"When I was your age there was this camp that I used to go to in the summer time." said the old man in his soft and raspy voice.
My parents had brought me to grandparents house, my mom's father's house specifically. We only visited them once or twice a year because of how far out in the country it was. As I looked around all I could see was the occasional flitting of light on my grandfathers dark and sullen face coming from the small fire in between us. He was a strange man, mostly kept to himself after my grandmother died.
As I sat across from my grandfather, I began to wonder how he spent his free time when he was just by himself. While I was wondering this he had continued his story. Realizing I wasn't fully paying attention he quickly snapped at me.
"One of the first nights that I was at the camp," he explained, "a small boy came to the window of my roommate and I's room asking for food."
"I told him I had none to give and went back to sleep thinking nothing of the encounter." said my Grandfather.
My grandfather then explained that the small boy came back the next two nights again asking for food. Each time the boy came, his roommate would be fast asleep. Eventually feeling sorry for the boy, my grandfather began to smuggle chips to their room from lunch.
"The first night that I gave the kid some chips to eat he continued to put his hand out asking for more even after all of the chips I had were gone. I had to tell him three times that I had nothing left!" he exclaimed.
This exchange of food continued to happen for the next few nights. My grandfather eventually told his roommate about the chips that he was giving away to his new friend. Hearing this, his roommate got really nervous and told him to never do that again. Later in the day, one of the adults that ran the camp came to my grandfather and explained to him the reason he should not do that. Apparently years ago that building was a school for a large amount of children. The leaders of the school were not good people, and over the years many different children died from malnutrition. There are many graves near the line of trees that go into the woods.
His roommate and himself were forced to switch to a different room because the little boy that was asking for food was a ghost of one of the children that had died. The room that the ended up switching too had a window that faced the edge of the trees.
"The night that we had to switch rooms, before I went to sleep, I looked out the window and could see a long line of children all holding hands at the edge of the trees. I immediately pulled the covers over my head. Not five minutes later I heard a tap tap tap on my window." said my Grandfather.
(Line of Trees Near a Plantation: Geograph)
Author's Note: This story was told to me by one of my friends a couple of years ago. Granted he was much better at telling the story. When I read the ghost stories in the Great Plain reading unit, I immediately thought of this story as something that I could use for my storytelling. I wish I could have found a picture of a treeline at night but I couldn't seem to find any.
Bibliography:
Story Title: Three Ghost Stories
Book Title: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains
Book Author: Katherine Berry Judson
Year: 1913
Source: Three Ghost Stories
I did not read the Great Plains reading unit but your version of this story is excellent. I did not expect the ending at all, very spooky! It definitely sounds like a story a grandfather would tell and I can imagine an old man telling that story. The picture of the trees without leaves is also perfect. You did a very god job!
ReplyDeleteI like this kind of ghost story. It is not trying to be overly jumpy or gory, it just happens to be really creepy. The images you give of the treeline and the line of children make me think of an episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" I think that I might try to find some ghost stories in my next unit since we are now toward the end of October.
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