The Portage County Gazette’s first “Scary/Spooky Story Contest” entries, 6th- through 8th-Grade:

Charlie Matthai

6th Grade

Plover/Whiting

Have you heard of the camp in the way back country of Wisconsin on the long twisty road? Well I go there and at this camp there are six cabins. But back when it was just a boy’s camp, there was seven. You might ask, what happened to the seventh cabin, where did it go? Well, let me tell you.

One night, a couple of guys woke up hearing girls laughing. But this is a boy’s camp, they thought. They tried to go back to bed, but then they heard “ring-around-the-rosy.” Ok, this is getting weird. They talked and decided to send out the big guy. He walks into the cabin and SCREAMS! The guys jump. They run back into the cabin to get their lights.

They point it at the cabin. Rustle-rustle. The leaves are crumpling. They point their lights at the leaves and see a girl with pale skin, black hair, and a white gown. The guys run into the seventh cabin. Then, they see her.

They never find the boys. There’s no trace, no flashlights, nothing. They tore down the cabin and closed the camp. Until the YMCA bought it.

Patience Schuler

6th Grade

Plover/Whiting

Spooky Story

Tic, tic, tick. What’s that sound, I wonder? It was 3 a.m. on Friday the 13th. It was dark in my room, with only the moon from my window casting a light. I pant nearly as my heart races. The ticking noise won’t stop. I slowly get up from my bed, sitting on it and wondering if I should go check what that ticking noise may be. I start to walk towards my door, the wooden floor creaking from under me…

I open the door as the ticking becomes louder. I shake violently as I go closer to the ticking noise. I walk closer to a corner and the ticking noise stops. My heart races as fast as a racecar. I look around to see a girl with long brown hair, with a dark blue sweatshirt and black pants. She turns to look at me and she has two clocks as her eyes.

She turns and looks at me. I start to run, but she jumps on me. She starts to laugh as I face up at her, to see that she’s taking off a mask. I gasp as I see…

Pam Domres

6th Grade

Plover/Whiting

The Mirror Girl

Are the things in the mirror there? Since the murder of my mother, everything has turned upside down. The moment I entered the Naperville Orphanage, I knew something was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

As I looked into the mirror, I realized there was a school girl with black hair and no pupils staring at me from behind. I turned around and the girl was gone. I hid under the covers until dinner bell.

As I sat down, I looked into the reflection of the spoon and she was standing there again. I tried to shake her out of my head, but I mentally couldn’t do it.

As the thousands of thoughts bounced around my head, one caught my attention. “Tell someone about her.” I noticed that every time I look into the mirror, she gets more and more real. Most nights, I rock and cry myself to sleep, because I’m scared she will come back.

I finally worked up the courage to tell someone. As I was walking to the Head Lady’s office, someone touched my shoulder. I turned and saw the girl again.

I woke up a little while later. Where was I? In front of me was some kind of window, and behind me was an old chair, a dresser, and a bed. I pressed my face against the window and out of nowhere the school girl’s horrifying face passed me with my friends from the orphanage.

Once it hit me, I realized I was in the mirror. I frantically searched for a door and pounded on the mirror, but there was no way out. She left me to rot in the mirror.

All the pain and terror I have day and night is making me disappear. Then making her a living nightmare in the orphanage. I just created a demon and let it escape! I guess there is no happing ending like all the other stories do. I guess we have to face the fact that I’m going to suffer and rot in this room for the rest of my life.

Lake Himlie

6th Grade

Plover/Whiting

The Night of Horror

Creeeeeek! It was 3 a.m. I was sleeping. I heard a noise in the basement. I got up and went downstairs, and when I got on the stairs the doors slammed behind me and the lights flickered out of the random.

At the bottom of the stairs, the lights went out. The door was locked. I was trapped.

I couldn’t call anyone, because the only phone downstairs was broken. The phone rang, but it was broken, I said to myself “the phone is broken, how could it ring?” I went to answer the phone and a voice said “I’m coming to get you!”

Bang! I heard the fridge slam on the ground. I got another phone call and I unplugged the phone and it still rung. I smashed it on the ground and it still rung…

The next morning, the basement was trashed! I saw a little shadow in the basement bedroom. I got so scared I got the fire axe that was down by me. The cabinet was locked, I was as scared as getting in a plane crash. I smashed it open and little shards of glass went all over. I was covered in glass like an apple covered in caramel. I got the axe and smashed the door open, and then there was a, a, a, clown!

I took the fire axe and we went to war, ma and Pennywise. I chopped him up. He was dead in minutes, and then I called the police and they did not answer. I was locked in my house.

Shea Fabisiak

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

The Plan Crushed

So first of all, there was a spooky town called Grumpy Lumpy Land and in that town, there was clowns, vampires, dolls, and plus the king and queen. They ruled the whole town and sometimes they were very nice they even put lattes on sale for two dollars.

The whole town was so excited because tomorrow was Halloween! But, there was one clown that was very suspicious on what he did for Halloween, his name was the Vampire Clown. He was also the king and queen’s son. The king and queen did not know that their son was that capable of doing something so scary for Halloween.

Last year, he made a haunted train that took you through the woods and they got so lost. Everybody was going crazy! The children were all crying blood and the parents screamed out of fear. They didn’t know what he’s going to do.

“I am going to hide for my life!!” screeched the vampires.

“Into the castle, everybody will stay in the castle till Halloween is over,” demanded the king. “Yes sir, I will get everything ready for the mess hall and dinner,” sighed the servants.

A little while after, all of the people were in the castle and the Vampire Clown went to get a latte.

“The best latte that I have ever tasted mmm!” he yelled.

This Halloween he thought he had the whole entire town scared. But there was a little vampire that was following Vampire Clown around the whole town for about seven hours. The little vampire knew what Vampire Clown was going to do, so he went back to the castle and told the king and queen.

They all had to think of a plan. They all did, it was a great plan. They would use lattes to lure him in a building. They would trap him in there and tie him up plus talk to him.

They did this and he said “I have been doing this because I love Halloween, sorry I had no idea that I was making you guys mad.”

After that, they all had a big party every year with lattes and kept scaring each other. But somebody was not there. It was the little vampire that was not so little anymore, he was about twenty-five.

Azy Reisner

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

Twist or Treating

“Come on, let’s go already before all the candy’s gone!!! It’s getting late!!!” Opal told her mom.

“Oh, Opal don’t worry not all the candy will be gone. After all you’re the cutest Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) around. Plus, I’ll be done in five minutes,” answered her mother.

“Okay fine,” Opal sighed. Opal was so ready for trick or treating, she had been preparing since last Halloween.

“Finally mom, what took you so long?” Opal asked.

“I had to get ready remember?” she replied.

“Whatever let’s just go!!” Opal yelled.

They went up and down the street, but once they got to the 5th house they noticed someone was following them.

“It’s alright remember other people like to go trick or treating to,” Opal’s mom said

“I know, but it still creeps me out a bit especially because he is just in an all-black costume that matches the night sky,” Opal whispered.

So they kept on walking but eventually they noticed that person had been following them not stopping at any house to get candy.

So finally, Opal’s mom stopped and questioned, “Who are you and why are you following us?”

“I’m just a person that’s watching your every step waiting for the right time to pounce,” the stranger replied in a creepy voice.

