother: Absolutely sure. Now, go to sleep. Good night!
Sammy: But…but…but…..
(Mother leaves the stage)
Sammy: Did I imagine that monster? Maybe I did…or maybe he was in my closet!
(Monster 2 appears onstage)
Monster 2: Oh, Sammy! Guess who’s here, It’s me, monster #2. You knew I’d come, didn’t you? You thought we were under the bed, but we’re in your closet this time!
Sammy: Go away! Go away! No, I didn’t know you’d come, and I don’t want you in my closet! Go away!
(Mother comes back onstage, and Monster disappears)
Mother: Samantha Sylvia Stephanie Smith! WHAT is all this noise about!
Sammy: Monsters!!! Monsters in my closet!!
Mother: There are NO monsters under you bed, Sammy. No monsters in your closet. None—Nada—Nothing—not any, not never, not NO MONSTERS AT ALL!!!! Do you understand me? If I hear one more sound out of you, we won’t go to the library tomorrow. Understand? Now—GO TO SLEEP!
(She leaves, angry)
Sammy: (to audience) Uh…she sure is mad, isn’t she? But I know they’re there. Did you see them? All right…I’m getting pretty tired of this. These monsters are getting me in trouble with my Mom! I’m not going to miss storytime because of some ol’ monster!
(He looks around) Monsters! Monsters! I know you’re in here somewhere! Come out this minute! I mean it. You’re getting me in trouble, and I’M GETTING ANGRY!!!!
(Monsters come out)
Monster 1: Don’t be mad, Sammy! We were just having fun with you. We like to play! And scaring you is fun!
Sammy: Oh yeah? Fun, huh? Well, you just got me in trouble with my Mom. If I don’t get to sleep, I can’t go to storytime tomorrow and see the puppet show, and it’s all YOUR fault!
Monster 2: Aw, gee, I LIKE storytime. They’re supposed to talk about monsters tomorrow. I want to go!
Sammy: Well, none of us will go if you guys keep bothering me and keeping me awake.
Monster 1: (crying) I wanna go to storytime! I wanna go to storytime!
Monster 2: SHHHH! His Mommy will come back in here! Then we’ll ALL be in trouble!
Monster 1: (sniffing) I’m sorry, I forgot. I just don’t want to miss storytime…. (starts crying again, but quietly)
Sammy: Listen, guys, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll be quiet if you promise to quit scaring me. Then we can all go to the library tomorrow.
Monster 2: Okay! That’s a good deal!
Sammy: Now, go back in the closet, and be quiet!
Monster 1: Do we have to? It’s scary in there. And there’s some dirty laundry that smells REALLY bad!
Monster 2: Yeah, and lots of spooky dust! Don’t you ever clean under there? I don’t wanna go under the bed. (Whining) Please don’t make me go back in there!
Sammy: Oh, all right. I’ll tell you what. You can sleep on the floor beside my bed. Will THAT make you happy?
Monsters 1 and 2: Oh yeah! Yes! Perfect! Thank you!
Sammy: Okay, okay. Now…let’s GET SOME SLEEP!
Narrator: And that’s exactly what they did. From that night on, Sammy never worried about monsters, and the monsters never had to worry about scary dust or stinky socks again.
The End
•••••
Contributed by
Granny Sue
Susanna Holstein
susannaholstein@yahoo.com
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48) THE GHOST THAT DIDN'T WANT TO BE A GHOST
[This story is copyrighted material. It comes from Ghosts Go Haunting by Sorche Nic Leodhas (Leclaire Alger). Illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian. Austin, Texas: Holt Rinehart Winston, 1965. Permission to use pending. Funny, all ages.]
Bones: The opening paragraph introduces us to an old Highland chief who looks after a clan of ghosts, keeping them well in hand and making them l like it into the bargain.
Then a new, young ghost joins them, and he just doesn't seem to fit in. He doesn't like the place they have found for him to haunt. He doesn't like the color of his shroud, and, of course, he doesn't like those clanking chains.
He is taking all the fun out of ghosting for the others. They get up a petition and take it to the chief ghost, who sends for the discontented ghost. The young one admits he never wanted to be a ghost. Couldn't he be something else?
He is given the opportunity to come back as himself That doesn't work. His brother now has his room, his things. His job has been given to someone else His fiancée is marrying his best friend, but he now realizes she talks all the time, says silly things.
The old chief tells him they'll have to put him in with somebody who is already in the world. Maybe a doctor? No time to himself. A lawyer? No. He doesn't want to decide who is right or wrong. Maybe a farmer? No, they have to work too hard.
The old chief says he'll have to think of something himself. The young ghost decides he wants to be a cat—a specific cat. He leads the old chief to a small house. A small boy has been ill, and has so little interest in life left in him that he just lies there. The young ghost points to a kitten, sleeping on the blanket. "That's the cat for me!"
The chief transforms the ghost into the cat. The thumping of the kitten's feet draws the little boy's attention, soon they are laughing, playing.
When at last he dies, loved and pampered, he gives up his ninth life willingly, because he has always known that cats don't have ghosts.
•••••
Contributed by
Margaret Lawrence
Storyglobe@aol.com
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49) THE GREEN RIBBON
[Traditional story; no author credit. Found in Diane Goode's Book of Scary Stories and Songs. Dutton's Children's Books, 1994. Notes say: "This simple story, an enduring favorite of children, may have its source, according to folklorist Alvin Schwartz, in a folk belief of the Middle Ages that a red thread worn around the neck marked the place where someone's head had fallen off and was then reattached."]
Bones:
Little girl, Jenny, like all others, except always wore a green ribbon around her neck.
Boy in her class, Alfred; A liked J and J liked A.
A asked J,"Why do you wear that green ribbon all the time?"
"Can't tell you."
A kept asking; J responded "Not important."
J & A grew up, fell in love, married. After wedding, A said "Now we are married, you must tell me about the green ribbon."
"You must still wait. I'll tell you when the time is right."
Years passed; couple grew old; J became very sick; doctor told her she was dying; J called A to her side.
"Alfred, now I can tell you about the green ribbon. Untie it and you will see why I could not tell you before."
Slowly, A untied the ribbon...
And Jenny's head fell off.
•••••
Contributed by
Dale W. Pepin
STORY SOCKS
dalejeannine.pepin@sympatico.ca
http://pages.zdnet.com/storysocks
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50) THE GRAVEYARD VOICE
[Bones taken from The Ghost and I, adapted by Betty Lehrman and Margaret Lawrence. All ages. Funny. This can be an effective participation story if the storyteller encourages the listeners to make the sound of the wind, the rustling of the leaves, the creaking of the gate and the door.]
Bones: John and Mary were an ordinary couple, and their children, Jimmy and Jeannie, were also ordinary, except for the fact that they lived beside a graveyard.
John walked to and from work through the graveyard every day, and never worried about a thing. Then when daylight savings time kicked in, and it was dark by the time he came home, he felt very uneasy. When he heard a voice saying, "Turn me over, turn me over!"
he ran all the way home. His wife and children laughed at him and told him there was nothing spooky in the graveyard, nothing to fear.
The second night, he heard the voice, ran all the way home and again they laughed at him.
The third night was Halloween. Clouds covered the moon, and the night was pitch black. This time he followed the sound of the voice, through trees, past bushes, down a path to the graveyard. He saw a huge marble crypt, surrounded by a wrought iron fence. He pushed the gate. ( cree-eeak). He walked down the steps (count to 13).
The voice was coming from behind the huge metal door. It was saying "Turn me over, turn me over." He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it, cree-eak . . . and looked inside.
He saw a pile of red hot coals. On top of that was a metal grill. And on top of the grill was a hamburger, done on one side. He picked up the spatula, and he turned the hamburger over.
It said, "Thaaaank youuuuuu."
•••••
Contributed by
Margaret Lawrence
Storyglobe@aol.com
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51)
THE SKELETON WOMAN
[A Cree story, told by Gayle Ross, who gives credit to Ron Evans. For older children and adults.]
Bones: An elderly man and woman lived where the winter nights were endless and the snow lay deep. As the snow grew deeper, the animals began moving away to the south. There was no food in the house, and they began to starve.
They woke up and saw that there was just enough wood left to build one good hot fire. He told her he would hunt, as he did every day, and he would need that wood.
With nothing to eat for three days, she wasn't in a good mood. She built a great, roaring fire, warmed her hands. The fire burned her finger. It tasted good. She cooked her hand and ate it. Soon she had eaten herself up and she was nothing but a skeleton. And she was still hungry!
She hid in the corner. When the old man came back he asked how he was going to cook the deer he caught. She told him she liked her meat raw. Then she came rattling out of the corner, headed straight for him, going, "Kkkkkkk, kkkkk, kkkkk."
He screamed and ran. Finally, he came to a deep canyon, and found a little old magic woman living in a house at the edge of the cliff. He asked her to help. She insisted that he pick some berries and chop some wood. Then she said some magic words, fell and became a bridge. He stepped across her back, and then she shrank back to normal.
At that moment the skeleton woman appeared and demanded that the little magic woman get her to the other side. The same request was made—pick berries and chop wood. The skeleton said she didn't have time and threatened to eat the little magic woman, who then turned herself into a bridge.
When the skeleton reached the middle of the bridge, the little old magic woman began to sway and flop her body around. The skeleton woman lost her balance and tumbled all the way down to the bottom of the cliff and broke into a pile of bones.
The man lived there at the edge of the cliff with the little old magic woman and it is said that if you walk to the edge of that cliff you'll hear the sound, "Kkkkkkk,kkkkkk,kkkkk." They say that it's the bones of that old woman trying to find a way to get to the top of the cliff.
•••••
Contributed by
Margaret Lawrence
Storyglobe@aol.com
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52) THE COW THAT ATE THE PIPER
[The original version is a Border Ballad. There is a version in British Folk Tales by Kevin Crossley Holland as an Irish tale. This version is my bones retelling of the version told by Taffy Thomas. The ballad itself may be found at:
http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiCOWPIPER;ttCOWPIPER.html
This page says the ballard was written in 1815 and gives more info on the style of ballad.
Richard Marsh adds: This story was borrowed/adapted as a short story titled The Blood Bay by Annie Proulx in her book Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Fourth Estate, UK, 1999. I don't have the US publication info. She admits in her Acknowledgements that her story is based on The Calf That Ate the Traveler -- "known in many stock-raising cultures." She uses the variant in which the piper/cowboy is with two companions, who are paid off by the farmer to keep the secret, but they don't share with the supposedly eaten cowboy.]
Bones: There was once a piper who earned his living by travelling from town to town, village to village to earn his living. It was a hard winter, and the snow was on the ground. His boots were falling apart on his feet and he found it difficult to walk in the snow. He tripped over a mound of snow. As he pushed the snow away he realised that it was a man who had fallen over and died in the snow. A man with bright red hair and a beard. He found that the man had new boots on—just his size. The boots were frozen onto the feet, so the piper cut off the feet and boots and hung them around his neck.
He made his way through the snow, until he came to a farm. The house was lit and on the table he could see the farmer and his wife sitting down to eat at a table creaking with food. When the piper knocked at the door, he offered to play them a tune to pay for bed and board. The farmer turned him away, giving the piper a crust of bread and instructions to sleep in the barn with Daisy the cow.
In the barn, the piper put the boots with their frozen feet under the cow to thaw out. In the morning he pulled out the feet from the boots and put the new boots on—perfect fit. Then the piper thought about the meanness of the farmer and decided to play a trick. He took the bloody feet and put them in his old boots, next to the cow. When the farmer’s wife came in to milk the cow, she thought the cow had eaten the piper. She called to the farmer, and they agreed to bury the evidence in a field, so that no one would know he had been there.
They went off to the far field, and buried the feet. As they came back into the yard, the piper struck up a tune, and strode into the yard. The farmer and his wife were horrified and ran away. The piper could smell their breakfast on the table, and not wanting to waste food settled down to eat it. As he did, there was a knock at the door. The piper answered it to a short man covered in snow. The piper invited the man to join him for breakfast, but “First, sit down, take off your boots and warm yourself by the fireside." The man said, “I would take my boots off if I could," as he brushed the snow off his red beard, “but YOU’VE GOT THEM!”
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
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53) MARY CULHAINE AND THE DEAD MAN
[Irish folk tale. There is a version by Chuck Larkin at http://www.pjtss.net/lib/chuck/chuck55.htm]
Bones: Jack Culhaine came back from market, worse for wear. He cut through the cemetery and passed an open grave. He heard a groaning from the grave, dropped his blackthorn walking stick and run as fast as he could. When he got home, he told his daughter Mary that he’d dropped his stick by the cemetery, and before anyone could stop her she was out into the night to fetch it.
She found the stick, and as she bent down to pick it up, she heard a voice from the open grave calling for help. She offered a hand, thinking someone had fallen in, but something cold and clammy grabbed her arm, and a force overtook Mary so that she could not move. The creature climbed out of the grave onto Mary’s back, then commanded her to walk into the village. The creature sniffed at each house, telling her to move on. She found her voice and asked what they were looking for. The creature said “any house where there were no bibles or holy water." Mary could see the flesh falling off the arms and bones of the creature. Finally, they came to a house—no bibles, no holy water. Mary knew the house—there were three young boys lived there with their parents.
Creature forced Mary to enter, then forced her to start making some oatmeal in a bowl. Creature commanded Mary to take another bowl and a razor into the boys’ room. He commanded her to cut the tip off the fingers of the boys, and collect the blood in the bowl. Just an ounce of blood and the boys stopped breathing. Back to the kitchen, the creature made Mary mix the blood and oatmeal, and turn into two bowls. The creature ate one and made Mary eat the other. However, she struggled hard, and managed to avoid eating the oatmeal, dropping it into her handkerchief without the creature seeing. Then Mary was made to clean up so no one knew they had been there, and forced outside.
Mary asked,“Are the boys dead?” The creature answered that they might as well be, as only some of that blooded oatmeal on their lips would bring them back to life. “But we ate it all up." Creature took Mary to local field, said to be haunted. Creature said that was where he hid his silver and gold under the rocks. “Why, tell me?” asked Mary. “Because you are going back to the grave with me."
“Cock a doodle doo”. “What’s that?” asked the creature. Mary said she thought it was the ewes calling for their lambs. Creature told Mary to go back to the graveyard.
"Cock a doodle do." “What’s that?” asked the creature. Mary said she thought it was an old owl. Creature told Mary to hurry back to the graveyard.
Mary tried to slow down as much as she could—big struggle between her and the creature. At the graveside, the creature tumbled in and tried to take Mary. "Cock a doodle do!"—“Mary you have lied to me! “ The sun was up, the creature had no power over Mary. Free at last, Mary grabbed her father’s walking stick, ran home and went to bed.
Her mother woke her. Sad news. The three boys had died and there was to be a wake. Mary went there. Saw the mother of the sons. Asked her for the land known as the haunted field, if she could bring the three boys back to life. It was agreed, and papers were drawn up, etc. Everyone was sent out of the room. Mary took the oatmeal from her handkerchief and touched it to the lips of the three boys. They started breathing and awoke. All was well. Mary had the land, had the rocks moved and found gold and silver there . She had a big house built and inside by every door and window she made sure there was holy water and a bible. It is said that even today, in Carlisle (in Ireland), houses and hotels all have a bible and the holy water, just in case.
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
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54) DANCING SKELETON
[You can get really gross with this for the smells, the bits of flesh and the bones. David Holt (on his tape Mostly Ghostly Stories) notes that this story was originally collected by John Bennett and published in The Doctor to the Dead.]
Bones: Aaron Kelly is a stubborn man. Says day is night, black is white. Doesn’t endear himself to anyone. His wife puts up with him despite all the things he says and does.
When he dies, his wife is relieved, and the funeral is arranged on the same day.
At night, she is sitting in her chair, when there is a knock at the door. It’s Aaron. Back from the grave. “You’re dead. “ she says. “No I’m not!” he replies, and he sits himself down in his chair.
He stays there, rocking away. People call in to see his “widow” but are soon driven away by the sight of Aaron in the corner. And the smell of him is dreadful. Soon bits of flesh are falling off—and eventually only his skeleton is left.
An old friend comes to see the widow. Brings his fiddle. They try to talk, but its too noisy with Aaron’s teeth chattering away in the background. So the friend starts to play the fiddle. As he does, Aaron starts tapping his feet, then gets up and starts dancing. Bit by bit his various bones go flying. All that is left is the skull with the chattering teeth, and the widow thumps it with a spade and shatters it.
She collects all the pieces of bones, and then goes back down to the graveyard and buries them under concrete/ burns them.
And Aaron is never seen again.
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
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55) THE BOY WHO SOUGHT FEAR
[A tale about the boy who went forth to learn what fear was. Also known as The Boy Who Didn't Know How to Shiver. From Grimms Fairy Tales. The Tinker and the Ghost is a Spanish version of this tale.]
