(To retell any of the stories, obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)
1)
Papa Joe has a WONDERFUL story called The
Ghost and the Applesauce. It's about a miser who hoards
applesauce. It's has many possibilities for active telling, repeated
phrases, and is just plain fun to tell. It is not scary, but has
a moment when the ghost appears -and then when it is brought back
to life - wonderful humor and even a lesson about misers. It may
be a bit long for the 3 year olds -but 4, 5, 6 should love it -as do older folks. It's
story #5 - The Ghost and The Applesauce/
The Ghost and the Apple Sauce - a new New England Folktale by Papa Joe (c) 1996.
2) A story called Turn Me Over. I
think there's a version in The Ghost & I: Scary Stories for Participatory Telling, edited by Jennifer Justice and Joseph Bruchac, or maybe it was in Joining In: An Anthology of Audience Participation Stories and How to Tell Them
, edited by by Teresa Miller, Norma J. Livo and Anne Pellowski.
The bones: a man is walking home,
decides to take a shortcut through a cemetery (why do they always
do that?). Here's a voice moaning, turn me over. Runs the rest
of the way home. When he gets home and tells his family, they
laugh at him, say he imagined it. So next night, he decides to
go through the cemetery again, to prove to his family he isn't
afraid. Hears the voice again and runs. Doesn't mention it to
his family this time. Third night, back to the cemetery, determined
to find out what it is, because he thinks someone is tricking
him. Follows the voice to the deepest darkest part of the cemetery,
finds a little building there--a mausoleum. Opens the door (creak),
sees two red eyes glowing at him. Stares back, and as his eyes
adjust, realizes that he's looking at two glowing red coals. Stares
longer, and sees there's a grate over the coals. stares longer,
and sees a hamburger on the grate, moaning turn me over! He picks
up the spatula and turns over the hamburger and it says, thanks
you. Lots of audience participation, where they do the moan-y
voice saying "Turn me over." I vary the degree of spookiness
depending on the age of the kids, and it works with ages 5 and
up to 12, or for family audiences. A lot of fun to tell!
3) Look at Margaret Read Mac Donald's book
When the Lights Go Out: Twenty Scary Tales to Tell
.
Lots of good stories there with audience participation.
5) Alvin Schwartz has a more basic version in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark 25th Anniversary Edition: Collected from American Folklore (Scary Stories)
(c.1981). The story is called
Aaron Kelly's Bones there.
6) Try a version of Ghostilocks and the
Three Witches. 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 Or make up a version with the youngsters using
Goldilocks and Three Bears variation.
7)
http://urbanlegends.about.com/msubdead.htm?once=true&
8) Funny but slightly spooky stories that kids love: The
Ghost with One Black Eye (with permission of Priscilla
Howe) You
can hear Priscilla tell this story at:
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/phowe
9) WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN (READY-TO-READ) (Ready-to-Read)
retold by Molly Bang 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.
Also available:
Wiley and the Hairy Man retold by Judy Sierra.
Wiley and the Hairy Man retold by Jack Stokes and Robert Byrd.
Wiley and the hairy man
retold by Alice Molter.
Wiley and the Hairy Man
retold by Susan Zeder.
10) If the kids are older, I really love telling Duppy
Bird, a Jamaican folktale found in Dan Yashinsky's collection Ghostwise: A Book of Midnight Stories
. Most of the time kids join in on the song/chant that the bird
sings.
11) 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.
12) 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). Silly
rhymes and baby hero -almost a long joke.
13) WILEY AND THE HAIRY MAN (READY-TO-READ) (Ready-to-Read) by Molly
Bang has a good tellable version of this African American folktale.
Wiley is afraid of the a creature in the woodland called the Hairy
Man. When he goes on errand for his mother, Wiley learns a lot
about courage.
14) "The Golden Arm" ..the Folk Tale and Its Literary Use By Mark Twain and Joel C. Harris
.
15) Tailypo found in SCARY STORIES (4 SCARY SHORT STORIES) (NOT A CD!) (AUDIOTAPE CASSETTE AUDIOBOOK) 1991 ATLAS VIDEO INC.
told by Alice McGill, Jon Spelman, Joe Bruchac and Olga Loya.
16) Red Ruby Lips (this is a funny
one) in Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling)
by Holt
and Mooney. It is called The Girl with the
Mischievous Smile. It's spooky and qualifies as a 'jump'
tale. It also relieves tension if things get a little too scary.There's
a version with notes for telling:
http://folktale.net/gotcha.html
17) The Red Velvet Ribbon found in Favorite Scary Stories of American Children: For Grades K-3
by Meg
Wesson (for the older crowd).
18) Mary Culhaine (older as well).
19) La Llorona (older crowd).
20) The Belly Button Monster (for
the wee ones).
21) Black Bubble Gum and/or The
Affair at 7 Rue de M -- Steinbeck did a black bubblegum
story that can be found at the Storytelling Wiki. But there are other versions of the story of a boy who found some
black gum that kept crawling back in his mouth and chewing itself.