They started to run but soon enough he caught up, but he fell and Opal went to take off his mask to see who he was. Under the black mask was just a very large marshmallow and the body was a whole bunch of candy such as twizzlers, smarties, pixie sticks like a piñata.

“How is this even possible?” Opal questioned her mom,

But then she heard someone say, “Opal wake up you wouldn’t want to be late for trick or treating,” Opal opened her eyes and realized it was just a bad dream, but she was still careful and paying attention to everything during their trick or treating adventure.

Lexie Dernbach

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft Middle School

The Vampire Search

Once upon a night there was a family of vampires. There was a mom, dad, a girl named Milly, and a boy named Billy. Milly was scared of mostly everything. She had pointy teeth, her fur was gray, and she is the smallest one in the family. Billy on the other hand is a little scared of things, he also has pointy teeth, and he also has gray fur, and Billy is the oldest kid in the family.

It was Halloween night and it was Milly’s first time going trick-or- treating. Milly and Billy always stayed together no matter what. The vampire family did not know there was a ghost that scares only vampires on Halloween. When the vampire family passed the graveyard the ghost scared Milly and Billy. Milly and Billy screamed. They ran and ran. Soon they found themselves deep in the woods separated from their parents. They did not know what to do, but Billy had an idea.

Billy said to Milly “You go that way and look for mom and dad and I will go this way!” Milly thought that was a great idea, so they went their separate ways. Soon, Milly ran into the ghost again and she screamed. Billy heard her so he ran over to try to find her. Billy found her at last. Billy and Milly walked together and they tried to find their parents.

On the other hand, the parents did not know where Milly and Billy were so they went in the woods to search. All of a sudden Milly and Billy saw something ahead of them. They did not know what it was so they walked up a little closer. As the person turned around Milly and Billy screamed so loud that the woods echoed, but It was their dad!

Milly decided she had had enough of trick-or-treating for one year, she wanted to go home. When they finally arrived home they talked, ate snacks, and watched Halloween movies together.

Milly said, “I don’t ever want to go trick-or-treating again!”

“Yeah maybe we should stay home next time and give little vampires candy instead!” said Billy.

Milly and Billy thought that was a great idea. Also no one got scared of that ghost again in their family! The ghost who scares little vampires is always out there on Halloween night and you too can hear little vampires scream!

Courtney Curtin

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft

The Weird Witch

Once upon time there was a girl named Popycloesis. She was a witch and she was not very nice to the people in her class. The people in her class were not nice to her at all because she was green, had a long nose, had a wart on her nose, had a tall hat, and only cared about herself. The kids at her school were so mean that Popy asked if she could go to a different school but her Aunt Kellish would not let her change schools.

At school she continued to be really mean to the students and teachers. Then all the kids and teachers at school were really scared of Popy. They were wondering if something bad happened at home but then Popy told them why she was always mad because she did not get to go to a different school. Then Popy got really mad because she didn’t have good grades to go to a different school. She was bawling to her aunt and her aunt did not care if Popy was crying so she said she could go to a different school or because she was hurt.

Popy went to a different school that was all witches and no humans but it was very weird at her new school. She was a little different because Popy was very short but there was another witch that was shorter. Popy kept making fun of the other witch. Popy wanted to have some friends but then there was a new witch. Popy asked if they want to be friends and the other witch said “Sure!” Now, Popy has a friend and she will not be lonely.

One day,Popy went to Lindaish’s house and she got freaked out because there were scary decorations in their house. Popy is trapped in Lindaish’s basement. Linda’s mom now does not like Popy because she told Linda that her mom is not nice to Popycloesis. Now Popy is locked in the basement of Linda’s home. Popy said it was because she did not get to play with Linda.Popy was mad that Linda’s mom said that she was not able to play.

They settled it to where there are now best friends. They go to each other’s house and do stuff together. Popy is not scared of Linda’s house anymore.

THE END

Messina Meddaugh

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft Middle School

Skeleton in the Attic

Once upon a halloween night there was a Skeleton named Brittany that lived for Halloween! One thing that she especially liked was being set out to hang on the door for decoration. One night though, she was scared that she wasn’t going to be set out this year because she got placed in the attic instead of the closet that she normally gets stored in.

“Branch I am scared!” Brittany said to her best friend Branch the troll, who too had also been stored in the attic instead of the closet.

“Why?” Branch asked.

“I am scared that I will not be used in the Halloween decoration this year!”

“Why do you think that you are not going to be set out for halloween?”

“Well because we got stored in the attic this year instead of the closet that we always get put in.”

“Well maybe our owner just moved us somewhere else for the year to change it up a little.” Branch suggested.

“Well, ya, I guess that could be what happened; but I am still scared.” Brittany added.

“It is all going to be okay!” Branch said trying to cheer Brittany up.

“Ok I guess it will be!” Brittany finally said.

Just as Brittany finished saying that sentence the attic door creaked open. It was her owner! She looked around the attic for a while but then she spotted Brittany and Branch and all the other Halloween decorations. She picked Brittany and Branch up at the same time and put them in a pile with other decorations!

“Branch I think we are going to get setup for decoration!!!” Brittany whispered excitedly.

“I know! See there was nothing to worry about Brittany!” Branch said.

Their owner then picked up some spiders and scary pumpkins out of the pile and then picked up Branch and Brittany too. She took them outside and hung Brittany up on the front door of the house and set Branch on the front door step! They all were very happy to be used for the Halloween decoration!

The End

Will Omernik

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

The “Spooky” Story

“Have you heard about the teddy bear that hugs kids to death?” Alberto asked.

Alberto, Jack, and Stella were camping in the middle of the woods. It was nearing Halloween. They were a bunch of teens that were just goofing around, if teddy bears hugging you to death were goofy, which they are.

“I’ve never even heard a teddy bear in a spooky story,” Stella replied.

“I guess we can hear it then,” Jack said boringly.

“On one dark night, these young two kids were trick or treating with their parents watching them. Let’s call them, Alex and Jeff. Their parents walked over to one adult giving candy, he was a friend of the parents.” Alberto started.

“Ugh, this is boring,” Jack said.

“Shut up, he’s getting to the spook!” Stella exclaimed.

“Alex and Jeff wandered away to get to the next house since they were inpatient.” Alberto started. “They knocked the door, nothing. They rang the bell, nothing. They spammed the bell, nothing. They heard something behind the house, it was dark, so they could not see anything.”

“JAKE, WAKE UP!” Stella yelled.

“AH, STELLA!” Jake yelled back.

“Just stop, let me continue my story!” Alberto exclaimed. “Anyway, The kids slowly creeped toward the dark woods. Something was there. They saw a figure. It was bear shaped, but not a regular bear. They saw the eyes from the figure because of the street lights behind them. They then saw the light shining off the teeth, and then off the… nose? The nose was not made of flesh, but of plastic. IT WAS A TEDDY BEAR!!!”

“The bear ran after them, slowly moving to the other side of them. Alex and Jeff were screaming now. People could hear their screams. The teddy bear was trying to move the kids to run into the woods. The kids finally did run into the woods. No one saw them again.” Alberto ended.

“That was boring,” Jake stated.

“It’s not spooky enough,” Stella boringly said.

They stopped. They heard screaming. It got louder. Then two kids ran through with a teddy bear chasing them. The bear changed focus on the teens. It went for Alberto. The bear grabbed him and then hugged him.

