Fun Campfire Ghost Stories

by Bradshaw, John

  Ghost and I barely ate anything that night, I guessed from all the excitement, so we went upstairs and fell asleep quickly.

  The next morning I woke up and got out of bed to take our normal morning walk. Curled up on the floor, Ghost was still sleeping. I called out his name, but he did not move.

  The Vet., Dr. Munson, came out of the back to where my Dad and I were waiting. He explained that the rattlesnake had partially bitten Ghost behind his paw where we could not see it and since it was not a full bite, it took some time for the venom to affect him. There was nothing he could do. Ghost was an older dog and his body could not take the poison.

  The days went by and I was heart broken. I missed my best friend. I would still take walks after school into the state park just like Ghost and I had done over the years.

  About a month later, I went for a walk in the park. It had rained earlier that day and the ground was still wet. I was walking next to the dry gully, when the mossy ground under me gave way and I slid down into the gully, my leg hitting a rock on the way down. When I went to stand up, I realized that my leg was hurt and I was not able to stand. All I could do was lay there.

  The sun was heading toward the horizon when in the distance I could hear a voice. At first I could not call out because my leg hurt so much, but finally was able to muster a yell. A voice, much closer now, said, “Timmy is that you?” I said, “Here I am!” Mr. Hamilton appeared through the bushes and kneeled by my side. He could see that my leg was hurt, so he got up and told me he would be right back. Moments later, Mr. Hamilton returned with two sticks and some vines. He put my hurt leg between the two sticks and wrapped them together with the vine so it would not move. He slowly picked me up and started up the slope of the gully.

  As we were approaching my house, Mr. Hamilton said, “That dog of yours is really something special.” “What do you mean,” I responded. Mr. Hamilton said that he was working in his garden when Ghost came running toward him barking and did not stop barking until he followed Ghost into the state park. “I know that Ghost is always with you so I called your name. When I heard you yell, Ghost ran into the bushes just ahead of me. When I came through the bushes, I found you, but I don‘t know where Ghost went.”

  Dad explained to Mr. Hamilton that Ghost had died a month earlier, but I knew that Ghost was still with me, still looking out for me. My best friend forever!

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  Chapter 18 - Red sloppity lips

  A young woman was driving along an old road in the country and had become lost. She was trying to find her way back to a gas station to get directions when she ran out of gas. So she grabbed her gas can and began to walk down the old dirt road. She had been walking for half an hour without seeing a single car, when it began to rain. She pulled her jacket up over her head to help keep the rain away, but it began to rain harder. Then it began to thunder and lightening, so she knew that she must find shelter quickly.

  Up ahead she saw an old abandoned house, so he ran onto the porch. Certainly nobody would mind. But the wind began to blow harder and blew the door to the house right open. The wind blew so hard, that it blew the rain onto the porch soaking the woman even more. So she went inside to get out of the rain. The house was very large and, though it was abandoned, dirty, full of cobwebs and in need of some repair, it kept the woman dry.

  All of a sudden, a big gust of wind blew in the door and then back out again, slamming the door shut. The woman tried to open the door, but the rain had caused the door to swell, wedging it in the door frame when it slammed. She could not open it.

  Just then, she heard a voice call out "Do you know what I do with my red sloppity lips and my long green fingers?" Startled, the woman turned around and as the next lightning bolt illuminated the room for a split second, she saw standing next to the door a large green hairy monster with huge red lips, pointed fangs and gangly legs and arms with very long fingernails. The woman panicked and ran down the hall. The creature followed her.

  Again, she heard the monster say, "Do you know what I do with my red sloppity lips and my long green fingers?" as it followed her down the hall. The woman, in a panicked fright, ran up a set of stairs at the end of the hall. The creature pursued her getting closer with every step, gooie saliva dripping from its horribly huge red lips.

  As the creature was getting closer, she heard it say louder, "Do you know what I do with my red sloppity lips and my long green fingers?" The woman ran faster trying to get away from the pursuing creature. At the end of the hall at the top of the stairs, there was a room, so the woman ran into the room closing the door behind her. She heard the creature’s loud footsteps coming down the hall getting closer. She quickly looked around the room for a means to escape, but there were no windows in the room only a small closet.

  In an instant the bedroom door flew open and again she heard the monster say even louder, "Do you know what I do with my red sloppity lips and my long green fingers?" The woman, petrified with fear, tucked herself into a corner of the closet and hid as best as she could.

  The closet door sprang opened wide and the huge hairy creature stood before her. The creature looked down at the woman and, after a short pause that seemed like eternity, said in a voice so loud that it hurt the woman’s ears, "Do you know what I do with my red sloppity lips and my long green fingers?"

  The woman shook as she answered with fear in a quiet voice, "no".

  The monster smiled and said, "Then I'll show you."

  BLBLBLBLBLBLBL (Rub your fingers across your lips while you make the "b" sound. Cross your eyes if you can.)

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  Chapter 19 - The fearless one

  Will was ten years old and had never been afraid of anything. He had heard many ghost stories, had seen many “scary” movies and none had every scared him. Will loved Halloween more than any other holiday. He loved to dress up and scare his friends, but they could never scare him.

