Category Archives: Literacy

Tonight’s ghost story to enjoy is by Mongoose29. Remember to read something calming before bed…!

My name is Zack. I am 128. Now I know you’re thinking that’s impossible but it’s not and I will tell you how…

The loud fair music meant you couldn’t hear anything – even the cries coming from Zack. He was lost and was wandering towards the harbour… In the background, the music dimmed and you could only hear the sound of the calm waves receding onto the beach. Zack sat in a cold stone corner weeping when an old crackling voice came from behind him.
“What this matter?” the mysterious figure groaned. He obviously couldn’t speak properly.
“What this matter?” the man said again — louder this time. Zack looked up, tears running down his saddened face.
“I – I lost my family,” Zack stuttered.
“Come withit me,” the old wrinkled man said. “I can helpen you.”

Their feet crunched on the crumbling gravel path. The man was strange, Zack thought. He wore a long maroon robe with bright yellow stars on covering long  fingernails that had dirt concealed tightly under them. All of a sudden, the man stopped. A large green boat sat proudly in the water but it didn’t look real: it had a luminous ghostly effect; no sails; and a tall, thin, transparent man perched on the deck. Could it be a ghost ship? Zack would have to find out…

Slowly, the strange man held up his glowing lantern and pointed to the boat.
“Mis comes yup edry year,” he grumbled. “I b’live ghosts live thon sit,” he said. “I’ll help ye find tor parentes if ye clum on this with me.” Zack quickly agreed and they walked to where the boats were docked.

Carefully, the man clambered onto a small fishing boat that looked cracked and old.
“Get thon,” he beckoned to the boy so Zack climbed happily on. “Call I Fredrick,” the old man said joyfully.

Silently, the small boat glided towards the moon-lit ship as Fred chatted to Zack about the ghosts he believed lived on it. With force, the small boat collided against the ship, causing it to crack in two. Luckily, Fredrick and Zack had already taken hold of the ladder and climbed it to the top. Suddenly a booming voice echoed around the ship,
“GIVE ME YOUR SOULS NOW!”
In fear, Fredrick and Zack ran into the ship’s library.
“THERE IS NO ESCAPE!” the voice boomed again.

They froze as a pale white figure entered the room. Without making a sound, Fredrick and Zack crouched down desperate to hide.
“I SEE YOU!” the voice yelled in a taunting tone. “GIVE ME ALL YOUR SOULS!”

Slowly, the figure approached them and grabbed them both.
“I will make a deal with you,” the thing said quietly. “If one of you gives your soul, I will let the other go,” he whispered like before.
“Ith will,” Fredrick announced bravely.
“The deal has been made,” the voice said.
All of a sudden, Zack was back at the harbour — but he was alone. The boat was gone…

Many years later, Zack set out on a journey to find his old friend Fredrick. He had managed to find his family after the boat incident and he was determined to find Fredrick, or his soul and body, so he could bring him back to life. Zack ran down to the harbour; the ship was there! Quickly, he grabbed a small boat and set off towards the ship. The remains of the fishing boat still floated in the water and, on the ship, lay Fredrick’s skeleton…

Zack threw the old tattered skeleton onto the boat. All he had to do now was the destroy the ship and get Fredrick’s soul. The captain was asleep for Zack could hear his deep snores coming from the bedroom. Quietly, he snatched Fredrick’s soul off the shelf. Suddenly, he had the perfect idea: he would ram the boat into the harbour destroying the captain. When he reached the steering wheel, he turned it without thinking and took out a chunk of the boat.

Zack could hear the deep roar echoing around the boat again,
“WHO IS HERE?”
Zack rammed the boat again, breaking it in two but, at the same time, a cold, wet hand grabbed him and put his soul in a jar… Soon, Zack’s family found two skeletons and buried them in their garden. They were Zack’s and Fredrick’s.
120 years later, a young boy was playing football by the harbour and found two glass jars with bright blue glowing balls in them. He brought them home and, pretending it was magic, he played with them outside and accidentally dropped them. But he didn’t know one of the souls belonged to Fredrick and the other soul belonged to Zack. As well as that, the boy’s house was Zack’s old house where he and Fredrick had been buried.