He then woke up in a pool of sweat.

Mario Vera

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

The Squirrel Lantist Mixup

“Morty grab that transporter.”

“Okay Rick.” While they were talking they were planning to take Snuffles for a walk on Halloween.

“Morty grab Snuffles so we can take him for a walk.” So Morty grabbed Snuffles and put him on his leash.

“Let’s go Morty we need to go before the moon rises, that’s when all of the squirrels turn into mutants. Hurry Morty let’s go outside.”

So they walked around to a pet shop named Luises Pet Store. They bought a biscuit for Snuffles. They took Snuffles to a Dog Park, but there were squirrels so Snuffles chased the squirrels.

Soon they saw Snuffles was gone. The moon rises and became a full moon. The squirrels all became mutants and Snuffles ran. They were able to fly and able to turn into clones and they were ferocious zombies but had brains.

“Rick why are they like that?”

“They are just mutated from the full moon and turn into those things.” They ran away and forgot Snuffles. “Hey rick were is Snuffles?” So they tried to use a virtual reality simulator that shows what Snuffles saw so they put it on and found Snuffles surrounded by squirrels. “Rick hurry up we need to save Snuffles! HURRY Rick!”

“I’m doing what I can do Morty!” They use the teleporter toward Snuffles and when they got there they used a screechy noises from a machine called The Screecher that made the squirrels go crazy.

“Morty RUN!” Snuffles ran and ran toward a portal to a different dimension and the squirrels followed them.

“Hurry Morty go back go back!” We need a cure; the moon is stuck in the solar system.

“Buy me some time Morty.” Morty defended Rick, and Morty got scratched on his arm and turned into a squirrel and so did Snuffles. Right when they did, Rick got the antidote “done,” and used it right at the right time, then Rick turned into one then the antidote set off and reversed reality.

Karl Kiefer IV

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

The House

“OH GOD! PLEASE NO! AH! Oh man that was a twist,” I screamed.

“Tell me about it,” Fred replied.

“Hey, Phil. It’s time to go to that abandoned house down the street. Are you ready to go to the house?” asked Fred.

So that’s when it all happened. Let me take you way back, though, to how this all started.

It was Halloween, and my brother, Fred, and I had some plans for all of us. “Hey, Brock and Shade, want to hang out tonight?” Fred asked.

“Sure,” they both answered.

“Ok, 9:00,” Fred replied to Shade and Brock. Shade is my friend. He usually wears cut up pants and jacket. Brock, Fred’s friend, usually wants to look nice. Brock and Shade are both videographers. So Fred and I went home. Fred and I just wear random stuff and don’t care what other people think. I went over to the kitchen and saw something on the table. It was a note that said Fred and I were in high school now, and could watch this. It was “It” by Stephen King. I was super excited. So Fred and I watched the movie. So now you’re all caught up to speed.

After the movie, Fred and I went to get Brock and Shade. Then we rode to the abandoned house. “Oh no. Here we go!” I said excited. We then went inside.

“Oh no honey no. Why blood?” Fred wondered. The whole house was broken down. It looked like the house from the movie “It.”

“Can we go?” asked Shane.

“Yea can we go? Brock also asked.

We were all scared. So we all were going to leave, but we all saw something very strange. There was a red balloon coming towards us. Oh no. It was “It” all over again. Then the balloon popped. We saw a dead body!

“AH! Run!” I screamed.

“What is that thing?” Fred screamed.

“I don’t know, but let’s get out of here!” I shouted.

“The clown from “It” is real! He is real!” Brock cried out.

So that’s how our Halloween went. We all ran out of there as quick as a bullet. We told the police, but they didn’t believe us. That was not how I wanted to spend my Halloween.

Tanina Levin

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft

The Haunted House

My little sister, Amanda, and I were going trick-or-treating when we came to the front of this old house.

“I heard that house is haunted,” said Amanda.

“Amanda, there’s no such thing as ghosts,” I explained.

“Nicole, if you don’t believe me,” Amanda said, “I dare you to go inside!”

“FINE!” I shot back, “you’re on!”

I started walking toward the house, “Make sure the monsters don’t eat you!” Amanda called after me. “Where did she get this crazy stuff from?” I thought.

I finally got to the door and rang the doorbell. Almost immediately the door flung open, startling me, but no-one was there. I looked down and was confused. A little doll sat in the middle of the doorway staring at me. “Maybe it was there before,” I thought, “I just didn’t notice it.”

“See Amanda?” I called to my sister, “there’s nothing to be afraid…!” I didn’t get to finish my sentence when something grabbed my ankle and pulled so hard I fell to the ground.

“NICOLE!” Amanda screamed. I was going to call the word “HELP,” but the door slammed shut leaving me in darkness.

I sat there shivering in the cold when a candle lit up showing the doll’s face. “Your sister is right,” the doll said, I was surprised to hear her talk, “this house is indeed haunted!”

“Get away from me!” I shouted. Before I knew it monsters surrounded me.

“Get her!” the witch shrieked.

I immediately assumed that she was their leader. I staggered back and looked around quickly for something to use for a weapon. I kept scrambling back away from the monsters until I hit something and got my shirt wet a little bit. Water! Witches hate water! I grabbed the bucket and splashed all the water on her. What was weird is that I didn’t hear a dreadful scream. All I heard was a gasp. I opened my eyes and saw a girl about my age scowling at me.

“Seriously?” she said. “Do you know how long it takes for the makeup to look real?”

“Wait,” I said, “you all aren’t real?”

“Of course not,” she answered.

The vampire stepped up. “Every year, somebody is dared to come in here so we thought we could give them a little scare.” he said.

“Can you guys help me get revenge on my sister?” they all nodded and we did!

Alondra Puente

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

House on Elm Street

Once there was a boy named Carlos, one day Carlos was walking with his friend Mike.

“Hey Mike what are you doing tomorrow?” asked Carlos.

“Nothing why?” replied Mike.

“Well there’s an abandoned house right down Elm Street and I wanted to go see what’s in there.” answered Carlos.

“Cool I’ll come with.” said Mike.

That day Carlos couldn’t wait until the next day. He had heard that a doctor used to live in there. His name was Dr.Cooper. He had died inside the house along with some of the other patients that he worked with. He had a wife named Sarah. Sarah had a small little white doll that she got as a child when she was 7. Rumor has it that the doll had an evil spirit in it and drove the couple crazy and they died mysteriously inside the house.

The next morning Carlos ran to Mike’s house. He yelled his name and Mike ran out of the house and went outside by Carlos. The two boys walked to the abandoned house. It was only about half a mile from Mike’s house. When the two boys got there, they opened the door to the red abandoned house. There were cobwebs everywhere.

“Hey check this out Carlos!” yelled Mike.

Carlos walked over the the nasty floorboards and saw Mike holding the white doll.

“Don’t touch that!” Carlos said annoyed.

Mike put the doll back and the boys checked out some more things. Carlos and Mike could see the doctor’s chair. Mike ran over by it and quickly sat in it. Carlos pushed Mike out of the chair, suddenly Carlos heard a big bang.

“It coming from upstairs,” whispered Carlos.

Mike grabbed a rusty old baseball bat and they went upstairs.