Bones: Father had two sons—the older was smart and sensible, the younger was stupid, could not learn anything. The older son would always offer to help his father, or anyone, provided it wasn’t after dark—“That’s too creepy.” People would tell stories to send shivers up your spine and give you the creeps. But the younger son would listen and never understand what they meant “They’re always saying 'it gives me the creeps, it gives me the shivers’—but it doesn’t do it to me. It’s a trick that I don’t understand.“
When his father asked him what trade he’d like to learn, the younger son said that he’d like to learn how to get the creeps. Father sighed and said, "You’ll find that out in due course, and it won’t help you earn a living.” Sexton came to the house, and father told him what boy had said. Sexton told father to give him the boy, and he’d teach him about the creeps. Boy went to Sexton’s house and was assigned to ringing the church bell. Sexton woke him at midnight and asked him to get up and climb the church steeple to ring the bell. Sexton went ahead of boy to frighten him. Disguised himself as a ghost, but when the boy saw the "ghost,” he thought he was a thief, challenged him and knocked him down the stairs. The Sexton broke his leg. Boy rang bell, went back to bed. Next morning Sexton’s wife asked the boy where the sexton was. He told her about the thief he saw. She found theSexton with his broken leg, and she went to scream at the boy's father to take him away. Boys father was mortified, boy tried to explain, but father told him to get out of his sight and never tell anyone where he came from or that he was his son. Father gave him fifty pieces of silver.
Boy went off, saying “ If only I could get the creeps”. A man overheard him, told him to sit by the gallows “where seven men were wedded to the ropemaker’s daughter. Now they are learning how to fly.” Told boy to wait there until morning and he’d know what the creeps were. Boy promised man the fifty pieces of silver if he could get the creeps. Boy sat under gallows. Darkness came, boy lit fire, but still cold. Saw the men flying above, thought they must be really cold. Cut them down and put them by the fire to warm up. But their clothes caught on fire. Boy got annoyed that they wouldn't put out the flames, so he put them back up on the gallows. When the man came in the morning, boy complained that he hadn’t got the creeps, that the men didn’t say anything and that they let their clothes burn. The man gave up and went away.
Boy went on muttering, “If only I could get the creeps.” Met a carter who asked him where he was from and who his father was, and boy said he was not allowed to tell. Carter told him not to be so foolish and took him to an Inn. Boy again said, “If only I could get the creeps." Innkeeper told him about nearby haunted castle—all he had to do was spend three nights there and king had promised his daughter to anyone who came out alive and sane. There were treasures guarded by evil spirits. Boy went to king to asked permission to stay in the castle. King agreed and let the boy choose three things to take with him. Boy choose a fire, a lathe and carpenter's bench with a knife.
At nightfall boy set himself up in the castle with his three things. Said, “If only I could get the creeps.” At midnight, he heard MEOW and a voice said, “I’m freezing.” Boy invited voice to join him at fire. Two large cats with ferocious eyes sat beside him. One suggested that they play cards, but boy asked to see their paws. The cats stretched out their long claws and the boy seized them, put them in the carpenter bench vice, beat them to death, put them in the water. Then dogs and cats on glowing chains came out of the walls at him. He fought them off, killed some of them, others ran away. He felt tired and saw a large bed. Got in it, but just as he shut his eyes, the bed started to move and raced all the way around the castle. The boy told it to go faster. Bed went up and down stairs, finally tipping him out of bed in the courtyard. Next morning king came, thought the boy was dead. Boy jumped up and complained, “If only I could get the creeps."
Second night, boy at castle by fire. Rattling noise, then down the chimney came half a man. Boy called out that half was missing. Then second half came tumbling down. Boy stirred fire, and then saw the two halves had joined to make a gruesome-looking man sitting on his bench. Boy pushed man off the bench, and other men tumbled down the chimney plus enough bones and skulls to play nine pins. Boy asked to join in, and rounded off the skulls on his lathe— made them easier to play with. He lost some of his money, but at midnight, they all disappeared. King came in the morning. Boy told him, “If only I could get the creeps."
Third night six men came in with coffin. Boy thought that it was his cousin who died a few days ago. Boy opened coffin—found a dead man. Face was cold and icy. Boy tried to warm him up at his fire. Didn’t work. Boy remembered that two people could keep warm when they laid in bed together. Boy did that, man warmed up, came to life. Man then threatened to strangle boy. Boy lifted him up, tossed him back in coffin. Locked it. Six men came in and took coffin away. Boy said, “If only I could get the creeps.” Ghastly old man with long beard came in—said the boy would learn what the creeps were for, that the boy would die. Boy challenged man to contest of strength. Old man took ax and drove it into anvil. Boy grabbed ax, split anvil in two, trapping the old man's beard. Boy beat old man until the old man agreed to tell him where the treasure was. Old man showed him three chests of gold in the cellar—one for the poor, one for the king and one for the boy. Clock struck midnight. Old man vanished.
King came in the morning. “Now you must know what the creeps are”—boy didn’t. Boy married the princess. But kept saying, “If only I could get the creeps." Princess got fed up, got a bucket of water full of minnows, and threw it on boy while he was sleeping. He woke up cold, with the minnows flapping on his skin.“ Oh, I’ve got the creeps. Now I know what the creeps are.”
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
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56) THOR RETRIEVES HIS HAMMER or THOR AS A BRIDE
[Norse Myth—many sources. In Kevin Crossley Holland's Norse Myths. I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a scary story, but it depends on how you detail the underworld of the giants.]
Bones: In Asgard, Thor wakes up, and reaches for his hammer—Mjollnir. He cannot find it. He searches for it in the land of the gods and in the land of men. Without it, there will be no defense against the giants. Without it, the giants will storm Asgard. He must find it.
Thor and Loki ask for Freya’s help—she loans them her falcon skin. Loki wears it and flies to the land of giants.
Thrym is king of the frost giants. He sees Loki, and asks how the gods are. Loki asks him about the hammer, and Thrym admits he has it hidden eight miles under the earth. No one will touch it unless Freya becomes his bride. Loki returns to Asgard and tells Thor what Thrym demands. They go to Freya who refuses to take part and in her anger breaks the Necklace of the Brisings.
The gods hold council and the watchman, Heimdall, suggests that Thor should go dressed as a bride, wearing Freya’s Necklace of the Brisings. It is agreed and preparations are made.
A week later Thrym is excited at Freya’s arrival. A feast is set in anticipation of the marriage. Thrym sits next to “Freya” with Loki on the other side. Thor eats all the foods and drinks set out for the women. Thrym asks why she eats so much and drinks so much. Loki tells him it’s because “Freya” has been so wild with desire for her wedding night, that she hasn’t eaten for a week.
Thrym peeks at “Freya’s” eyes. “Why are they so fearsome?” Loki says “Because she has been so wild with desire for her wedding night she hasn’t slept for seven nights.”
Thrym then calls forth the hammer, Mjollnir, to bear witness to the wedding. As the hammer is placed between Freya’s knees, Thor seizes it and sweeps off his veil revealing himself. With his hammer, he crushes it through the skull of Thrym, and then through every giant man and woman in the hall. He shows no mercy.
Thus Thor got his hammer back.
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
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57) THE TINKER AND THE GHOST
[From Spain. A version of this is in Jane Yolen’s Favourite Folktales from around the World. Sibyl Hancock has also published a version called Esteban and the Ghost.This is similar to the third part of Tale of the Boy Who Went Forth to Search for the Meaning of Fear.)
Bones: In Toledo there was a castle. A haunting cry filled it and on All Hallow's Eve a ghostly light appeared in the chimney. Many people had tried to find the cause but all had been found lifeless next day.
Esteban, the tinker, came to the place. He heard the stories of the castle while he was mending pots in the market. It was All Hallow's Eve. Esteban boasted he feared nothing. People told him if he succeeded in banishing the ghost, then the owner of the castle would give him a thousand gold coins. Esteban agreed he would try if he could have faggots, bacon, wine, eggs and a frying pan.
It was a cold night when Esteban went into the castle with his faggots and food. He set a fire in the fireplace and started to cook bacon in the frying pan. He heard a voice from the chimney- “Oh me, oh me..." Esteban shrugged, drank some wine. “Oh me oh me...” again. Esteban continued to cook his meal then heard,“Look out below, I’m falling!” Esteban said, “All right—but don’t fall into the frying pan.”
He heard a thump! It wasa man's leg in brown corduroy trousers on the hearth. Esteban ate his meal. Then he heard“Look out below, I’m falling!” Then there was a second leg on the hearth. Esteban built up the fire and kept cooking. “Look out below, I’m falling!” And a man’s trunk fell into the hearth—in a blue shirt and brown corduroy jacket. Esteban continued eating. Heard voice again—one arm and then another fell down.
Finally (and much louder) “Look out below, I’m falling!” And there was a head on the hearth place. Esteban took his frying pan of bacon off the fire. As he did so, the pieces of the man all came together. Esteban offered him something to eat. The ghost man said no, but all the other people who came to the castle had died of fright before half of him came down the chimney, and he wasn’t able to put himself back together. Esteban said it was because they didn’t bring food and fire.
Ghost asked for help to save his soul and get into the Kingdom of Heaven. He had taken three bags of coins from some thieves and took them to the castle to hide them. However, the thieves caught up with him, murdered him and cut him into pieces. But they didn’t find the coins. “If you dig them up for me, give the copper coins to the Church, the silver coins to the poor and keep the gold coins for yourself.” Ghost showed Esteban the spot, but Esteban made the ghost dig for them.
When the coins weere revealed, the ghost asked Esteban to promise to do as he asked, then asked Esteban to strip him (the ghost) of his clothes. As he did this, the ghost disappeared. It went up to the gates of heaven, explained to St. Peter that he had expiated his sins and he was let into heaven
The next morning, villagers came to carry away Esteban’s “dead” body and were surprised to find him cooking breakfast. He told them that the ghost was banished forever. He collected his 1000 gold coins, distributed the ghost’s money as requested, and lived very comfortably for the rest of his life.
•••••
Contributed by
Janet Dowling
sempster@aol.com
http://www.JanetTellsStories.co.uk
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58) RUB-A-DUB-DUB
[A story by Judith Wynhausen (Mother Goose on the Loose) The story offers participation opportunities—making the wierd noises, and of course joining in on the rhyme at the end. (You can finish by having everyone go to the inn for hot cider and laughing over the prank.]
Bones: The Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker decide to play a trick on the townspeople of their village on Halloween. They go under the bridge that leads into the village and get in a big tub, which makes their voices sound loud. They thump on the tub and make strange sounds, scaring all the villagers. Finally, the villagers all get together and go down to investigate. They dump the rogues out into the river chanting: "Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub, and who do you think they be? The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker! Turn 'em out, knaves all three."
•••••
Contributed by
Judith Wynhausen
mgoose@mgoose.net
http://www.mgoose.net/
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59) JACK O'HAPPY
[This is a paper cutting/tearing story. I don't have a source for this story.]
Before storytime:
Cut 4 pumpkins out of construction paper, making them the same size and shape. Draw a happy face, a sad face, a sleepy face and a mad face on the pumpkins.
Story:
This is Jack O'Happy.
This is Jack O'Sad.
This is Jack O'Sleepy.
This is Jack O'Mad.
Now he's in pieces small
Because in our cookies,
He tastes best of all.
Pie version: Change cookies to pumpkin pie.
Show each pumpkin as you say the line. Tear the mad pumpkin into pieces
and either cut or tear into cookie shapes.
Bonus: A cookie recipe and directions for baking a pumpkin.
PUMPKIN COOKIES
1/2 c. butter or margarine 2 1/2 C. sifted flour
1 C. brown sugar 3/4 tsp. soda
1 C. white sugar 2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla 3/4 tsp. ginger
1 1/2 c. cooked pumpkin 1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. chopped nuts
Combine shortening, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Add cooked pumpkin. Sift in dry ingredients and add nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 20 minutes. Frost when cool with butter frosting (powdered sugar, butter, milk and vanilla).
These cookies taste best with fresh pumpkin so here are directions for baking a pumpkin. Try it! You'll never go back to canned pumpkin.
BAKED PUMPKIN
Wash the pumpkin and cut it crosswise. Remove seeds and loose pulp. Place it (cut side down) in a baking pan or cookie sheet with an edge around it and add about 1/4 cup water. Bake 325 degrees for 1 hour or more until it is tender. Remove pumpkin from the oven and let it cool slightly. Scrape the pulp from the shell and put it through a blender or food processor. Freeze in zip lock bags.
•••••
Contributed by
Rose the Story Lady
Storylady@civprod.com
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60) A HOUSE FOR MORTY MOUSE
[Source: Flannel board story written by Avon Compton.]
Preparation: Need orange construction paper and scissors. Lightly draw pumpkin shape on paper. (Can color green stem and use orange crayon to draw lines on pumpkin if you wish.) You also need a mouse cutout.
Bones:
It is fall, getting colder, leaves are drying up.
Morty's summer home was made of leaves and grasses.
Wind comes in the cracks, roof dries up and blows away.
Morty needs new home. Finds field with orange pumpkins. Children are running around, hunting perfect pumpkin. They find it. (Cut pumpkin shape out of construction paper.)
Morty follows children back to farm house. They are talking about Jack O'Lanterns.
What are Jack O'Lanterns?
Big man takes a knife and cuts top off pumpkin. (Cut top off pumpkin, leaving small piece at far side so it stays attached.)
Morty watches. Children scoop out seeds and pulp. Smells yummy!
Big man's knife goes in and out. (Cut out 2 triangle eyes and round nose, talking about each one as you cut.)
Children ask for big grin-big toothy grin. Knife goes in and out. (Cut out mouth.)
Morty sees Jack O Lantern. Children put in candle and light it. Put Jack O'Lantern on porch.
Children go into house.
Wind blows candle out.
Morty sneaks up, climbs inside. (Put mouse cutout through mouth hole and hold so he peeks out one of the windows.)
Warm, cozy in there. He has 2 triangle windows, one round window and a big happy door.
Finds a couple of forgotten seeds. Eats supper. Goes to sleep in his new house.
•••••
Contributed by
Rose the Story Lady
Storylady@civprod.com
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61) ONE AND ONLY CHRISTMAS GHOST
[Story by Penelope Gladwell. Published in Playmate Magazine Dec. 1972.]
Bones:
Gabriel woke up with a start. Late.
Brushed himself, grabbed chains. Hurried out to join friends.
No one was there.
It was cold-coldest Halloween ever.
Decided to go by himself-solo haunt.
Saw car stop. Watched children in costumes get out.
Ghosts with wings and halos, goblins in funny striped robes carrying funny sticks with hook on the end.
Three children dressed in rich robes, carrying boxes and bottles.
Small ghost in blue sheet carrying doll.
Door is shut behind children. Gabriel looked in window.
Saw green tree, lights, tinsel, stars-most unusual Halloween decorations.
Decided to do some solo haunting.
Tapped and scratched on window to scare children.
"Oooh, do you think it is going to snow?"
"Humph, this isn't as easy as I thought," thinks Gabriel.
Rattled chains.
"Listen to the sleigh bells."
Gabriel went up on roof, rattled chains loudly, stomped.
"Oh, I hear something on the roof. It's him!"
"Yes! It's me," Gabriel muttered. "Now I'll really scare them!"
Down chimney. Soot flew, Gabriel landed with whoosh!
"Boo!"
Children shocked and then surprised!
Gabriel said, "Well, who did you think it was-Santa Claus?"
All stared at sooty, gray ghost.
"Let's bob for apples," Gabriel suggested.
"That's a Halloween game. It's not Halloween. It's Christmas!"
"But you are all wearing costumes."
Children explain costumes, party food, etc.
"Oh no. I slept through my holiday and now I've ruined yours. I've made a terrible mistake."
"You haven't ruined it. You've made it the best Christmas ever."
Invited him to stay for cookies and punch.
"You can be our one and only Christmas ghost."
Gabriel stayed for party.
Now every year Gabriel carefully sets his alarm clock for Halloween. He goes haunting with his friends. But then he wakes up again in late December. Children listen for a rattling like sleigh bells and a stomping on the roof that signals the arrival of the one and only Christmas Ghost.
•••••
Contributed by
Rose the Story Lady
Storylady@civprod.com
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62) ESTEBAN AND THE GHOST aka THE TINKER AND THE GHOST
[Here's another version of #57. Sources: The Tinker and the Ghost (folktale from Spain) Favorite Folktales From Around the World, Jane Yolen, Pantheon Books, New York, 1986. Esteban and the Ghost, adapted by Sibyl Hancock, Dian Books for Young Readers, New York, 1983.]
Bones:
Esteban is pedlar. Arrives in town with donkey, wares to sell.
Has nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.
Townspeople tell him about large castle. He can sleep there.
Castle is haunted. Every night people can hear wailing and crying.
They warn him that it is All Hallow's Eve and no one has ever stayed the night on All Hallow's Eve when a ghostly light appears and moves about the castle.
People either flee in terror or are found lifeless in front of fireplace in the morning.
Esteban boasts he isn't afraid of anything. If he had firewood, bacon, eggs and a bottle of wine, he would go spend the night in that house.
People give him bacon and eggs, wine and firewood. Tell him that the owner of the house will give him a thousand gold reales if he breaks the curse.
House is dark, gloomy. Esteban lights fire. Warms self.
Hears, "Oh me! Oh my! Oh me!"
"Not a cheerful greeting," says Esteban. "But no worse than my donkey."
Esteban begins to cook bacon.
Hears, "Look out below! I'm falling. "
Esteban moves bacon off fire and watches as a leg falls down the chimney.
Esteban picks leg up, sets it aside and continues cooking bacon.
"Look out belooow! I'm falling."
Second leg comes down the chimney.
Esteban starts cooking eggs. "Look out below. I'm faaallling."
Torso comes down chimney.
Esteban finishes cooking eggs. "Look out below. I'm falling."
Arm comes down.
Esteban eats bacon. Other arm comes down.