Ready to be reunited with their bodies, the souls floated up in the air whilst the skeletons lifted up out of the ground. The blue glowing balls lowered into the bodies. Next, the skin started covering the skeletons like a machine building toys. Finally, Zack and Fredrick awoke, lying on the grass.

So that is my story of how I’m 128. At the moment, I live with Fredrick and the boy (Joe).

Tonight’s scary story!… You have been warned!!

Last creepy Halloween night, an old spooky man in a long black coat was walking towards a box. It wasn’t an ordinary box; it had the devil in it. But how, you ask, did a young man, who was ten years old, trap the devil in the box? He was an angel and his name was Alec. Stupidly, the old man opened the box. He released an unstoppable force before him and signed a deal. The deal was that he would collect all the children in the world every Halloween so he did or else he would be forever alone.

Next Halloween, the frightening man went with 15,000 children with him to the haunted boat. It had ripped sails because of all the fights he had with them. But the devil was still not happy: he wanted the child who had trapped him — Alec — because he wanted to take his soul so that he wouldn’t be able to trap him again.

The dark-hearted Devil threw the poor ancient man into the freezing water than yelled, “Come back when you have found the child!”

“Never then,” muttered the man in anger, swimming to shore.

As angry as the man was, he still searched for the meddling angel (Alec). Although Alec didn’t know that the Devil had escaped, he did notice that children were disappearing by the second. So, Alec decided to go to the docks to investigate. The man caught his eye because he had children with him. Curiously, he followed the strange man onto the haunted ship. A green mist swirled around the ship; strange substances dripped off the sails and slithered through the creaking floorboards. He noticed a large cannon pointing straight at him; he knew something was wrong…

Before he knew it, he got shot out of the sky like a sack of potatoes.

“Brilliant!” screeched the Captain in joy. Everything went pitch black.

Alec awoke, thinking it was all a dream, but sadly for him it wasn’t. He was tied up with freezing chains holding his wings back so that he couldn’t fly away and warn all the other children. Before him, he saw a strange figure: it was the mysterious man from the docks. He leant down and whispered, “Sorry!”. He was so close to his face that all Alec could smell was the stench of his breath. He handed him the box and silently started to unchain his wings. Alec stretched with confusion.

Curiously, he asked, “Why are you helping me?”

The man answered, “I’m sick and tired of him bossing me about all the time so I have chosen you to help me to stop him from achieving his devilish plans.” Pausing for what seemed an eternity, he seemed to be in a trance. “I know you don’t trust me but please, help me save the world from this evil spirit upon us.” Alec, feeling very confused, replied cautiously, “I will help but this must be our secret. Only we have to know about this.”
They agreed to help each other. After a long time thinking and planning, they agreed on a very sly plan to take down the devil so he would never cause any harm again.

The man collected as many children as he could with Alec in the middle of the crowd. They quietly entered the ship. From the depths of the ship, the devil shouted, “I know you are on board my ship but where is Alec?” The man cowardly replied, “He is here waiting for you.”

The devil eerily appeared out of nowhere and laughed an evil cackle. Alec silently flew up like a graceful bird. They flew at each other, stopped suddenly and bowed, then battle commenced. It was a crazy tournament between the two great leaders, the good and the bad. As they tired, the Devil’s powers weakened. Alec knew that this was his opportunity to open the box, to trap the devil once and for all. Alec effortlessly opened the box in one giant swoop, like a bird and its prey. As the box lid closed, the Devil shouted, “I will return! Alec, beware!”

