GHOST - GHOSTS |
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GHOST - GHOSTS Stories, Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Scroll down or click on your choice below • Books about Ghosts - All ages • Online links to stories/info about Ghosts • SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info - Ghosts Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians |
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| See also: Bare Bones Book - Halloween (105 chillers and thrillers) http://www.story-lovers.com/barebonesstories.html Halloween stories http://www.story-lovers.com/listshalloweenstories.html Bat stories http://www.story-lovers.com/listsbatstories.html Vampire stories http://www.story-lovers.com/listsvampirestories.html Witch stories http://www.story-lovers.com/listswitchstories.html Wizard stories http://www.story-lovers.com/listswizardstories.html |
Book titles are in blue and underlined. Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
To retell these stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always credit your sources.
Alphabetized for your convenience with short descriptions to save you research time.
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Ghost Island (Choose Your Own Adventure - Dragonlark) by Shannon Gilligan. (2008 - Ages 4-8)You are on a sailing trip with your family and two of your friends in the Caribbean. One night you stop on the island of Antigua. Some children who live there tell you that the island is haunted by a ghost. They are going to spy on the ghost as soon as the sun sets. Should you go with them, or go by yourself to meet this ghost? Should you steal away to the cemetery in the middle of the night? Are you brave enough for Ghost Island? YOU choose what happens next! Good luck... |
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Goosebumps: The Haunted School by R.L. Stine. (2005 - Ages 9-12)He's hearing voices . . . from another world!Tommy Frazer's dad just got married. Now Tommy's got a new mom. And he's going to a new school -- Bell Valley Middle School.Tommy doesn't hate school. But it's hard making friends. And his new school is so big, it's easy to get lost. Which is exactly what happens.Tommy gets lost -- lost in a maze of empty classrooms. And that's when he hears the voices. Kids' voices crying for help. Voices coming from behind the classroom walls. . . . |
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Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve (Magic Tree House, 30)
by Mary Pope Osborne with Sal Murdocca (illus). (2003 - Ages 4-8)The intrepid Jack and Annie are summoned once again to the fantasy realm of Camelot. There, Merlin the Magician tells them that the Stone of Destiny has been stolen. The answer to its disappearance lies within a haunted castle. With a young magician named Teddy, Jack and Annie take on the challenge in an adventure that takes them to new heights and places they couldn’t even imagine! |
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In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting with Susan Meddaugh (illus). (1994 - Ages 4-8)All we see are two pairs of sneakers--one large, one small--as a little girl and her father tour a dark, mysterious house. |
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Ivy and Bean and the Ghost that Had to Go (Ivy & Bean, Book 2) (Bk. 2)
by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall. (2007 - Ages 4-8)Best friends Ivy and Bean have made an amazing discovery: a ghost in the school bathroom! Ivy and Bean can see its cloudy form and its glowing eyes. They can hear its moaning voice. This is the best thing that ever happened at school until the teachers find out. Now Ivy and Bean have to figure out how to get the ghost out of the bathroom. Will they succeed? Maybe. Will they have fun? Of course! |
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Magic Tree House #42: A Good Night for Ghosts (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) by Mary Pope Osborne with Sal Murdocca (illus). (2009 - Ages 9-12) Jack and Annie are on their second mission to find—and inspire—artists to bring happiness to millions. After traveling to New Orleans, Jack and Annie come head to head with some real ghosts, as well as discover the world of jazz when they meet a young Louis Armstrong! |
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Miss Smith and the Haunted Library
by Michael Garland. (2009 - Ages 4-8)When Miss Smith reads from her magical book, the worlds she describes come alive—literally! Today Miss Smith is taking her class on a field trip to a deliciously spooky library. There the class meets librarian Virginia Creeper and settles down to listen to a few scary tales. Before long everyone’s favorite creepy characters are stalking the library and a haunted party is in full swing. So . . . who’s for taking a ride with the Headless Horseman? |
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Mystery of the Pirate Ghost (The) (Step-Into-Reading, Step 4)
by Geoffrey Hayes. (1985 - Ages 4-8) Is there a ghost loose in Boogle Bay? Young Otto the alligator and his Uncle Tooth find out in a funny, high-spirited whodunit for beginning readers. |
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Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story
by Mary Downing Hahn. (2008 - Ages 9-12)12-year-old Molly and her 10-year-old brother, Michael, never liked their younger stepsister, Heather. Ever since their parents got married, she's made Molly and Michael's life miserable. Now their parents have moved them all to the country to live in a house that used to be a church, with a cemetery in the backyard. If that's not bad enough, Heather starts talking to a ghost named Helen and warning Molly and Michael that Helen is coming for them. |
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Spiros The Ghost Phoenix (Beast Quest Special Edition)
by Adam Blade. (2009 - Ages 9-12)The evil wizard Malvel no longer wants to simply defeat Tom. He is determined to crush him. This time, he's kidnapped Tom's Aunt and Uncle-his only family-and disappeared. Tom's only hope is to summon the lost seventh Beast of Avantia, Spiros the Ghost Phoenix. But this legendary Beast disappeared years ago . . . and tracking her down could make this Tom's most dangerous quest yet. |
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Ghost In The Machine (Skeleton Creek)