When they got upstairs they saw the doctor’s office. The door was closed and they heard the bang again. Carlos quickly opened the door and inside was Sarah sitting in a chair tied up. On the side on a table was the little white doll. Sarah was shaking and screaming.

“Come play with me,” exclaimed the doll.

The boys ran downstairs and ran out.

From that day on they never spoke of their experience or went back to the abandoned house.

Lydia Lemanski

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

Isabell the Doll

Once in October near Halloween there was a family of three and they were mom, dad, Naomi. Naomi was 12. The family decided to travel for a year so they sold their house. They visited many countries, but in Europe Naomi didn’t like to travel because it was so tiring so she wanted to go home and go back to their family that lived in Wyoming.

On the way to Wyoming, her mom and dad were looking for a house. Finally, they found one up for sale. They looked at it on their laptop and the only problem was they needed to fix the sinks and light bulbs which that would be an easy fix. It was huge but not a lot of money. They bought it. By the time they got there it was early in the morning so they had a whole day ahead of them. Once they got there it looked the same as it did on the pictures. So they went in and it looked like nobody has been in there for centuries. It was dusty, there was many spider webs, the floor was creaky and there was no furniture like there was on the picture, but they did not care they could fix that.

Naomi went to find a room. Naomi found room on the 3rd story of the house. Once she was unpacking she found a doll on the bed. Naomi decided to call the doll Isabell. Isabell lost an eye. Isabell was small and she had a little blue dress on. Naomi put the doll down and started to unpack. After she was done the family started to unpack their stuff that was in Naomi’s grandma’s house and put it in their house.

That night they made some mashed potatoes and gravy with some steak. After dinner they all went to bed. In the night Isabella became alive she wanted them out so badly she got so mad that she decided to tie Naomi’s hair onto the top part of the bed. Isabell trashed the house everything was on the ground. Isabell opened everything in the in the kitchen and everywhere else. Isabell broke glass. Everyone woke up screaming.

Jesus Pena

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

The Scariest Haunted Library

It’s Halloween and my town is celebrating by making the scariest haunted library. I want to go but I can’t. My sister said I was too young and I would faint in the first scare.

“I bet you all my money I will not faint, and if I win you have to buy me 15 games and a new stuffed animal. Mine got ripped. Deal?” I said.

“One, aren’t you a little old to have a stuffed animal, you’re 15. Two, it’s a deal,” my sister said.

It’s three days until the haunted library, Bob, Goku, and Tupac will be training me so I don’t get scared. They have been to a lot of haunted libraries. They don’t get scared easily, trust me I tried.

Tomorrow they will open the haunted library, so we watched horror movies all day long until I’m not scared.

It’s Halloween and I’m waiting in line with Goku and Tupac, Bob got sick so it’s only us.

“You ready? I am,” said Goku.

“Okay I’m ready. Wait, no. Wait, I am,” I said excited.

The haunted library just opened and as we’re walking in, a witch pops out of nowhere, I almost fainted but I didn’t, Tupac and Goku didn’t even flinch. The house was the abandoned library which was even creeper. Outside there was a huge line because they had to shut down the corn maze because some kid got lost.

Inside there was a room that we went in and it was full of most likely haunted dolls. All of a sudden a doll started giggling. I was so scared that when I turned around I screamed for no reason.

The next room was the scariest, when I went in it looked like an abandoned asylum. There were fake rooms with fake arms which I thought was real sticking out of a hole in the door. Then a person broke through a window next to us, which scared me a lot but I didn’t faint. That even scared Goku and Tupac! Far in the distance, I saw a person coming toward us tangled in a chain and he was talking like pennywise.

Lets just say I won the bet I didn’t faint but I did run out of the library.

Shane Klismith

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft Middle School

The Figure

Do you have a phobia called Blabnorf? Blabnorf is where anything black is scary to you. There is a boy named Jeff that has Blabnorf. He is very big boy, 200 pounds in fact, and he’s only 11 years old. He is paranoid twenty-four-seven because he is not good at a lot of things. For instance, Jeff hates sports he always drops the balls thrown at him. Doctors have said if he doesn’t stand up for at least 2 minutes a day he will die. Jeff always stands 2 minutes a day by going on walks any day there’s no rain or snow.

It was a beautiful day, so beautiful, that Jeff couldn’t resist going for a stroll. Jeff walked out the door of his green and brown house. He started to walk down a sunlit path. Then he realized there was a black figure following him. Jeff started running. The black figure started to run after him. Jeff tripped on a root and was knocked out cold.

Jeff woke up because his head was throbbing with pain. He jumped right up and started limping down the path. The black figure was right behind him, again. It had the same welt on his head that Jeff had. Maybe the mysterious figure fell exactly how Jeff fell, he thought to himself, why would someone be following me? How can it do my exact movements at the exact same time?

Jeff kept walking casually down the path. Then he bolted at a random dumpster and dived in. The black figure was gone, but the dumpster smelled like rotten, curdled milk. He turned on his phone’s flashlight, and once again the black figure was there! But it wasn’t a human! It wasn’t even living! He realized it was his shadow! Jeff felt so silly. He ran as fast as he could for nothing, and dove into a rotten dumpster for nothing!   He walked home knowing not to be scared of his shadow.

Lilly Pratt

6th Grade

Almond- Bancroft School District

George’s Haunted House

One day there was this little boy named George. He is 10 years old. He is scared of haunted houses, ghosts, black cats, clowns, and the dark. He was so afraid of the dark that as soon as it started to get dark outside he ran to his house as fast as he could just to get out of the dark. Then one day his parents told him to get ready because they were going to take him to a special place. George does not like special places so he told his parents that he would just look after his dog named Lucy while they were gone. His parents told George that his grandparents were watching Lucy.

Soafter George thought for a long time he stated, “Ok, I will come but can we come home at dark?”

His mom replied, “Well that is a bit of a problem because it is dark.”

Then George sighed, “I will only go if you tell me where we are going.”

So his dad answered, “George we are going to a haunted house!”

George cried, “Ok, I guess I will go but why did you pick a haunted house? You know that I don’t like haunted houses.”

Then George’s mom said, “Well we just thought you should not fear of haunted houses and the dark.”

“Ok let’s give it a try. When are we leaving?” George asked,

“Well,” His father answered “When do you want to leave?”

Then George whispered, “Can we leave now?”

George’s father said, “Let’s get in the car.”

So they drove to the haunted house. When they got there George was not even a little scared but he was so excited. When they got to the haunted house he was jumping up and down on his seat and yelled, “We made it.”

Then they started walking toward the main entrance and George was so excited that he ran to the desk.

He yelled, “Wow I love haunted houses. Thank you mom and dad for helping me get over my fear of haunted houses.” So George did get rid of his fear of haunted houses. Then they all lived happily ever after.

Cecelia Rykal

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

The Halloween Bash

Tina was in her costume ready to go. She was going to a scary Halloween bash. Toby was going to be there too.   Also, Eiliana was going to be there. There were going to be lots of people there. Tina was a zombie. She had a ripped shirt, ripped pants, with face-paint, and fake blood. She was excited to see the other costumes.

When she got there no one was there, only Mrs. Domres, the school nurse. She was dressed as a clown. Tina asked her where everybody was. She said nothing. Then Mrs. Domres tuned into a scary clown. Tina ran as fast as she could. She heard screams and slowed down. “The kids,” thought Tina, must be screaming for help!