22) Spearfinger.
23) Iron John, otherwise called either
Iron Hans, or The Man of Iron.
It is a tale from the Grimm Brothers.
Entire text of the Grimms is available on the web in quite a few
places too, eg.
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/
and you can find the text of Iron John at
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/104.txt
If you have access to a tale type index you can find variants
from other sources if you look up Type 502, The
Wild Man as a Helper. Note that the story isn't the same
one as Iron Henry / Iron Heinrich,
though there are some similarities.
24) Sort of JOKE:
There were two men hoeing turnips in a field.
One says to the other.
"I don't believe in them there ghosts."
"Don't 'ee ?" said the other.
And then he vanished.
25) URL no longer valid.
26) Golden Arm version many times.
The golden arm is not taken for food, as in the Big
Toe and Liver versions. It is stolen out of greed, because
it is made of gold. One version has a woman who loses her arm
in an accident. She is very upset, but her husband comforts her
by having a beautiful golden arm made to replace it. She loves
it, but after a while the husband comes to resent the arm as a
waste of money. Upon her death bed, the wife requests to be buried
with her beloved arm, and the husband grants her final wish. But
then, he starts thinking of that gold going to waste, and he digs
up the arm. And so the story continues with the usual refrain "Whoooooose got my golden arm?" "Whoose got my
golden arm?" YOU DO!!!
27) Dead Man's Liver, on the Jennings
and Ponder website is one that usually works for me for this age.
Recommend doing it as the child-teller, in order to allow for
full narrator relish of the icky parts.
28) A poem is called Countdown.
There are ten ghosts in the pantry,
There are nine upon the stairs,
There are eight ghostes in the attic,
There are seven on the chairs,
There are six within the kitchen,
There are five along the hall,
There are four upon the ceiling,
There are three upon the wall,
There are two ghosts on the carpet,
Doing things that ghosts will do,
There is one ghost right behind me who is oh so quiet.........BOO!
29) Another favorite collection of participation stories is The Ghost & I: Scary Stories for Participatory Telling
, edited
by Jennifer Justice.
30) The Story of a Pumpkin, Feebaugh by Fran Stallings is a wonderful tale to get the whole crowd of
all ages involved (and I have all the pigs, houses, trees and
cows move out of the way for the boy who is running from the giant
pumpkin only after hw yells "PLEASE!" And as he runs
off he shouts over his shoulder "Thank you!". When Feegbah,
the giant pumpkin arrives close behind, I ask the crowd "Do
you think Feegbah stopped?""No!" "Do you think
Feegbah said please?" "No!" You're right he squashed
them, flat as... (people yell out various flat objects here until
I finally tell them how flat they ended up).
31) Jack Prelutsky poems from his collection The
Headless Horseman Rides Tonight is filled with scary poems
for kids, very good for kicking off a storytime,such
as The Dance of the Thirteen Skeletons by Jack Prelutsky
from Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep. It's a bit long, but great lines, "They shake their flimsy
shoulders and they flex their fleshless knees."
32) For preschoolers:
(a) Pumpkin, pumpkin,
Round and fat
Turned into a jack-o-lantern
Just like that ( clap on "that")
(b) A little old lady with a tall pointed hat
Knocked at my door with a "rat-a-tat-tat"
I peeked through the window to see who was there
And off on her broomstick, she flew into the air!
33) A poem by Ogden Nash's The Adventures
of Isabel - the verse where she meets "a wicked old
witch." It describes the witch, who doesn't faze Isabel,
who simply "turned the wich into milk and drank her." It's easy to dramatize, short and funny. And can be used as a
cut-and-tell.
34) From The Kingfisher Treasury of Spooky Stories (The Kingfisher Treasury of Stories)
,
chosen by Jane Olliver, an Indian tale retold by John Paton called
Ghost Soup. Use a small bag where
I tuck a small mirror. The hero (a barber) scares away a ghost
by claiming to have a bag of ghosts. When the ghost peers into
the bag, he see his reflection and thinks the bag is full of ghosts.
I have the children make ghost sounds with me before each time
the ghost speaks. Very big success story! (Although I changed
the wife to be not so naggy. They together agree he must leave
to be able to do his share while she remains home taking care
of her business and the family.)
35) The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
by Linda Williams 1986 -- unafraid old lady
deals with pumpkin head & other spooky objects following her
thru the woods
36) The Squeaky Door.
37) Sara and the Old, Old Woman.
38) Silly short ones found in anthologies like Schwartz and Scary
Stories American Children Love Rap, Rap; The Viper; It Floats;
Turn Me Over; etc.
39) Peanuts' Halloween Carols or
other parodies such as Dracula Is Coming
to Town, We Three Ghouls of Halloween Are, TheThirteen Days of
Halloween, etc.
40) The Boy Who Didn't Know How to Shiver. He agrees to stay in a haunted house all night. As he cooks his
slab of bacon, he hears a voice telling him "Loooook out
belooooow!" and pieces of a body fall one by one.
