Ibland är spökhistorier för långa, både för barnen men kanske mest för föräldrarna. Här är några kortare spökhistorier för barn.

Ghost story from the Middle East.

Ghost story from the Middle East.

A man was sitting with his wife in an inn in Damascus. They enjoyed a good dinner and did not have a worry on their minds. Suddenly the man saw someone standing and looking at him across the room. It was none other than death. The man was filled with horror and shouted: “This cannot be right! It can't be my time to die yet!!”

So he left his wife at the inn, mounted his horse, and drove the animal furiously across the desert until he reached Samara. When he finally arrived, both he and the horse were tired and very thirsty. He went to a well in the city, but suddenly found himself face to face with death again.

"I don't think it's true!" the man exclaimed. "I saw you in Damascus and fled!"
Death put his bony hand on the man's shoulder and said: "I was also surprised when I saw you in Damascus, for my meeting with you was fixed here, at the well in Samara."

Meeting with death

Ghost story from Amakusa Island, Japan.

Ghost story from Amakusa Island, Japan.

Once upon a time there was an old woman who was out walking with her grandson. After a while they arrived at the Kusazumigoe mountain pass and the old woman stopped outside.
"In this mountain pass lives Abura-sumashi, I have heard," she said. "Some say it's dangerous to go through here, but that's just superstition." Then she took her grandson by the hand and entered the passport.
“Who is Abura-sumashi?” wondered the grandson.
"He is a monster who is seen carrying an oil jug and a staff," answered his grandmother. "It is believed that he was once a man who stole oil from oil lamps. His punishment was to wander after death as a nasty creature in the wilderness.”
"What does he look like, then?" asked the grandson.
“Abura-sumashi has a head like a potato. His skin is grey-blue and he covers his body with a cloak of dried grass.”

Soon they had gone through the pass and the grandson breathed his last.
"You see," said the grandmother. “There was no Aburasumashi. It's just the superstition of the country folk.”
"Are you saying that..?" they heard a voice behind them.

When they turned around, Abura-sumashin stood laughing at them so wide his grin nearly split his head in half. Then the grandmother grabbed her grandson and ran straight home as fast as she could.

Abura-Sumashi

Ghost story from England.

Ghost story from England.

The gravedigger's wife was sitting by the fire knitting and their cat was sleeping at her feet.

Her hubby came home from a long day's work looking cut.

"What's with you?" asked the wife. "You are very pale." "Well, I'll tell you that," replied the gravedigger. "I thought I was done for the day. It was getting dark and I could hardly see where I was digging anymore. Just as I was about to turn home I saw eight black cats carrying a small coffin and in front of them walked another black cat. Then they stopped and the cat that was walking in front of the coffin came up to me. Yes, he crawled so close that we were nose to nose with each other and then he spoke to me!"
"What are you saying!" exclaimed the wife. "Did the cat speak?? What did he say??"
"Well, it's even stranger, because I don't know who he was talking about. But he said this: Tell Tom that old Tim is dead!"

Suddenly the black cat at the wife's feet woke up. He fermented and became at least three times as big as before. His eyes glowed like burning coals and he let out a blood-curdling laugh.

"What are you saying?" screamed the cat. "Is old Tim dead?? Then I'm the king of the cats!!" Then the cat disappeared like black lightning up the chimney and disappeared, never to be seen again.

Old Tim is dead

Ghost story from Pennsylvania, USA.

Ghost story from Pennsylvania, USA.

There was once a monk who loved money and power more than he loved God. He was to hear confessions from the people who lived around his mission church, but the monk began to blackmail, forcing the people to give him gold and silver to keep quiet about their darkest secrets.

A poor woman stood up to the monk and in a rage he beat her to death. After this he was sentenced to death and was hanged for his crimes. But soon after he was cut down from the noose and pronounced dead, his body began to transform before the people's horrified eyes. The face contorted and tusks ran from both sides of the nose. His sparse white hair grew long and greasy, and pointed canines slid out of his mouth. The Monster Monk opened his eyes, which now glowed yellow, even in the light of the midday sun, and rose to his now clawed feet.