Esteban begins to eat eggs. "Look out below. I'm falling!"
Surely this will be the head. Esteban wants to see what it looks like.
Head comes down, rolls across floor. Body assembles itself.
Shaggy head, sunken eyes, straggly hair.
"Would you like something to eat?" Esteban asks ghost.
"No, but I will say that you are the first man to ever stay to see me assembled. Others ran or died of fright."
Esteban asks why he haunts the house.
Ghost tells story. In life he was a thief and a cheat. Then he stole 3 bags of coins from some thieves. They caught him and cut him into pieces.
His soul cannot enter Heaven until that which was stolen has been returned. Every All Hallows Eve he can have body back so he can hunt for
coins. Needs Esteban to help him. There is a bag of copper coins, a bag of silver coins and a bag of gold coins buried under a tree. If Esteban will help him find them (before midnight), the ghost will be freed from haunting the castle. Silver coins must be given to the poor. The copper coins must be returned to the Church. Esteban can keep the gold coins.
They look and dig under many trees. Can't find coins. Wind is cold. Rain beats down. Esteban is going to give up. Only 15 minutes left before midnight.
Ghost wails. He has only 50 years to find coins and expiate his sins.
This is last year. If he doesn't find coins he will be doomed to haunt this castle forever and Esteban will be also since he helped him.
Esteban is angry he wasn't told this sooner. (Ghost was afraid he wouldn't help.) Motivated. Asks questions. It was under an old tree by pond.
Esteban thinks to dig in front of old stump. Finds gold.
Ghost disappears, leaving clothes behind. Esteban hears faint tolling of a bell. Ghost has entered Heaven.
Townspeople surprised to see Esteban. As for Esteban, he collects the thousand gold reales from the castle's owner, gives the silver coins to the poor, returns the copper coins to the Church, keeps the gold coins.
Esteban takes his donkey and goes, having enough to keep him in comfort for rest of life.
And he never saw another ghost again.
•••••
Contributed by
Rose the Story Lady
Storylady@civprod.com
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63) THE VANISHING PUMPKIN
[The Vanishing Pumpkin by Tony Johnston, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1983.]
[Permission to use pending.]
700 year old woman.
800 year old man.
Yellow sun reminds them of pumpkin which remind them of Halloween.
Decided to make their annual pie.
Pumpkin is gone—Snitched!
Hurry down road as fast as a 700 year old woman and an 800 year old man can go.
Meet ghoul. Demand pumpkin. Ghoul doesn’t even know what a pumpkin is.
Ghoul looks behind himself, under himself, over himself, behind old woman, behind old man.
No pumpkin.
Old man makes him onion skin thin. No pumpkin.
Changes him back. Hurry down the road as fast as a 700-year-old woman and an 800- year-old man can go.
Ghoul goes, too. Wants to see more tricks. Wants some pie.
Met rapscallion.
“Where’s the. . . the . . . . “ says old man. “Pumpkin,” says the old woman.
Rapscallion looked under rock, behind rock, under feet, in mushroom basket. No pumpkin.
Offered old man a mushroom.
“I’ll do you such a trick,” said old man.
Old man turns rapscallion upside down between earth and sky to shake pumpkin out.
No pumpkin.
Hurry down the road as fast as. . .
Rapscallion follows. He wants to see more tricks and wants some pie.
Meet a varmit. Demand pumpkin.
“Did you see a pumpkin go by?”
Varmit says, “A big one!”
Old may says, “Yes!”
Varmit says, “No.”
“I’ll do you such a trick,” says the old man.
Turns varmit into black cat with fleas. Cat scratches but no pumpkin appears.
Changes him back.
Hurry down the road as fast as. . .
Varmit follows. He wants to see more tricks and wants some pie.
Find a 900-year-old wizard warming himself by a fire.
But it's not a fire, it’s a jack-o-lantern.
You don’t demand anything of 900-year-old wizard.
“I borrowed your pumpkin,” says wizard.
“Snitched!” mutters little old man.
“Borrowed.”
Little old man moans he’ll never have his pie.
He knows what they want. Pie reminds him of pie and he made one for them. He looks inside jack-o-lantern—only a candle in there.
Looks under beard. No pie.
Looks under hat. Finds bat—AND a pie.
“So they all sat down and gobbled it up!
Now what do you think of that?
•••••
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Rose the Story Lady
Storylady@civprod.com
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64) LA LLORONA
[The story of La Llorona, "the crying woman," who drowned her children and now haunts waterways, has been told throughout Mexico and the southwest United States. It is said to have started with the story of Cortez and his indigenous paramour La Malinche. In the many variants-each river town has its own story!-La Llorona ranges from angry to insane to downright evil. Always, the love affair is told of a woman from a lower social class and a man from the upper class.]
[Spanish pronounces ll as y; pronounce her appellation "La Yorona."]
Bones: Maria wanted to marry someone who was rich, someone who could take her away from her tedious life. When a handsome young hidalgo came through her village, she gave herself to him, but he never returned the commitment, saying his parents had arranged a marriage with the daughter of a wealthy family, a family from his own social class, and she must be patient while he tried to talk them out of it. Maria was patient; she waited several years and bore several children. In some variants they marry, but he travels often to his home city and leaves her alone for long periods of time.
One day he returns to the village with a beautiful woman dressed in fine clothes, clearly a woman from his own social class. For spite, in desperation, in madness, or to save them from ever knowing, Maria drowns her children.
Later, Maria (or her ghost) haunts the river, calling for her lost children, "mis hijos, mis hijos." Some say she regrets her action, others that she must do penance.
In local variants, she is often said to wear misty white or to howl like a mountain lion or wolf, and there is often a particular spot where individuals (or someone they cite-an uncle or grandmother or a "friend of a friend") claim to have seen or heard her.
•••••
Contributed by
Mary Grace Ketner
MKetner@utsa.edu
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65) TOO MUCH NOISE ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT
[An adapted folktale by Marilyn Kinsella
Participation, funny, for young listeners. Puppet show available from Marilyn Kinsella at markinsella19@hotmail.com]
Practice with the group ahead of time
Owl (hoo-hoo-hoo)
Bubbling cauldron (finger to lips – Bla, bla, bla…)
Ghost (oo-ooh)
Cat (meow)
Skeleton (clickity-clack, clickity-clack)
Witch’s laugh (heh-heh-heh)
Bones:
Witch Gwendolyn is making bat stew one Halloween Eve (night before Halloween). After adding ingredients, she goes to bed early to get her beauty rest before the big night. Almost asleep – (bubble sound). She goes to the wisest animal she know – Owliver. He calls out (hoo-hoo-hoo’s there?). She complains she can’t sleep. Tells her to bring in a ghost to fly in her rafters. She gets ghost but now the caudron is bubbling… and the ghost is wailing (ooooh) Goes back to Owliver (each time she goes back have Owliver call out) – bring in a cat. Repeat with cat meowing. Back to Owliver (getting madder each time). Bring in skeleton (repeat) and add…and now the skeleton is (clickity clack) Back to Owliver – bring in witch. (repeat) and add…and now the witch is laughing (heh-heh-heh). One last time to Owliver. He tells her to get rid of everything. “How?” she asks. “You’ll think of a way.”
Here you have a break in the story. You look at your audience and say “And that’s just what she did. She got rid of the ghost, and the cat, and the skeleton, and the witch!” You can ask your audience “What do you think the witch did to get rid of the noise?” After some answers, say, “Those were all good ways, but let me tell you what happened. Her batwing soup was done. She gave a bowl to each and POOF! They all disappeared! So, now Witch Gwendolyn could take a much needed nap. But she just closed her eyes, when the sun peeked up over the trees and she heard a rooster – Cock-a-doodle-doo, (join in everyone) Cock-a-doodle-doo! Poor Witch Gwendolyn never got her beauty rest, so she looked extra wicked on Halloween night!”
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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66) THE TIGER WITCH
[From Tales From a Taiwan Kitchen, Cora Cheney, Dodd, Mead NY 1976
Bones (literally!) Story scariness can be adjusted to audience age. Full text is at:
http://www.cdot.org/history/Folktales/kitchen_tales.htm ]
Bones: In Taiwan was a woman who was a tiger witch. Lived in a house of sugar cane and candied sweet oranges, lured kids there with goodies.
Once inside, children would be dipped in tempura batter and fried. She would eat them, saving the bones for between meal snacks (like peanuts). Especially fond of finger bones. Kept them in her pocket.
Everyone knew about her.
Ah-lee and Ah-bi lived with mother, father and baby brother nearby. To be safe every house has a baqua eye painted on wood or paper hung on door post to keep witches and demons from crossing threshold.
Father went to sea with magistrate. Gone many days. Mother, concerned, went to temple in next village to make sacrifice of pork and chicken to gods there who were noted for bringing travelers home safely.
"Shut door tightly. Don't let anyone in the house" warned mother as she left with baby. I will stay the night with my mother. If anything bothers you, run to old priest in temple across the rice paddy."
Long day. Late afternoon girls sat on doorstop, drinking tea and eating rice. Old woman came along. "Are you Ah-bi and Ah-lee?" "Yes."
"I am your aunt. Your mother said to come protect you against evil spirts." Ah-lee : "Mother said not to let anyone come in. "
"See how much I look like your mother?" Girls agreed. Old woman gave them some plums "from their mother".
Girls ate fruit, forgetting about mother's admonitions. Night. When guest stood up, brushed against baqua sign, making it drop to ground. Girls jumped up to get it, but woman grabbed them in strong hands.
"Wait until morning. Snake might bite you. It's only a painted picture of an eye."
Ah-lee explained that it keeps out evil spirits. "No matter," said woman. I'm here to look after you. Occasionally gnawed on something from her pocket.
All got into bed, with woman in middle.
Ah-lee: What are you eating, aunt?"
"Peanuts. Oh, how I love peanuts."
"May I have one?" Old lady pulled Al-lee closer to her and pinched Ah-bi.
Peanuts? Ah-lee remembered whispered tales heard about Tiger Witch.
Ah-bi was asleep. Ah-lee began to turn and twist in bed. " Oh, I need to go outside, Aunt."
"No, stay here."
"Please, or you'll be sorry."
"I promised your mother I would take care of you. A snake or scorpion might get you outside."
"Tie a string to my ankle. Then you can pull string to see if I am safe. Plus plums have really upset my stomach."
Okay. Ties string.
Outside, Ah-lee slips off string and ties it to a tree. Calls back to woman. Races through rice paddy to priest.
Tells him all. He brings horn and gong. Can't kill witches with them, but can drive them away.
They run back, and Ah-Lee calls to witch: I'm returning.
Priest to Ah-lee: Fill a dish with egg, pork, rice, and bean curd and set it on doorstep. I will slip into house. When I beat gong and blow horn, open door. Witch will go outside because she loves food. Shut door very fast.
Ah-lee stumbles around house fixing plate. Says she is hungry. Opens door :" I only want a moonbeam of light to see if rice and bean curd have bugs in them."
Priest slips in. Gong, drum, door flung open. Ah-bi wakes up. Witch runs outside.
Priest settles girls in, returns home.
Knock at door. Voice: Open up, it's Mother (in mother's voice). Door opens, witch rushes in. "You forgot to put baqua sign up."
Ah-bi and witch run around the room. Ah-lee runs outside, climbs to top of banyan tree.
Witch yells: Come down. OK, says Ah-lee. But I am too dirty to eat now. Bring me a kettle of boiling peanut oil and I will clean myself and jump into your mouth.
OK says witch. Ah-lee tells Ah-bi to make pot of very hot oil. Ah-bit brings it to Ah-lee in tree.
They tell witch to open her mouth. Ah-lee: I'm getting ready to jump.
Girls tip pot of smoking oil into witch's mouth. With a tiger's roar, she falls writhing to the ground.
Girls watch as body wilts into a stack of wet banyan leaves. At the same time, ghostly tiger rises from the leaves and runs snarling in bamboo thicket on the hill.
They find baqua eye and replace it.
Next day mother comes back, one day later Father returns.
Had a great pai-pai feast. Had a parade and burned paper money to the gods.
And no one ever saw the Tiger Witch again.
•••••
Contributed by
Audrey Kopp
Storyteller, teacher
audreystory@verizon.net
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67) PRETTY MAID IBRONKA
[Hungarian, from Strange Things Sometimes Still Happen, ed. Angela Carter, 1992.]
Bones: Pretty Maid Ibronka lives in a tiny village in Hungary. Each night, the young girls gather to do their spinning together in each others houses, and each one has a lover, save Ibronka. She thinks 'I wish God would give me a sweetheart, even if one of the devils he were.'
That evening, in walks a handsome young lad, he takes a seat by Ibronka. The spindle slips from Ibronka's hand. She reaches under the table and as her hand touches his foot, she feels it is a cloven hoof! Ibronka goes to the old wise woman of the town. She suggests, “Embrace him and tie a thread to him, and follow the track of the thread.”
That night, she follows the thread. It leads her straight to the church graveyard. She peeps through the keyhole and sees her own sweetheart feasting on the brains of a new corpse. She runs home and he calls through the window, 'Pretty Maid Ibronka, what did you see?' 'Nothing did I see.' 'You must tell me, or your sister shall die.' Then her sweetheart goes away. That night her sister dies.
In the morning Pretty Maid Ibronka goes to the old woman who says, “Do not bury your sister in the graveyard, but put her in the cool cellar under your house.” The devil returns for several nights until her family is dead and Ibronka is threatened. The old woman advises “When you die, your friends must take the coffin out through a hole cut in the wall. And they should not bury it in the graveyard but in the ditch outside the churchyard.' Ibronka’s friends do as she asks.
A beautiful rose grows out of Ibronka's grave. The grave is not far from the road, and a prince sees it, and picks it. That evening some leftover food remains on his table. The next day the food is gone. The prince watches the next night and sees the rose become Pretty Maid Ibronka who eats his food. He insists she marry him and she agrees only if he will not ask her to go to church.
They have a grand wedding until one Sunday, he insists she go to church. She says, “Let it be as you wish, but it will bring trouble. “ After the mass, a man walks up to them. He calls out, Tonight I shall come for you.'
That evening someone calls through the window, 'Pretty Maid Ibronka, what did you see through the keyhole?' Pretty Maid Ibronka then begins to speak: 'I was the prettiest girl in the village,- but to a dead and not a living soul am I speaking. Once I said, I wish God would give me a sweetheart, even if one of the devils he were. - but to a dead and not a living soul am I speaking .... She explained her entire story, all the while repeating —but to a dead and not a living soul am I speaking. And the voice keeps coming through the castle window. 'Pretty Maid Ibronka, what did you see through the keyhole?'
The wise old woman told me I must die. My friends arranged that when I died they would take my coffin through the wall. Nor were they to take me along the road or bury me in the graveyard, but in the ditch by the churchyard.- but to a dead and not to a living soul am I speaking.
At that the devil gives a shout that shakes the castle to its very foundations and it is he who falls down dead and sinks into the ground. Pretty Maid Ibronka and her prince return to her village and find her sister and mother and father, alive and safe in the cool cellar where they had been kept.
•••••
Cathryn Tells All
Cathryn Fairlee
cfair@monitor.net
http://www.monitor.net/~cfair
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68) THE MONKEY'S PAW
[By WW Jacob. Adult audience, scary, supernatural wishes. Although this is a written, literary tale, it lends itself to the storyteller’s own words. I believe there is no longer any copyright on this story and Jacob’s full version can be found on line at the websites listed below.
http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/mnkyspaw.htm
http://fast.horrorseek.com/home/horror/dread/monkpaw.html
Bones: A husband, wife and their adult son live in a small cottage. The father is retired and the son works in the lumber mill to make ends meet. One night Sarge, an old army buddy, comes to visit the man and woman. He looks like death warmed over and he tells them that he is cursed with something he acquired in his travels – the monkey’s paw. He tells them that it is magic as it grants wishes, but the price is very high for any wish made on it. He can’t sell it or get rid of it. Someone must ask him for it. So the man says that he is willing to take the cursed thing and vows to put it away and never think of it again. The man is so relieved it takes 10 years off his face. When he leaves he thanks his hosts, but reminds them to never use the monkey’s paw. Of course, they do, thinking that a small wish surely wouldn’t hold a heavy price. They raise the paw and wish for enough money to send their son to college – 1000 pounds. The paw jerks in his hand and it drops to the floor. The next day their son doesn’t home at the regular time. Instead they see the foreman from the lumber company coming up the path. He tells them there was a terrible accident at the lumberyard and their son was killed by the blades. There is no insurance but they collected enough for a decent burial – 1000 pounds – the amount they had asked for. The wife is so grief stricken that one night while the husband sleeps she goes down to the fireplace and picks up the paw and wishes that her son returns home. The husband comes down just in time to see the paw jerk. He is frantic for their son had been mutilated by the blades. They had a closed coffin. Then the father hears someone coming up the walk. As the mother fumbles with the locks, the man takes the monkey's paw and wishes his son back to his coffin. When she finally opens the door, all they see is the swinging of the front gate.
[At the end, I usually say that no one heard of that couple again and no one knows exactly what happened to the monkey’s paw. But, at night, when you asleep and feel something (very softly) hairy brush up against your face - THROW IT AWAY! (softer, mysterious) it’s the monkey’s paw.]