41) JOKE:Two men were walking home after a Halloween party and
decided to take a shortcut through the cemetery just for laughs.
Right in the middle of the cemetery they were startled by a tap-tap-tapping
noise coming from the misty shadows. Trembling with fear, they
found an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one
of the headstones. "Holy cow, Mister," one of them said
after catching his breath, "You scared us half to death --
we thought you were a ghost! What are you doing working here so
late at night?" "Those fools!" the old man grumbled.
"They misspelled my name!"
42) Another joke or "shaggy bat" story:
Late, late one night, a bloody vampire bat slowly flew back into
his cave. He was the last one in that night. Wearily, he hung
himself up for a good day's sleep. But that smell of fresh blood
(you know how wonderful that can be) filled the cave and woke
up all the other vampire bats. They sniffed and sniffed and tracked
down the source of the smell. "The blood. The BLOOD! Tell
us where you found the blood!" "No, no," replied
the bloody bat. "Just leave me alone. I ache all over. All
I want to do is try to get some sleep." "No, NO!",
the others cried. "You MUST show us where you found the blood.
We won't leave you alone until you do!" "Oh, all right,
" said the bloody bat. Slowly the bloody bat flew out of
the cave, followed by a vast swarm of vampire bats. They flew
up and over the hill. On the way down, the bloody bat called out,
"Do you see that tree down there, by the river?" "Yes,
YES, we see the tree!" The bloody bat sighed. "Well,
I didn't."
43) Jane Yolen's collection of Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)
. She has a story about a house that
is haunted by a woman who is still alive and dreaming in another
place of being in the house.
44) Try We're Going on a Ghost Hunt
, which
is a take off on Going on a Bear Hunt.
45) Diane Goode 1994, great collection of traditional tales, poems,
songs--not just Halloween.
46) Jeb Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch (Sandpiper)
.
Jana Dillon 1992. A kid comes up with a wonderful plan to scare the crows away
from his pumpkin patch--
47) The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
by Steven
Kroll 1984. Two mice, without letting each other know, helped
a pumpkin grow into the biggest pumpkin ever
48) Too Many Pumpkins
by Linda White
1996 Old woman who hates pumpkins finds herself with a full crop
to deliver--jack-o-lanterns.
49) The wonderful Chuck Larkin stories found at
http://www.Chucklarkin.com
50)
I always use the Golden Arm for third
grade up. Boo Baby Girl is great
for any elementary audience. Ruby Lips and
Bony Fingers can be put into a participation story where
you have kids being the little girl, the witch, the door (opens
and shuts each time she goes to get her parents) the parents,
etc. This adds a little something to the story so that even if
they have heard it before, it becomes new. Also check out Alvin
Schwartz Scary Stories to Tell in the Night series. You can find all kinds of material.
51) If you want to try a similar story to
Red, Red Lips, try this one:
http://folktale.net/gorilla.html
52) The Moonlit Road website:
http://www.themoonlitroad.com/
53) This is an Irish tale called The Dream
House and you can find it in Jane Yolen's collection Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) on p. 432.
54) Basically, my friend Terry who lives in Denver and loves ghostly
things wanted to buy a house. Not a fancy new one, but an beautiful
old one. Got himself a realtor, Mr. Brown, and together they looked
at his entire list. None suited Terry. "Don't you have any
more?" "Well, there is one more. But you wouldn't want
it." "Why not?" "Well, they say it's haunted." Of course, that delighted Terry and he insisted they look it over.
At this point you can add what details you wish. Somewhere along
the inspection of the two story house Terry realized Mr. Brown
was superstitious, hesitant to go in, always motioned for Terry
to go first. In the kitchen there was a narrow door, a back staircase.
Mr. B. insisted they not go up there, rather go up the front stairs.
Checked out the rooms, came to the back bedroom, it was nearly
dark--not much light, Terry insisted that Mr. B. go in first.
Then insisted they go down the back stairs, Mr. B. first. He slooooowly
opened the door, slooowly stepped into the dark, (Give it your
best scream here) raced across the bedroom, down the hall, down
the stairs, out to the car. Terry knows Mr. B. isn't about to
come back, but he has to find out what scared him. Goes into the
dark space---bursts out laughing. Someone long ago had hung a
full-length mirror at the top of the staircase.
55) Jim
May's picture book The Boo Baby Girl Meets the Ghost of Mable's Gable is
lots of fun to tell and is well received by different ages.
56) This is a new story which was posted last week on the Moonlit
Road site. A good one for spooky stories. Passing the tale
along. You can sign up for their free newsletter and they will
e-mail you whenever a new story is posted.
The Moonlit Road - The
Promise - Page 1
http://www.themoonlitroad.com/
57) I
love Tog the Ribber or Granny's Tale
by Paul Coltman
as an accompaniment to The Gobble-Uns 'll Git You Ef You Don't Watch Out! - James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie: James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie
. It's proper spooky, and
crammed with jangled words. Very nice for adults who think they've
heard it ALL! Probably out of print, but most libraries (and librarians)
have a copy or two stashed about somewhere.