  This Halloween, his cousin, who lived in the next town over, invited Will to attend a Halloween party with him and then go trick or treating. Will had never been to his cousin’s house before and, on top of that, he had heard about a haunted swamp just on the outskirts of the town that he thought would be fun to see.

  As Halloween arrived, Will’s parents drove him over to his cousin’s house to spend the night. At dinner, Will asked about the story of the haunted swamp. Will’s cousin told him that the swamp was a place to stay away from on Halloween night because the headless horseman roamed the swamp looking for victims until dawn. No one knew who the headless horseman was, where he came from, why he was there on Halloween or how he got headless. Will said that he would love to see this guy.

  As night descended, Will and his cousin changed into their costumes and headed out to the Halloween party on the edge of town. Will dressed up as a warlock and his cousin was Frankenstein. Part of the activities at the party was a haunted house put on by some of the kids. Will’s cousin played a part in the haunted house. Will went through the haunted house, but it did not scare him. He knew that his cousin would be in the haunted house for some time so Will decided that this would be his chance to sneak out to the swamp which was just a mile up the road. He would be back before anybody knew he was gone.

  Will went out into the night and headed down the road towards the swamp. Will did not see anybody on the way there. Apparently, everybody stayed clear of this area on Halloween. There was a full moon out that made the swamp visible even though there was a mist rising off the damp ground. Will was excited in the hopes of seeing the headless horseman. He walked down the road that bordered the swamp until he found a fairly dry break in the foliage that allowed him the head into the swamp.

  The damp fern covered ground barely made a sound as Will walked and walked. The trees took on a look like he had seen last year in a swamp monster movie. Rising out of the swamp water, the trees, hanging with moss, occasionally blocked some of the bright moonlight shinning down through the thickening mist. An owl’s howl was the only thi
ng that broke the silence all around him.

  Will started to become disappointed since he was really hoping to see the headless horseman. He knew that he was going to have to turn back soon.

  Suddenly, in the distance ahead of him, Will heard the clopity clop sound of a hoofed animal heading toward him. As it got closer, he could hear a snorting sound of an animal breathing hard. Will stood there staining his eyes when, coming out of the mist at a full gallop was a horse snorting mist out of its nose. The rider wore a dark flowing cloak, held the reins with black gloves and appeared to be headless. Will could not believe his eyes. “How cool,” he said. Just as the horse was almost in arms length, a dark cloud moved in front of the moon and darkness fell over the swamp. Will could feel the movement of the air as the horse and rider rushed by.

  The cloud moved away from the moon making the swamp visible again. Will remained silent hoping to hear the sound of the running horse, but all was quite. Even the owl’s howl had stopped. Moments later, the horse and headless rider appeared from a different direction heading toward Will. Will just stood there and called out, “WOW this is so cool. I wish my cousin was here to see this!” The headless horseman came again from another direction and rushed by Will, the horse snorting and hoofs clanking. Will was having such a great time that he sat on the fern covered ground and yelled out into the dark, “Do it again.”

  The horse and headless rider charged again and again, going by Will with just inches to spare. About an hour later the horse and rider made one last charge. Will just sat there clapping. As the horse got closer it started to slow until it finally stopped right next to Will. It just stood there pawing the ground with one leg and breathing hard while the headless rider sat there kind of slumped over like he was tired. Will stood up and said that he enjoyed seeing them, but it was late and he had to get back to the Halloween party. The only thing was that, in all the excitement, he had forgotten the way back. Will thought for a moment and then said, “Can you give me a ride?” If a horse can make an expression than it appeared to Will to say, you’ve got to be kidding me! The horse looked back at the headless rider shook his head once and in a moment the headless rider reached out his gloved hand toward Will. Will grabbed the glove and was pulled up onto the horse. Sitting behind the headless rider, the horse reared up and started running like the wind. Within a couple of minutes the horse stopped just outside of the building where the Halloween party was being held. Will jumped off, thanked the headless horseman and waved as the horse and rider disappeared down the road.

  Will rushed into the party and told his cousin and his friends all about it. He even took them outside to show them the hoof marks in the dirt road. They initially did not believe him, but after a few years of no headless horseman sightings, everyone began to believe the story of the boy with no fear. He became known as the only person who could give a headless horseman a headache.

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  Chapter 20 - What Mark always wanted

  Mark was walking home from school with his best friend David. David was telling Mark about a scary movie he had seen last weekend that had made the hair stand up on the back of his neck and gave him the willies. Mark said that he had seen that movie also, but it did not give him the willies. As a matter of fact, he had never had the “willies” before and would really like to have them.

  That night at dinner, Mark told his parents that he had never had the willies and would really like to have them. His dad told him to wait for Halloween and he was sure that Mark would get the willies then.

  Halloween came and Mark waited with anticipation of getting the willies. His dad even dressed up as a zombie and jumped out from behind the basement door, but Mark still did not get the willies. As the years went by Mark thought for sure he would never get the willies.

