We issued the challenge—write your spookiest story. Authors Joel Sutherland and Angela Misri carefully reviewed all the entries.
This entry is from 10-year-old Sami, one of the finalists.
In the late 1950s there was a boy named Sami. One day Sami was taking a walk in his neighborhood and he saw a castle that had not been there before. “This is odd,” thought Sami, “This castle hasn’t been here before.” So Sami got some friends (Tony and Dan) to come to the castle with him. Sami took a lot of equipment for the three friends, including grappling hooks, flashlights, food, water, books, batteries, a hammer, screws, a crowbar and gloves. Sami and his friends went to the castle, everyone was scared…
Sami knocked on the door five times but no one answered. He rang the doorbell, still nothing. He then noticed a little sign by the doorbell that read “Doorbell broken, yell ding dong really loud.” So then Dan said, “hey guys, what if we yell at the same time??” “That’s a great idea,” said Sami. “On the count of three!” said Tony. Tony whispered “one… two… three…” and all three yelled “DING-DONG!”… nothing happened at first… then the door creaked open slowly, but no one was there. Sami then reached into his backpack and pulled out his flashlight and flicked it on. As he peered inside, he saw scary paintings of creepy looking people whose eyes seemed to follow him, spiderwebs in every corner of the room, skeletons hanging from the ceiling, and dust on absolutely EVERYTHING he could see. Bravely, they entered the castle… uninvited…
As they stood in what looked like a living room, out of the corner of Dan’s eye, he saw a little golden cage hanging from one of the skeleton’s foot. It was whispering “help me…help me…help me…” So then Dan said “Hey guys, there was something in that weird golden cage.” Sami and Tony looked at what Dan was talking about, but didn’t see anything. Sami said “Dan you‘re seeing things.” Tony saw a pair of stairs then he said “let’s go up those stairs” so Dan said “I think that’s a GREAT idea !” “Isn’t that dangerous ?”asked Sami.
Then, they all heard a moan and then a groan, the three friends spun around and saw a creepy looking butler that didn’t have a head. They were too astonished to move, they were even too scared to talk , then Sami and Dan heard an ear piercing sound. It was Tony screaming. Then all of the sudden he stopped, looked down and screamed once more. Sami and Dan realized that it was the butler’s head , the butler picked up his head, screwed it on and said in a raspy voice “I Can Help You…”
So Sami whispered to the gang “I think it is wise that we don’t let him help us.” Tony and Dan agreed that it was a good idea to not let him help. Dan said to Sami and Tony “Let’s leave this castle I am getting freaked out.” Sami and Tony went to go look for the castle door, but they couldn’t find it. “We are trapped in here!” said Sami to the gang.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” shrieked Tony.
The butler said in his raspy voice “please don’t scream, I told you already… I can help you…like… get out of here”. Sami trusted the butler’s words this time and so did the gang. “Come, come into the study hall, SHE is not in yet, so I can explain everything there…”.
He led them through a candle lit corridor that had old paintings and small side tables with sculptures of hands on them. He pulled out of his pocket a small silver key that opened a very large and heavy door. After he asked them to enter, he told them “The only way out is to go deeper within…”. He closed the door, shut it behind the gang and started to tell his story. “One day when I was just a normal guy I was ta–” the gang, Sami, and the butler heard, well if I tell you it will be tooooooooo long to say it, so in short it was super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super r super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super super loud
BARK.
“That’s my dog, well it was my dog SHE transformed it into a beast”. “Well as I was saying it was back when I was just a normal guy I was taking a walk with my dog and then SHE came”. “OK who is this SHE”! Said Sami irritated. “She is a witch” said the butter. “OK this is getting creepy” said Dan. “Yes it is” said Tony.
The three, now four friends, left the room but the butler was upset because he did not get to tell his story. They went to investigate the castle, and the witches’ hiding place. “There were more witches who ate each other.” explained the butler. “Now there are only 2 left. SHE is torturing the other witch! Oh well!” said the butler with a smug grin, “this is the part where I run away and you DIE!!!”. The butler turned on his withered heel and limped away into the darkness…
Sami was so mad at the butler he ran after him, two hours later Sami came back with the butler in a neck-lock. “Now you will answer our questions?” They suddenly turned around and ran. Dan and Tony followed Sami. They entered a dark, dingy room with lots and lots of dust and cobwebs. Tony switched on the light and a spider dropped down from a dusty, old chandelier. “Sit” said Dan angrily, the butler sat down with a chuckle, “You’re never getting out of here, you’re all going to die here!”
And he disappeared in a cloud of green dust, leaving the gang coughing and sputtering, only to be replaced by an old woman in old, battered clothing… “ hello my children, care for a snack?” and a silver platter with a rusty old lid appeared out of thin air. When she opened it… There was a severed hand! The gang nearly threw up in disgust while the witch laughed. “ I apologize my children, just my idea of a little joke!” cooed the witch.
Suddenly, the witch let out a shrill whistle and a giant beastly dog appeared at her side. “w-w-w-what is t-t-t-that” sputtered Tony and Dan in unison. “This is my little dog” answered the witch sweetly, the dog jumped up and ate the severed hand plate, bone and all. “Oh! My little sweetie has a healthy appetite today!” Exclaimed the witch. And suddenly in the blink of an eye, the witch and the bear-like dog disappeared into thin air. “Let’s get out of here!” said Sami, and just like that they found the door, and sprinted to their houses without talking to each other.
Later, they vowed never to talk of their adventures to anyone. The first reason was because they did not want to think of it ever again, and second, because no one would believe them, not even their parents.