Added comment: The work "tog" is based on the children's story book Tog the Ribber or Granny's Tale by Paul Coltman - a horror story that tells
the tale of "your grandmother" as a child being terrorised
across the countryside by the ghost of Tog. The language of this
story id similar to that of the famous poem Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll in that it takes the text of
the story and makes slight changes to the words by either using
a different vowel or consonant. The result is a nonsense text
which, although it is not verbally correct, can still be understood
by the reader. The concept behind this piece was to create a musical
storyboard using ambient samples, loops and the text of the story.
The result is a programmatic work consisting of atmospheric, metric
and melodic sections. This is the instrumental remix. (music)
http://www29.gu.edu.au/gallery/2743/p2/p2remix.html
Added comment: GILLIAN McCLURE is
the author/illustrator of twelve children's books and has also
illustrated books by other writers. She was Highly Commended in
the Kate Greenaway Award and the 1985 Smarties Prize for her illustrations
for Tog the Ribber or Granny's Tale, whose text was
by her father Paul Coltman. Father and daughter also collaborated
on "Tinker Jim" in 1992, which was shortlisted for the
Smarties Prize. Gillian has three sons and lives in Cambridge.
58) Web site:
http://www.geocities.com/trampingground/
For Seniors:
59) Here's the Frankenstein Ditty
To the tune of My Darling Clementine refrain:
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Frankenstein
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Frankenstein.
I was working with some test tubes
in my laboratory fine
Then one day, I broke my glasses
And created Frankenstein. (refrain)
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)
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)
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)
Oh Frankenstein, helped in the kitchen
We were mixing up a cake
But, he fell in to the electric mixer
And got mixed in by mistake(refrain)
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)
Beverly suggested omitting the verse with the steak through the
heart for the wee little ones and I omitted it and Wolfman too,
since I work more with little ones, and that's the way I learned
it.
60) For Seniors: Other stories I used were a variety of sort of
scary and fun. Mary Culhane was the
most serious and scary, Ghost With One Blackeye for fun, Papa Joe's Miser and Applesauce appropriate for all ages although most people use with kids, and Talking Skulls (not usually Halloween-lesson
story about talking getting you in trouble.)
61) For Seniors: Wicked Jack (or
John). It's great fun to tell, and has a good Halloween connection.
I know a lot of storytellers think it's been told to death, but
that's because we tellers hear it--a lot of audiences have never
heard it, and it's a great story. Even here in the mountains of
WV, I find that 99% of my audiences have never heard of Wicked
Jack.
62) For Seniors: Y ou might want to try Wait
Till Martin Comes or Black Bubble
Gum or Jack and the Haunted House
sans any jumps. Some fall stories are How
the Leaves Change Color, etc.
It's a difficult group because you don't want to talk down to
them with cutesy Halloween stories and yet I avoid any story that
has graves or relies on death. I also avoid any stories that stereotypes
our seniors...dirty old man, crazy old woman, nasty old man, etc.
63) That time of year is fast approaching and I just received
a request for Halloween stories. There will most likely be children
from the age of 4 to 14. However, the directors email specified, "We want to have some non-scary Halloween Tales - Fierce
and Friendly or Sweet and Spicy." Here are some tales I have
told in the past (see below) with success and I would like your
suggestions for new stories for the younger set in case there
are some repeat customers.
We're Going on a Ghost Hunt
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
The Ghost, the Miser and the Applesauce
The Golden Arm
Red Ruby Lips
Black Bubble Gum
The Thing on the Stairs
Bring Me The Light
FOR OLDER CHILDREN
Wiley and the Hairy Man
Meg Wesson
Mary Culhaine
Tailypo
The Witch Woman
Urashima Taro
The Piper's Revenge
64) Here are a few more ideas to add to your great list!
From Annette Harrison's Easy-To-Tell Stories for Young Children
- check out the story, Bobbie
the Boo. It's a fun participation story about a boy in
school that is "overcome" with the spirit of scaring
people by saying boo. You could say he was in the Halloween spirit
- to make it even better for Halloween. Of course, at the end
he learns that no one likes to be scared. I have told this story
to 3-7 year old children.
The Ghost & I: Scary Stories for Participatory Telling, edited by Jennifer
Justice - Check out Fran's Stalling's The
Story of the Pumpkin. It's another participatory story
that would fit in well. Great for ages 5-8.
