A Tennessee Ghost Story retold by S.E. Schlosser       There was once a feller who married a Cades Cove girl who was born during a thunderstorm. Now everyone knows if’n you were born during a thunderstorm, you’ll be killed by lightening. Well, this girl didn’t want to die, so she refused to sleep in a metal bed. She was a champion quilter, but she wouldn’t even use a metal sewing needle if’n there was a storm brewing.      Now this girl made her husband a quilt using pieces from a shirt he wore during their first big argument. She called it the cuss ..read more

A Tale of the Iroquois Edited by S.E. Schlosser Once in early days, three hunters set out upon an expedition. After they had journeyed for some time a misfortune occurred, one of their number breaking his leg. The others fashioned a litter with the object of carrying him back to his home, as custom exacted. Retracing their steps, they came to a range of high mountains, the steep slopes of which taxed their strength to the utmost. To rest themselves they placed the wounded man on the ground and withdrew to a little distance. “Why should we be thus burdened with a wounded man?” said one to the o ..read more

A New York Folktale retold by S.E. Schlosser They say that the Catskill Mountains was once the home of a giant monster that fed on human beings until the Great Spirit turned it to stone one evening as it was traveling to the ocean to bathe. The bones of the monster became a new mountain and rainwater filled the eye sockets, forming two lakes near the summit. At the peak of this mountain lived the Catskill witch who managed the weather for the whole of the Hudson Valley. It was she who let out the day and night in; holding back the one when the other was at large so they would not conflict. She ..read more

A Tale of the Blackfoot Nation Edited by S.E. Schlosser Napioa, who made the Earth, at one time had with him the wolf as his companion. He also had with him an owl, which he employed to look for things for him when it was dark. As he was travelling around he saw a lodge in which were a man and a woman. In this lodge were two bags; one contained the winter and the other the summer. He told the owl to look in and see what there was inside the lodge, and when he looked he saw the two bags. Napioa said that he was going to place some months in each bag, and make the summer and winter of equal leng ..read more

edited by S.E. Schlosser A pillar of snowy salt once stood on the Nebraska plain, about forty miles above the point where the Saline flows into the Platte, and people used to call it the Salt Witch. A tribe was for a long time quartered at the junction of the rivers, its chief a mighty man in whom his people gloried, but so fierce, withal, that nobody made a companion of him except his wife, who alone could check his rages. In sooth, he loved her so well that on her death he became a recluse and shut himself within his lodge, refusing to see anybody. This mood endured with him so long that mut ..read more

retold by Florence White Williams Edited by S.E. Schlosser Little Red Hen lived in a barnyard. She spent almost all of her time walking about the barnyard. In her picketty-pecketty fashion, scratching everywhere for worms. She dearly loved fat, delicious worms and felt they were absolutely necessary to the health of her children. As often as she found a worm she would call “Chuck-chuck-chuck!” to her chickies. When they were gathered about her, she would distribute choice morsels of her tid-bit. A busy little body was she! A cat usually napped lazily in the barn door, not even bothering hersel ..read more

A Georgia Folk Tale   Well now, out of all the animals that live in the woods, Brer Bear had the biggest house.  The house was warm and cozy on the inside, but it was also very crowded on account of Brer Bear having him a plump wife and two plump young ‘uns named Simon and Susannah.  The Bear family did most everything together.  They’d eat together and they’d wash together and they’d catch fish together and they’d play games together.  They were real close.  And at night they’d all crowd together into their house and crawl into their giant bed to get some sleep ..read more

excerpted from More Spooky Campfire Tales Callahan was huddled in a cavern near the Pacific Ocean when the Feds closed in. There were still shreds of human flesh under his fingernails when the serial killer surrendered to the inevitable capture. They could put him behind bars, he vowed as they dragged him down the narrow path toward the waiting cars, but he would escape. And then they’d be sorry. He lashed out at the nearest officer, landing a crippling blow on his kneecap. The remaining men knocked him to the ground and bound him foot and hand to ensure his cooperation. He was sentenced to a ..read more

We were having a sleepover at my house that Saturday night.  Me and my four best friends; Alex, Bianca, Sabrina, and Lacey.   We made cookies and watched movies and did our hair and makeup.  By midnight, we’d run out of planned activities.  It was time to improvise.        “Let’s try that Bloody Mary thing,” Lacey suggested.        Alex, who was sitting crossed-legged on her sleeping bag, said:  “What’s the Bloody Mary thing?”       Sabrina, who was lounging on top of her own slee ..read more

Excerpted from Spooky New England Lawyer Elderkin stood on the porch looking up at the night sky. Clouds were rolling in, obscuring the stars, but for a few moments the moon still shone on the sleepy town of Windham, Connecticut. Elderkin fervently hoped that the clouds meant rain. There was a severe drought in the county, and if it didn’t rain soon, the farmers would be in trouble. He drew in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of the honeysuckle growing on the trellis. “Mister Elderkin,” called his wife from the doorway, “it is time for good folk to be in bed. It’s always late you are,” she ad ..read more