The Ghost Story

#1

There is just something about a ghost story that makes you feel more alive.

As the nights get longer and spooky celebrations draw nearer, I think of my favorite spooky stories that scared me deliciously as a child.

I love writing them, too. After all, what could have happened in life to make one so unhappy in death? The plot instantly thickens.
Solid well rounded tales of mystery and woe, often with a dark and dreary end that stick in your memory for a lifetime…

Check out these simple writing prompts and write your own short story worthy of any night time gathering around the campfire.

Do you have a well remembered scary story from childhood?

Did you write one you would enjoy sharing some of here?

Do you recommend any that send chills up the spine?

#2

I loved reading ghost stories as a kid and latched onto many classic horror writers on those days as well. But I think my favorites from my childhood were the tales my extended family would tell by firelight at the weiner roast or on the hayrides at our annual July 4th celebrations.
My aunt loved to tell family history tales, but she also loved to tell us spine-tinglers as well. And there was no better forum for those than in those moments.

2 Likes
#3

@Evelyn, Oh how I wished for an Auntie like yours. What wonderful memories!

#4

I agree! She was frequently surrounded by adult family who were all trying to catch up with the family happenings (she was also the family gossip, thus the reason she knew all the great family history), but she passed that love of a good spine tingler on to her daughter who was about 10 yrs older thane too. And many times when our family got together, my cousin would slip off from the cousins her own age (we are a large family of 9 siblings in my dad’s generation averaging about 3 kids each) and, finding the youngest 6 (all of us born within 3 years of each other), she’d hold her own court with us and have a good spine tingler handy too – usually told in some quiet alcove of grandma’s house and frequently within eyeshot of grandma’s attic crawlspace entry on the upper level of the farmhouse. It was an amazing setting for those creepy tales!
I think the two of them could quite possibly be the largest influence for why I love a good spine-tingler to this day. And they’re largely responsible for my love of story-telling too.

2 Likes