  One day, Mark’s girlfriend Sara, told him about two witches that lived near the city dump in an old dilapidated house with a rusty roof. Sara said that the witches were identical twins and that one was good and one was evil. “The evil one should be able to tell you how to get the willies,” Sara said.

  On the weekend, Mark told his parents that he was going camping with David and would be back in a couple of days. When he left his house with his sleeping bag and gear, he headed straight for the dump. He arrived at the witches’ house, opened the broken gate, headed up onto the rotting porch and knocked on the cracked front door. The door slowly opened with a creeeek, pulling cobwebs from the frame. Mark stepped into the entrance hall. There, at the top of the stairs, was a pair of women, dressed identically in black robes. They had long finger nails, bonny hands, long noses with warts and black pointy hats. The witches pointed their long fingers at Mark and in unison asked him what he wanted. Mark said he needed to ask the evil witch a question. The witches, in unison, said that he had to decide which witch to ask the question. If he chose the wrong one, they would be forced by witch law to cook him for dinner. Mark knew he had to choose, but which witch was which? All of a sudden, Mark remembered the Wizard of Oz story and he got an idea. He remembered an old rusty bucket in the front yard and an old well. He said, “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” Mark turned and rushed out the front door and filled up the rusty bucket with old well water. He returned to the front entrance of the house with his bucket full of water. He told the witches that he was going to throw the water on them and he knew that the water would melt the evil witch if she did not tell him what he wanted to know. The witch on the left shook her head and said, “What do you want?”

  Mark said that he wanted to get the willies. The witches looked at each other with a bewildered look on their faces. Mark told them that he had never had the willies and wanted to have them. The good witch looked at Mark and asked him if he had ever seen a ghost? Mark told her that ghosts were cowards, because they had no guts! The evil witch told Mark that if he did a favor for her than she was sure that he would get the willies.

  The witch told Mark about a ghoul that had escaped from their basement. He was last seen in an old overgrown rocky gorge just beyond the old dump. The ghoul was a meat eater and could not be killed. The witches explained that the ghoul did some odd jobs for them at times and they wanted him back. Mark agreed to bring the ghoul home.

  Mark headed for the hardware store. He purchased a bear trap, a long chain, some duct tape and some spicy beef jerky.

  It was late afternoon when Mark arrived at the edge of the old gorge. He saw a dead end canyon, off the main gorge, that had no way out except the way in. Mark climbed down into the gorge and walked into the dead end canyon dropping pieces of beef jerky along the way. Close to the end of the canyon, Mark set the bear trap on the trail and covered it over with sticks and leaves. He attached the chain to the trap and wrapped the other end around a nearby tree. Mark put out his sleeping bag, started a fire and had his dinner.

  About an hour later, Mark could hear something moving up the trail. He decided to make sure the ghoul would know he was there so he started yelling, “What position does a ghoul play on the soccer team? The ghoulie.” Then he yelled out, “Want some ghoul scout cookies?” and “You’re no ghoul friend of mine!” Suddenly, the ghoul appeared on the trail about three feet in front of the trap. It stopped and just stared at Mark. Mark noticed that the creature had eight hairy arms. (He could see how this ghoul could be handy working for the witches.) Mark stared back, slowing raising his open hands to the sides of his head. He put the thumbs of his hands up to his ears and started waving his hands as he stuck his tongue out at the ghoul.

  The monster’s eyes turned blood red and it began to run straight for Mark. CLAP went the bear trap catching the ghouls left leg. The ghoul fell over and hit its head on the tree. Mark saw that this was his chance before the creature regained its senses. He ran over to the ghoul with the duct tape and quickly wrapped up the creatures arms, legs and mouth.

  Mark laughed as he finished wrapping up. He remembered an old saying he had heard…“There are a thousand different things you can do with duct
tape.” Well he had just come up with another.

  It was the next morning before Mark arrived back at the witches’ house. Dragging that big hairy ghoul all night had put Mark in a foul mood. He kicked open the door and pulled the creature into the entrance hall. The witches appeared at the top of the stairs staring in amazement. “Here is your ghoul, now how about my willies?” He said.

  The witch on the left made an incantation and then threw a fireball toward Mark. Mark rolled to dodge the fireball and ended up right next to the bucket of water he had left the day before. Mark stood up grabbed the bucket and threw the water on the witches. The witches started screaming, smoking and melting. I guess they both were evil, Mark thought to himself. He looked at the ghoul, which appeared to be giggling at the sight of the witches melting down to a pile of gooo.

  Mark never gave up! He knew that someday he would get the willies.

  Years later he married his girlfriend, Sara. They ended up having triplets, three boys that Mark and Sara named Willie, Willie and Willie. Mark finally got his willies.

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  Chapter 21 - The animal army

  I had spent the day getting ready for our camping trip. My Dad and I were heading to Squirrel Hills Camp Grounds and Buster, my dog, was going with us. I had gathered my sleeping bag, canteen, flashlight and comic books into my backpack. Mom packed our food, while Dad loaded the car. As we jumped into the car for the hour trip to the campgrounds, we waved goodbye to Mom as she told Dad not to let me eat too much chocolate before bed. “Too much sugar before bed can play havoc on your restful sleep,” she said.