•••••
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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69) WHITE CAP
[Ghost, eerie, suspense, surprise ending, older kids and adults. Source: Jón Arnason, Icelandic Legends, translated by George E. J. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon (London: Richard Bentley, 1864), pp. 157-158. Full-text version may be found at
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0366.html#whitecap ]
Boy and girl were neighbors; both lived near the church. He was mischievous and tried to frighten the girl in every way he could. She got so used to his teasing that she believed everything strange that she saw or heard was due to his tricks.
Mother sent girl to fetch the linen, which was stretched to dry in the churchyard. Girl saw figure dressed in which from head to toe sitting on a tombstone. She was sure it was the boy, so she walked up to it, pulled off its cap, and said, "You can't frighten me this time."
She then finished collecting the linen and went home. The boy was there to greet her. She knew it was impossible for him to have gotten there first if he had been the figure on the tombstone. Then she found in the linen a moldy white cap, which belonged to no one and was half full of earth.
Next morning the ghost (for that was what it was) was found sitting with no cap upon its head, upon the same tombstone. No one in the village knew what to do or how to get rid of the ghost, so they sought advice from a neighboring village. An old man there declared that the only way to avoid some general calamity, was for the little girl to replace the cap on the ghost's head, in the presence of many people, all of whom were to be perfectly silent. So a crowd collected in the churchyard, and the little girl went forward with the cap, placed it upon the ghost's head, and said, "Are you satisfied now?"
But the ghost, raising its hand, gave her a fearful blow, and said, "Yes, but are you satisfied now?" The little girl fell down dead, and at the same instant the ghost sank into the grave upon which it had been sitting, and was seen no more.
•••••
Contributed by
Jackie Baldwin
bubbul@vom.com
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70) THE OLD WOMAN IN A PUMPKIN SHELL
[A folktale from Iran. From Celebrate the World, Margaret Read MacDonald. H. W. Wilson Co., 1994. Notes for story below say that the story can be found in Persian Fairy Tales by Jaraslov Tichy, retold by Jane Carruth, and in Persian Folk and Fairy Tales by Anne Mehdevi. Use with young kids; participation possibilities.]
Bones:
Daughter gets married. Mother decides to visit her.
Has to climb a steep mountain road.
Lion jumps out: Who are you and What are you doing on my path?
Going to visit my daughter.
I am going to eat you up.
Oh, I am skinny. My daughter is a good cook. When I come back, I will be fat. Eat me then.
Good idea.
Woman continues up hill. Wolf jumps out. Same dialogue.
Woman continues. Ogre jumps out. Same dialogue.
Gets to daughter's house. Eats a lot for 20 days. Tells daughter she is worried about going home.
Daughter shows her big pumpkin. Woman gets inside and daughter pushes.
Pumpity...pumpity...pumpity. Bumps into ogre.
Ogre: Have you seen old woman on the path? Woman disguises voice: No. Are you strong enough to give me a little push?
Ogre: Of course. Pumpkin runs into wolf...same scenario. Pumpkin runs into Lion.
When woman asks for push, the king of the beasts does not like being ordered around by a mere Pumpkin. I'll give you a push. Picks up pumpkin, lifts it over head, and smashes it into ground.
Woman comes flying out shouting and screaming. Lion thinks it is a demon and runs off.
Woman picks up pumpkin pieces and makes a big stew which she shares with her neighbors.
•••••
Contributed by
Audrey Kopp
Storyteller, teacher
audreystory@verizon.net
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71) THE CONJURE WIVES
[Elementary School, short, optional participation, spooky/scary.
The Conjure Wives is a southern folktale with African origins. It teaches about the value
of sharing as it explains how the owl came to be. It is collected in several anthologies
including When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Margaret
Read MacDonald, Diane Goode's Book of Scary Stories and Songs; Heigh-Ho for
Halloween! ed. Elizabeth Hough Sechrist
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:YlTf35dlixUJ:users.ev1.net/~homeville/anth/b9.htm" \l "A411
This story is best semi-memorized and well rehearsed. It has a certain rhythm and the participation accelerates.]
Bones: Conjure wives are cooking in the kitchen one Halloween night when they hear a
“a-knockin’” at the door (make a knocking noise to the beat of the words). A voice cries
out, “Let me in doooo. I’m hungry and cold”, but the conjure wives keep on cooking.
They respond with “We’s a-cookin’ for ourselves - who’ll cook for you, who-who?”
Finally, one decides to give a piece of dough to the stranger. The dough rises and rises
until the conjure wives are driven from the kitchen. Their bodies become covered in
feathers, their eyes big and wide, their arms turn into wings. They fly out the window
and land on the trees. On Halloween night you can still hear the conjure wives calling –
Hoo? Hoo?
*****
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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72) THE VAMPIRE SKELETON
[Middle School and older) Scary/rising from the dead.
Onondaga Native American Indian story. A version can be found at:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/Indian/TheVampireSkeleton.html
There is a version in Joseph Bruchac’s book Iroquois Stories Heroes and Heroines, Monsters and Magic.]
Bones: A young couple and their baby try to make it across the cold, snowy trail to reach her tribe and give them much needed food. The husband is very mean to his wife and is angry at the idea of giving away his food. They are almost there when the husband sees a deserted lodge. The wife has bad feelings about the place, but he insists on staying. There
is nothing in the lodge but a long box. He makes her sleep by the door while he takes the mat. During the night she hears something. When she looks into the now open box she
sees a skeleton with fresh blood smeared across its teeth. She realizes that this must be the death lodge of the evil one that she has heard about from her people. Very quietly she puts the cradleboard on her back and walks out onto the snowy ground. Then she runs, but the creature wakes up and hears her and starts to chase her. She sees the markers for her
village. She calls for help. The people in her village are alerted and they come to her
rescue. The Evil One disappears. The village knows that they have to do something. They go to the Evil One’s lodge and encircle it with herbs and branches and set it on fire. As the smoke and flame rise higher they hear a scream and an owl flies from the burning lodge. From that time on the people buried the dead under ground.
*****
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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73) THE PIASA
[Elementary and above; scary creature, legend.
Although this story is accepted as an authentic Native American legend, it is not. It was authored in the late 1800’s. However, the story is based on a real pictograph that was painted on the bluffs along the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois. The original was destroyed, but a replica takes its place. For the full story, pictures, and the controversy surrounding “The Piasa Bird,” do a Google.com search. Or go to HYPERLINK http://www.marilynkinsella.org > Stories ‘n Stones>Piasa]
Bones of the version that I retell:
The people of the Tamaroa tribe are frightened by a winged creature that comes to feed morning and evening on human flesh and blood. They call him “Piasa,” devourer of man. Description – it had a body of a mountain lion, but with four long, sharp talons instead of paws, and it’s body wasn’t covered with fur but with red and black; yellow and green, armored scales…like that of a snake. Its face…its face was almost human. It had red, piercing eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth. And, oh those teeth…let me tell you about those teeth! They said if one fell out another, longer one took its place. It had a long beard that fell from its chin and antler horns that sprouted from its head. A tail so long it wrapped itself around the Piasa once, twice…three times!. Two huge wings that sounded like thunder as that beast flew across the sky.” The chief tries to kill the creature but their arrows and spears bounce off. So, chief goes on a vision quest. He is given a vision of six flocks of birds; one bird from each land at his feet turning into arrowpoints; their tips dripping in blood. He looks a the sky; now a mass of red and black and yellow and green scales. Then he sees a hole where he can see the blue sky. He awakes from his dream and knows what to do. He calls for a council of all the tribes of the Illinek. He tells them that he need the most skilled hunter in each tribe to return to his village. When they come, he leads them to the top of the bluff. Chief tells them to go into hiding until the Piasa comes. In the meantime he will tie a rope around his waist and the other end around a tree. The Piasa comes to take the chief, but can’t fly away with the chief tethered to the tree. Its wings get wider until the chief sees the hole and calls for the hunters to come out. They hit the hole in its wing and the Piasa releases the chief. Then, it too falls from the sky, thrashes around and throws its body off the cliff into the water of the Mississippi. The chief decides to paint a likeness of the Piasa as a reminder that what one man, one tribe cannot do…the Illinwek can do together.
*****
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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74) WICKED JOHN AND THE DEVIL
[Elementary – adult/ 20-25 minutes/ devils. For a list of different versions see http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/bibs/tales/wickedJ.htm
For another version see
http://www.chivalry.com/mikal/blacksmith.html
Bones:
John is mean and ornery, yet nice to strangers. One day while working in his blacksmith shop a stranger (raggedy old man) comes to the door. John lets him come in to sit in a chair, to warm by the fire and to eat some food. Suddenly the man changes into glorious being – St. Peter. St. Peter tells John that for being so kind he will grant him 3 wishes. St. Peter thinks John will wish for the salvation of his soul, but instead he wishes 1. that anyone who touches his hammer gets it stuck on his hands until John says it's unstuck 2. that anyone who sits in his favorite rocking chair gets rocked faster and faster until John releases him 3. that anyone who dares climbs his apple tree gets good and lost until John tells them they can get out. Time goes on and John just get more mean with his three tricks to play on people. Ole Scratch hears about John and is afraid people might think John is wickeder than the ole boy himself. So he send his baby boy to fetch John. John tricks the boy into sitting in the rocker and it rocks him plump silly until John releases him. Then he sends his teenage son (attitude) and he gets tricked into picking up the hammer and it swings him all over the place until he promises to go away. Finally, the devil himself has to leave, but he tells his sons to keep the fires going in the furnace. When the devil comes, John tricks him into climbing the apple tree. He gets lost and has to promise John that no one will ever bother him again. When devil gets back, the furnace is stone cold dead. He’s furious. John just gets wickeder and wickeder until one day he up and dies. He goes to St. Peter, who tells John that he lived such a wicked life that there is no place for him in heaven and St. Peter directs him down south. When John knocks on the door to hell, the devil says there is no place for him there either, but gives him a fiery clinker from the furnace to start a hell of his own. Sometimes you can see those fires off in the woods. Sometimes called the will ‘o the wisp or sometimes on Halloween night, you will see a pumpkin glowing and remember that it may have been put there by Wicked John – still looking for a place to start a hell of his own.
*****
Contributed by
Marilyn A. Kinsella, Taleypo the Storyteller
Storyteller, Writer, Puppeteer, and Workshop Presenter
markinsella19@hotmail.com
http://www.marilynkinsella.org
http://www.dulcimerguy.com/taleypo_morning.htm
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75) THE LOUP GAROU AND THE SHAWL
[Suitability: 13 years and up (upper elementary) 15 minutes.
These traditional loup-garou stories, of which there are many, originated in French
culture of the early "Lower Canada" days (pre 1867). This one may be found in Share A Tale – Canadian Stories to tell to Children and Young Adults. Collected by Irene Aubrey and Louise McDiarmid, 1995. Published by The Canadian Library Association, 200 Elgin Street, Suite 602, Ottawa, Ontario K2P1L5
ISBN: 0-88802-270-0. ]
Bones:
• married couple, Luc and Marie-Rose / lived near forest / Luc not been to church for seven years; so began to run loup-garou / left the house every night, came home next morning
• did not run alone / pack ran single file; ten of them / Luc last to join so was always tenth, last in line.
• Marie-Rose knew nothing except husband never home at night / asked about absences, Luc became cross and unpleasant / finally she stopped asking
• one day Marie-Rose short of kindling / went out into the forest to gather firewood / brought her big, thick woolen yellow and red shawl to carry it home / knotted corners about her neck, threw twigs into shawl / did not notice time passing / when shawl was full, evening had come; quite dark / by the light of the full moon she started along path to go home
• suddenly a howling, like wolves, but more frightening / Marie-Rose remembered hearing that loups-garous were in forest.
• Marie-Rose would not drop the firewood and run / wood was heavy; she began to slow down / soon walking slowly. Much too slowly.
• As pack drew near last one looked sideways and saw Marie-Rose / loup-garou left the pack and began to follow her.
• Marie-Rose became aware of something behind her / looked around / huge animal with glowing eyes, running sometimes on his hind legs, sometimes on all fours, with its fangs bared and its claws extended was pursuing her / was a loup-garou!
• Marie-Rose dropped kindling and ran / shawl flew out behind her as she ran / loup-garou ran faster; gaining on her / so close, feet on path; heard rasping breath, gnashing of teeth
• made it safely home / safe inside since loup-garou is a creature of the out-of-doors; will never inside a closed place / threw shawl on hook, crawled into bed, fell asleep instantly / did not even stir when Luc crept into bed beside her.
• Marie-Rose awakened; made fire from last of wood / heated water for une bouillie, a porridge / Luc dressed / when Luc put spoon to his mouth, he made a face.
• "What’s the matter?" asked Marie-Rose / "don’t know. something stuck between my teeth." / "Let me take a look." / Luc opened mouth, Marie-Rose looked in. Strands of yellow and red wool stuck between his teeth / Marie-Rose picked up shawl and showed Luc / "That’s right, it was me. I’m a loup-garou." / Marie-Rose cried. / "Ah, Marie-Rose, don’t cry! Can you deliver me?" / "Deliver you, what do you mean?" / "Wound me while I am running loup-garou, and draw even a drop of blood, I will take human shape, immediately. Then I must go to a priest and confess my sins. If he forgives me in the name of God, I will never run loup-garou again. I will be delivered. Can you do this for me?" / "Will it be dangerous?" / ‘Yes, very dangerous. Will you do it anyway?" / "I’ll do my best."
• Luc went to blacksmith. "Make me the metal part of a rake as wide as my forehead." / blacksmith measured, rake was made / Luc took rake home, made short wooden handle and attached rake / gave it to Marie-Rose and said, "Here is your weapon. Tonight, I must go into the forest again to run loup-garou. I run in a pack, Marie-Rose, and there are ten of us, and we run in single file. I’m tenth, the last in line. I am going to ask the leader of our pack to run through the forest close to this house, to run into our garden, to pass in front of the big bush at the back, and then run back into the forest again. He will do that, and they will all follow, all in line, every one of them. / "Marie-Rose, you must take your weapon, and go hide behind that bush tonight. You must wait for the loups-garous to come. When they enter the garden, one by one, you must count them. Remember, I’m the tenth. When the tenth loup-garou passes in front of the bush where you are hiding, then – and only then – come out of your hiding place and strike me as hard as you can. Don’t miss me when you strike, for if you miss me, Marie-Rose, I won’t miss you."
• that night, she hid behind the bush, rake in hand / heard howling of loups-garous / leader bounded into garden / Marie-Rose very scared but grasped weapon and held still. / Marie-Rose counted / Tenth loup-garou had slowed down so all the rest were gone / as he rushed towards the bush, Marie-Rose struck with weapon / Immediately, turned into Luc who lay with stripes of blood flowing from his forehead / "Luc, are you delivered? Did I do it properly?" / "Ah, yes, Marie-Rose," breathed Luc. "you have delivered me. Help me up, and lead me to the priest."
• Marie-Rose helped Luc to his feet / both went to the see the priest / Luc confessed his sins; priest forgave him in the name of God / Luc never again ran Loup-Garou.
•••••
Contributed by
Dale W. Pepin
STORY SOCKS
dalejeannine.pepin@sympatico.ca
http://pages.zdnet.com/storysocks
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76) GOING ON A MONSTER HUNT
[Traditional chant called Going on a Lion Hunt. Children enjoy alternating hand-claps with thigh-slaps as they listen to their teacher lead this story. Of course, they love making the appropriate sound effects and motions as they are called for. Different versions may be found at:
http://www.songsforteaching.com/chants/lionhunt.htm
http://www.semcoop.com/detail/0805061592
Refrain:
Going on a monster hunt.
I'm not afraid.
I'm going to catch me
a BIG monster!
(Spread arms to demonstrate the word "big" as you say the word.)
But look!
What's that ahead?
(Raise your head to your forehead, as though you were looking far away.)
Uh-oh.
There's mud ahead!
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Can't go around it.
Better go through it.
(Make sloshing sounds and move hands and feet as if wading through mud.)
Refrain
Uh-oh.
There's a lake ahead.
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Can't go around it.
Better swim through it.
(Make swimming motions.)
Refrain
Uh-oh.
There's a gate ahead.
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Can't go around it.
Better go through it.
(Gesture as if you open a gate, walk through, and close it.)
Refrain
Uh-oh.
There's tall grass ahead.
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Can't go around it.
We'd better crawl through it.
(If room permits, children can crawl around.)
Refrain
Uh-oh.
There's a cave ahead.
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Can't go around it.
Guess we'll have to walk into it.
It's dark in here.
I see two shining lights.
I feel something furry.
I feel a c-c-c-cold nose.
I feel s-s-s-sharp teeth.
It's a monster!!!
(Shiver and make terrified faces.)
Run out of the cave!
Crawl through the grass!
Open the gate!
Swim across the lake!
Wade through the mud!
Run into the house!
Close the door!
Run up the front stairs!
Crawl under your bed!
Let's catch butterflies next time.
•••••
Contributed by
Audrey Kopp
Storyteller, teacher
audreystory@verizon.net
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77) THE SOUP BONE by Tony Johnston
[Ages 5 to 8. Old woman, skeleton, funny, surprise ending. Reprinted here with the generous permission of Tony Johnston. 1990, illustrated by Margot Tomes. Harcourt, Ages 5 to 8. ISBN: 0-15-277255-3. Available at
http://www.amazon.com .]
Bones: A little old lady lived high on top of a hill.
She loved Halloween, but no one ever came to see her on her high hill.
She felt lonely, hungry.
Started cooking in a pot: potatoes, onions, carrots, peas.