The people screamed and fled, and no prayer recited by his former friars could drive the monster away. It disappeared deep into the forest, only to return at night and kill the monks who exposed his evil deed. After five of the monks in the mission were devoured by the monster, the rest of them abandoned the monastery and moved to another part of the country. The monastery slowly fell into ruins, but for years the monster monk was seen prowling the gloomy place at night.

The Monster Monk from Easton

Ghost story from Blekinge, Sweden.

Ghost story from Blekinge, Sweden.

Once upon a time there was a peasant who had found out that there would be a treasure buried not far from the local cemetery, strictly guarded by the gas for the man who hid the treasure there.

The farmhand thought out a trick to trick the gas, and when he thought he knew how to do it, he set off one dark night to the treasure hideout. With him he had some small twigs, branches and a twelveshilling. He placed the coin among the twigs and then sat down to wait. When the guest arrived a moment later, the farmer began to root among the rice, and the guest naturally asked what he was doing.

"I'm looking for money," replied the farmer.

He very well found the twelve shilling, and proudly showed it to the guest.

"It was then both small and shit", he grinned. "Come with me, and you'll see what a treasure looks like!"

Gasten dug out his treasure, and then began to bathe in it and play with the coins. The farmer was satisfied, because now he knew where the treasure was. Soon, however, the guest had finished playing, and declared that it was time to go home. He forced the despairing peasant with him to the graveyard and the grave, while he shouted:

"Yes, but I'm not dead!"

"It doesn't matter," the gas roared back. "I'll probably dig up a new grave for you!"

But just then a rooster crowed, and thereby the power of the gas was broken. The gas disappeared into the earth, and the farmhand went back, relieved and happy, and put his hands on the money.

The Ghost Treasure

Ghost story from New Jersey, USA.

Ghost story from New Jersey, USA.

The thunder went and the hail fell that stormy night in 1735, when Mother Leeds lay in bed to give birth to her seventh child. The cramped cabin in the bleak coniferous forest area of the Pina Barrens was full of neighboring women who were there to help with the birth. But it was a severe torment for Mother Leeds. She had given birth to six children a year apart and now her body was beginning to wear out. No matter how much she squirmed and struggled, the baby wouldn't come out. "I give my kid to the devil, if only it comes out now!" Mother Leeds suddenly shouted. And behold, the child immediately came out.

At first everything seemed normal. The child was a boy, who seemed perfectly healthy in every way. But suddenly the little boy began to change as he lay in the midwife's arms. His skin turned black and looked burnt. The feet turned into hooves and a long tail grew out. His head became like that of a wild animal and wings crawled out of his back. The barking and kicking wonder tore itself loose and advanced like a crazed wolf in the cabin, clawing, biting and slashing at everyone there. Finally the monster appeared in the chimney and disappeared.

But that was not the last time one saw or heard of the Jersey Devil, as the creature came to be known. The beast is still seen, almost every year, in the Pine Barrens. Of course you can visit the forest if you want, but leave it before dark if you hold on to your life.

Birth of the Jersey Devil

Ghost story from Australia.

Ghost story from Australia.

A hunter was out for a long walk one day in an area he had never visited before. He was in search of kangaroo meat, but he could not spot a single animal in the area, not even a bird. It was as if all living things had left the place. At last he found a fig tree and plucked a handful of fruits, which he then ate with great satisfaction. After the meal of the sweet figs, he became lethargic and lay down under the shade tree to rest for a while. Just as he dozed off, he was awakened by something grabbing him. When he looked up, he saw a little red old man hanging upside down from a branch in the fig tree. The creature had a giant mouth without teeth and large suction cups on its fingers and toes. It was these who now grabbed hold of the hunter's arms. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not tear himself free, but was quickly lifted up by the red old man into the tree, and there the hunter was eaten.

