GHOST STORIES
(excerpts
from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure
to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material
is not in the public domain)
1) http://urbanlegends.about.com/msubdead.htm?once=true&
2) Look up the story called Dead Aaron ( http://www.story-lovers.com/listsaaronkelly.html ) . There is a picture book version called The DANCING SKELETON
by Cynthia Defelice. It's very tellable and humorous.
3) 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.
4) 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
by Jim May and Shawn Finley.
5) Wiley and the Hairy Man: Adapted from an American Folk Tale (Ready-to-Read)
is a good story to tell at Halloween time. It's not exactly a scary story, but it is suspenseful. Molly Bang has a good tellable version that I think is still in print.
6) 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
. Most of the time kids join in on the song/chant that the bird sings.
7) 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.
8) 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/
Ghosts and Goblins:
9) BOOK OF GHOSTS & GOBLINS, A
by Ruth Manning-Sanders, New York: E. P. Dutton, 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
10) 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.
11) 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."
12) 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 my bibliography of scary story literature.
TitlePublisher NameAuthorNotes
100 Creepy Little Creature Stories, Barnes&Noble, DziemianowiczCompilation
100 Ghastly little Ghost Stories, Barnes&Noble, Dziemianowicz Compilation
100 Hair raising Little Horror Stories, Barnes & Noble, Sarrantonio, Al Compilation
100 Menacing Little Murder Stories, Barnes & Noble, Weinberg, Robert Compilation
100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Barnes & Noble, Dziiemianowicz, Stefan Compilation
5 minute Chillers, Sterling Walker, William, new ghost stories
American Witch Stories, JD PressDavis, Robt, Old stories of witchcraft
Between Midnight and Morning, August House, Mendoza, Pat, Native Am, Hispanic Ghost Stories
Bloody Mary, Barnes & Noble, Dziemianowicz, StefanScary Stories for Adults
Campfire Tales, Globe, Forgey, William, Adult and Teenager ghost stories
Civil War Ghosts, August House, Greenberg, Harry, Civil War stories by famous authors
Even More Scary Stories for Sleepovers, Price SternPearce,QL Teen Age Stories
Favorite Scary Stories For Children, August House, Young, Richard/Judy, Kids Scary tales /Graded
Ghost Stories from the American South, August House, McNeil,W.K, .Southern Ghosts
Ghost Stories of the American Southwest, August House, Young, Richard, Judy, Variety of scary stories
Ghostly Tales of Iowa, Iowa State Press, Hein, Ruth, Regional Ghost Stories
Ghostwise, August House, Yashinsky, Dan, Variety
Great American Mysteries, August House, Floyd, Randall, Really true mysteries
Great Southern Mysteries, August House, Floyd, Randall, True? Mysteries of the South
Haunted Bayou, August House, Reneaux, JJ, Cajun Ghost Stories
Haunted Heartland, WarnerScott, Beth, True stories of Midwest
Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, Barnes & Noble, Dziemianowicz,One scary story each day
Kentucky Ghosts, Kentucky Montell, Wm, Regional Ghost Stories
More Scary Stories for Sleep Overs, Price SternPearce,QL, Teen age Stories
More Scary Stories to tell in the Dark, HarperSchwartz,Alvin, Grade school, Teen
Queen of the Cold Blooded Tales, August House, Brown, Roberta, Really scary stories
Scared in School, August House, Brown, Roberta, Teenage tales
Scary Stories 3, HarperSchwartz, Alvin, Grade School, Teen
Scary Stories to tell in the Dark, HarperSchwartz, Alvin, Grade school, Teen
Short and Shivery, DoubledaySanSouci, RobtGrade School, Teen
Still more Scary Stories for Sleep Overs, Price SternPearce,QL, Teen Age Stories
Super Scary Stories for Sleep overs, Price SternPearce,Q, Lteen age stories
Tales of Conjure and color, DoverChestnutt, Southern ghost legends
The Gold Bug, Dover, Poe, EA, Scary for Adults
The Lady and the Tiger, Worthington, Stockton, Frank, Great story for teens
The Moonlit Road, Dover, Bierce, AmbroseCivil War Ghosts
The Raven, Dover,Poe, EA, scary for adults
The Walker Book of Ghost Stories, Barnes & Noble, Hill, Susan, Varied Ghost Stories
Wolf's Complete Book of Terror, Newmarket Press, Wolf, Leonard Ed., Stories by Classic Authors
13) 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
14) 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
(a collection of anecdotes and stories he heard - the above-stairs story-telling).