Thought soup was too thin; wanted a soup bone.
She looked everywhere, cupboards, drawers, shelves: no bone.
She looked inside, outside, under lawn furniture, behind trees: no bone.
She began to dig: "A soup bone, a soup bone. Where could one be?"
She talked to herself because no one else was there.
Suddenly, she struck something hard, something white, something bony-looking.
A soup bone!
She clapped her hands, sang, danced, but then—oh, no!!
The bone jumped up all by itself.
Not just one bone, lots of bones, all connected. It was a skeleton!
The old lady ran, shrieking in fear.
She was afraid of skeletons.
"Boogity-boo!" cackled the skeleton as it ran after her, clicking, clacking its white bones.
Chittering, chattering its white teeth.
This skeleton loved to chase people because they screamed so loud.
It chased the old lady up a tree; it stayed on the ground, didn't want to break its bones.
"Skittle-skattle, skeleton!" shouted the frightened little old lady.
"Yes, ma'am, lady," clacked the skeleton, "I'll skittle-skattle into your house!"
And it did, looking all around.
It smelled something good.
"Mmmmm, soup," said the skeleton, "good soup! Haven't tasted anything good in years.
So it sat down—clickety-click, clackety-clack—wanted to eat that soup.
Suddenly…
"Woof! Woof!" barked the dog, chasing the skeleton, who looked for a place to hide.
The closet? Full of brooms. The linen drawer? Full of sheets.
Good idea! The skeleton slipped right under the bed.
"Woof! Woof!" the dog jumped on top of the bed.
"Oh, no," cried the skeleton, "I'm stuck! Now the dog will eat me. Loves bones."
Its white bones clattered; its white teeth chittered and chattered.
It was scared, so scared.
The little old lady stepped out of her Halloween dog costume and peered under the bed.
"I won't eat you," she said, "and I'll pull you out if you promise not to scare me again."
The skeleton said it would if she promised not to scare it again.
They both agreed. No more scaring.
They sat down and ate the soup together. It was thin but good.
"I was looking for a soup bone and I found company," the little old lady smiled.
"I wasn't looking for anything and company found me," grinned the skeleton.
Both of them confessed they were alone all the time and very lonely, day and night.
They ate, they talked, the little old lady played the piano, the skeleton played its bones.
Nothing else to eat; nothing else to do. What to do?
"It's Halloween! Let's go scare somebody," suggested the little old lady.
"Yes, let's!" cried the skeleton.
So they did.
•••••
Story contributed by
Tony Johnston, Author
San Marino, CA
Bones by Jackie Baldwin
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78) THE WITCHES' SONG by Bonnie Lockhart
[Funny, witches save the day. Found in The Ghost published by Yellow Moon Press 1985. The Witch Song may be heard on the Plum City Players’ recording, Plum Pudding, available through Sister’s Choice Records, 1450 6th St, Berkeley, CA 94710.]
Song excerpts:
Who were the witches? Where did they come from? Maybe your great great great grandma was one. Witches were wise wise wise, women they say, and there’s a little witch in every woman today.
Witches know all about flowers and weeds, how to use all their roots and their leaves and their seeds. When people grew weary from hard workin’ days, they made ‘em feel better in so many ways.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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79) FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS
[Participation, preschool with finger plays, lively]
Story:
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
(bend right arm in front of body and put left hand up palm forward, behind right arm, spreading out all five fingers)
The first one said (show one finger), OH, IT'S GETTING LATE
(put hands to cheeks and open eyes wide)
The second one said (show two fingers), THERE ARE WITCHES IN THE AIR
(sway arms above head)
The third one said (show three fingers), WE DON'T CARE
(Place hands on hips and shake one finger to show defiance)
The fourth one said (show four fingers), LET'S RUN AND RUN AND RUN
(move arms in a pumping motion)
The fifth one said, I'M READY FOR SOME FUN
(place knuckles on hips and cock head)
OOOOOOOO, went the wind (cup hands around mouth) AND
OUT (clap hands together ONCE loudly) went the lights
and FIVE little pumpkins ROLLED (roll hands around one another) out of
sight.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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80) RUBY RED LIPS
[Funny, semi-scary, jump story. Also called The Mischievous Little Girl and the Hideous Creature. Found in Ready-To-Tell Tales by Holt & Mooney or Red Lips in Crazy Gibberish and Other Story Hour Stretches by Naomi Baltuck.]
Summary: This old, scary, but humorous, story, Ruby Red Lips, has many versions about a mysterious stranger who keeps asking a little girl, "Do you want to see what I do with my long red fingernails and my ruby red lips?"
Note: (Biggest variations are in the opening, You can build up the story of the girl and her brother, or a girl in a new neighborhood, or youngster visiting a strange house. All of these are characteristics of jump stories - build up as much as you need and as time allows.)
Bones: Once upon a time there was a girl named Lucy who was very excited about moving to a new house. She was going to have her own room for the very first time in her life! Lucy loved her bedroom on the first floor near the back of the house by the old, oak tree.
The first night her parents went to bed. Then Lucy went to bed. She was in her room...all by herself..in the dark..when she heard a tap, tap, tap, tap outside her window.
She looked outside too see a woman with long, wild, black hair, a pale white face, long boney fingers, and the long red fingernails. The woman cried out,, "Lucy, do you know..what I can do..with my long red fingernails...and my ruby red lips?"
"NO!" said Lucy. "And I don't want to know!" She slammed the window and jumped in bed and pulled the covers over her head. She did not move all night.
The next night when she went to bed she heard the tap tap tap on her window again..(same description and refrain from the hideous creature as the night before) Again she says No! and slams the window. She stays under the bed all night.
The nest night when she went to bed, she heard the tap tap tap on her window...(same description and refrain from the hideous creature as the night before) Again she says No! and slams the window. She stays in the closet all night.
The next night when she went to bed, she put the pillow over head. Still she head the tap, tap, tap at the window. (Same description of woman, same refrain) Lucy WAS tired, Lucy WAS upset, Lucy NEEDED to get some sleep, so Lucy opened the window and yelled, "What, what, WHAT? Every night you come here Every night you say,(repeat refrain .)Well, I don't know! I don't know! And I don't care! Answer the question yourself. What do you do with your long red fingernails and your big red lips?"
The creature looked at the girl, smiled hideously, slowly reached up with one of its long long red fingernails, reached toward its two big red lips and went "B-b-b-l-l-b-b-b-b-l-l-l-l-l-l***
And that is the end of the story of the mischievous young girl and the hideous creature with ruby, red lips.
*** The sound a finger makes when it goes up and down between two big red lips-for approximately five seconds!
Tips: Can be told with props, such as fake nails and red candy lips. Remember to use a witchy voice for the creature. Practice so that you can tell this story with a straight face.
•••••
Contributed by
Ina Valeria Doyle
ivdoyle@rochester.rr.com
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81) TIMMY AND SALLY aka (T&S)
[Often this story is called Tale of the Black Cat, but that gives away the ending. Found in some traditional Draw and Tell books. Also as picture books:
Withers, Carl. Tale of the Black Cat. Holt, 1966. A picture book version of a classic drawing story.
Zelinsky, Paul. The Maid and the Mouse and the Odd-shaped House. Dodd, Mead, 1981. A variant of the black cat story in picture book format.]
Summary: While drawing. tell the story of Timmy going to Sally's house. The two take a curious route home that takes them on many ups and downs. They end up back at Timmy's house to see a HUGE CAT! (Timmy and Sally can be mice or boy & girl.)
Story: Once upon a time there was a boy named Timmy who lived not too far from a girl named Sally. (DRAW a T on the left of the page and an S on the right. These will be the head and the tail of the cat, so leave enough room between them.)
Timmy lived in a double house where each side was the same. (DRAW a line from the left edge of the horizontal top of the T to the point at the bottom of the vertical line of the T - do the same on the right. This makes the cat's head.)
Or: A____________B
l.................|
l.................|
..................|
..................|l
............... .C
(Directions using the Diagram above to make the cat's head. Look at A, B, C, that sort of make a letter T. Connect A to C. Then connect B to C. You'll have the cat's head.)
Each side of the house had a window and each had a chimney. (DRAW a small square in left side of house and one in right. Then put small rectangle on left top of house and one on the right. You'll have made the eyes and the ears of the cat.)
Timmy went to cut the grass in the front of the house, but the lawnmower broke.
(DRAW straggly grass sticking out at the bottom of the T–the head of cat and up each side of the house. You have made the whiskers of the cat.)
SO... Timmy went to Sally's house. (DRAW a straight line from the bottom of T to connect with the end of the S. You have the S as the cat's tail now.)
T_________________S
Sally told Tim that her father had the lawn mower, and they set off to find him. They go down a street, up a street, down again and up again, finding out that her father has just left. For awhile they follow a straight boulevard, but they can't find her father anywhere, so once again, they go down a street, up a street, then down again.
[STORIES vary here. Some versions have Sally suggest a shortcut, and the two set off going down and up, sometimes falling. Some have them going to the cellar. ALL of the versions end up making legs of the cat. This version can be done using street names having them go down South Street, along another, up and down until they have made the four legs.]
Just as Tim and Sally start the turn up towards Tim's house, Sally screams, "RUN! RUN! Look at that HUGE CAT! I think it's eating your house!" They both run toward the house to save anyone inside. (Make the last line connecting the rest of the cat.) They become local heroes with their pictures in the paper the next day, and all their friends ask for their autographs!
Tips: Look at different versions to decide how you want to make the legs. This seems to be the weakest part of the story in most versions - be creative. As in any large drawing story, try to partially cover up or otherwise distract attention from the head of the cat while you're doing the rest of the story. Good luck.)
•••••
Contributed by
Ina Valeria Doyle
ivdoyle@rochester.rr.com
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82) BRING ME A LIGHT
[Multiple sources: 1) Walker Book of Ghost Stories, Ed. Susan Hill (Walker ISBN 0-7445-0766-9, Nov. 1990 Jan. 1991, 223 pp, hc; Anthology of 17 young adult ghost stories, some of which are original, illus. throughout by Angela Barrett. 2) Manning-Sanders, Ruth. A Book of Ghosts & Goblins. J398.208. MA: Twenty-one tales about ghosts, goblins and other supernatural beings.]
Bones: A widow with seven young boys was forced out of their home by a wicked landlord on a stormy night because she couldn't pay her rent. They walked and walked until they finally came to a small town. The widow went to the mayor to ask for shelter. “Is there any place we can stay?” He told her they could stay at the old, empty palace at the edge of town. "You can light a fire to keep warm," and he gave them some bread and meat. “You will be warm and dry, but no one has ever survived a night in the house. They all died of fright.”
The widow had nothing to lose. She thanked the mayor, took the food and she and her seven children set out for the palace. It was a grand house but the tapestries on the walls hung in tatters, the gold-framed mirrors were cracked, moth grub crawled over the furniture, spiders spread their webs over across the ceiling and mice squeaked in every corner.
There was wood stacked up so she lit a fire. They sat by the hearth and ate the meat. They were just about to fall asleep when a great wind came up and rattled the house. It grew fiercer and louder. Then an earthquake lifted the palace up and bounced it down again. Then silence until a voice called out in great agony, “Bring me a light, bring me a light……..BRING ME A LIGHT!” The widow took a burning stick from the fire, gave it to her oldest son and told her to bring it to the one who cries out for light. All his younger brothers followed.
They followed the voice that continued to call out. They came to a great hall. In the middle of the hall sat an old, old man in an iron chair. His beard was so long it fell over the floor like a cloud and he held a great book under his arm. He called out, ‘Bring me a light!” The boy approached, the ghost told him to hold it steady. The boy held up the light, the ghost opened the book and began to read, muttering to himself. He kept turning the pages. Finally, he turned the last page. He gave a great sigh, clapped the book shut, stood up and smiled. “I am the soul of the rich man who owned this house. In my life I did good deeds yet evil ones as well. As I grew old, I made a vow that I would read this holy book from cover to cover. But I never finished it. What I vowed to do in life I had to finish after death. I have come here for 100 years, crying for light, for I can’t read in darkness. Only the wind, thunder and earthquakes answered me. You have saved me. All is forgiven and I can now rest.”
He told the boys to return to their mother, look under the hearth where they would find seven jars of gold. The ghost turned into mist and disappeared. The boys ran back, told their mother and found the seven jars of gold. So instead of being the poorest of the poor, they were now the richest of the rich.
•••••
Contributed by
Karen Chace, East Freetown, MA
Storyteller/Arts Web Researcher
storybug@aol.com
http://www.storybug.net
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83) MEG WESSON
[This is a New England tale I found while I was doing research this summer. It is in A Devilish View of the Yankee Past by Mary Bolte. It is full of great stories of hauntings, witches and such but for some reason this story jumped out at me. The next thing about this tale is that it is based in historical fact. I did some research on the information in the story and the battle and people (at least the governor of Massachusetts in 1745 and the man who led the militia actually existed. Gloucester (pronounced Glaw stir) is in Massachusetts. These are bones, but I have to type the beginning exactly as it is because I just love it so much.]
Bones: "A bonnet laced with withered poppies and necklaces of eels were parts of the apparel of Old Meg, a Cape Ann witch much dreaded for her uncanny powers. Because of her, hens didn't lay, fish escaped nets and pigs devoured their young."
Meg had been mocked by the Gloucester boys since her youth. When they passed her hovel, they were attacked by a fearful raven, an enormous ebony bird with a peculiar jagged mark of white under one wing. They knew it was Meg but needed silver, the weapon against the enchanted, to destroy her. They were poor and didn't have enough silver between them to fill a slingshot.
In March of 1745, Gov. William Shirley of Massachusetts became sufficiently enraged by the French attacks against New England fisherman to organize a military expedition under Sir William Pepperell against the fortress of Louisburg on Cape Breton. A hundred Gloucester men enlisted. The night before they left for battle they met at a tavern. Their merriment was interrupted by Old Meg. "Taking one look at the Cape Ann boys, she flung back her greasy black hair and shrieked. "Solider lads? Hah! You'll burn in ice under the walls of Louisburg, and the French will sell your scalps to your mamas within the fortnight!"
The men shook at the curse, fearing it more than the thought of gunshot. The campaign was terrible. Disease, malnutrition, and icy cold took their toll on the ill-trained men. To this day they don't know what turned the tide of battle, unless it was the demise of Old Meg.
One day, under the French stronghold, a huge raven, its underwing zigzagged with white, was seen circling above the hapless troops and shrieking with what seemed like hideous mirth. The Cape Ann boys recognized Old Meg and remembered her curse. One lad tore two silver buttons from his uniform, loaded them into his musket. The first shot broke the bird's leg and the second one brought it down dead.
Two days later Louisburg fell to the Yankees and the ragged men returned home. A celebration was planned in the same tavern and all of Gloucester turned out on their return. During the party one of the soldiers described the shooting of the raven. "She had a white underwing just like Old Meg."
One of the girls at the party asked "What day did you shoot the raven?"
"June 16, I do believe, two days before the victory."
"Strange," the girl said. "That was the very day Old Meg fell down and broke her leg. She died just two days later. And inside her, they found two silver buttons."
•••••
Contributed by
Karen Chace, East Freetown, MA
Storyteller/Arts Web Researcher
storybug@aol.com
http://www.storybug.net
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84) A HORRIBLE THING by Linda Spitzer
[Participation, tandem telling, scary, fun, funny. Adapted from The Judge by Harve Zemach. This is so much fun to do at beginning of a program. It can be done with 5-6 people. I've done it in tandem, as well as with a group, each lined up doing one of the scary movements of the animal. It's added on as each one repeats what he/she sees. If a group, I have someone sitting reading or knitting, like a babysitter or grandmother. There is a hand motion to each of the horrible features. It's hard to describe in writing. Eyes are scary (circle eyes with fingers), tail is hairy (wave hand behind like tail), mime jaws and claws and keep moving them. Snaps its jaws, open arms wide like alligator jaws and snap them shut. And act really, really scared when you say all the horrible things this thing looks like. Spreads its wings, belches flames, any hand motions will do to fit the picture in your mind. For creeping closer every day I look like I'm walking in small high steps and my hands are in motion as if creeping. When you have a group, each one takes one thing and adds on all the rest of the things when its their turn. I make a horrible big mask, and the group goes out, puts on a striped sheet like a Chinese dragon as well as wearing the mask and moves to circle around the straight person, the straight person dips down and goes AHHHHHHH And that's the end of.... ]
Linda: Hey, Kathi. A horrible thing is coming this way..creeping closer day by day. Its eyes are scary. Its tail is hairy. I tell you Kathi, I think we better get away.
Kathi: Oh, Linda. You're just pulling my leg. Get out of here.
Linda: No, Kathi. It's true. Come look. A horrible thing is coming this way...creeping closer day by day. Its eyes are scary. Its tail is hairy. Its paws have claws. It snaps its jaws. I tell you guys. We better get away.
Kathi: There must be something wrong with your eyes. What an imagination.
Linda: We're not kidding. I've never seen anything like this before. A horrible thing is coming this way...creeping closer day by day. Its eyes are scary. It's tail is hairy. Its paws have claws. It snaps its jaws. It growls, it groans! It chews up stones. I tell you, Kathi. We better get away.
Kathi: You can't fool me. I'm too smart. You're always trying to trick me, so I'm not falling for it this time.