65) Rose sent this out last year, I made the ghosts in different
color flannel and I thought it went very well.Joey was a little
ghost who was ready to go out trick-or-treating. (Put a white
ghost figure on the flannel board) He just loved Halloween because
it was the one night of the year that children weren't afraid
of him. They just thought he was another kid dressed in a ghost
costume. Joey had just picked up his trick or treat bag and was
about to head out the door when his mom said, "Joey, you
go into the kitchen and get something healthy to eat before you
leave. Do you remember last year. You didn't eat before you left
the house and you were so hungry while you were out trick or treating
that you had eaten all of your candy before you got home and you
had a belly ache for three days. Joey was an obediant ghost and
said "OK , Mom I'll go and get some
healthy food." He went into the kitchen and opened the refridgerator
door (It was black you know and it squeaked) MAKE A SPOOKY SQUEAKY
NOISE LIKE A SQUEAKY DOOR. He looked in and found a nice banana
and ate it and do you know what happened? He turned yellow. He
always turned the color of what ever he ate (here you take down
the white ghost figure from the flannel board and put up and identical
one except made out of yellow flannel) Still hungry he looked
for something else to eat and found some peanut butter. So he
had a spoonful of that (replace the yellow ghost figure with a
brown one) YOU KEEP ON GOING THROUGH AS MANY FOODS AS YOU WANT
CHANGING GHOST FIGURES EACH TIME Well, Joey was finally getting
full but he had a problem He wasn't white.He couldn't go trick-or-treating
looking like that. Now what do you think he found in the fridge
that would make him turn white again? (some kids say milk some
say cottage cheese accept what ever makes sense) You're right!
So after he ate that he turned back into his regular ghost color
(Put original white ghost back up) And do you know what? He had
the best Halloween ever because this year he didn't get sick from
eating too much candy.
66) I don't expect to get through all of these in one event. For
those who don't look for the Other Thread (which I'll title "The
Scary Season Approacheth"), I chose stories that have some
historical or artistic value rather than because they're bloody.
The Honest Winemerchant (Virginia)
The Death of Young Andrew (Scotland)
Cruel Sister (England)
The Moss-Green Princess (Swazi)
When They Came Home (Virginia Civil
War family story)
The Girl who Escaped a Troll (Norway)
Dracula (Romania)
The Homecoming of Odysseus (Homer,
Greece)
Sop Doll (Jack Tale)
A Ghost at Lamb's Creek Church (local
to my neighborhood)
A Ghost at Aquia Church (local to
my neighborhood)
Why the Wolf Didn't Eat the Rabbits (Uncle Remus)
Thor Becomes a Bride (Norway)
A Grimm Cinderella (Germany)
The Ghost I Didn't See (personal
story)
Twa Corbies (Scotland)
Crow and Octopus (Tlingit)
Tam Lin (Scotland)
Godfather Death (Germany)
The Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allan
Poe)
67) I think that it is interesting that Scary Ghost Stories used
to be a Christmas event. Ever hear the verse from Andy Williams'
Best Time of the Year "There will be Scary Ghost Stories
and Tales of the Glories of Christmas long time ago." If
you want a good Holiday Story, look for Dickens' Christmas story of goblins who stole a sexton
by Charles Dickens. It was written
years before A Christmas Carol
, but
it has the exact same storyline. Written as a scary story for
the Christmas Holidays.
Response: I went to google to look
up the story but couldn't locate it based on your title. I did
however find this story by typing in charles dickens +sexton +goblin.
Is this the same story?
Charles Dickens: The Pickwick Papers (Penguin Classics)
, Chapter XXIX
http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.1/bookid.1291/sec.29/
Response: Yes, the story was part
of the The Pickwick Papers (Penguin Classics).
68) We've used the Dancing Skeleton, Jack
and the Sally Bally, the Beast w/1000 Teeth, Kibungo, Old One
Eye, The Man who Wasn't Afraid of Anything, and the Nungwama.
69) A fun activity to do when the children need to move a bit & get some of the wiggles out is to do Dry Bones. This can
be said like a story or sung like a song.- or a combo of both
I use a large (five foot) glow in the dark skeleton attached to
my tripod and storyboard.
Dry Bones:
The head bone's connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone's connected to shoulder bone,
The shoulder bone's connected to the back bone,
The back bone's connected to the hip bone,
The hip bone's connected thigh bone,
and so on - can add leg, ankle, foot & toes, too
Refrain:
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones,
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones,
Them bones, them bones, them dry bones,
Them bones come a tumblin' down.
The children can stand and point along as you point to the parts
of the skeleton (or yourself). When doing the refrain keep your
hands and arms going up and down. I've done this with mostly the
younger listeners, family groups and on occasion older kids if
I think they are in the mood.
70) There is the story of the The Vanishing Pumpkin (Sandcastle Books)
by Tony Johnston---ISBN 0-590-46589-9---that I
take the basic storyline from and do my own things with---it works
well for families and younger kids.
71) What about the thing at the window with the red, red lips
and the long, long fingernails? It's in Stories To Play With
, Volume 3, easy folktales for
beginning tellers, retold by Fran Stallings, edited by Hiroko
Fujita. If you play up the blood on the bat, and where it might
have come from, this might be considered a scary 2 minute story,
originally posted by someone (Tim Sheppard ?) on Storytell:
Late, late one night, a bloody vampire bat slowly flew back into
his cave. He was the last one in that night. Wearily, he hung
himself up for a good day's sleep. But that wonderful smell of
fresh blood filled the cave, just like the smell of popcorn fills
your home, and it woke up all the other vampire bats. They sniffed
and sniffed and tracked down the source of the smell.