by Patrick Carman. (2009 - Ages 9-12)Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek...and Ryan and Sarah are trying to find out why. Ryan writes down everything in his journal, and Sarah records everything on her videocam. The two move deeper into the mystery they've uncovered, determined to discover the secrets buried in Skeleton Creek, in the conclusion to Patrick Carman's thrilling series. |
MORE BOOKS ABOUT SCARY THINGS:
100 Creepy Little Creature Stories
100 Ghastly Little Ghost Stories
100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories (100 Stories)
100 Menacing Little Murder Stories
100 Wicked Little Witch Stories
Five-Minute Chillers
American Witch Stories
Between Midnight and Morning
Bloody Mary and Other Tales for a Dark Night
Campfire Tales ... Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggety Beasties
Civil War Ghosts (Civil War Series) by Greenberg, Martin, Civil War stories by famous authors
Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (The Raven) by Poe, EA, scary for adults
Conjure Tales and Stories of the Color Line (Penguin Classics)
Even more scary stories for sleep-overs (#4)
Favorite Scary Stories of American Children for Grades K-3/Audio Cassette
Ghost Stories from the American South (American Storytelling)
Ghost Stories from the American Southwest
Ghostly Tales of Iowa
Ghostwise
Gold-Bug and Other Tales, The (Dover Thrift Editions)
Great American Mysteries: Raining Snakes, Fabled Cities of Gold, Strange Disappearances, and Other Baffling Tales
Great Southern Mysteries
Haunted Bayou (American Storytelling)
Haunted Heartland (Dorset Reprints Series)
Horrors!: 365 Scary Stories
Kentucky Ghosts (New Books for New Readers)
Lady or the Tiger and Other Stories, The
Moonlit Road and Other Ghost and Horror Stories, The (Dover Thrift Editions)
More Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs
More Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark
More Super Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs
Queen of the Cold-Blooded Tales (American Storytelling)
Scared In School
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones (Scary Stories)
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 25th Anniversary Edition: Collected from American Folklore (Scary Stories)
Short & Shivery: Thirty Chilling Tales
Still More Scary Stories For Sleep-Overs
Super scary stories for sleep-overs (#5) (Super Scary Stories for Sleep-Overs)
Walker Book of Ghost Stories, The 
Wolf's Complete Book of Terror
ONLINE LINKS TO STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT GHOSTS
Online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always credit your sources.
Some good websites:
http://www.castles-of-britain.com/castle94.htm
http://www.borleyrectory.com/
http://www.connexions.co.uk/culture/html/ghosts.htm
http://www.derbycity.com/ghosts/ghosts.html
http://www.ghosttowns.com/
http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/
http://zuko.com/weird_n_spooky_america.htm
http://www.prairieghosts.com/grave_ghosts.html
http://www.cultimedia.ch/ghosttowns/
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ghosttour/
http://theshadowlands.net/places/texas.htm
http://www.lonestarspirits.org/
http://members.tripod.com/ufocrock/ghosts.html
http://www.themoonlitroad.com/
http://www.castleofspirits.com/
http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/GSS.html
http://www.cardiffgiant.com/ghost.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/castles/enter.html
http://urbanlegends.about.com/msubdead.htm?once=true&
• http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/sacrifice.html#buriedalive (search for "buried alive")
Here are a few links to stories about being buried alive:
• http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/sacrifice.html
Look at this page. Lots of stuff there connecting stories with place.
Then these as well:
• http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php?t=73667
• http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/inu/eft/eft29.htm
• http://www.wvghosts.com/
Good website for West Virginia ghost stories:
• http://www.callwva.com/visitor/visitor.cfm
West Virginia is rich is ghost lore--every hill and holler has a ghost or legend of strange events, it
seems. Even the WV Tourism Division webpage has ghost stories!
• http://members.tripod.com/idaho_ghosts/stories.htm
A quick search on Google of +Idaho +ghosts turned up quite a few sites. How good they are I can't
say. Here's one link from that search that had several stories listed.
• http://www.americanfolklore.net/ss.html
There are folktales assigned by state and many have ghost stories on their individual links. A great
source. State Folktales from each of the fifty states at American Folklore.
SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT GHOSTS
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Alphabetized for your convenience with short descriptions to save you research time.
Posts are added chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.
1) Look up the story called Dead Aaron ( http://www.story-lovers.com/listsaaronkelly.html ) . There is a picture book version called The Dancing Skeleton
2) In an old kid's magazine I no longer have there was a version of Ghostilocks and the Three Witches. Younger children always enjoyed it. Ghostilocks breaks into witch's house and rides/breaks all their brooms. When witches come home and find her, they find that the last broom has turned her into a toad and she hops away.
3) Other funny slightly spooky stories that kids love: The Ghost with One Black Eye and The Ghost of Mabel's Gable (available in picture book version as The Boo Baby Girl Meets the Ghost of Mable's Gable
4) Wiley and the Hairy Man: Adapted from an American Folk Tale (Ready-to-Read)
5) If the kids are older, I really love telling Duppy Bird, a Jamaican folktale found in Dan Yashinsky's
collections Tales for an Unknown City: Stories from 1001 Friday Nights of Storytelling
6) I like to teach kids a spider scream at spooky stories. Keep very quiet, but slowly wriggle one hand
in a spider-like fashion up the other hand, arm, shoulder, neck, then SCREAM when it jumps on
your face. I learned it from a scout group.
7) You can hear The Ghost with One Black Eye recorded by Priscilla Howe by going to this web page:
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/phowe/
8) Ghosts and Goblins:
A Book of Ghosts & Goblins by Ruth Manning-Sanders, 1969.