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!
15) 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
. Your library should have that book. It should be easy enough to come up with your own variant,
though. When I do this, we go down a dark, spooky road (what's that? oh, just a tree), then through a
graveyard, through a swamp, then dark, dark, woods, then to a haunted house...and there's where the
ghost is. I add in things like the tree, a bat, a cat, a possum, to add to the "scare" in each location of the
hunt. Lots of fun.
16) 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!
17) 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)
or Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folk Tales
as sources.
Comment: The Tinker and the Ghost is in Boggs' Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folk Tales,
Ruth Manning Sanders' BOOK OF GHOSTS & GOBLINS, A and Margaret Read MacDonald's When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell. MacDonald, as usual, has extensive source notes about variants, motifs, etc. This
is a great book - I just got hold of it yesterday. It is one of the ones I am drawing on for my loosely
constructed from memory Jack and the Haunted House, which is another of the stories in which body
parts fall down the chimney and the hero refuses to be scared - The Youth Who Wanted to Know What
Fear Is is another related story. Personally, I would not recommend telling 3 jump tales in a 30 minute
set. Jump tales rely on the element of surprise, and when a jump tale falls flat, it is REALLY flat
(although, of course, when it works, it REALLY works) - but I think to pull it off 3 times in close
succession, you would have to be really, really good. I deliberately chose the "haunted house" version
of a body parts story instead of a jump tales version, like The Strange Visitor, also in MacDonald's
When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell.
18) 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.texasmonthly.com/ranch/ghostcity/alamo.html
http://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/virtual/ghostcity/alamo.html
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ghosttour/
http://theshadowlands.net/places/texas.htm
http://www.lonestarspirits.org/
http://www.virtualtexan.com/forum/ghost
http://tstevens.home.texas.net/CS/
http://members.tripod.com/ufocrock/ghosts.html
http://www.virtualtexan.com/texghost.htm
http://www.themoonlitroad.com/
http://www.castleofspirits.com/
http://www.ghosts.org/stories/stories.html
http://www.ash-tree.bc.ca/GSS.html
http://www.cardiffgiant.com/ghost.html
http://www.wirenot.net/X/Stories/Ghost/Ghostindex.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/castles/enter.html
19) When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell is a great resource, just for the source notes alone. I like the way the stories are written, most with opportunities for audience participation. I had to special order my copy from a local bookstore, but after I'd had the library's copy for a couple months I knew I needed to own this one.
20) Good website for West Virginia ghost stories:
http://www.wvghosts.com/
21) 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! Check it out:
http://www.callwva.com/visitor/visitor.cfm
22) 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://members.tripod.com/idaho_ghosts/stories.htm
23) 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.
http://www.americanfolklore.net/ss.html
24) 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)
. Another folklorist, particular to Oregon, is Tom Nash. His collection, The Well-Traveled Casket: A Collection of Oregon Folklife
(written with Twilo Scofield) is a treasure trove of all things Oregonian, including ghostly bits.
25) 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.
26) 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
, ed. Vic
Ghidalia & Roger Elwood, MacFadden-Bartell 1972.
27) Here's a site for Lafcadio Hearne's scary story, The Faceless Woman.
http://www.geocities.com/area51/hollow/6166/faceless.html
28) 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/
29) Inquiry: 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.
The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and the Macabre
by W.W. Jacobs and Gary Hoppenstand.
30) 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
Click here: 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...
31) I love to do The Rain Thing for adults. They really get into the story and has a great ending.
32) 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.
33) 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.
34) 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.
35) 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.
36) 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.
37) 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
accquires 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 may be reached at:
richard@tellatale.eu
38) 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?
39) 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.
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Contributed by Wayfarer Tomm
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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
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Response: 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
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Response: 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 call 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
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(This web page updated 1/19/95; 3/4/05)