She raced towards the screaming. Then she saw them. They were in a balloon. She had to forget them and run because Mrs. Domres was gaining on her. She ran to the school and hid in the bathroom on the toilet and was very still. “I can hear you,” said Mrs. Domres.

“No,” whispered Tina. She had to climb out the vent behind the toilet. She crawled in until she thought she lost her.

“I hear you,” said Mrs. Domres creepily.

“She caught up to me,” thought Tina aloud. Oh no she thought to herself, she was gaining on her. She dashed for the cafeteria, but when she got there the clown was already there.

“I see you Tina, I want you to join your friends. They are running out of air in that red balloon. Soon they will explode into confetti for the party.”

“NO!” yelled Tina. She couldn’t let the clown kill them. “I won’t let you kill them!” She dashed down the hall and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Eiliana was walking down the hall in her white goddess dress reading a book. The clown was sneaking up on her. “Eiliana run!!!” She dashed down the hall and ran to Tina. They were trapped.

“Did you notice the time Eiliana? It’s seven o‘clock, time for you to say…” quoted the clown.

“BOO!!” yelled Eiliana.

Oh it was a surprise party!! The rest of the night was filled with fun and games. The kids had been a hologram and the yelling was fake.

Logan Johnson

6th Grade

Almond-Bancroft School District

Halloween

Tonight is Halloween night, and my friend Cody and I are going to scare little kids with our new costumes my grandma made us. Mine is a clown costume. It has a red afro, green and yellow striped shirt, a faded green and yellow cut up overalls with fake blood stains on it, a red squeaky nose and long dirty boots. I also have some props that go with the outfit, a fake chainsaw that makes a real chainsaw noise, a speaker inside my overalls pocket that will scream and laugh like a clown with a push of a button on my phone, and a fake knife with fake blood on it that sits in my top pocket in my overalls. My grandma said that I should make my face look pale so she dabbed some white powder on my face and she added red circles on my cheeks. Cody has the same costume as me, but he has no overalls on.

As I left my house Cody said, “Let’s go to the other side of town where all the little fourth graders usually get candy.”

“Sure,” I said in response.

We started walking to the other side of town, I looked at my watch and it said 9:30 p.m. and trick-or-treating only goes to 10:30 p.m. So I asked Cody if we could take a shortcut so we have time to scare the little kids.

“Ummm I think I know a way, but we’ll have to go through the woods,” Cody replied.

“Ok let’s not waste too much time,” I exclaimed.

As we got to the border of the woods we just went in without a thought. As we were walking it seemed like we got lost but Cody kept walking and I still followed. I heard a stick break and that’s where I got too scared to still follow, I stopped and Cody asked, “Why did you stop?”

“I heard something break and it’s not where we walked!” I cried with a nervous expression.

“Don’t be silly it was just in your head,” Cody answered.

Then we saw a shadow come out of a tree and we yelled but it was just a big crow. Then we ran home and never went trick-or-treating again.

Kaylan Nest

Sixth Grade

McDill

The Doll

It was a dark and col night, and my friends and I were trick or treating. When we got to this old and strange house, there were fresh baked cookies on the old porch. I walked to the door and tried to grab a cookie.

There was this loud sound coming from the inside. I grabbed a cookie and ran. We walked a block away when I noticed the house was right next to us. Like we did not move at all.

My friend Zoey was scared, so I went next to her. After a little while, I got back home and my friends did too. I looked to see how much candy I got. When I poured out the bowl, a strange old doll was sitting down staring at me. I fell backwards, and the doll let out a creepy laugh. When I got up, the doll was gone. I ran upstairs and told my friends what had happened.

I was talking to my friends, when the closet door opened with a loud screech and no one was there. I was the brave one and looked in the closet and I heard rattling from behind my clothes. When I swung my clothes out of the way there was that same doll, who was eating one of those cookies from that old creepy house, and when she took a bite she stopped breathing and died.

Even though my friends and I had fun trick or treating, we still had a fun adventure finding out there was a creepy old house in my neighborhood, and that I was lucky I did not eat the cookie otherwise I would’ve died too.

Autumn Pagel

Sixth Grade

McDill

The Man

Claire and I were walking to our grandfather’s house. As I walked closer to the house, I noticed the door was cracked open. I called his name, then my grandma’s. There was no answer. I called again, and again. I walked in and heard the ceiling above me creak.

I volunteered to go first. I walked up and the room was a disaster, the faint stench of blood lingered. I ran downstairs as fast as I could. Claire was gone. I ran outside and into the field. There was a man on the other side.

The man wore a sack on his head and ragged clothes. I ran toward him, following the constant cry of my sister. I soon noticed it was a trap. I turned around and found my sister running toward me. We met in the middle of the field. I asked her if she saw the man, she shook her head no. I pointed to where he was, and he was gone.

I turned and saw that Claire was gone. I ran to where I saw him earlier. Once I got there I looked around. I saw a house and ran to it. When I rose my hand to open the door, it opened for me. I walked as quiet as I could. I found my sister chained to a thick wood pole. She was crying hard and loud. I turned and he was there. He grabbed me by the neck, cutting off my breath. I squirmed out of his grasp, and ran upstairs. I found a closet and hid in it. On the way up, I noticed a pair of hedge clippers. I ran back down and grabbed the clippers. I cut the chains my sister was on, she was still crying.

We ran back to our grandpa’s and called our parents. We explained everything to them on the way to the police station. One week later, we brought some flowers to our grandma and talked. Grandfather’s body was never found, and the man was never caught. but I know he is still out there, watching, waiting, listening.

A year later, the incident happened again, to three girls. Two went missing, and the other escaped. She said the house was in the woods behind her house, but the police found nothing at all.

The girls were never seen again.

Isaac J. Witte

Sixth Grade

McDill

The Woods

Twas a dark and rainy October day. The wind was howling as I sat by the fire. After three hours of sitting there, my family ran out of wood. So my dad told me.

“Go into the woods and get us some more wood,” my dad said to me, Rick.

“Fine,” I said back and walked out of the house and slammed the door with a loud wap.

As I walked into the woods, it slowly got darker.

“I hate the woods,” I said to myself and kept walking. It slowly got darker as I walked into the woods, as if I were walking into a cave. The wind kept hollowing and knocking my hat off. As I reached down to grab it for the seventh time, the wind hollowed but it sounded different, it sounded like leeeaaavvvveeeeee. I thought to myself, probably just my imagination. So, I kept walking.

Time passed as I found my first stick. When I picked it up, it felt slimy. I turned it over as it said, “Hi, my name is Billy. Don’t go into these woods.”

I was so scared, because it had a face, that I threw it and ran. The thing I didn’t realize was that I was running deeper into the woods.

After some time, I slowed down. I looked at the ground and saw shapes of skeletons and clowns. Then, I looked up and saw that the leaves were making the shadows. So, I kept walking. Several seconds passed and I heard something in the woods. A rabbit, maybe, I said to myself.

But then it happened. An old witch jumped out of the woods. It was purple and looked like she could have been 300 years old. She wore all black, and had a little black cat. Her nose was wrinkled and her voice sounded like gravel hitting the ground. The witch’s last words it said to me were.

“You will never get my wood, ha haha,” and with that she turned me into a stick. That is why you should never go in these old woods ever again.