Stories included:
Beauty and her Gallant
Box on the Ear
Bring Me a Light
Cook and the House Goblin
Goblins at the Bath House
Golden Hair
Golden Ball
Good Woman
Hans and his Master
Headless Horseman
Kindly Ghost
Leg of Gold
Little Jip
Maiden Suvarna
Pappa Greatnose
Ring
Skull
Strange Adventure of Paddy O'Toole
Tailor in the Church
Three Silver Balls
Water Drops
9) Here's a story from southern West Virginia. Years ago, there was a young couple who lived in a small community near the New River. They were very much in love. Their names were Jim and Elvira. Now Elvira was beautiful, and she attracted the attention of a rich and powerful man in that town. The rich man, whose name was Hiram, told the sheriff that Jim was making moonshine. The sheriff got together a few deputies and went after Jim. Now whether Jim was or wasn't making shine doesn't matter--when he saw the law coming he openedfire. They returned the fire and Jim was hit, but not before he killed one of the deputies. Jim ran off into the woods and was never seen alive again. Hiram ended up marrying Elvira and after a while she had a baby. She wasn't happy with Hiram, though. He was mean and controlling. There came an illness into that community and Elvira and the baby got really sick. The baby got rapidly worse, and Elvira begged Hiram to go for the doctor. He refused. All night she cried and pleaded, but she was too sick to go herself and Hiram wouldn't go. Why not? Well, you decide. In the morning, though, the doctor appeared at the door. He said a young man came in the night and pleaded with him to go to the baby. He didn't know who the young man was, couldn't see his face. Most folks, though, were pretty sure it was the ghost of young Jim, still watching over his love. Soon after that, Hiram died. He drowned in the New River. Did he fall in or was he pushed? Folks will tell you either way, but I think it was young Jim that helped Hiram into the water--Jim, still looking after his Elvira.
10) I asked a woman acquaintance if she knew any ghost stories. She hesitated and then told me a very spooky story of being stopped on a pitch dark mountain road in the fog near midnight. No one coming or going. Blue lights pulled up behind her and from nowhere a trooper appeared at the side of her truck. When she told him what was wrong he told her to check the gas. It was empty. He told her he would get help. And then he was gone. A little later a tow truck came alongside. When she said how grateful she was to the trooper - he said no one called him - and that he had never heard of such a trooper in these parts. She said, "I can still see those blue lights. I know it was Joe [her recently deceased husband]. He is still looking out for me."
11) Doing an effective job with a ghost story requires the same intensity as any other story to make it work. The ghost story does not come across without voice and story focus. It also requires a sharing of the material with the audience probably even more that any other type of story. You have to find a story you love to tell and then practice it. Like any other type of material, you have to love the story to tell it properly and if you don't like the venue then don't try to tell it!
Listed below is a bibliography of scary story literature.
12) This website includes an excellent essay on ghost stories, a classroom activity on local ghost legends, a rendering of a J. Mason Brewer ghost story in standard English and some other ghost items, all inspired by a current exhibit on Mexican Texan folkloric "cucuis." Take a peek at
http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/crossroads
13) I remember the story like this: A woman in England, dreams of a house, repeatedly, the perfect house for her. Later she is looking for a house to buy - finds a cottage, rental agent says just one problem - it's haunted. When the housekeeper meets the woman - she says, something like "You are the ghost."It's in a collection.
Comment:
I've read this as The Dream House in a book by KM Briggs, but taken from Augustus Hare's In my solitary life;: Being an abridgement of the last three volumes of The story of my life
Bones:
The lady, Mrs Butler, is Irish, but finds the house in Hampshire, England, it is for sale at a low
price because it is said to be haunted, and it is the agent who recognises her. It's described as "not large"
but I don't think that meant a cottage, not with a library, conservatory, terrace, lodge and avenue!
14) To those looking for the Ghost Hunt:
There's a Let's Go on a Ghost Hunt in Margaret Read MacDonald's book When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell
15) Two witches turn into horses, run race. Loser has to remain horse. Good witch (Male witches in this New Mexico version) loses, is sold by other to a man with caveat... never take off halter. Son takes off halter by river. Horse changes to fish. Bad witch turns into big fish... chase ensues... little fish turns into bird. Big fish into Hawk...etc. etc. In the end of this story... little bird flies into princessses lap ... she puts him safe in a cage. Princess gets sick. Doctor called for. Doctor is bad witch... Says princess must drink bird's blood. Doctor cuts throat of little bird but instead of blood seed corn comes out . Doctor changes to chicken. Eats all corn xcept one kernel. Kernel changes into coyote and eats bad witch. Turns into a Prince and marries Princess. Ta Da!
16) A good story that is not a jump story is The Tinker and the Ghost or one of its many variants. That is the story about the parts of the body falling down the chimney one at a time, then the "ghost" gets himself together and rewards the tinker for waiting until he could get himself together again, and rewards him for his courage. The fun part for kids is having first the legs, then the trunk, and then they catch on and join in guessing what will come next. You can devise a chant or repetitious pattern between the falls so that the kids can join in with you.