Linda: If you don't believe me, just come see for yourself. A horrible thing is coming this way...creeping closer day by day. Its eyes are scary. It's tail is hairy. Its paws have claws. It snaps its jaws. It growls, it groans! It chews up stones. It spreads its wings. It does bad things. I tell you Kathi. We better get away.
Kathi: How many times have I told you, don't bother me when I'm reading. Now go away and leave me alone.
Linda: (very fast) Please, please Kathi. Believe me. Come and look, see for yourself. A horrible thing is coming this way...creeping closer day by day. Its eyes are scary. Its tail is hairy. Its paws have claws. It snaps its jaws. It growls, it groans! It chews up stones. It spreads its wings. It does bad things. It belches flames. It has no name. I tell you, Kathi. We better get away.
Kathi: Oh all right. I'm coming. Oh my!
(Growling noise and creature comes in under sheet headed for Kathi)
Kathi: A horrible thing is coming this way. Creeping closer. Its eyes are scary. Its tail is hairy. Its paws have claws! It snaps its…AHHHHHHHHH
All: And that's the end of Kathi!!!!
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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85) A TRUE GHOST STORY by Linda Spitzer © 1997
[I was the storyteller at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida every Thursday night for 10 years. I told stories and legends of the historic Biltmore Hotel including the tales about alleged ghosts and famous guests who have stayed there. One night a man in the audience motioned for me to stay and talk to him after the story hour was over, and this is the story he told me. This story was told to me as the honest truth. I figured our storytellers could embellish it, add their own local landmarks and make it sound just as real as the fellow did who told it to me as the honest truth.]
Story: My name is Bob and I have a real ghost story to tell you. I was fishing in the Lower Keys one weekend with my buddy Jim. We were returning late on a Sunday night, very late driving north back toward Homestead where we live. The moon was quite full and quite bright so we were able to see clearly. What we saw was a young woman run across the road. She had no clothes on, no shoes and she stood at the side of the road as we passed as if she were waiting for a ride from someone. We were down around the Jewifsh Creek area.
Now if you don't know about the roads in the Florida Keys, there's only one, and it runs from Miami down to Key West, and in this particular area, like most, it's two lanes wide.
Getting back to my story. We couldn't believe our eyes. Jim and I both felt she might be in need of help, so I backed the truck up to where she stood. I leaned out the window and said to her, "Need some help?"
She said, "Yeah, I do. Where are ya going?"
Bob said, "Homestead. Do you want a lift?"
She said, "Yeah, I do. Can I get in?"
I opened the door and then picked up a dirty shirt we had thrown in the back and gave it to her. She put it on. We squeezed her into the front seat with us. She had long, long very unruly blond hair. Looked like it hadn't been combed in a year. We didn't talk, she just sat there while I drove.
I'd been driving about an hour and she said, "Darn, I left my shoes back there. Take me back to get my shoes." I said, "Look, lady, whatever your name is, I've been driving an hour, I'm almost home, and there's no way I'm going to go back there at this hour of the night." She said, "Well, I need those shoes, so let me out here. I'm going to have to go back and get them.
So I let her out and we drove on to my home. I let Jim out, and he got his truck and drove on to his house. The next morning my dad drove over to have breakfast with us, as he sometimes does some mornings. He's retired now. I told him the story about the strange lady and her shoes and that she wasn't wearing any clothes. I didn't have time to describe her when he shouts to me, "Did she have long blond hair, as if it wasn't combed, and was she maybe about 20-25 years old?"
"Yes," I said.
"Where did this happen, where were you at the time?" he asked.
"I don't know, I guess the Jewfish Creek area, just past the bridge heading north."
He suddenly got very quiet. "You're not going to believe this," he said, and he spoke very slowly, "But the same thing happened to me about 35 years ago at the very same place."
Note: I didn't remember to ask him for his last name or where to get in touch with him, but I said I was going to write the story down. From what I've learned about the ghosts at the Biltmore Hotel, I think there's some real evidence that ghosts exist, though I've never seen one myself.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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86) IF YOU'RE A GHOST AND YOU KNOW IT and other songs and fingerplays
[Songs, finger plays. These are really cute.]
Song 1:
If You're A Ghost and You Know It
(to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It)
If you're a ghost and you know it,
Just say Boo
If you're a ghost and you know it,
Just say BOO
If you're a ghost and you know it and you really want to show it...
If you're a ghost and you know it just say BOO
If you're a black cat and you know it
Just say Meow
If you're a black cat and you know it
Just say Meow
If you're a black cat and you know it
And you really want to show it,
If you're a black cat and you know it
Just say Meow
If you're a skeleton and you know it,
Wiggle your bones (shake your body)
If you're a skeleton and you know it,
Wiggle your bones
If you're a skeleton and you know it,
And you really want to show it
If you're a skeleton and you know it
Wiggle your bones.
If you love Halloween and you know it
Do all three (all 3 actions in order of appearance)
If you love Halloween and you know it
Do all three
If you love Halloween and you know it
And you really want to show it,
If you love Halloween and you know it
Do all three
Song 2:
Great Pumpkin is Coming to Town
(sung to the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town)
Oh, you'd better not shriek
You'd better not groan
You'd better not howl
You'd better not moan
Great Pumpkin is coming to town.
He's making a list
Of folks that he meets
Who deserves tricks
And who deserves treats
Great Pumpkin in coming to town.
He's searching every pumpkin patch
Haunted houses far and near
To see if you've been spreading gloom
Or bringing lots of cheer.
Oh, you'd better not shriek
You'd better not groan
You'd better not howl
You'd better not moan
Great Pumpkin is coming to town.
Song 3:
On the First Day of Halloween
(sung to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas)
On the first day of Halloween
my true love gave to me
an owl in a dead tree
2-trick or treaters
3-black cats
4-skeletons
5-scary spooks
6-gobblins gobbling
7-pumpkins glowing
8-monsters shrieking
9-ghosts a-booing
10-ghouls a-groaning
11-masks a-leering
12-bats a-flying
Song 4:
I know a ghost and the ghost knows me,
I know a ghost by the old hollow tree,
I know a ghost and the ghost goes Booooooooo,
De doodle de doodle de doodle de do
Fingerplay 1:
The Ghost
I saw a ghost (fingers circle eyes)
He saw me too (point to yourself)
I waved at him (wave your hand)
But he said, "BOO!" (try to scare person next to you)
Five Little Ghosts
Five little ghosts dressed all in white
Were scaring each other on Halloween night.
"Boo!" said the first one, "I'll catch you.'" (hold up pointer)
"Wooo said the second, "I don't care if you do! (hold up middle finger)
The third ghost said, "You can't run away from me." (hold up ring finger)
And the fourth one said, "I'll scare everyone I see! (hold up little finger)
Then the last one said, "It's time to disappear." (hold up thumb)
"See you at Halloween time next year!"
Fingerplay 2:
I Made a Jack-O-Lantern
I made a Jack-o-lantern for Halloween night (form circle w/ hands)
He has three crooked teeth, but he won't bite (point to teeth, shake head no)
He has two round eyes, but he can not see (point to eyes, shut them)
He's a jolly jack-o-lantern as happy as can be.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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87) EL CADEJO*
[A Costa Rica folktale. Compiled from: Zeledón, Elías, Leyendas Costarricenses. Editorial de la Universidad Nacional. 1996. And oral traditional stories that my husband, Guillermo Gutiérrez, grew up with and heard from his grandmother. The thought of El Cadejo kept him awake many a night as a boy.]
Bones:
The tale of El Cadejo (Kaw-day-hoe) begins in the beautiful mountain town of Escazú**, Costa Rica. There the third son of a successful farmer, a lazy boy who likes to party a lot, spends his days in bed and nights out and about. He places an ox cart yoke in his bed at night under his sheets so that it looks like he is there. His father and brothers are upset with this lazy, no-good boy and one day while he is sleeping off a night out, they drag him out of the bed and carry him up to the farm to do work in the bean fields. The boy finds a cool place in the shade and falls asleep. When his father sees his son sleeping instead of working he curses his son with, “You will continue lying down on all your four legs for centuries and centuries, amen.” (“Echado y a cuatro patas seguirás por los siglos de los siglos, amén.”) And all of a sudden, the boy transforms into a large dog, long wiry and spiny black fur, long wide tail, long black toe nails***, rib bones showing, and a sad, wary look in his eyes. He looks up at his father and than swiftly runs off into the forest. There is a heavy, long chain around his neck which drags behind him.
Sometimes at night one can hear his unholy howl, a distinct soft trot, and the clanking of his chains in the cemeteries. He can hear the dead souls that go to the great beyond and the runaway souls from purgatory. He also hears the fast flapping of the wings of the Angel of Mystery.
He is rarely seen but often felt and heard. He does not harm, for he did much harm as a man; rather he appears to those who have done something wrong to remind them of their sinful ways. If the person runs, he will follow at a distance, chains clanking and long nails tapping the ground. He also guards. He will follow travelers as they cross the mountain ranges, no harm is meant but fear still runs through the traveler. If seen; all that one can see of El Cadejo are his large eyes blazing as ambers in a fire. His look can freeze the blood in fear.
Notes:
* Cadejo comes from cadena which is “chain” in English.
**Escazú is also known as the village of witches (brujas) because of the women there that practiced herbal medicines.
***One story gives him goat’s feet and he was a wayward priest when a man.
•••••
Contributed by
Marcia Gutiérrez
Quiltedtales@aol.com
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88) LA CEGUA
[A Costa Rica Folktale. Complied from: Zeledón, Elías, Leyendas Costarricenses. Editorial de la Universidad Nacional. 1996. And oral traditional tales.]
Bones: La Cegua is a beautiful young woman dressed in a black dress whose voice can lull men as a siren’s song. She will wait along isolated roadways for men who are returning from bars or houses of ill repute. The men are always on horseback and she will ask them for help. She climbs onto the horse behind the man. The man is so enamored over her beauty and her voice that he makes advances towards her or just his lustful thoughts can set her off into a fatal transformation where her face becomes something like a demonic mare. Her kiss is fatal.
[Cegua (say goo-u) can be spelled: zegua, tzegua or cigua and according to volume 3 of the U.T.E.H.A.* dictionary it comes from the Aztec word for woman, cihuatl. The Spanish word for mare, yegua, may also have influenced this word.
Stories of La Cegua are found in the oral tradition of storytelling in Costa Rica and it is a tale that mothers tell their sons. My husband grew up listening to it from his mother, Doña Irene Quiros Lizano, and when I was working on my version of the tale he was a great influence in its development or should I say, my mother-in-law was the influence behind most of the more tense moments of the tale.]
There are as many versions of this story as there are storytellers telling it; here are two basic types that you can hear:
1. There are a group of men traveling along a country road from their village towards the capital city, San José. They have to spend the night along the road and so they make a fire and cook their meal. As they are enjoying their meal and each other’s company from the distance they hear the sound of a horse running and the cries of a man. The horse gets closer and as it passes them along the road, running in frantic fury, the travelers see the rider struggling with a creature behind him. She has a woman’s figure but a horse’s head.
The following day they find the man dead along the road with a broken neck.
2. There is a young man in the village that is no good. He drinks too much and womanizes. If there is a fight, you can be sure he started it. One day he is riding back from a bar, drunk, and comes across a beautiful young woman who is walking along the road. She asks him for help, telling him that she has been walking for days to get to her sick aunt’s house. Could he take her there. The man complies but lustful thoughts come to his mind as she is riding behind him on the horse. She changes into La Cegua and bites or kisses him. The next day his horse comes into the village alone and he is found along the road with a broken neck.
[From the moment that I saw a man at a carnival in Costa Rica run by in a woman’s dress with a horse’s head mask; the children running away from him in glee, I have been fascinated with the lore of La Cegua.]
Note:
*Union Tipografica Editorial Hispano Americana
•••••
Contributed by
Marcia Gutiérrez
Quiltedtales@aol.com
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89) THE OXLESS OX CART
[A Costa Rican Folktale. Source: Zeledón, Elías, Leyendas Costarricenses. Editorial de la Universidad Nacional. 1996.]
Bones:
In the early days of a small village that was to become Costa Rica’s capital city, San José, the villagers were repairing their church. They had gone out one night under a waning moon when the saps in trees were at their lowest point and cut several Sour Cedar trees. They needed new columns, altars and saints. The wood was blessed and stacked to dry.
One night a man came into the town and stole the wood. He planned to build a house for himself with this wood. The oxen refused to move when the cart was full of its ill-gotten load and the man whipped them till they bled and could take no more. Slowly the oxen moved on up the road toward the mountains where the man built his home and with the extra wood built a new ox cart. He never enjoyed his home. The theft and use of blessed wood only brought bad luck to him and the oxen refused to be yoked to the new ox cart.
He became ill and died. Now at night his cadaver can be seen riding along the road in the ox cart, no oxen pulling it. Legend says that San José cursed him for stealing wood from His church and the oxen were innocent to the deed.
•••••
Contributed by
Marcia Gutiérrez
Quiltedtales@aol.com
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90) GHOST DOG AT THE BILTMORE by Linda Spitzer.
[Adapted from the tape There's No Such Thing as Ghosts by Richard and Judy Dockery Young, adapted from Black Dog of the Blue Ridge.]
In the early years of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, around 1932, people in that Coral Gables neighborhood reported seeing a dog every night at the same time, rain or shine, at sunset. Folks say a huge white dog, walked about 200 feet onto the 5th green of the golf course, then turned, and walked back. He passed back and forth like a sentinel on guard, always appearing at sunset, to keep his nightly vigil and disappearing again at dawn.
So the employees of the hotel started whispering one to another about what they saw, every night, until it had traveled all over Miami, Hialeah, up to Ft. Lauderdale and even into Palm Beach County. People came to the Biltmore at sunset just to watch for the white dog, and so many people actually saw him. Some folks believed him to be a ghost dog, while others believed him to be a witch dog.
One night a group of young men decided to go close to the dog and see if the dog would harm them. Choosing a night when the moon was full, they mounted horses and rode out to the 5th green. This was in the days before golf carts, you see. They all saw a huge dog, larger than any dog they had ever seen and clapping their feet to the sides of their horses, they rode forward. But they had not figured on the fear of the horses. When they approached the dog, the horses snorted with fear, and in spite of whips and reins, gave the dog a wide area, while the dog paced as serenely as if no one were near. The men were unable to get their horses to move in closer, so they went back to the hotel.
The next day they told everyone about what they had seen and done and decided to go back that night and bring guns, planning to kill the dog . That night, guns in hand, they hid behind bushes as the last rays of sunlight bathed the greens of the Biltmore golf course's 9th tee. The Black Dog appeared at the lower end of his walk and came majestically toward them. When he came opposite, every gun cracked. When the smoke cleared away, the great dog was turning at the end of his walk, seemingly unconscious of the presence of the hunters. Again and again they fired, and still the dog walked his beat.
The hunters were afraid and they ran wildly with their companions back to the hotel, while the dog remained on his path, unharmed.
Time passed and after about a year, a beautiful woman came over from the old country. It was Ireland, I think. She was trying to find her husband, who one year before had come to make a home for her in the new land. She traced him to Coral Gables, Florida and from there all trace of him was lost. Many remembered the tall, handsome man and his dog.
Then she heard the tale of the great white dog that appeared every sunset on the 5th green at the Biltmore Hotel. And she pleaded with the people at the hotel: "You must take me to see him. I think it is my husband's .dog." "Lady, that dog is dangerous. We couldn't do that," reported the men at the hotel "Please," she begged. If it's my dog, he would know me.
A party of men was made up and they had to get a wagon to drive her. Before dark, they arrived at the 5th green. The lady got out of the wagon and walked to the place where the nightly watch was kept. As the shadows grew long, the men in the group fell back. No one wanted to accompany her out to that lonely 5th green, so the lady was left alone as the sun sank into its purple, red and pink sunset.
The great dog appeared. Walking to the lady, he laid his great head in her lap, for a moment, then turning, he walked a short way from the tee, looking back to see if she was following. He led her until he paused, by a large rock near the street, where he gently scratched the ground, gave a long low wail and disappeared.
The lady called out to the men: "Please, go back and get some shovels. We need to dig, right under this rock.." Since they had no shovels, one of the men rode back for help and returned with some shovels he got from the groundskeepers at the hotel. When they dug below the surface, they found the skeleton of a man, and the hair and bones of a great dog. The woman recognized a signet ring on the hand of the man and a silk tie that lay on the bones. She removed the bones for proper burial and returned to Ireland. The Ghost Dog was no longer seen.
•••••
Contributed by
Linda Spitzer
Storybag@aol.com
http://storyqueen.com
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91) LOFTUS HALL
[Ghost, unexplained physical disturbances, devil appears as human. Suitable for all ages (in my opinion).]
Most complete account: True Irish Ghost Stories, John Seymour and Harry Neligan, Hodges Figgis, Dublin, 1914, 1926; reprinted Senate, U.K., 1994. Other sources: Irish Ghost Stories, Pádraic O’Farrell, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin, 2004; Irish Ghost Stories, Patrick Byrne, Mercier, Dublin, no date but c. 2003 (this book incorporates Irish Ghost Stories [1965] and More Irish Ghost Stories [1971]). This is probably Ireland’s most widely known ghost story. Versions are found in newspapers, magazines, television and radio.
History: House called Loftus Hall from 1666, formerly Redmond Hall from 1350 (built on site of a 12th-century house belonging to Anglo-Norman baron Raymond), near Slade on the Hook Peninsula in County Wexford. Demolished in 1870 by fourth Marquis of Ely.