"The blood. The BLOOD! Tell us where you found the blood!"
"No, no," moaned the Bloody Bat. "Just leave me
alone. I ache all over. All I want to do is try to get some sleep."
"No, NO!", the others cried. "You MUST show us
where you found the blood. We won't leave you alone until you
do!"
"Oh, all right, " whined the Bloody Bat. Slowly the
Bloody Bat flew out of the cave, followed by a vast swarm of vampire
bats. They flew up and over the hill.
On the way down the hill, the Bloody Bat called out, "Do
you see that tree down there, by the river?"
"Yes, YES, we see the tree!"
The Bloody Bat sighed. "Well, I didn't."
72) Teeny Tiny Woman
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/eft/eft13.htm
Richard-in-Germany tells the bloody vampire story definitively
on his CD. Maybe he'd send you an MP3.
73) A great one to stand and do motions to is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything (it's available in
paperback).
Also you can use the chant:
Old Bloody Bones is a-comin', a-comin'.
Old Bloody Bones is a-comin' on down.
This is can be done with a group holding hands in a circle and
going clockwise or counterclockwise during the chant. (There's
a melody, but,I can't sing it over the Internet) Or, in your case,
have the children stand and put their arms up in the air and slowly
bring them way down until they are bent over at the waist at the
end of the first line with head and arms down and then the second.
Then you are the example and tell a short, short tale (about three
or four lines) like this: "I woke up in the middle of the
night and I was hungry so I decided to go downstairs to the kitchen
for a snack. I looked on the table and there was the peanut butter
jar rolling around. I looked in the jar and there I saw..."(gesture
to audience who says with you) "OLD BLOODY BONES!" Then
everyone does the chant again and you ask if anyone else has an
Old Bloody Bones story. And so on...
AND NOW...THE PIECE DE RESISTANCE!
This is for anyone who wants the idea...
Years ago I found a Hallmark booklet of Peanuts "Halloween
Carols" and I have used many of them ever since. I've even
added other parodies of carols myself. I have offered some of
them on this list serve in the past. My favorite is the Thirteen
Days of Halloween (they used 12) and I took some liberties
with the categories (they had "ghouls a-groaning" for
one). You need to be a little bit artistic. I have used magic
markers to create a picture for each day on large manilla tag
sheets (12" X 18"). I have the name on the back of each
at the top which helps keep them in order. Here they are:
13 cauldrons bubbling
12 bats a-flying
11 masks a-leering
10 spiders spinning
9 ghosts a-booing
8 monsters shrieking
7 pumpkins glowing
6 goblins gobbling
5 scary spooks
4 skeletons
3 black cats
2 trick-or-treaters
and a hoot owl in an oak tree
I have used these in my Halloween programs small and large for
many years. You get 13 kids to come up front and hand each a sheet
in order from 1 to 13, left to right, with the front facing them.
Explain that when their number is called they are to turn the
sheet around for the audience to see the picture.Then each time
the audience and you get to their part they hold the picture up
and then lower it while the others are named. Picture a bigger
and bigger wave as more are added in the song. I often use this
a the finale, and they usually love it.
Response: When I tell The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, the kids are standing up and doing
hand motions and the sound each item of clothes makes. During
the first part, I point to one child's shoes, saying "a pair
of red sneakers just like those." During the second part,
I point to another child's pants, etc., and the third part yet
another child's shirt, each time using the color of the item.
The kids must imagine the hat, gloves and pumpkin head.
74) Of course I will recommend my Halloween booklet. Tried and
true stories for all ages that work well and are of the tradition.
here is the link:
http://www.geocities.com/artcars/samie.html
Also included are the Irish Samhain or halloween customs including
the Halloween cross and food recipes......
The stories work very very well....I have used them on this age
group. Especially tha cat ones.
75) Last year someone submitted a cute Halloween story that i
used. A little ghost wants to go out trick or treating because
no one will recognize he's a real ghost.But his mother reminds
him "Last year you didn't eat before you went, and you got
all that candy and you were sick for a week because you ATE IT
ALL in one night. If you want to go out, you have to eat a healthy
snack".So Joey went to the fridge and pulled out a banana
to eat, and he turned yellow. (I have cut out several colors of
felt, and the white ghost gets lifted up and the yellow one takes
its place.)That was good. Now I think I'll have some chocolate
cookies and he turns brown. That was good too. Now I think I'll
have some orange juice to drink and Joey turns orange. You get
the idea, add the foods that will make him turn color. Hey, I
can't go out like this.Ghosts have to be white. What can I eat
that will turn me white?Ask the audience for suggstions. I got
some really good ones, marshmellows, milk, popcorn, vanilla ice
cream etc. Anyway, it was fun to tell.