So please leave, a stick said to me, Mick.

Carter Vrieze

Sixth Grade

McDill

Watery Depths

It was a normal October Day in Arizona, and Jessica and Cooper were getting ready to go to the pool at their local activity center. When they got there, I was fairly busy, because today was the highest day in October on record. After a while, the pool got less busy, so Cooper and Jessica ended up jumping in and splashing each other and having more fun than they probably would have if anybody was there. Soon, Jessica and Cooper started having competitions of who could swim a lot faster, or hold their breath the longest.

But at this time, the pool is starting to close and the lights were turning off. An announcement came over the PA system in the pool room, “the pool is now closing, thank you, have a great night.”

At this time, though, Jessica and Cooper were having a competition to see who could hold their breath the longest, so they couldn’t hear this announcement. Now everybody had left, and there was no one there and the lights had been shut off, but neither of them wanted to lose the competition so they didn’t stop holding their breath.

Suddenly, there was a loud whining noise coming from the west wall of the pool room. The pulse covers were activating, and Cooper and Jessica were still holding their breaths!

Cooper realized that they were trapped inside the pool, and they could not get out. Cooper got Jessica above water and told her the situation.

“The pool covers have covered the pool, and now I can’t get out!”

Suddenly, they heard something that sounded like a toilet flushing, and higher and higher the water rose, trapping them in between the pool and the pool cover.

Suddenly, they saw a shadow outside the pool and everything went dark.

Jessica and Cooper awoke in the hospital side by side, laying down next to their parents.

“What happened?” they said simultaneously.

“We don’t know,” they both replied.

At that time, the doctor came in and said, “we found them in the activity center around the edge of the pool.”

From that day forward, no one knows what happened that night.

Emily Bannach

Sixth Grade

McDill

Lost Children

One day, Mia, Emily and Jacey were hanging out just right after school ended. “We should all hang out sometime, like maybe the 27 of October,” said Jacey.

“Yeah, for sure,” said Mia and Emily.

“Yeah,” said Mia. “It’s time for us all to hang out.”

“What should we do?” said Emily.

“I don’t know,” said the girls.

“What about if we call Skylur and Gabi,” said Jacey.

“Good idea,” said Emily.

Gabi and Skylur came over. They played hide and seek, bingo and then soon, before you know it, the day was over.

Back at school, “we should all hang out again, because that was fun. Like maybe the 31st,” said Gabi.

“Yeah, that is such a great idea Gabi. Let’s do it at my place,” said Mia.

“Yeah,” said all the girls.

“Then we can go trick or treating together,” said Jacey.

“Nah, let’s do something else. Like go to an abandoned house,” said Mia.

“Um, I don’t know if I will do that,” said Jacey. “But maybe,” said Skylur.

The 31st came around.

“Can we all spend the night at your house,” said Jacey.

“Ok,” said Mia.

“Yeah,” said Gabi and Skylur. “What should we do, because I am bored.”

“Let’s go to the abandoned house,” said Mia.

“I guess,” said the other girls.

“This is scary,” said Jacey.

“Should we go inside?” said Emily.

“Yeah, let’s go inside,” said Mia.

They went inside. They saw nothing but darkness.

“What is that?” said Mia.

“I don’t know,” said Emily.

“You guys ok in there?” said Skylur.

BOOM!!!

“What was that?” said the girls in a panic mood. The girls went in there and they did not see Mia or Emily. The girls were nowhere to be found. Jacey, Skylur and Gabi are all looking for Mia and Emily still to this day.

Hadyn Ligman

Sixth Grade

McDill

Maybe-I’m Not That Old!

Jorden walked to school, Middleton Elementary, with her best friend Carley. All Carley ever talked about was how she stays home, every Wednesday, while her mom ran to the store. Jorden had always wished to, but never had the guts to ask her mom.

After school that day, she thought about asking her mom if she could stay home alone too!

“Mom?” Jorden asked.

“Yes,” Mom said.

“Well, I don’t really like Football that much, so can I stay home alone?”

“Sure, I think you are old enough,” she said.

“Really?!”

“Yes,” Mom replied.

It was finally Friday. All Jorden did was brag to Carley that she was staying home alone. It was time, time to be all alone!

“Bye Jorden, you know my phone number, right?” Mom asked.

“Yup,” she said, waving to her while taking off to go to her room to paint her nails, call Carley, or eat food! She could do anything! Now she understood why Carley bragged so much about staying home alone! It was great!

She decided to watch TV in her room. She was watching a show, when the TV blacked out. She thought that it was just the TV, so she went into the living room instead. She turned that TV on, and it went black, too.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang! Terrified, she opened the door, but no one was there! She went sprinting to her room, when the phone rang. She was no shaking. She answered the phone.

“Hello,” said a telemarketer. “I’m calling about your…” The phone died.

She sat down on the couch, shivering. Just then, the basement light turned on.

“Jorden,” she heard someone screaming her name. She hid, looking out the window, and saw a scary car. It seemed like it passed twenty times, slowing down each time.

The phone rang again. This time she didn’t answer.

“Jorden, we will be home in a few minutes,” Mom said.

Jorden looked out the window again, and saw her mom’s car. Instantly, both TV’s turned on, and the basement light turned off.

The door opened. Jorden went running to her mom. Squeezing her, she said, “Maybe- I’m not that old!”

Elizabeth Firkus

Sixth Grade

McDill

Spoiled to Death

“Mom! How many times do I have to tell you?! I’m not afraid of anything!” Exclaimed Savana. Savana is a spoiled 12-year-old girl. She loves to bully innocent kids. She also has no friends.

“Ok, honey, I believe you. Goodnight, sweetie,” her mom said in the sweetest voice.

Savana set her sparkly pink alarm clock to 7 a.m. and went to sleep at 11 p.m. She went to sleep and had a dream.

“Ugh. What a dream,” Savana muttered. “Flip flops and leg warmers are NOT my favorite outfit.”

Savana felt thirsty. She slowly set her sparkly pink blanket to the side, and walked to the hallway. But before she even took a step into the hallway, she stopped in her tracks to see a dark figure standing in the dark.

“Uh… hello…?” Savana asked in a quiet voice.

But there was no answer. Savana flicked the hallway light on and off, and the figure disappeared.

Savana was traumatized of what she saw. She ran to the bathroom and slowly shut the door. Then, Savana got a cup, filled it with water from the bathroom sink, and drank it as fast as possible.

“Whew!” Savana took a breath of relief.

Savana was about to leave the bathroom, when she looked in the mirror and did not see her normal reflection. Instead, she saw a small woman with long, messy hair, a cracked dark halo floating on her head, black pointed wings, and a ragged white dress. That was when her hair started to go wild, and Savana could see her red eyes through her messy hair. Savana saw red eyes, then bad memories of bullying, and then her reflection in the mirror.

Savana was scared to death. She just stood in the bathroom, traumatized. That was when Savana noticed heavy water dripping from her eyes. She looked in the mirror and realized that she was crying black tears.

Savana ran as fast as she could to her room, and slammed the door behind her. She was running to her bed, and then noticed something else. There was a small woman sitting on her bed, sobbing. The same one! Savana stared for a while, then tip-toed to the woman and tapped on her shoulder.

“Uh…a-are you…ok?”