Fact or believed to be fact: In the mid-18th century, Charles Tottenham, Member of Parliament, owned the house and lived there with his second wife and his daughter, Anne, by his first wife. Anne’s married sister, Elizabeth, lived elsewhere. Anne’s father was strict and cold and her stepmother unfriendly, no near neighbours, no friends. Young man sought shelter from storm, stayed a few days, Anne fell in love with him, he “returned” (extent unknown) her love, left and never returned. She pined and went mad, was confined to tapestry room and eventually died of depression. Her ghost haunted that room till demolition of house.
Variant assumed to be fiction: Anne and young man partnered and consistently won in card game against her father and stepmother, Anne dropped a card on floor, bent to pick it up, saw cloven hoofs of young man, screamed. Young man (devil) disappeared in cloud of smoke. Anne went into decline and died.
Details said to be fact, mainly from a 19th-century written account (quoted in the Seymour/Neligan book) by an unnamed minister of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland: Anne and young stranger episode as above, her ghost haunted room she died in. Devil episode said to be invented so shame of her depression and true cause of her apparition, noises and disturbances would not be publicly known, would be attributed to superstition. Father Broaders called to exorcise. He died 1773. His tombstone in Horetown cemetery reads (in O’Farrell book): “Here lies the body of Thomas Broaders / Who did good and prayed for all / And banished the Devil from Loftus Hall.” Byrne’s book quotes apparently the same tombstone in the same cemetery: “And Father Broaders the best of all / Who banished the ghost from Loftus Hall.” (I haven’t seen the tombstone, so don’t know which is correct.)
But the haunting did not cease. The same anonymous minister reports that in 1790 his father, invited to a large party at the Hall, slept in the tapestry room. Middle of the night, something heavy leapt on the bed, covers pulled from the bed. Thinking it a prank, he fired a pistol up the chimney so he wouldn’t hit anyone, lit a match, found no one. Years later, valet of Marquis of Ely slept in tapestry room, saw lady in brocaded silk walk through room into a wardrobe. Years after that, same minister, ignorant of previous two stories, slept in tapestry room, saw same lady one night, next night saw her and attempted to stop her but his hand passed through her, told his father, who said nothing. Years later, minister stayed at Hall, heard same valet refuse to stay in tapestry room, asked him why, was told about Anne’s ghost, same description. In the 1850s, the Marchioness of Ely, her son, and his tutor stayed in Hall, tutor in tapestry room. Tutor later wrote to minister to report same experiences with something heavy landing on bed, covers pulled off, but no ghost of Anne. In 1868, minister went to Hall, found wardrobe and bed missing from tapestry room and billiard table installed, asked housekeeper how Anne reacted to the changes. Reply, “Oh, Master George, don’t talk about her: last night she made a horrid noise knocking the billiard-balls about!”
•••••
Contributed by
Richard Marsh
richardmarsh@legendarytours.com
http://www.legendarytours.com/storyteller.html
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92) THE PUMPKIN GIANT
[This story is one of my favorites for this time of year and can be scary, funny and, perhaps, serious all at the same time. Sources for The Pumpkin Giant. Found in Diane Goode's Book of Scary Stories and Songs, 1994 -- Dutton Children's Books where is is listed as "American." No author credit.]
Bones:
* long ago no pumpkins
* no pumpkin pie, no pumpkin tarts, no pumpkin cookies, no jack-o-lanterns
* time when the Pumpkin Giant lived
* PG taller than any other giant
* great round head, smooth and shiny; eyes like glowing coals
*
mouth stretched from side to side halfway around head
* lived in castle surround by a moat
* moat filled with bones of victims, since fond of eating children
*
especially fat little boys and girls.
* feared throughout kingdom; even by king
* king had one daughter
* princess so fat she could never walk; had to be rolled everywhere
* rolled
up to bed, down in morning, through royal gardens, around royal ponds
* when rolling, 50 guards accompanied because of fear of PG
* across hills lived poor man with potato farm and son fatter than princess
* potato farm not far from PG's castle
* one morning, farmer and son in field digging new potato crop
* ground began to shake; boulders bounce, trees tremble
* toward them came PG
* boy tried to hide behind father but chubby cheeks stuck out
* PG came closer; big mouth open wide
* PG came right up;
* last minute farmer threw potatoes at him
* largest one went down PG's throat
* PG choked, gasped, fell and smashed head on ground
* PG died
* King greatly relieved; princess allowed to roll without guards
* next spring, however, strange vines grew instead of potatoes
* vines ran everywhere
* eventually yellow giant's heads started to form -- hundreds
* great concern since where there were heads, bodies should follow
* excitement died when bodies did not form
* heads didn't develop mouths
* people forgot about farmer's strange crop
* son did not forget
* watched giant's heads get bigger, yellower
* couldn't stand it
* rolled into kitchen, got carving knife, rolled into field
*
cut piece of giant's head and stuffed it in his mouth
* afraid of becoming sick
* surprise --- it was good
* parents convinced he would die, but he didn't
* soon everyone eating pieces of pumpkin head
* mother thought it would be better cooked with spices, sugar, eggs, milk
* pudding was good
* tried a pie -- good; tarts -- good; cookies -- good
* one day King riding by; smelled baking; stopped to taste
* king demanded to know what it was
* took farmer and his family back to castle
* farmer became gardner, uprooted royal roses, grew pumpkins
* wife cooked pies
* son ate them with princess; both got fatter and fatter
* eventually boy and princess married
* took 50 archbishops to perform ceremony
* all lived happily after rolling down the aisle after the ceremony
•••••
Contributed by
Dale W. Pepin
STORY SOCKS
dalejeannine.pepin@sympatico.ca
http://pages.zdnet.com/storysocks
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93) TAILYPO or TAIL EEN PO
[Scary, builds suspense, for older kids, could be jump tale. Collected and adapted by Chuck Larkin:"The version I first heard was many years ago in my childhood. In the early 70s I heard a similar version in the Cookville area of Tennessee. Later I started telling this story as a jump story. I have no idea which images reflected in the story came from what I heard or what I created. After the popular published version involving an old man surfaced I had to readjust the front end set up in order to break the listeners free from the other variation during my telling of this version. Two interesting information nuggets are the definitions of the words 'Een' [Irish Gael] meaning 'dear one' and 'Po' as a spoken abbreviation includes 'Point or tip.' Taileenpo perhaps once meant the end of my dear tail. I have been told by a folklorist that this version is a transition version between the older Irish form and the popular published version of the old man in the mountain cabin that was published in the late 60s or early 70s. This is my copyrighted version and all have permission to retell and readapt as they wish or include in a collectiom. As said above this is an old folktale that is now known as Tailypo and Tailybone."]
Story: Today I'm going to share with you a true story. This occurred to a neighbor I knew. He rode the same school bus I rode. I lived on a farm out past the end of the school bus route on a dirt road and Augustine [we called him Aggie] lived on a farm near the Nassawanga creek about three miles toward town, just before the paved road began. Years later a writer apparently heard about what happened to Aggie and wrote a book
with the story. But in the book he changed the names, kind of changed what really
happened and changed Aggie into an old man. First time I heard the book version I thought it sounded like what happened to my neighbor Aggie. As you hear what really happened to Aggie and if you know the other story this might help you later to think of an experience you had and how to change your adventure to write a story.
When I was in the fifth grade, when Aggie's story occurred, it was
about 1937 in the period of the great depression. Nobody on the farms in those days had any cash money. We were so poor our Dalmatian dog only had one spot. In fact our house was so small our dog had to wag his tail bring home the butcher's aprons to wash but first she boiled the aprons in a big pot to make soup. Our pockets were made out of rubber so we could carry soup to school for lunch. To make coffee Momma also used to boil our coffee grounds over and over again until the coffee grinds bleached out white. Then we would bag the white coffee grounds and ship them up to the Yankees and sell them for grits. That's why even today Yankees don't like grits.
I got my first pair of trouser pants when I went to the first grade. For shoes we painted our feet and laced up our toes. After sitting in the old time rough wooden chairs we would come home with holes in the seat of our pants. Momma would make us stand on our heads in order to sew up our pants. That's why a lot of old men my age have bald heads. We wore off the hair getting our one pair of paints sewed up. Well, let me tell Aggie's story.
Aggie lived in a log cabin. When people built a log cabin, they started with one room about 16 feet by 16 feet. After they started living in the one room, they would later build on additional rooms. Aggie's mom and dad slept on a homemade mattress back against the wall. Above their heads was a platform halfway up the wall, just big enough for Aggie's mattress with two poles holding the platform and a ladder to climb up and down. To the left of the bed was a fireplace and to the right was one window. Across from the beds was the front door.
This day Aggie was out in the garden chopping weeds with a big grubbing hoe. That's a long handle with a big flat steel head like a big number 7. As Aggie was swinging the hoe and digging up weeds, he suddenly saw a whole head of cabbage disappear straight down into the ground. That surprised him because there were no varmints big enough to pull a whole head of cabbage underground. In those days all your food to eat was growing in the garden, and Aggie knew he had a problem. When he saw another great big watermelon disappear underground, he raced over and started swinging that huge hoe at the spot.
Whatever was in the dirt turned and was digging down faster then Aggie could dig. He made one more swing as hard as he could and hit something, and he could hear a squeal going deeper into the ground. When he cleared the dirt away from down in the big hole, he pulled out a bloody, muddy tip of a tail with no hair, about five inches long, pointed on the end and real thick and meaty where it was cut. Aggie carried it up to the pump.
He was pumping up water to wash the tail tip off when the mailman came driving up. The mailman told the Sheriff this part of the story that Aggie told him. The mailman Bob Williams also told the Sheriff that there was no varmint that he'd ever seen with a tail like the one Aggie was washing off. His parents later told us what happened that night.
Aggie carried the tail in the house. His mom and dad had gone to town. His mom had a big pot of greens cooking in the fireplace. Aggie put the tail into the iron pot to cook with the greens and went back out into the garden to continue cutting out the weeds in the garden. He finished his chores about two hours later and washed up at the pump. After he went back into the cabin he could smell the cooked tail and that meat sure smelled good.
His parents had not returned and Aggie had not eaten any meat for about nine days. The only meat the family ate was game they caught in traps and they had not caught any lately. Aggie fished the tail out of the simmering water, wrapped it in a cloth because it was hot and carried it out behind the barn. He ate the whole tail and did not save any for his parents. He burred the bones in the ground.
It was late that night when Aggie woke up. Some noise had wakened him, his parents and their three hound dogs. The dogs were growling and barking at the door. Aggie's daddy Orvile got up and let the dogs out. They took off after something that had been in the yard. Orvile closed the door and placed the locking bar down. Next he put a log on in the fireplace and stirred up the fire. Last he closed and locked down the big shutter over the window and went back to bed.
Aggie and his folks listened to the dogs and they could hear them chasing something
down into the Nassawanga swamp. Slowly their barks got fainter and fainter as they went deeper and deeper into the swamp. Aggie, up on his sleeping platform, told his mom and dad what happened that day. His ma said that it was all right, she didn't think she would have eaten meat from a varmint's tail that she didn't know. His paw said the same thing.
After it got quiet, they fell asleep. The next time Aggie woke up, the fire in the fireplace had burned out. The inside of the cabin was dark, dark, dark. With the door and window shutters closed there was no light. Aggie wondered what woke him up, and then way off in the distance he faintly heard what sounded like a voice. Slowly Aggie heard the voice coming a little closer and getting a little louder, a little closer a little louder. Then he realized the something outside in the dark, that was coming closer was whimpering "Tail een po, tail een po, where is my tail een po?" Aggie thought, oh-oh, time to get up, climb down and get in bed with my mommy and daddy.
[Good time to ask someone in the front of the audience: Does that make sense to you? Respond appropriately and continue.]
But when Aggie started to get up, he found he was unable to move or speak. All he could do was wiggle his fingers and toes and roll his eyes.
The voice came closer and louder "Tail een po, tail een po where is my tail een po?" By this time Aggie's mom and dad were awake and they told us later that they could hear this eerie voice moaning "Tail een po, tail een po where is my tail een po?" but they could not move or speak!
Aggie thought "It's in the yard, that's a weird voice. I can feel goose bumps on my arms and down my back." "Tail een po, tail een po, where is my tail een po?" Wham! Something hit the front door. "Tail een po, tail een po where is my tail een po?"
Aggie thought "I ain't scared. My daddy bolted the door, ain't nothing gone to get in." "Tail een po, tail een po, where is my tail een po?" Then Aggie heard something big
slowly dragging itself around the cabin toward the window, now quietly whimpering "Tail een po, tail een po where's my tail een po?" "I ain't scared, my daddy closed and bolted the shutters over the window, ain't nothing gone to get in."
"Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?" Wham bam bam bam, it hit the window hard several times and still whispered with quiet fury "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?"
Now the thing was crawling slowly around the cabin until it reached the logs next to where Aggie's parents were frozen still. Aggie could hear it slowly creeping up the logs next to where he was sleeping. He could hear what sounded like claws sinking into the wood as the creature slowly crawled up over his head furiously whispering "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?" "Well, I ain't scared, my daddy put thick strong overlapped shingles of oak wood on the roof, ain't nothing can get through that roof." The thing still whispered "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?"
Now Aggie could catch a small whiff of some distinct ghastly smell coming through tiny spaces between the logs. "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?" Now it's on the roof and, and, and it's heading for the chimney. "I ain't scared. Nothing can get down that chimney, well, at least nothing that big." Then he heard this bizarre, angry voice whispering and muttering "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?" "Oh oh that sounds like something is sliding and sliming down inside the Chimney. It's in the fireplace." "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?"
"Well, it can't get up here on this platform. It can't climb a ladder. I ain't scared!" But then he could hear what sounded like claws on the bottom rungs of the ladder and he could feel the platform shake a little bit as something slowly climbed up the ladder. "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?"
Aggie could feel a presence coming over the mattress at his feet. "Tail een po, tail een po, where's my tail een po?" Now it was right over his face. Aggie held his breath the stench was horrible. Then two little red beady eyes opened up right above his face and quietly whimpered "Tail een po, tail een po" then screaming "Have you got my tail een po?"
The next morning, all Aggie's parents found were Aggie's fingers and toes. After the thing ate the rest of Aggie, it went over and unlocked the cabin door and left. A week later the three hounds were found several miles away in the next county and brought home. A few months later some hunters found a pile of bones that some say were Aggie's bones, out in the swamp.
AND THAT'S A TRUE STORY
•••••
Full story printed to honor the memory of the late Chuck Larkin, who left us with so many wonderful memories and stories.
Contributed by
Ina Valeria Doyle
ivdoyle@rochester.rr.com
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94) ANOTHER LOOK AT TAILYPO
{As with many of the stories in this book, there are numerous ways to tell this tale. Here's a more generalized look at different variants of Tailypo.]
Bones: Setting varies, country living in a shack or a garden are two popular ones.
The protagonist is male and poor.
Long-tailed creature heard in the night.
Creature gets closer and closer until just the tip of the tail is seen.
Protagonist (old man or young boy) sees tip of tail and chops it off.
Then protagonist yells, I've got your tail! or Gotcha! (jump moment)
(Some variants occur here. If the protagonist is an old man, he hangs it on a nail on his shabby cottage wall; if the protagonist is a boy and hungry, he eats it for dinner.
Creature comes back for tail wailing Whoooooose gooooot my taiiiiiiiiiily-pooooooe again and again.
The protagonist gets more and more worried and shivers in fear.
When protagonist goes to bed, creature comes back again, getting closer and closer until protagonist can feel it next to him in the darkness.
Protagonist sends hunting dogs out to get the creature. Their barks disappear and they do not return.
Creature comes closer wailing Whoooooose gooooot my taiiiiiiiiiily-pooooooe?
Some versions have the creature crawl on top of protagonist and the protagonist breaks down and says, It's on the nail (or insert choice of place where protagonist left it: Old man had it on a nail; boy cooked it in a pot; young man hid it in a box and the creature
snatches the tail, takes off and is never heard from again.
In other versions, after hunting dogs are sent out after the creature and do not return, the protagonist also goes out and is never heard from again.
Sources:
Larkin, Chuck. (n.d.) Collected and adapted. Tail Een Po. Retrieved May
20, 2004 from
http://www.chucklarkin.com/
Torrence, Jackie. Tailypo. [Streamlined video.] At Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County's Book Hive: Your Guide to Children's Literature and Books. (1999.) Retrieved May 27, 2004 from
http://www.bookhive.org/zingertales/default.asp?storyid=6
•••••
Contributed by
Mel Edwards, Storyteller
faeriechild68@yahoo.com
http://www.shadowguide.com
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95) THE LEGEND OF THE LADY WITH THE RING
(Scary, ghost, live burial, not for tiny tots. Main source is Buried Alive by Jan Bondeson. It mentions the legend, but I made up the story myself.)
Bones: In Cologne, Germany in the Neumarkt district, there is a house with two wooden horse heads on the exterior of the upper floor. They commemorate the legend of the Lady with the Ring.
Richmodis von Aducht was the wife of a wealthy Baron. In 1357 during a plague epidemic, the Baroness took sick and died. Bodies were buried very quickly (sometimes the same day as they died) to prevent spread of the plague. The Lady was to be buried wearing a valuable gold ring. Baron didn’t care because he was so rich. The sexton who buried the Lady saw the ring and thought it was a great shame for so beautiful and valuable thing to be buried in the earth. The Lady was duly buried.