Alec flew off with the box in hand and threw the box into the distance. But he didn’t notice something: the ancient old box was cracked and a tail of red mist had escaped …

In 1945, at the end of World War II, a tragic death was witnessed: Arthur Wilson, 24, was shot in the dark depths of ‘No-man’s land’. When Arthur was buried, a mysterious ‘man’ called Frederick Ward paid him a visit and told him he could have the chance to be human again. Instantly, Arthur agreed to this ‘life-changing’ chance. Before he knew it, he found himself in an ancient, crooked boat. Quickly, he realised the ship was haunted: torn, damaged sails; a toxic odour; an enchanted green mist seeping from the lower decks.  A green, shiny potion dripped into his mouth. As the strange substance trickled down his throat, Arthur’s eyes gradually opened: the potion was working!

****

Since a few months after his birth in May 2000, Eliot Wilson had been brought up by his grandad, Arthur. Arthur’s job as a coastguard was to watch the boats come in so he wasn’t at home very often. Eliot had always been interested in what his grandfather did so, on June 19^th, 2007, Eliot bravely asked Arthur if he could go to work with him. When Arthur’s reply was an abrupt “NO!”, suspicions whirled around Eliot’s mind.

One misty night, Eliot followed Arthur. Creeping in the shadows, Eliot quietly tiptoed to the harbour. Without warning, Arthur made a sharp turn and clasped Eliot’s arm with a firm grip then fiercely dragged him to the edge of the path.

Suddenly, a cold shiver crept up his spine. An old, faint finger was placed in the small of his shivering back. When Eliot slowly turned to his grandfather, he realised he wasn’t there. Faint laughs circled round his head. Feeling dizzy, Eliot tried to see if there was anybody to help him but his eyes felt weak and gradually started to close.

Waking up, Eliot knew he wasn’t at the harbour any more: creaking floorboards; faint voices; a lethal odour all suggested he was on board a ship. Able to see now, Eliot carefully and quietly stepped onto the damp floor. Under Eliot’s frozen bare-feet, there was a strange, green substance oozing between his toes. Unexpectedly, the ancient door swung open. CREAK! CREAK! Loud footsteps echoed round the room.

A strange figure stepped cautiously into the room: he had big dusty boots, an old ragged coat and an enormous cobweb-covered hat that covered most of his face. Whilst puffing large rings of smoke out of his pipe, the mysterious man walked closer to Eliot. The man had a long, pointed nose, an old, wrinkly face and familiar misty blue eyes.

“Grandad?” Eliot hesitated for a moment… Grandad? Is that you?”
“Hello,” his Grandad finally replied in an oddly creaky voice.

“W…Why are you glowing?” Eliot reached out for his grandfather’s hand but he stepped back and rapidly revealed a razor-shaped blade!

Sour tears suddenly tricked down Eliot’s smooth cheeks as his grandfather yanked the blood-covered sword from the boy’s heart. Eliot’s heart was already broken from never being able to see his parents but now there was also a hole in his heart from the blade held by his grandfather.

Bitter tears rolled down the old man’s face as he watched his grandson fade away.

“What have I done?” muttered Arthur. As Arthur remembered what happened in ‘No-man’s land’, he fell to his knees with his face cradled in his hands. Guilt raced round his head until, at last, he summoned Frederick Ward.

“Please,” Arthur begged as he cried, “Take off this despicable curse and let me be with my grandson!” He begged and begged.

“The curse has worn off but…” As Frederick was explaining, Arthur interrupted,

“Thank you!” Arthur yelled, “Thank you.”

“But… the curse will haunt you so beware!” With that, Frederick went with a blink of an eye.

Arthur got his wish to be with his grandson but beware…the ghosts of Eliot and Arthur Wilson still haunt that harbour now…

I will gradually post some examples of your ghost stories over the next few weeks. They need to be paced as some of them are quite scary! We probably ought to have an age warning on some of them!

For anyone outside of Year 6 reading these, we were inspired by a picture from the book by Chris Van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. We had a lot of fun writing these and we clearly have some very imaginative and quite scary writers!! Well done Year 6. You worked hard on these and I’ve enjoyed reading the stories. I hope you all enjoy them too.