The girl stopped crying. She sat there for about eight seconds. Then, she looked up at Savana with her red eyes. Savana saw more visions of her bullying, sobbed black tears, and then suddenly passed out.

Savana woke up in a place with white fluffy clouds, angels, and all her favorite things.

“Am I… am I dead?” Savana asked.

“Nope,” said one of the angels.

“AHH!” Savana yelled. “WHO ARE YOU?!”

“I’m your guardian angel. Remember? That girl you saw. She was creepy and dark, that was me. Except in a really angry vision,” said Savana’s guardian angel.

“Wait…” said Savana. “You’re ma-”

“Yes. Of course I’m mad,” Savana’s guardian angel interrupted. “You, my friend, are a spoiled brat. I mean, seriously! Bullying all those innocent kids. Now, anyways, I’ll get back to giving you good luck when you’re sweet. But for now, you have to learn your lesson.” POOF!

“Savana… SAVANA WHY IS THERE BLACK PAINT ALL OVER YOUR FACE?!” Savana’s mom screamed.

Savana must have cried black tears again.

“Mom. MOM!” Savana said, giving her mom a big hug.

“Mom! I’m so sorry! I’m afraid of a lot of things! Especially that girl…”

“What… what girl?” Savana’s mom asked.

“Uh… no one,” Savana said.

And from that day on, Savana was as sweet as an angel.

Jaden Bruesewitz

Sixth Grade

McDill

Taken

It was October 31st, my friends and I were getting ready for our big movie night. I ran downstairs to get the snacks, when I heard the soft sound of the doorbell echo through the halls. It was pretty late and most of the kids are asleep.

I open the door and a young girl was there. I held out a candy bar. She slowly grabbed it. Her hand was cold, but it was cold out, so I wasn’t worried. I said “have a good night,” and closed the door. I ran back upstairs. Half of my friends were asleep. I got in my sleeping bag.

Ten minutes later, I still couldn’t fall asleep. I went back downstairs to grab some water. I turned the faucet on. I heard soft whistling coming from my room where everyone was sleeping.

I quietly walked to my room. I opened the door and standing there was the girl next to my best friend Katie. I yelled Katie’s name with a high voice. Then, the girl looked at me. I woke up in my sleeping bag, breathing heavily. I fell back on my pillow, trying to calm down. I turned my head to where Katie slept. She was gone! I freaked out.

After a while, I calmed down. My friends left, and I looked up the girl. It was that people used to call her the dreamcatcher. A lot of it I didn’t understand, I didn’t get any sleep that night. I was just thinking of what could have happened to Katie, when my mirror fell and shattered. I picked up on of the shards. There was this strange mumbling noise coming from it, then I heard the whistling. I put the shard in my pocket and ran downstairs.

The whistling was coming from the backyard. I slammed the door open, and the girl was standing there. I yelled at her with confidence. She put her hand out and said “come.”

I grabbed her hand, she whistled and we were in a long hallway.

I heard mumbling. I took the shard out. It slipped out of my hand and broke. Smoke started pouring out. I woke up, and Katie was sitting next to me. She hugged me so tight that I could hardly breathe.

But something still didn’t feel right.

I still wonder if the girl is out there, looking for her next victim.

IsareenVokoun

Sixth Grade

McDill

Fun and Games

I’m Melody and this is my story. I was walking through the forest to the last stop on my mail route, phew. When I got to the gate, it was open. I went into the yard. The gate shut behind me. “Hello,” I cried, that’s when I saw two red button eyes staring at me from the mail slot. I stopped, and ran back towards the gate, it let me out with a creak.

I ran back to my house, panting and locked the door. “Where are you?” came a voice outside. I looked out the window, there stood a doll, it said “why won’t you let me in?” I didn’t say anything, a gust of wind blew and knocked down the window. The doll came in, I ran to my room and closed the door.

“You can’t hide forever, you know,” said a voice. I grabbed a baseball bat and opened the door a crack, the doll was down the hall. I climbed out of my bedroom window, and hit the ground with a thud. I couldn’t believe it, in front of me was a little girl.

“Want to play?” she asked, holding up two dolls.

“No!” I said.

“That’s too bad, we were having so much fun.”

Crash, I turned around and then looked back.

She was gone. I went inside and found some pizza to eat, the phone rang. “Want to play a game?” said a voice. I froze and asked, “What’s the game?”

“Hide and go seek,” said the voice. I hang up. The phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Yes, your parents are on a trip to Hawaii and they’d just like you to stay at someone else’s house.”

I called my friend July, “can I stay at your house?” No reply. I then biked to her house, there was a little girl.

“You want your friend back you’ll have to play my game.”

“Okay,” I said. “Up to the task. How does it work?”

She said, “you try to find your friend while my dolls are finding you.”

“Deal,” I said. I woke up in a house. The game starts now. I looked inside the only one room in the house, and saw only boxes. I heard “Help” and pounding. I opened the right box, “Come on.”

I woke up wondering, was it really a dream, or was it real?

Logan Baird

Grade 6

McDill

The Ghost Diner

One night at 11:00, there were two friends at a diner. But, this wasn’t any old diner (well, technically it is old). It was supposed to be haunted. Which means it is the perfect place to find ghosts. The two friends were named Jo and Bill, and that’s why they were hear.

“Why, exactly are we hear to find ghosts?” said Bill.

“Because, we are EOGH… Experts, On, Ghost, Hunting,” said Jo.

“I thought it was Educated On Ghost Hunting,” said Bill.

“Why did I bring you?” said Jo.

“Are you going to eat anything? I want to go home, (like you care).” said the supposedly underpaid waitress.

“I thought you work 24 hours,” said Jo.

“Why are you hear,” said the waitress, ignoring the question.

“We are EOGH, that’s why we have all of this equipment. Someone said there was a ghost in this building. So, we came to check it out,” said Jo.

“Do you know where the ghost supposedly is?” said Bill.

“Well, we have been hearing noises behind that door,” she pointed to a dusty, green door that said “staff only” on it.

Jo turned around, “are you sure? I can sense a trap, and this definitely is one.”

But before the waitress could respond, there was screaming and then dust flew everywhere.

“What the… Bill must have went in there. It was a trap after all. I doubt you’re even a human.” Weirdly enough, Jo turned around and saw a slimy creature.

“You didn’t expect this. Did you?”

And without any hesitation, the creature tried to eat him, but Jo picked his gun off the ground just in time, and blasted the creature into goo.

“Now to finish the job.”

RRRRRRRRReeeeee… pww, pww.

Ella Solin

Sixth Grade

McDill

The Haunted Corn Maze

It was Halloween. Jack and Eileen jumped out of Eileen’s mom’s car. They looked around. The Halloween Skeleton Scare was spread out before them. They saw a group of people huddled and decided to check it out. “Whoever can complete the Haunted Corn Maze will win the grand prize of $500!” a man boomed.

“Hi, kids! Doing the maze?”

“Hi, Mr. Smith!” Eileen replied.

“Yeah, I think so,” Jack answered, looking at Eileen. Eileen nodded.

“Good luck, but I’m sure I’m going to win,” Mr. Smith said. He chuckled, but he sounded serious.

“Everyone who is participating in the Corn Maze, please head over in that direction,” the voice announced. People excitedly whispered and walked over.