76) At my library we handed out the boots, shirt, pants etc. ahead
of time to various kids. They bring them up as they're mentioned,
we had the kid with the pumpkin stand on a chair and the rest
group in front to make the complete figure at the end. One of
the librarians was the little old lady and one told the story.
77) Here are the words to a Halloween song written by me and a
colleague Leslie Jarvis (I promised if she helped I'd always give
her 'credit') "The Witch came Back" to the tune of the
camp song My Aunt Came Back. The motions are kind of obvious.
For those of you who don't know the camp song, keep adding motions
with each verse till you are attempting to do them all at once.
The witch came back from from her grave plot
and brought to me a big black pot (stir)
...Merlin's Cave
And brought to me this bat to wave.
from a haunted house
a wiggling mouse (hold at arm's length)
in puff of smoke
some poison oak (scratch)
the the Dismal swamp
some bugs to stomp
with howls and shrieks
some trick-or-treats (chew)
from a magic shop
and said this song has got to Stop!
78) Which reminds me of a story I heard in a Catholic chat room....
This particular church decided that it wouldn't recognize Halloween
at their school. [Allow me to editorialize. Destroying Halloween
isn't a fundamental Catholic concern, but there are some among
us that want to out stupid the Protestants.] That particular year
they decided to have a come-as-a-saint costume party on November
1, All Saints Day. The problem with dressing up as a saint is
that there aren't that many variations. Dress as a nun or dress
in a cassock tied with a rope and you've just about exhausted
the possibilities. Frankly, you've seen one Frances of Assisi,
you've seen them all and just as many Martin de Porres. One child
came in the standard hermit's costume, but with a helium balloon
draped in cheesecloth tied by a string to his back. He came as
St. Kevin. St. Kevin is an Irish saint who was a contemporary
and friend of St. Brigid. Conrad could probably tell you more.
The story goes that Kevin wanted to be a hermit. This is a man
who when a bird laid an egg in his hand and remained motionless
until the egg hatched, so we are not talking about one of our
more rational saints. Every time Kevin found a cave, a pilgrim
would bother him for prayer or blessings. It's a small island.
Finally, Kevin found a cave that he liked and just as he was settling
for some major hermiting, when a pilgrim stoped in to pass the
time of day. Kevin was so incensed that he tossed the pilgrim
off the mountain to his death. The unnamed pilgrim is said to
have haunted the good saint until his death. I don't know what
the moral to the story is or why this is cited as an example of
St. Kevin's holiness. Now if I were going to a costume party as
a saint, I would go as St. Lucy. The same Santa Lucia of the Italian
song and the Swedish crown of candles. St. Lucy was a beautiful
virgin ('natch) who was lusted after by an unsuitable non-Christian
('natch) after she already dedicated herself to the nunnery (triple
'natch; it's the story of many a female saint). To avoid this
unwanted sexual encounter, our Lucy plucked out her own eyes.
A bit overboard, but there's no stopping a saint. The very next
day, God restored her sight with two brand new eyes. Her family
saw the error of their ways and sent her off to a convent. I would
think that she gave her family the creeping ughs. She is depicted
on holy cards as carrying a small plate with two eyes sitting
in the middle. What always bothered me is that the eyes on the
plate are always brown while the eyes in here head are always
blue. You can see why I can't be against Halloween. There are
saint stories that are far gorier than anything heard around a
campfire. If they give you any problem with ghosts & witches,
I can fill you in on church approved stories of saints that will
scare children witless. Like, St. Dymphna's tale of incest & fratricide...
79) Then there is the saint that cut off her breasts. Many people
think the tray she is holding has bread not breasts on it!
Response: St Agatha, martyred under
Decius (c251) in Sicily. Patron saint of bell-founders - because
of the shapes of those upturned breasts??? For a fancy-dress saint
with a difference, why not consider St Wilgefortis, also known
as St Uncumber? According to the myth, she was a queen's daughter
who wished to stay single but was besieged by lovers (not unusual
in saints' lives); to be uncumbered from them, she prayed that
she might grow a beard. The prayer was granted and the lovers
duly deserted the now bearded lady (how fickle) - however, one
of them was so enraged that he had her crucified. [Costume suitable
for either sex, methinks]
80) St. Kevin is an Irish saint who was a contemporary and
friend of St. Brigid. Conrad could probably tell you more. The
story goes that Kevin wanted to be a hermit. This is a man who
when a bird laid an egg in his hand and remained motionless until
the egg hatched, so we are not talking about one of our more rational
saints. Every time Kevin found a cave, a pilgrim would bother
him for prayer or blessings. It's a small island. Finally, Kevin
found a cave that he liked and just as he was settling for some
major hermiting, when a pilgrim stoped in to pass the time of
day. Kevin was so incensed that he tossed the pilgrim off the
mountain to his death. The unnamed pilgrim is said to have haunted
the good saint until his death. I don't know what the moral to
the story is or why this is cited as an example of St. Kevin's
holiness.