That night, the sexton returned to graveyard with a lantern and shovel. He dug up the Lady’s grave, brought the coffin up, and opened it. Baroness was wrapped in her shroud with arms crossed on her chest. Sexton took her hand and tried to pull the ring off. It wouldn’t budge. Sexton pushed and pulled and tugged, but it wouldn’t come off. He decided since the Lady was dead and wouldn’t feel it, he would cut the finger off.
Sexton took his knife and began to cut into the finger. Just then, the corpse moved and cried out. Some say the sexton was so frightened he fainted dead away beside the grave. Some say he ran off into the woods and was never seen again. Some say he dropped dead of fright on the spot and tumbled into the open grave.
Doesn’t really matter what happened to the sexton, but he did do the Lady a great service. Plague victims could fall into a deathlike trance. No detectable pulse, breathing or other sign of life as was understood in the 14th century. It is possible some may have been buried alive.
The actions of the sexton had revived the "dead" woman. So, he had saved the Lady from the horrible fate of waking up in her coffin to discover she was in the ground. The Lady climbed out of the coffin and picked up the sexton’s lantern. Still wrapped in her shroud, she slowly followed the path back into the city.
She arrived at her house late in the night. The door was locked and no lights were seen. The Lady pounded on the door to gain admittance. Door was answered by a maid who thought the Lady was a ghost. The maid slammed the door and ran inside to hide. Lady kept pounding on the door. Other servants came and all thought she was a ghost and none would listen to her story or let her in. The Lady begged to see her husband.
Eventually, the Baron came to the door, he too thought she was a ghost. He said "If you are really my wife, returned from the grave and alive, then I need a sign. If my two best horses run out of the stables, in the back door, and up the stairs to the top floor to look out the window, then I will take you back into my home."
No sooner had he spoken than he heard a whinny from the window above him. Baron looked up to see his two best horses with their heads looking out of the window to the street below.
Baron embraced his wife and took her back in. The Lady is said to have lived for seven more years and to have borne several healthy children. The story is remembered in Cologne by the horse head sculpture, which remains to this day.
•••••
Contributed by
Ruthanne Edward
ruthanne-edward@rogers.com
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96) THE STICKY MAN
[I know this only as an oral story. I suspect if falls into the urban legend category, but I don't have a source.]
Bones: Young family with one child moves into a new house. The child is a boy, 3 years old. The mother is in the basement one day doing laundry. She hears the boy in the next room playing. She hears him talking and goes to see what he is doing. He is standing looking at a wall and talking away as if someone were there. The mother asks to whom he is talking. The boy replies, "The Sticky Man."
The parents just think the boy has invented an imaginary friend. He often tells them he was playing with or talking to the Sticky Man. Not just in the basement, but all over the house. The boy talks about the Sticky Man so much that the parents start to get concerned. They explain to the boy that it is okay to have imaginary friends, but he needs to understand that the Sticky Man is not real. This makes the boy very upset, and he insists the Sticky Man is real.
The parents persevere in teaching their son the difference between real and imaginary things. One day the boy says, "The Sticky Man is getting mad because you keep saying that he is not real." Parents finally tell him that he must stop talking about the Sticky Man. The boy continues to say they are making the Sticky Man mad.
One day, the boy is standing at the top of the stairs to the basement and starts to jump up and down, clapping his hands saying, "The Sticky Man is coming, the Sticky Man is coming." He won’t stop and his mother gets very upset with him. The boy says the Sticky Man is in the basement and he is mad.
The mother is becoming scared at her son’s strange behavior. She decides to go down to the basement to show him no one is there. Down the stairs, into the laundry room she goes. When she looks around, she sees something on the far wall. There is a man stuck to the wall like a spider. He is transparent; the wall can be seen through him. The Sticky Man sees the woman and with his arms and legs splayed out, scuttles up the wall, across the ceiling and down the wall closest to her. He is so fast that he almost reaches her before she can react.
The mother screams and runs up the stairs as fast as she can. She slams the basement door shut and locks it. Her son is still chanting, "The Sticky Man is coming, the Sticky Man is coming." She stands by the door and listens but doesn’t hear anything. She moves closer to the door and just then, "THUMP, THUMP, THUMP." Something is pounding on the door from the other side, something big. The woman scoops up the boy and runs out of the house.
There are two possible endings.
1) The woman refuses to reenter the house. They sell it as quickly as they can and move away. The Sticky Man doesn’t follow them and they "neglect" to tell the new owners about what happened.
2) After this incident, the boy stops talking about the Sticky Man and eventually seems to forget about him. In time, the couple has another baby. When that child reaches the age of three, the parents notice him in his room one day, talking away, as if someone were there.
•••••
Contributed by
Ruthanne Edward
ruthanne-edward@rogers.com
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97) THE STRANGE VISITOR
[Jump story. Adaptable for various age groups. Bones taken from Joseph Jacob's English Fairy Tales, now in the public domain. Details of the woman's house and the weather outside can set a spooky Halloween mood. Full text available at:
http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-35.html ]
Bones:
A woman sits and spins and wishes for company. In comes a pair of broad broad feet.
She sits and spins and wishes for company. In comes a pair of small small legs.
She sits and spins and wishes for company. In comes a pair of thick thick knees.
She sits and spins and wishes for company. In comes a pair of thin thin thighs.
She sits and spins and wishes for company. In comes a pair of huge huge waist.
She sits and spins and wishes for company. In comes a pair of wee wee waist.... et cetera,
until the huge huge head arrives, which engages the woman in conversation.
How did you get such broad broad feet?" says the woman.
The reply: "Much tramping, much tramping"
"How did you get such small small legs?"she asks.
The reply: "Aih-h-h!-late–and wee-e-e–moul" (whiningly).
"How did you get such thick thick knees?"
"Much praying, much praying"
"How did you get such thin thin thighs?"
"Aih-h-h!–late–and wee-e-e–moul" (whiningly).
And so on repeating the parts of the body.
The conversation ends with a jump:
"What have you come for?"
"FOR YOU!"
•••••
Contributed by
Tim Ereneta, Storyteller
tim@storyteller.zzn.com
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98) GRIM, KING OF THE GHOSTS
[This is a ballad. Taken from Mathew Gregory Lewis' Tales of Terror (1808). Now in the public domain. Full text available at:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1677241 ]
Bones: This story in verse tells the story of Nancy, who shuns the local butcher who woos her, and exclaims she would rather marry a dead man. Unfortunately, as the daughter of the sexton, she says this too near the graveyard, and Grim, the King of the Ghosts comes to claim her as his bride. Off she goes to the underworld to a truly horrific wedding feast, but when she learns of her ultimate fate, she cleverly finds a way to outwit the King of the Ghosts while still keeping her word.
•••••
Contributed by
Tim Ereneta, Storyteller
tim@storyteller.zzn.com
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99) THE BURIED MOON
[An English fairy tale. Bones taken from Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book, which first appeared in 1916, published by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.,, London.]
Bones: Long ago, the English town of Carland was surrounded by bogs with deep pools of black water and putrid rivulets snaking out in every direction, just waiting to catch an unwary traveler. A scary, deadly place at night.
On nights when the Moon shone brightly in the sky, people could find their way home through the treacherous bogs. But on nights when the Moon did not come, the Evil Things took over, harming any person who came near. Quicksand and mud pools lay in the dark, unseen, waiting, waiting.
The kind Moon was upset at what she had heard about the bogs and decided to go down to Earth and look things over. So at the dark end of the month, she wrapped up in a black traveling cloak with its hood drawn over her golden hair. Once in the slimy bogs, she could see nothing but black pools of water, gnarled sticks, deadly weeds and grasses, and terrifying Evil Things lurking everywhere. Cold and trembling, she drew her cloak closer around her to hide the bright ring of moonlight that shone from her feet.
As she wandered through this nightmare land, she suddenly tripped, grasping an overhanging bough to break her fall. The tendrils from the bough whipped around her wrists like manacles and held her prisoner. She struggled, wrenched, tugged, but the tendrils only tightened and cut into her wrists like steel.
As she stood there imprisoned, she heard a far-away cry of despair. Closer and closer the cries came and finally she saw a haggard man with fearful eyes, lost in the bogs, knowing he was doomed to die. He caught a glimpse of light from the captive Moon and started toward it. The Moon struggled fiercely to free herself, to no avail, but her cloak fell back from her golden hair and the whole place was flooded with light. All the Evil Things scurried back into their dank holes. The man made his way to safety.
The Moon longed to follow but her struggles exhausted her, she fell limp in the mud at the foot of the snag, the hood of her cloak once again covering her shining hair. Out came all the vile things from their hiding places, snarling, scratching, screaming at the helpless Moon. Now at last they had her in their power, this beacon of light that ruined their steamy, dark night fantasies.
The Evil Things screamed, shrieked, laughing with fiendish glee, the bogs now alive with murderous whispers on how to slaughter the poor Moon. Early dawn arrived with them still hissing, clawing, screeching at one another. As dawn brightened, they decided to bury the Moon deep in the black mud. They pushed her down, down, down, stamped on her, hurled a huge black stone on top of her. Two will-o-the-wisps were ordered to keep watch and if the Moon tried to escape, they were to sound an alarm.
Days passed, but no Moon appeared. The Evil Things multiplied, swarmed past the bogs and terrorized people everywhere. Villagers sought help from the Wise Woman of the Mill, but she didn't know where the Moon was. Talk of the Moon's disappearance was on everyone's lips. Finally, the man who had wandered into the bogs told the story of his deliverance by the Moon. When she heard this, the Wise Woman told the villagers to put stones in their mouths, twigs in their hands, to enter the bogs without fear, and they would find the Moon when they saw a coffin with a cross and a candle on it.
So the villagers did as they were told, creepy as it was. They came upon the stone, which looked like a coffin and had a black cross at its head, formed by the snag. On the cross flickered a tiny light like a candle. The villagers kneeled and prayed to God, then together they heaved aside the great stone. The most beautiful face in the world gazed up at them, full of gratitude and love. The Moon emerged from the black pool and soared to her place in the sky.
Everywhere now was silver light, shining brightly in the bogs as the weird things scuttled to their lairs. The Moon sailed through the sky, smiling down on her rescuers. She lit up the trails to their homes. People's hearts filled with hope that this time the Moon had truly killed the Evil Things dead—never to come to life again.
•••••
Contributed by
Jackie Baldwin
Story-Lovers
bubbul@vom.com
http://www.story-lovers.com
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100) TEIG O'KANE AND THE CORPSE
[Sources:
Young, Richard & Young, Judy Dockery. Scary Story Reader. Little Rock, AR: August House, 1993.
Haining, Peter (editor). Irish Tales of Terror. New York: Bonanza Books, 1988.
Rhys, Ernest. The Haunters and the Haunted. London: Daniel O’Connor, 1921. Also available online at http://www.bartleby.com
Yeats, William Butler. Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasants. 1888 (several editions have been reissued.)
Type: Depending on how it is told, this can either be funny or horrifying.
Themes: Carrying a corpse, finding place to bury a corpse.]
Bones: Young man (Teig or Tad) is spoiled rotten. His parents and neighbors warn him to repent of his bad ways, he refuses. Eventually he ruins a young girl’s reputation (gets her pregnant in some versions). He refuses to marry her. Late one night when he is walking home, he is confronted by a band of the Little People. They force him to carry a corpse on his back. They tell him he must try to bury the corpse at one of four or five designated places before dawn. The corpse whispers instructions into his ear as they walk along. At the first place the graves are already full. At the second place there are too many ghosts in the churchyard. At one place a storm drives him away. At one place an unseen force picks him up and drops him in a ditch. Just before dawn he gets to the last place and finds an open grave. He drops the corpse into the grave just as the sun rises. The experience makes the young man repent of his evil ways.
•••••
Contributed by:
Leanne Johnson, Storyteller
DayLeaG@aol.com
http://www.storytelling.org/Leanne
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101) WAIT UNTIL MARTIN COMES
[Sources:
Washington, Donna. A Big, Spooky House. New York: Hyperion, 2000.
Haskins James. The Headless Haunt & Other African-American Ghost Stories. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.
Schwartz, Alvin. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. New York: Harper, 1981.
Leach, Maria. The Thing At the Foot of the Bed & Other Scary Tales. Cleveland: World, 1959.
Harper Wilhelmina. Ghosts & Goblins: Stories for Hallowe’en and Other Times. New York: Dutton, 1936.
Type: Funny, could be a jump story.
Themes: Cats, waiting for a monster.]
Bones: Man goes out for a walk. A storm comes up while he is walking. He takes shelter in a deserted house. He starts a fire to keep warm. A black cat comes into the room, sits at his feet and watches him. Another black cat, much larger than the first, comes into the room. First cat says, "Should we do it now?" Second cat says, "No, wait until Martin comes." Third cat comes into the room, much larger than first two. Third cat says, "Should we do it now?" First two cats say, "No, wait until Martin comes." Fourth cat comes into room, much larger than the rest. Fourth cat says, "Should we do it now?" Other cats say, "No, wait until Martin comes!" Man jumps up and runs from house, calling back, "When Martin comes, tell him I couldn’t wait!"
•••••
Contributed by:
Leanne Johnson, Storyteller
DayLeaG@aol.com
http://www.storytelling.org/Leanne
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102) THE HAUNTED HARP (TWA SISTERS)
[Sources:
Creeden, Sharon. Fair is Fair: World Folktales of Justice. Little Rock, AR: August House, 1994.
Hodges, Margaret (editor). Hauntings: Ghosts & Ghouls From Around the World. Boston: Little, Brown. 1991.
Whedbee, Charles. Blackbeard's cup and stories of the Outer Banks. Winston-Salem, N.C.: J.F. Blair, c1989. (this is a variation of the theme)
MacColl, Ewan and Seeger, Peggy. Traveller’s Songs from England and Scotland. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1977.
Manning-Sanders, Ruth. A Bundle of Ballads. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1959.
Child, Francis James. English And Scottish Popular Ballads. New York: Dover, 1882.
Jacobs, Joseph. English Folk & Fairy Tales. 1800. (several editions have been reissued.)
Type: Haunting, sad & spooky
Themes: bones identify murderer by singing, revenge, justice.
Bones: Two sisters (princesses) are the best of friends. Young man comes courting, gets engaged to oldest sister. Before wedding, young man and younger sister fall in love with each other. Oldest sister finds out. Oldest sister takes younger sister to the river, pushes her into the water, watches her drown. Body floats downstream, is retrieved at a milldam. Nobody knows who she is. Traveling harper chances to see her body, then has to continue on his travels. After many years he comes through that way again, and stops to visit her grave. There is no grave, but he finds some strands of her hair and a few of her bones. He fashions the bones and hairs into a harp. The harper is soon invited to the home (castle) of the sisters. He performs for the family, then sits down the harp. The harp begins to sing by itself, and sings the truth about how the oldest sister murdered her.
•••••
Contributed by:
Leanne Johnson, Storyteller
DayLeaG@aol.com
http://www.storytelling.org/Leanne
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103) Scary Urban Legends
http://www.halloween-website.com/urban_legends.htm
104) Room for One More (urban legend)
[I found these versions of this story online:
http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm390215.html
http://www.visiblefictions.co.uk/dark/play/urbanmythdetail.asp?id=8 ]
Story: A young woman on her way to town broke her journey by staying with friends at an old manor house. Her bedroom looked out to the carriage sweep at the front door. It was a moonlit night, and she found it difficult to sleep. As the clock outside her bedroom door struck 12, she heard the noise of horses' hooves on the gravel outside, and the sound of wheels.
She got up and went over to the window to see who could be arriving at that time of night. The moonlight was very bright, and she saw a hearse drive up to the door. It hadn't a coffin in it; instead it was crowded with people. The coachman sat high up on the box: as he came opposite the window he drew up and turned his head. His face terrified her, and he said in a distinct voice, "There's room for one more."
She drew the curtain, ran back to bed, and covered her head with the bedclothes. In the morning she was not quite sure whether it had been a dream, or whether she had really got out of bed and seen the hearse, but she was glad to go up to town and leave the old house behind her.
She was shopping in a big store which had an elevator in it -- an up-to-date thing at that time. She was on the top floor, and went to the elevator to go down. It was rather crowded, but as she came up to it, the elevator operator turned his head and said, "There's room for one more."
It was the face of the coachman of the hearse. "No, thank you," said the girl. "I'll walk down." She turned away, the elevator doors clanged, there was a terrible rush and screaming and shouting, and then a great clatter and thud. The elevator had fallen and every soul in it was killed.
•••••
Contributed by
Margaret Schwallie
magschwa@sbcglobal.net
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105) Room for One More (alternate version) (urban legend)
Story: The story I have involves a man having the same dream over and over. (The hearse scene). He goes to a psychologist (whose office is on the top floor, of course) to find out why he is having the dreams. I tell the dream about three times, making each more weird than the last. Pile on the bodies and the groans and gruesome-ness. Finally, while totally depressed and despairing about his sanity, someone holds the elevator door for him. That someone looks like the hearse driver from the dream. Of course he says Room for one more. The man steps back in horror, and the elevator disappears. The cable broke at that moment.
In the dream, all the driver says is "Room for one more," in a lovely, spooky sepechular tone.
•••••
Contributed by
Margaret Schwallie
magschwa@sbcglobal.net
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•••••
(updated 10/8/05; 10/22/08)
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