They arrived at the corn maze just in time to see someone in black sneak in. Eileen looked around to see if anyone else saw it. She forgot about it when a voice yelled “Start!” Jack and Eileen stepped into the maze. They twisted and turned, running into ghosts, creepy recordings, and other spine-chilling props. They were scary, but no enough to scare them away.

They were almost to the end, when something grabbed them by the shoulders. They ran. A zombie chased after them. They cut through the corn to get away.

“That…was…scary…” Eileen gasped.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in a corn maze!” Jack exclaimed.

Then they caught sight of Mr. Wenchel, the owner of the farm. They walked over.

“Wow, Mr. Wenchel! You have some scary stuff in there!” Jack said.

“That we do! We worked on making It the scariest yet!” Mr. Wenchel said, taking the compliment.

“You’ve never hired people before, have you?” Eileen asked.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Mr. Wenchel answered, confused.

Just then, someone announced, “We have our champion!” They all turned to look. It was Mr. Smith.

Weird. Eileen thought. He was in all black. She hadn’t realized that before. “Wait! That’s him! He was the one who chased us!”

The crowd that had gathered started whispering. They’d gotten scared away by him, too. Mr. Wenchel went to talk with the so-called ‘champion.’ Mr. Smith’s grin faded. Then Mr. Wenchel took the awards and brought the mover to the kids. He gave the trophy to Eileen, and the $500 check to Jack. “I’m sure we can all agree that our young detectives deserve these more than our cheating ‘champ.’”

Gabi H.

Sixth Grade

McDill

The Haunted Hotel

Footsteps were following me. Swish, swish went the curtains. Bang, bang the doors went.

Then, the ghost grabbed me.

I ran and ran to the corner. I heard a voice calling me. “Sally,” the voice said. “Oh Sally, come out come out wherever you are,” the mysterious voice called again.

Then, something screamed into my face loud, and the ghost said, “peek-a-boo!”

Then, I ran and ran, faster than a cheetah. Then, I heard my little sister say “Sally, HELP!”

I followed the voice to the room that had a symbol.

The door opened and my little sister was gone. I looked and looked but I couldn’t find her. Then, I heard someone coming and I hid in the closet.

The End.

Mai Vue

7th Grade

Ben Franklin Junior High

The Surprising Hallween

On Halloween, my family and I went trick or treating. My little sisters and I had our bags almost full from going door to door, but we saw one more house. They still wanted more candy, but this house looked scary. We went to the door, but the door was open. We pushed it and it opened up. My sister screamed when she saw a body lying on the floor. Then the old woman got up and said

“Don’t be afraid. I need your help to get a book.”

“Can you help me?” she asked.

“Sure,” I replied.

My sisters were so scared and they ran home.

“Can you take the book off the shelf and read what is inside the cover?” she asked.

“O.K.” I said. Then I read out loud. “You will be freed from the spell when a young girl reads these words.”

Just the woman turned from someone old to a young again.

“Thank you so much.” I have been locked inside this house, waiting to be released from a spell since last Halloween. I told her “You’re welcome” and went on my way home to eat cupcakes. I never saw that women ever again.

Lily Kontos

12 years old

It’s late at night. You’re on a back road. You haven’t seen a house or car in miles. You’re listening your favorite songs and singing like nobody’s watching. The miles are ticking down until you get to your motel. 40, 39, 38. Your GPS has been reading you directions this whole time but you can’t hear them. The cool breeze blowing in your window chills you slightly but you don’t notice. All of a sudden, a deer rushes in front of your car. You slam on the brakes, just narrowly missing the collision. You feel something thud against the back of your seat, but you convince yourself that it’s just your bag. You take a moment to collect yourself and once again, you’re off.

Your significant other had just kicked you out of their house, throwing you your things that they had already packed. Thud. There it is again. Your heart is racing. You pull over and adjust your rear view mirror so you can see in the back seat. You can’t quite see behind your seat, so you slowly turn around. There, you see a full grown man, of which you’ve never met, crouched on the floor of your car with a knife. He leaps up and pulls you into the passenger’s seat. He pulls open the door and you both fall out of the car, struggling to get the knife, which had been dropped and had slid 2 feet beneath the car. You grab it just before he could. You scramble to your feet and dodge the man trying to grab your knees. You quickly shut the door and run around to the driver’s side. You fly in and start driving. You look in your rear view mirror, but you can’t see him…odd. You look forward and take a deep breath. As you exhale, the man appears on your windshield. You spin the wheel in attempt to knock him lose, but at that moment, a deer, perhaps the same one as before, runs in front of your car. This time, you don’t stop. Your car flips into the ditch.

The man who attacked you, walks around the car, you can hear his shoes crunching on the broken glass. He leans down and looks into the misshapen, broken window. He pulls out a gun,And says one word.

“Goodbye.”

It’s late at night. You’re on a back road.

Alexa Parry

13 years old

Ben Franklin Junior High

The Curse

In a sleepy little town called Anywhere, U.S.A, you can hear the words ring out “Behold the bearded lady, the Siamese three-headed cat and 200-year-old gypsy queen all for your viewing pleasure! “

Two 12-year-old boys heard this exciting announcement. One of the boys, Danny, crushed his friend Eddie’s fast ball out of the run down park. The well-used baseball veered way left and ripped into a tattered emerald colored side show tent. A blood curdling scream rang out of the once vibrant tent as the boys ran to retrieve Eddie’s ball.

Hearts racing, the boys burst onto the scene. Bleeding profusely on the floor was two centuries of wrinkles and mystery. An exotic olive-skinned woman cradled the gypsy queen.

“You did this to her, you both will lose what you hold dear by morning!” she yelled sobbing.

Her eyes turned green, as the venomous curse left her lips.

The terrified boys bolted out of the tent, and ran to their homes never looking back.

The next morning brought a gorgeous sunrise with many vibrant colors taking up the sky. If you looked at the town from the outside it may look like nothing was wrong, that everything was perfect. But on the inside you would feel a heaviness and evil in the air. Something was missing, there were no flyers or announcements about a fair. No trace of the traveling freak show.

Simultaneously, Eddie and Danny’s mothers opened their son’s doors as breakfast was ready and waiting. Once more the town heard blood curdling screams. The boys were no more, with nothing but a bloody baseball laying on their pillows.

Bayli Buchanan

13 years old

P.J. Jacobs Junior High

It was late that night on the dark, damp street of Meadows Rd, an empty route where nothing hallowed growed.

The trees echoed into the night and the cracked road barely saw light.

The woods were crowded with nothing but silence and the crisp, dry air was a steady reliant.

But beneath the shrubs, beneath the trees, stood an echo of a final plea.

For beneath the road sat a death unsolved and the ghost of the young boy haunted and devolved.

The boy could only wander the empty street, the air falling beneath his bare feet.

“Just let me pass, leave me in peace” the small boy called out, and was answered with nothing so he turned to doubt.

“I won’t degrade or fall” the little boy cried out, standing tall.

But day by day, the years slipped away.

The road cracked and the hidden sunset, yet the poor boy was not put to rest.

His doubt became to fester, his worries became tears and slowly the young boy became the symbol of fears.

So when a girl happened to wander down that empty path, the boy unleashed all his wronged and lonely wrath.

The two would forever stay side by side until the day came when they were finally allowed to truly die.