Response: The version I've heard
is that the victim was a woman who was trying to seduce the saint,
even climbing into his cave above Glendalough, and being pushed
over the edge into one of the lakes. The location is a beautiful
valley and well-worth visiting.
Richard Marsh of this list tells the story on his Saints
and Gore and Fairy Lore tape.
81) For a fancy-dress saint with a difference, why not consider
St Wilgefortis, also known as St Uncumber?
Response: St. Uncumber is one of
the saints mentioned in one of Robertson Davies' great novels
where the narrator is an authority
82) There's the story of Bobbie the Boo from Easy-To-Tell Stories for Young Children by Annette Harrison. It had to do with a young boy, Bobbie, who
is in kindergarten. Bobbie loved to scare people, his teachers
and friends. In the end he is scared by his friends to teach him
a lesson, now he knows what it feels like when someone sneaks
up and says boo!
83) Could it be "Boo!" That title is sometimes given
to the jump story (well, more of a "shudder" story,
really). Granny Sue posted this version of it recently:
"Lock up well when we leave," her parents said. "I
will," she promised. She couldn't wait til they left--the
house would be all hers! They left. She carefully locked the door
behind them, then checked all other window and door locks. She
pulled the curtains and sat in her favorite chair to read. When
it got late, she got up, stretched, checked all the locks again,
turned out the lights. Then she went upstairs, checked all the
window locks to be sure they were secure, pulled the curtains.
She went into her bedroom, checked the window locks one more time,
twitched the curtains tightly together, undressed and put on her
nightgown. She turned down the bedcovers, closed and locked her
bedroom door, and turned out the light. It was just as she pulled
the covers over her that she heard a voice say "Oh good.
Now no one else can get in here. We're all alone." You can,
of course, stretch this out to be a longer tale, but it tells
very well in this short, tight version.
84) I found this in my computer when I was looking for alphabet
soup. Don't know who originally sent it,I have it misfiled so
I'm glad I found it.f
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
GREAT PUMPKIN IS COMING TO TOWN (Sung
to the tune of Santa Claus Is Coming To
Town)
Oh, you'd better not shreik
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 shreik
You'd better not groan
You'd better not howl
You'd better not moan
Great Pumpkin is coming to town.
On the first day of Halloween (tune: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 cas
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
he Ghost (A fingerplay)
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)
ive 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!"
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.
(smile!)
85) This
is a great scary story, and the more claustrophobic you are the
creepier it is.
http://www.holyshiite.com/caver/index.html
86) As TimS says, it's one of a series of apparent thrillers, where the tension is released as a laugh instead of a jump. Others include "Ghost with the One Black Eye," "Red Red Lips" "Ghost of Mabel Able"
You can get a very strong laugh with these, if you build up the tension. Use exactly the same technique as telling a jump tale, and make the transition to humor as sudden and complete as the thing you do when you go for a jump, and it will work. There is a general discussion of jump tales and such on the storytelling wiki, which is still up, and at its own domain again. The wiki is quiescent, but there's still some good stuff there.
I have a version of the Gorilla story with the same tag line on my website, with some discussion and suggestions for telling.
http://folktale.net/gorilla.html
87) And for your scaring pleasure, some Halloween links that didn't make it into the Oct/Nov 2005 issue.
The Haunters & The Haunted: Ghost Stories and Tales of the Supernatural
An online anthology of 57 stories collected by Ernest Rhys.
http://www.bartleby.com/166/index.html
This site will appear in the Oct/Nov issue but since then I have found a different section on the site that adds even more stories. So instead of 18 tales, you get 52!
http://www.americanfolklore.net/spooky-stories.html
Karen C. 8/2/05
•••••
88) Here's a Halloween site --
http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm
Mary G. 10/31/05
•••••
89) Also another good JUMP song is "The Old Woman All Skin and Bones." That's a great one to use to lull people into a spectular ending, depending on how loud you can scream.
Song starts:
There was an old woman, she was an old crone,
She was nothing but skin and bones.
Oooooooo, oooooooo, ooooooooo, oooo, oooo.
Sylvia I. 9/1/06
•••••
90) This song was sung by Burl Ives among others.
MY GOOD OLD MAN
Where are you going, my good old man?
Where are you going, my honey, lovey dove?
Where are you going, my good old man?
Best old man in the world
spoken: Hunting.
What do you want for breakfast, my good old man? (as above)
Eggs
How many do you want, my good old man
A bushel
A bushel will kill you, my good old man
I don't care
Where do you want to be buried, my good old man
Over there in the chimney corner
The ashes will fall on you, my good old man
I don't care
What'll you do then, my good old man?
I will haunt you
A haunt can't haunt a haunt, my good old man......
Cathryn F. 9/15/06
•••••
(This
web page updated 11/5/05; 9/16/06; 9/29/08)
(c. 1989). Story is called Dead Aaron. Aaron is dead but won't stay in his coffin. Funny rather than scary ways his wife gets him back where he belongs.