Halloween Story
DIRECTIONS:
With your students brainstorm as many Halloween words as you possibly
can. Then tell them the following very, very short story using approximately 20 Halloween
words. How your class reads the story is really up to you, but I like to do stories in one
big group while I read it, probably because I didn’t get a lot of attention when I was
young. After the story is read, have the students create their own very, very short
stories.
Go ahead, give it a try!
A Black Cat Named Lucky
When I was twelve years old, I had a black cat named Lucky. You may
think that it is strange that somebody would call a black cat Lucky, but let me tell you a
story in order to prove that he was indeed lucky.
It was Halloween. I had long ago started to consider myself an adult
because the next year I would be a teenager. I decided to prove once and for all that this
creepy, crawly, ghoul infested holiday was just a sham.
Not far from my house on the other side of the forest was a place
called the Haunted Barn. So one late afternoon I decided to see for myself.
I bravely set foot into the forest laughing in the face of superstition and
everything that is evil. I passed the old cemetery with overturned tombstones
and was soon near the other side of the forest.
When I finally came out of the forest, I could see the old, rundown
barn off in the distance. “Haunted”, I laughed to myself, “the only thing
that place is good for is storing rotten pumpkins”. I must admit, I did feel a
little nervous as I approached the entrance to the barn. It was getting dark, and there
was a howling wind blowing through the trees. I reached up for the old rusty latch
and pulled, the door creaked like one in a scary movie.
As I slowly opened the door a swarm of bats came flying out. I
dropped to the ground and I thought I would never get out alive. Then behind me I heard a
deep voice call out to me, “Hey are you looking for trouble? If so, you have come to the
right place.” I got up and dashed towards the nearest hiding place behind a big sack.
From my hiding place, I could see the shadow of what looked like a large man with a pitchfork.
In all of the spooky stories that I had heard about, the devil carried a pitchfork,
so I was sure this man was Satan.
I looked up again and saw a ray of light stream through the door and
couldn’t believe my eyes, there was Lucky. How in the world could that black cat make it
all the way through the forest to the Haunted Barn? The next thing I knew, the dark
shadow of the devil turned towards Lucky and screamed a high-pitched yell that I had never
heard in my life. He ran into a spider’s cobweb and stumbled away in terror.
I saw my chance, got up, grabbed Lucky, and headed for the forest.
We ran through the forest, and then seeing the graveyard ran
even faster. The shadows of the trees seemed like arms trying to reach out and grab us. We
finally reached the other side of the forest and the pavement I knew so well close to my
house. The loud thumping of my heart finally started to slow down. We walked down the road
and then began to see small figures that looked like ghosts, witches, warlocks,
Dracula, Frankenstein, and all the other creatures of darkness. Were they just other
kids out looking for trick or treat or were they in fact real? It was at this point
that I came to realize two things. Halloween was definitely no joke, and that Lucky was
indeed “lucky”.
By Aaron Carlson
Barn (Not a Halloween word, but in the story) A covered farm
building used chiefly for storing grain, hay, and other things. Part of the barn is often
used for stables.
Bat A mouse that flies guided by radar and lives under the roof
or in caves.
Cemetery A place or ground set apart for the burial of the dead;
a graveyard; a churchyard.
Cobweb The network spread by a spider to catch its prey.
Coffin The case in which a dead human body is in-closed for
burial.
Creak To make a prolonged sharp grating or squeaking sound, as
by the friction of hard substances; as shoes creak.
Creepy Causing a sensation as of things crawling on your skin;
“a creepy story”.
Demon A cruel wicked and inhuman person.
Ghost The spirit; the soul of a man after his bodily death.
Ghoul 1. Someone who takes bodies from graves and sells them for
anatomical dissection (syn: graverobber, body snatcher);
2. An evil spirit or ghost.
Goblin (folklore) A small grotesque supernatural creature that
makes trouble for human beings.
Grave An excavation in the earth as a place of burial; also, any
place of interment; a tomb; Hence: Death; destruction.
Graveyard A cemetery.
Haunted A place were ghosts live. It can be frightful.
Howl To utter a loud, protracted, mournful sound or cry, as dogs
and wolves often do.
Jack-o’-lantern A lantern made of a pumpkin so prepared as to
show in illumination the features of a human face, etc.
Mummy A dead body embalmed and dried after the manner of the
ancient Egyptians; also, a body preserved, by any means, in a dry state.
Pitchfork A tool for moving hay, but also used by devils in many
western cultures.
Pumpkin Usually large, pulpy, deep-yellow round fruit of the
squash family maturing in late summer or early autumn.
Scary Causing fright; alarming.
Spooky Suggestive of the supernatural; mysterious; “an eerie
feeling of deja vu”.
Superstition An excessive reverence for, or fear of, that which
is unknown or mysterious.
Tombstone A stone erected over a grave, to preserve the memory
of the deceased.
Trick or Treat A phrase used on Halloween in order to get
sweets.
Vampire A blood-sucking ghost.
Warlock A male witch or demon.
Witch One who practices the black art, or magic; one regarded as
possessing supernatural or magical power by contact with an evil spirit.
Zombie a dead body that has been brought back to life by a
supernatural force.
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