Check out the Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
Comment:
The Tinker and the Ghost is in Boggs' Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folk Tales
17) When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell
18) Ghost stories from the Pacific Northwest
This part of the country seems to have at least one ghost story per lighthouse, and there are many lighthouses on our rocky shores. Ghosts also inhabit just about every elderly house still standing. My little town of Newport has several (lighthouses and old houses with ghosts). I've found that tales of our local ghosts are always interesting to local folks and the multitudes of tourists who visit. These stories also gather tales as they meander. Isn't it fun to have a listener approach with a "My dad told me about . . . "! The inimitable MRM did gather up many starters for local tales in her Ghost Stories from the Pacific Northwest (American Storytelling)
19) Below are some versions of a story where a ghost drinks various juices and becomes a different color. Drinks milk at the end to become white again. This story is also a picture book -can't remember the name or author. Someone on the list also suggested using it with stick puppets.
Subject: Re: scary (but not too) stories. Same story but little ghost can't sleep goes to refrigerator eats blueberries then carrots, then tomato juice. each time goes past mirror in hall and scares himself when he sees blue, orange, and red ghost! (You can really get k-2 kids with jump and scream from ghost at that time) each time he runs into his mothers room and she "throws out" the offending blue, orange, or red ghost. back to kitchen and drinks milk, sees himself in mirror and mother takes him to his room and tucks his back in bed.
Last year someone sent in a story about a colorful ghost that is great for younger kids. Basically, the story is a little ghost wants to go out trick or treating, but first has to eat. So he eats a variety of things, and each thing he eats makes him change color (orange when he drinks orange juice, red when he eats red jello, green for salad, etc). Finally he drinks a glass of milk, and turns white again and can go out. It's fun because it's so uncomplicated, and can be varied as much as you want. You can also tell it as audience participation by having the kids make the whooooo sound and by suggesting different things the ghost can eat. Or (librarians and teachers!) you can do it as a simple flannelboard story with variously colored ghost shapes.
Another simple story is actually based on a poem I found in a book called Listen ! and Help Tell the Story. It's about an old witch who is stirring a pot, and two little ghosts come along and wonder what's in the pot. There's good participation opportunities here too, as the kids can whooooo as needed and suggest various things that she could be stirringi n the pot. The end is a jump as the little ghosts tiptoe...tiptoe.....tip.....BOOO! Again, it's simple, expandable, and versatile.
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20) Has anyone ever heard of this fabulous story by Lady Cynthia Asquith entitled, God Grante She Lie Still.
Response: I did a quick search - it's spelled God Grante That She Lye Stille nv When Churchyards Yawn, ed. Cynthia Asquith, London: Hutchinson, 1931 and it's found in The Venus Factor
21) Here's a site for Lafcadio Hearne's scary story, The Faceless Woman.
http://www.geocities.com/area51/hollow/6166/faceless.html
22) As I was surfing around for stories as well this is one site I came across. With Halloween on the horizon I thought some of you might find it useful.
Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods Index
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hlog/
23) Query:
I just received a call to do a telling for a girl scout fundraiser. It will be a huge event for adults--$40/person, lots of bigwigs from other community orgs and philanthropic folks. "Champagne & S'Mores" all around a campfire theme. They want a ghost story. I need something sophisticated, for adults, and with a campfire feeling..
Response:
How about The Monkey's Paw? I have never told it as it is usually not age appropriate for my group but it would work for adults for sure. You can find the text here:
The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabreby W.W. Jacobs and Gary Hoppenstand.
24) Not sure of length or how 'scary' you wnat it to be. Here are some possibilities, though not all are "ghost" stories, but scary, that can be adapted nicely for telling to adults:
"Mary Culhane"
"Graveyard Rats"
"Boy Who Drew Cats"
http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/049.html
Aaron's Storybook -- "The Man Who Sang to Ghosts" about a Biwa Hoshi who sang to ghosts. The Biwa Hoshi were a class of blind bard/priests in Japan...
25) I love to do "The Rain Thing" for adults. They really get into the story and has a great ending.
26) I did "The Hook" successfully. Had the men who organized the event spooked!
Response: I am not familiar with The Rain Thing or The Hook. Can you guys give details or sources? Is The Hook the old urban legend about the guy with the hook hand and the kids making out in an isolated location?
Response:
Yep, that's The Hook. The Rain Thing is one of Roberta Simpson Brown's scary stories in
either Walking Trees (American Storytelling)or The queen of the cold-blooded tales.
27) Here's one that I've used successfully with Scouts and adults. I originally learned it as a local folk tale from people who said it was a true story from their home. I told it because I liked the local history as "A Ghost at Aquia Church." Recently I heard an interview with Maurice Sendak in which he told a version of this story, and credited it as a true story that his father saw happen. That, to me, is a good clue that it's an old folk theme that is probably known all over the world. For a Girl Scout group you could make the protagonists girls instead of boys. I give it the way I learned it. Sendak set it in a graveyard. You could substitute any appropriate local landmark. Teenage boys are good at challenging each other, and they always have been good at knowing what you're afraid of. So boys have always challenged each other to go to a ghost. Whatever haunted house, graveyard, or spooky place your town has, your teenagers will push each other into it. At Aquia Harbor, everybody knows about the ghost in the local church. The local teenagers have dared each other to go look forthe ghost on dark nights for more than 100 years. One dark night around 1900, one boy accepted the dare. On this night the challenge was to go all the way up to the bell platform in the steeple. The other boys promised in secret whispers that the ghost would never let him get that far alive. But if he did, how could his friends know he had succeeded? The night was too dark to see if anybody was standing at the steeple window. This was before flashlights. Finally a deal was struck: the boy going in would take a hammer and nail, and put the nail into the wall. In the morning, when it was safer, a committee of judges would climb the steeple staircase and see if the boy had really done it. The hammer and nail were found, and the boy went into the dark church. His friends waited outside in the dark. For a long time. For what seemed an eternity of tension, waiting. Suddenly a loud scream from the steeple. The other boys jumped, looked at each other in the dark. They didn't know what to do. After a while common sense won out. They fetched their parents. A couple of adults brought a lantern and entered the church. At the top of the steeple stairs, on the bell platform, they found the boy they were looking for. Dead. With a look of horror on his face. They tried to pick him up, but something held him. Puzzled, they looked more closely. The boy's sleeve was nailed to the wall. The boy, in the dark, had put the nail through his own sleeve, then not seeing what pulled at his sleeve when he tried to leave, he thought the ghost was holding him. The poor boy frightened himself to death.