After his grassy meal, the strange creature climbed down from the fig tree and went to a stream to drink. He filled his giant mouth with big gulps and swallowed. But soon the red old man began to claw and suddenly he threw up the hunter on the ground. The hunter was as whole as when he disappeared into the old man's big gap, but he was far from himself. He was only half as tall as he had been before and his skin had turned completely red. When he looked around, the strange creature was gone and the hunter hurried back to his village to ask the village elder what had happened. "You've been sleeping under a fig tree, haven't you?" asked the village elder. Yes, the hunter admitted. “You have been swallowed by a Yara-Ma-Yha-Who,” said the village elder, “And now you are turning into one yourself. That's how they reproduce. Soon you will lose your nails and teeth and suckers will grow on your fingers and toes. You must leave us or you will destroy the entire village!”

And so the hunter was driven away from his home village, to live the rest of his life as a monster in the wilderness.

Yara-Ma-Yha-Who

Ghost story from Sweden.

Ghost story from Sweden.

Once upon a time there was a rich merchant who had a very beautiful daughter. This girl had decided never to marry, no matter how rich or handsome the suitor was. When her father asked her if really not a single man would suit her, she finally replied: "If you find a suitor with a green beard, I will marry him!"

It seemed so clear that the girl would never get married and this worried the merchant deeply. But then one dark winter night there was a sudden knock on the door and when the girl went to open it she turned pale. Outside there stood a man with a green beard!

Her father, on the other hand, was very relieved and invited the man. Before the girl knew it, the father and the stranger had arranged the wedding, and even the day of the marriage was decided in haste. The very next day the unfortunate girl was married to her green-bearded suitor, and when the ceremony was over a sumptuous carriage, apparently from the suitor's home, came and picked them both up.

Now the girl was on her way to her new home, wherever that might be. But every time they passed a church, her husband stopped the carriage and disappeared into the cemetery. "He must be a very pious person who visits every church on the way," thought the girl. But in the end it got annoying and she got tired of sitting alone in the carriage and freezing. When they again stopped at a church, she sneaked after her husband and peered through the keyhole in the church gate to see what he was up to. To her horror, she saw the man standing and chewing on a fresh corpse he had just dug up in the cemetery. She let out a cry of terror, causing the green-bearded cannibal to quickly turn and stare at the gate. Then the girl rushed blindly into the winter night, as far away from the church and her horrified husband as she could get. When she was found the next morning, she was frozen and confused. It took her several weeks in bed to recover again. She never heard from her green-bearded husband again, but she feared all her life that he would return one day, and she never forgot the horrible sight in the church.

The suitor with the green beard

Ghost story from West Virginia, USA.

Ghost story from West Virginia, USA.

A hunter had been out all day without finding a single game. He was hungry when he returned with his dogs to the cabin but had nothing to eat. But when he closed the door, he saw that there was something on the table. It was a strange animal, about the size of a hare, with a wolverine nose, fox ears, owl eyes and a body like a monkey. It was covered in shaggy red hair and had long claws on its toes and fingers. Around it on the table lay a long tail coiled like a resting rattlesnake. The hunter thought that this strange vomit was better than nothing, so he picked up the ax and threw it at the creature. The animal was quick and jumped away, but the tail was hit and cut off. It remained lying on the table while the animal slipped out of the cabin through the chimney to the stove.

Satisfied that at least he got something for supper, the hunter boiled the tail and ate it. Then he went to bed without thinking more about what had happened in the cabin during the evening. But sometime after midnight he heard something scratching at the door and a voice whispered: “My tail, my tail! Give me back my tail!” The hunter opened the door but could see nothing in the darkness. He let out one of his dogs to frighten the intruder away, but as it was the dog did not return and the hunter went to bed again. After a while he awoke to a scratching on the window and a voice whispered: “My tail, my tail! Give me back my tail!” Hunter flew up and let his second dog out, but like the first, it didn't come back either. After another moment the hunter heard the rustling of the chimney and a voice whispered: “My tail, my tail! Give me back my tail!” Now the hunter had no more dogs so he pulled the covers over his head and tried to go back to sleep. But at the same moment the covers were pulled from him and when he looked down at the foot of his bed he could see the strange animal sitting there staring at him. “My tail, my tail! Give me back my tail!” it hissed, glaring at him with its yellow owl eyes. "I don't have your tail anymore," chirped the hunter. "Yes, you have," hissed the animal. "You just have to look in the right place. Then the animal flew at the hunter and tore him open with its long claws.

At least that's what they say, for the hunter was gone the next morning but his cabin was stained with blood, and a strange animal was seen some evenings dancing on the roof of the cabin with a long curling tail behind it.

The tail

Ghost story from Spain.

Ghost story from Spain.

A man who once made a long sea voyage came to a cemetery that was very close to the sea. The waves after a storm had washed away the land and many graves lay open. The bones of the dead had been tossed about and lay on land. As he walked around the cemetery looking at the misery, he saw a skeletal hand on the ground. On one of the fingers was a magnificent ring adorned with a glittering ruby. The man thought that no one would miss that ring and therefore took it home to his wife.

When the man got home, he showed the precious gift to his wife, but did not tell where he found it. “Thank you, dear husband!” said the surprised wife. "This ring is so beautiful that I will wear it day and night."

When evening came they went to sleep and the wife still had the ring on her hand. But just a little after midnight, the wife woke up to someone calling her outside in the dark. A voice said, “My ring, my ring. Give me back the ring you stole from me! I'm under your window!”

The wife screamed and immediately woke her husband. “Dear husband, who could it be?” she wondered anxiously. "Just ignore it," her husband replied. "It's leaving soon."

But a little while later the voice was heard again: “My ring, my ring. Give me back the ring you stole from me! Now I'm standing outside your bedroom door!”

The wife woke her husband again. “Dear husband, who could it be?” she wondered anxiously. "Just ignore it," her husband replied. "It's leaving soon."

But soon the voice was heard again: “My ring, my ring. Give me back the ring you stole from me! Now I'm under your bed!”

Now the wife was really scared and woke her husband. . “Dear husband, who could it be?” she asked. "Just ignore it," her husband replied. "It's leaving soon."

But then the covers were torn off the bed and a voice hissed in the wife's ear: "My ring, my ring. Give me back the ring you stole from me! Now I have my hand in your hair and now I'm going to drag you down to the grave with me!”
The wife felt a bony hand grab her hair and then she was pulled off the bed and dragged towards the window.

She would have liked to scream to give voice to her horror, but the terror choked her voice. The man sat stiffly in bed with fear, but then he got a thought in his head and shouted to his wife: "Take off the ring! Take off the ring and throw it out the window!”

The wife grabbed the ring with trembling fingers, pulled it off and threw it out the window. Then the bony hand released its grip and the hissing voice fell silent. But out on the garden path it clattered and rattled like dry bones until the sound slowly died away and it became completely silent.

The ring

Ghost story from Costa Rica.

Ghost story from Costa Rica.

A young man on his way home from the capital San José stopped at an inn to quench his thirst. He had earned a good penny during his visit to the city and offered the beer freely, both to himself and to others. When darkness fell, the man realized that he had stayed too long. Happy and giddy with booze, he mounted his horse to set off. Under a tree he saw a lone figure. It was an unusually beautiful girl, with a sorrowful expression on her face. The man asked her how it was.

"Good lord," answered the girl. “I am on my way to Bacages to visit my sick mother, but I have walked a long time and am so tired!”

"Jump up behind me on the horse," said the man morosely. "I'm going to my friend's ranch south of town."

The girl thanked and was helped onto the horse. She grabbed the man's shoulders and it was off on the dark roads. After a while the horse suddenly started galloping. It was sweating and tossing its head. No matter what the man did, he could not calm the animal down. He felt the girl's grip tighten on his shoulders and finally her nails dug in so much it hurt.

"The lady will probably have to let go after a while," said the man to his traveling companion. But when he glanced over one shoulder, he saw that it was a bony hand with real predatory claws holding him. He was completely frozen with horror and understood that it was hardly the beautiful girl he was in the company of anymore. He felt a sulphurous breath coming along his neck and wondered what horror he would see if he looked over his other shoulder. Finally, he plucked up courage and turned his head. The girl's fair face had been replaced by a horse's head with coal-hot eyes and long fangs. The creature neighed and snorted, and clawed at the horse's belly with its feet, making the animal limp even worse. At last the man caught sight of his friend's ranch and in a haste he drew in the reins. Then the horse stopped abruptly and both passengers fell off. With that, only the man reached the ground. His creepy traveling companion had disappeared. His friend had heard the commotion and came running.