28) Here's one that I've used successfully with Scouts and adults. I originally learned it as a local folk tale from people who said it was a true story from their home. I told it because I liked the local history as "A Ghost at Aquia Church."
Response:
There is a version of this story in one of Judith and Richard Dockery's book I believe. The version tells of a girl, who was bragging to her friends that she would go into the graveyard and touch the headstone of the town witch. To prove she had been there she brought a fork with her to stick in the ground. They heard her screams and when they found her, fainted away but not dead, she had stuck the fork through her long skirt and thought it was the ghost coming up from the grave. A folktale indeed.
29) The Irish story "Mary Culhane" works well with adults. And I have seen someone do Mama Gone by Jane Yolen, 1st person story told by the child whose mother has come back as a vampire, looking in the cabin windows, trying to get at the baby--seriously creepy. Milbre Burch has it on a recording as well. The teller I know did ask permission, but Jane Yolen is known for being generous with this.
30) Roger Rose tells a story that I believe was originally called "Guises of the Reaper." I have the original story at home. It's about a man walking in his garden at night. He muses about the garden and has locked himself out of the house. He sees his lovely wife inside reading a book. He gently taps on the window and she looks up and screams. He backs away only to see his reflection - a skeleton in ratty sheets. Most listeners don't see it coming and it's a great story. I also heard Jenny Armstrong tell a version of the story and she added a great little somber ballad-type song to it.
31) There is a great Scottish ghost story which was posted about three years ago, "The Weeping Lass." I have my notes plus the notes which were posted by SuZi.
"Weeping Lass at the Dancing Place"
Richard Martin's version:
Girl - picture her in your mind's eye - hair, skin, lips in a smile, eyes sparkle as they turn to man she loves.
For love she did - fisherman. Summer evening, where all young people met to sing and dance, crossroads outside village, evening before he left for sea.
"I love you."
"I'll be true to you for ever and a day."
Letter came. Drowned, buried far away, graveyard on lonely clifftop. Mourned, but couldn't visit grave - too far.
Deepest black, face hidden in long black scarf. Others let her mourn, but as weeks turned to months, told her to come again to crossroads. She came - but not to dance, only to weep.
Three years passed. Summer evening. Crossroads. All danced, but her.
Stranger on black horse stopped, joined the dance, but no partner for him.
"Will you not dance with me?"
Head down, wouldn't look at him, "No, for I am weeping for my lost love."
"But I have no other partner, you must dance with me."
"Greeting and grieving will not bring the dead back to life again. So much mourning serves no purpose but to make it so the dead cannot rest easy in their graves.
Come, lass, dry your tears and hush your lament, and tread a measure with me!"
Took her by hand, before she knew it, dancing. Looked up - it was him!
"So it was not true that you'd drowned. I knew our love was too strong to allow you to die. Where do you live?"
"My dwelling place is small and low, I doubt you'd like it o'ermuch. The walls are damp and it is dark, and there is little more than room enough for me." She demands that he take her with him when he must leave. He takes her up behind him on his black horse. She wonders at the speed, at the chill that comes over her on such a summer night, at the dampness of her lover's clothes when no rain had fallen.
Then finally they reach the kirk with its grave stones. "This is my dwelling place. You gave me no rest in my grave. The sound of your voice lamenting kept me awake night and day. And if my clothes are wet, 'tis little wonder, for the tears you have shed have gathered and run down into the place where I lay. Now you shall cease your weeping and lie beside me in my grave, and I shall have peace at last."
She flees him and the place, pursued by his now skeletal form, and is saved only by dawn and the crowing of the cocks.Later that day the shawl that she lost when fleeing her lover's ghost is found, partially buried in a grave mound. Unable to dislodge the shawl, the villagers dig out the coffin. The end of the shawl is caught within the coffin. Opening the coffin they find that the corner of the shawl is held tight by the bony fingers of her dead lover.
"When the lass recovered from the fright of that terrible journey she went back to her own village again. But she wept no longer for her dead lover, since she had no wish to disturb him, lest he come and carry her off again."
I think this is the same story, or a very similar one: The Weeping Lass at the Dancing Place in Twelve Great Black Cats and Other Eerie Scottish Tales by Sorche Nic Leodhas (Leclaire G. Alger). It's one that I marked to learn for this Halloween but haven't yet. There's a spot at the crossroads where young people dance on moonlit nights, all except one lass who sits weeping because her lover has drowned in the sea and she can't even visit his grave because it is too far away. A stranger on a black horse comes and dances merrily with the young people until they all leave, all but the weeping lass. The stranger approaches the seated girl, who won't even look at him, asks and then forces her to dance with him. "Greeting and grieving will not bring the dead back to life again. So much mourning serves no purpose but to make it so the dead cannot rest easy in their graves. Come, lass, dry your tears and hush your lament, and tread a measure with me!" While dancing against her will, she finally looks at his face and recognizes her lost lover. She insists on thinking he is alive, while he never claims to be and gives her plently of verbal hints as to his true state. "My dwelling place is small and low, I doubt you'd like it o'ermuch. The walls are damp and it is dark, and there is little more than room enough for me." She demands that he take her with him when he must leave. He takes her up behind him on his black horse. She wonders at the speed, at the chill that comes over her on such a summer night, at the dampness of her lover's clothes when no rain had fallen. Then finally they reach the kirk with its grave stones. "This is my dwelling place. You gave me no rest in my grave. The sound of your voice lamenting kept me awake night and day. And if my clothes are wet, 'tis little wonder, for the tears you have shed have gathered and run down into the place where I lay. Now you shall cease your weeping and lie beside me in my grave, and I shall have peace at last." She flees him and the place, pursued by his now skeletal form, and is saved only by dawn and the crowing of the cocks. Later that day the shawl that she lost when fleeing her lover's ghost is found, partially buried in a grave mound. Unable to dislodge the shawl, the villagers dig out the coffin. The end of the shawl is caught within the coffin. Opening the coffin they find that the corner of the shawl is held tight by the bony fingers of her dead lover. "When the lass recovered from the fright of that terrible journey she went back to her own village again. But she wept no longer for her dead lover, since she had no wish to disturb him, lest he come and carry her off again."
Here are two more from my notes. (Although I must agree with Jane that "Mary Culhaine" is pretty good!)
"Poacher's Ghost"
I've heard another variant of this, Originally from Taffy Thomas, who said that he collected it from an expat Italian woman living in yorkshire (the mind boggles).....it's basically the same mechanism...I've told it myself a time or two.
In synopsis (I'd do a proper transcription, but I haven't told it often enough to have got a good handle on it yet)
Peasant poor, poaches two pheasants, is caught, codemmed to hang...looks long at Jury and everyone in courthouse as he's led off, says 'There's not one of you wouldn't have done as I did......You've not sen the last of me'. Taken off to be hanged, and buried in local graveyard.....which rapidly acquires bad reputation for strange happenings. In local pub (or Inn, if you prefer) this becomes topic of conversation - one night stranger comes to town, hears talk, not afraid to go and stand over the grave of the Pheasand Stealer all night...makes bet with locals...to prove he's done it, he'll drive his dagger (with a cat's head on the handle) into the earth of the grave. He goes out, stands over the grave, misty, cold night....drives dagger down into earth beneath his feet...then starts hearing things etc, tries to run, but can't...as though he's been rooted to the spot. In the morning he is found, dead, with a terrible expression on his face....and his long cloak pinned to the ground by the dagger with the cat's head. (If you happen to have a pint in your had whilst telling this, as I did the second time I told it) you can always finish with.... 'they still talk about the pheasant stealer and the dagger with cat's head handle in that pub......it's kept behind the bar, in case anyone else wants to try it...cheers !' Allan Davies Glenn added Here's a ghost story from my region, supposedly a true story. I've heard it told by many different tellers, with many slightly different details over the year. I have looked for, but found no reliable documentation of names or dates. But it's about a tower.
In Aquia, Virginia is Aquia Church, an old church with a bell tower. There have been frequent reports of ghostly happenings there. The most famous story concerns a group of teenagers who dared each other to climb the stairs to the top of the tower at midnight. The one chosen to do the deed was to hammer a nail into the wall at the top, so the others could return in daylight and confirm that he got all the way to the top. The boy entered the church, and never returned. The remainder of the group finally raised an alarm and entered the church with adults and lanterns. They found the lost boy at the top of the tower. He had accidentally nailed his coat to the wall. Finding himself unable to leave the tower, he presumably panicked and died of fright.
Richard's website may be reached at: http://www.tellatale.eu/
32) The version tells of a girl, who was bragging to her friends that she would go into the graveyard and touch the headstone of the town witch. To prove she had been there she brought a fork with her to stick in the ground. They heard her screams and when they found her, fainted away but not dead, she had stuck the fork through her long skirt and thought it was the ghost coming up from the grave. A folktale indeed.
Response:
Wasn't this a Twilight Zone episode with Lee Marvin & Lee Van Cleef?
33) "Ghosts," a story by Wayfarer Tomm
It's easy when you are seventeen to believe that cars are people, and the Ghost was closer to me than most of the people that I knew when I was seventeen. The Ghost was a 46 Ford two-door that had seen better days, but what the heck, at seventeen I had a lot of miles on me myself. Things were looking up for the Ghost, what with a new coat of charcoal gray primer covering the body putty that covered the scars and dents of world traveling. There were those that thought that the name Gray Ghost was about that paint job, but I knew that the name was about the way the Ghost drifted through the cool early morning mists when it was easier to be up and cruising then lying in bed sweating, being seventeen and unable to sleep. I also knew that the name was about the way that the Ghost sort of hung in the back of your mind waiting to go traveling with you. I also knew it was about being able to transport you out of the world of teachers whose dry dying voices were burying you in the drifting dunes of boredom.
One evening – it could have been in late or early spring, the one when the crickets came back and sang with the peeper frog and the night birds. The one when you can roll the window down again and cruise through the fading light in just a shirt with the collar turned up to show that you were one of the boys. On a night just like that, the Ghost and I pulled out of the yard leaving behind the old man deep in his tenth beer and the old lady yelling at him for it and for killing himself and what they once had between them with his drinking.
Down the lane to the main road, turning west into the setting sun, the cool blast of rock-and-roll blowing away the noise and the cool air enticing me to start breathing again. The Ghost and I were free again, free to move and explore other paths into our future. West we went, the Ghost and I, that night riding without having to know what we were thinking about. Maybe not even thinking until the Ghost started to talk to me.
At first, it was more of a feeling than a sound. Then as I turned the radio off, I began to hear it clearly. The Ghost's valves were clicking. I checked the oil gauge. It was down to 20 pounds. We were doing 60 miles per hour and there was only 20 pounds pressure and the valves were clicking and the Ghost was hurting. The Ghost had plenty of oil. I knew it had plenty of oil. I had just changed the oil and the filter. I could remember hearing the old man and the old lady yelling at each other when I was under the car doing it.
It couldn't be the oil. It had to be something else. Maybe some old scum had worked its way loose in the crank case and plugged a feeder line and the valves were clicking and the Ghost was hurting . If I got going fast enough maybe we could build enough pressure to blow the line clear.
There was enough oil. I had just changed the oil; sixty, sixty-five. Seventy, eighty, ninety, ninety- three, we're doing ninety-seven and the pressure was dropping and the valves were clicking and the valves were clacking and the Ghost was hurting.
I flipped off the ignition, popped it out of gear and coasted to a stop. I'm not sure how long I sat listening to the Ghost cool down and checking over in my mind what could be wrong before I started walking to the nearest phone.
Drunk or sober the old man knew cars "Did you check the oil?" was the first thing he asked.
"I already know it has plenty of oil" I said.
"Already knowing can get you stuck in the worst way" he suggested.
"I know filled it before I left” I yelled into the phone.
"Check it out," he said. "Already knowing can get you stuck in the worst way."
“What do you know, you old drunk," I asked.
"I know that from the stream of oil that you left in the yard that you are leaking oil pretty bad," he said "Check it out already knowing can get you stuck in the worst way."
The oil I took back with me that night was just what the Ghost needed and learning to not already know has helped me many times since. Sometimes when I ride with the ghosts of my past, I remember to thank them for the things that I know that they taught me and for those things that I learned from them without knowing.
Sometimes I even remember to thank them for all the things that they intended to teach and that they may not have had the best of tools to work with.
40) Query:
I'm looking for a ghost story called The Cat's Paw, I think. Its about a man who marries a women but she turns out to be a cat stealing his gain he cut or shots off its paw, but the next morning realizes it is his wife's hand.
Suzette H. 10/15/07
Responses:
a) It's part of a Jack Story... Sop Doll. It's in Richard Chase selections. You'll find an online version at http://www.ibiblio.org/bawdy/folklore/sopdoll2.html
Ina V.D. 10/15/07
b) I also found it as part of the Jack Tales here:
http://meadhall.homestead.com/Witches.html
but I also found these notes. Seems like most stories it has traveled a long way.
This is part of the werewolf motiff, a Lohengrin Legend called "Cheveler Assigne." I haven't been able to find the whole story as yet (only did a quick search) but did find these notes? on a different version.
"CAT'S PAW"
Diana and Zwicker return from sailing, they are accosted by a Lunenburg German farmer named John Meisner. Two of Meisner's hired men have been killed, and one has been driven mad, by attacks during the night -- and the attackers seem to have been domestic cats. His farm is evidently haunted, the neighbours are talking, and he can't hire a man. Zwicker, in disguise, hires himself to Meisner and spends a night in the hired man's room. He is attacked by ghostly cats, but beats them off with a silver knife, cutting the paw off their leader. In the morning, the paw has become a woman's hand -- and the farmer's wife is dead, with her hand cut off.
Karen C. 10/15/07
41) Here is a story from Papa Joe's site - story #5
"The Ghost and the Apple Sauce" - a new New England Folktale by Papa Joe
(c) 1996
(Please note that this story is under copyright.)
Once there was a miser. He wasn't an ordinary miser. He didn't hoard gold or silver. He hoarded apple sauce. He lived in a village, far from the other villages and he owned all of the apple trees. Every year at harvest time, the miser would pick his apples. He would mash them into apple sauce. He would fill up his bottles...
Hundreds of bottles,
Thousands of bottles,
Hundreds of thousands of bottles!
Then he would put most of the bottles down into his apple sauce cellar. If someone was to say, "Excuse me sir, may I have a little taste of your apple sauce?", the miser would say, "NO! NO! NO, NO, NO! I won't share my apple sauce with anyone! If you want apple sauce, go make your own!"
Of course they couldn't make their own apple sauce. The miser owned all the apple trees. He wouldn't even share his apple seeds with the people of the village, not for all the money in the world.
Do you know why? Because he was a miser and misers never share.Yet the miser loved his apple sauce. He ate it all the time. Do you know what he ate for breakfast every morning? He ate apple sauce on his toast, apple sauce on his pancakes, or apple sauce on his waffles. His favorite breakfast treat was apple sauce in his oatmeal. The miser had apple sauce every day for lunch. He would have apple sauce in his beans or apple sauce in his soup. He even ate apple sauce sandwiches. I bet you'll never guess what the miser had every night after dinner for his dessert. That's right, apple sauce. The miser loved his apple sauce.
He ate it all the time.
One day an old beggar made the long trip between the villages. He had been walking for three days. He hadn't seen a soul. He hadn't had a bite to eat in all that time.When he came out of the woods, he looked down at the village and said, "Oh, houses! Where there's houses, there's people. Where there's people, there's food. If I could just get a crust of bread and a sip of milk, I'd be so happy."
He practically crawled to the first house in the village. He pulled himself up the stairs. He lifted the knocker. Bang! Bang! Bang! Then he leaned against the door post and waited.Yet the house that the beggar knocked on was the house of the miser. The miser had just sat down to a delicious hot dog and apple sauce lunch.The knocking surprised the miser. No one had knocked at his house in years. Would you?
He went to the door, swung it open, and in his gruff voice said, "What do you want?"The beggar said, "Please sir, could you spare a little..." That's all the beggar could say, before the miser interrupted. "NO! NO! NO, NO, NO! I won't share my apple sauce with anyone. Go elsewhere for your food, you miserable beggar."
Then the miser slammed the door. The beggar was leaning forward and the door came crashing into his head. It knocked him off the stairs. He landed in a heap on the ground. He didn't move.
A strange thing began to happen then. A mist began to form over the body of the beggar. A mist that grew taller and taller, thicker and thicker. It had large gaping holes where eyes should have been. It had a large gaping hole where a mouth should have been. It moved across the yard, up the stairs. It lifted the knocker. Bang! Bang! Bang! The miser had just sat back down. He stood up. "Oh! That beggar's back again! I'll teach him to disturb my meals! I'll give him what-for!" He went stomping to the door. He swung it open. "You mis... Oh... a-a-a ... W-w-what do you want?"
The ghost said nothing. It just moved forward.
The miser moved back.The ghost moved forward.
The miser moved back.The ghost moved forward.
The miser moved back and back and back... until he bumped into his kitchen cabinets.
"W-w-what do you want?"The Ghost said nothing. It pointed to the cabinet where the miser kept his handy supply of apple sauce.The miser whined, "Oh no, not my apple sauce, anything but my apple sauce."The ghost moved forward. The miser clawed at the cabinet door. "All right, I'll get you some."The miser took out his smallest bowl. He put one tiny spoonful of apple sauce into it. He tried to give it to the ghost, but the ghost roared, "MORE!"
"All right!" He took out a medium size bowl and filled it with apple sauce. He tried to give it to the ghost. Still the ghost roared, "MORE!""All right, you can't blame a guy for trying." The miser took out a large bowl and filled it with apple sauce. Again he tried to give it to the ghost. All the ghost would say was "MORE!'
"All right!" The miser took out his largest mixing bowl. He filled it with bottles and bottles of apple sauce. He slid it across the table to the ghost.The ghost stood over the apple sauce. A noise like the wind filled the room. 'Whoooosh!' The apple sauce was gone. The ghost called for 'MORE!' The miser cried, "That was seven jars of apple sauce! That's more than I eat in a day." Still the ghost would only roar for 'MORE!'
"All right!" The miser filled the bowl again and again. He would slide it across the table. The ghost would stand over the bowl. The noise like the wind would fill the room...'Whoooosh'. Then the apple sauce would be gone and the ghost would call for 'MORE'. Until the cabinet was empty. The miser sobbed, "Look! It's all gone now. Will you go away too?"
The ghost did not go away. It pointed to the trap door in the floor that led down to the apple sauce cellar."Oh dear, I was hoping you didn't know about that." The miser spent the rest of the day going down into the cellar and bringing up bottles of apple sauce...
Hundreds of bottles,
Thousands of bottles,
Hundreds of thousands of bottles!
He spent the rest of the day opening them up, pouring them into the bowl, and sliding it across the table. Each time he did, the noise like the wind would fill the room with a 'Whoooosh!' The apple sauce would be gone and the ghost would call for 'MORE'.Until there was only one jar left."Please mister ghost, would you leave me this one last jar?"All the ghost would say was 'MORE!'"All right!" The miser opened the last jar. He poured it into the bowl.
One last time he slid it across the table. One last time the noise like the wind filled the room. 'Whoooosh! Then the ghost and the apple sauce were gone. The miser fell to the floor crying, "I lost all my apple sauce." He might have cried for days. No one ever knew, for no one ever checked.
Outside, at the body of the beggar, there was the mist. It was getting thinner and thinner, lighter and lighter until it fell to the ground,
like the dew on the morning grass, covering the beggar with a fine, fine spray.His eyes fluttered. They opened. "What, what happened? I must have fainted from hunger. Wait a minute. I'm not hungry. In fact, I'm full.
Wow! It's magic. It's a miracle!" He went dancing off to the next village. He didn't need to eat for three weeks.
Ah! But the miser?? One day he ran out of tears. He stood up. Do you think it was his own fault he had no apple sauce? If he had
shared his apple sauce with the beggar, wouldn't he still have apple sauce for himself?If he had even shared an apple seed with someone in the village, why then they would have an apple tree, apples, perhaps even apple sauce to share with him. But he hadn't. He was a miser and misers never share.When harvest time came around again, the miser was out picking his apples. He mashed them into apple sauce. He filled up his bottles...
Hundreds of bottles,
Thousands of bottles,
Hundreds of thousands of bottles!
The miser gave away a lot of his apple sauce. He gave away all of his apple seeds. He only ate apple sauce three times a week and he was never a miser again.
Ina V.D. 10/8/09
Created 2001; last update 9/2/09
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