"What has happened here", he wondered, and the comrade explained in a trembling voice about the adventure he had been a part of.

"Aha!" said the friend. “You have ridden with Cegua. Have you never heard of Cegua?” His companion didn't have that and wanted to know what he had been through.

“Cegua is a demon that travels along the roads at night. She's always looking for a lone hiker who doesn't take care of himself - a slob! I can feel you oozing booze a long way, my friend. You were a perfect victim. You were indeed lucky to get away with your life and sanity!” His friend thought so too and never looked at a liquor bottle again.

Cegua

On a farm in Skåne, the maid Karna Jönsdotter worked.

On a farm in Skåne, the maid Karna Jönsdotter worked. She lived in a small cottage next to the farm and had been given a clock by the farmer that would help her get up on time in the mornings. But sometimes that clock didn't work as it should and of course Karna was late for work. One year on Christmas morning itself, the clock stopped. Karna eventually woke up on her own, but when she noticed that the clock had stopped, she realized that she could surely be late. Arriving late for the Christmas lottery when the whole village was in church was, of course, terribly embarrassing. So she immediately dressed and went to church. Better to be out too early than too late.

As she feared, she appeared to be late. The church was lit and she could hear the people inside singing. In any case, she was going to make an attempt to sneak in before the hymn ended. Maybe no one would notice. When she looked into the church, it was packed with people, but she saw an empty seat right by the aisle. With her head down, she hurried forward and stood among the others. Then the hymn ended and everyone sat down. The priest stepped into the pulpit and began his Christmas sermon. But the priest was a man Karna had never seen before. He also looked terribly pale and his eyes shone with the same pale glow as the full moon. She turned to the woman she was sitting next to to ask what was going on in the church. But then she saw that the woman was her aunt, who had been dead for over ten years!

"What are you doing here??" the aunt wondered. “You can't be here. This is the Yule Lotta of the Dead, held early in the night, before the Yule Lotta of the Living. If the dead come upon you, they will tear you to pieces. You must leave immediately!” Karna didn't make a sound, but the aunt nudged her. "Running! Run for your life!" the aunt hissed. "And throw off your coat on the floor of the church entrance!"

Then Karna stood up and the bench creaked so that all the dead, whose backs she had seen so far, turned and stared at her with their hideous faces. Karna turned and rushed towards the entrance and she could hear all the dead rise up and come running after her on clattering, dry bones.

As she stepped over the threshold of the church, she threw off her coat, while he felt bony fingers grasping her hair. Then she rushed straight home without looking back. As soon as she got inside the door of her cottage, she put steel crosswise on the threshold, because that's what one should do to keep the supernatural powers away. Then she collapsed on her bed and lay there in severe illness for three whole weeks.

When the people of the village came to the Christmas lottery, they found a gray pile of dirt at the entrance to the church. It was Karna's coat that the dead had clawed at. Had she not thrown it off, as her aunt had said, it would have been herself lying there.

Christmas Morning of the Dead

Ghost story from Blekinge, Sweden.

The man who was a werewolf didn't have it easy. At night he "ran tasse", as it was called. He turned into a ferocious wolf of a kind you never see in the wild. His skin, which was furry on the inside, was turned inside out to reveal the fur. His eyes turned yellow and glowing, and his arms and right leg turned into wolf limbs, while his left leg became a tail.

In this guise the werewolf ran about and killed all who came in his way, for his hunger for human flesh was great. It was not easy to be cured of the werewolf disease. There were only two ways. Someone has to recognize the werewolf and as a human and tell him "You are a werewolf!" Then he was cured. But if that never happened, the werewolf could cure himself in a terrible way - He must find a pregnant woman, tear out the fetus and devour its heart.

In Sillhövda parish in Blekinge lived Kalva-Lasse who had a small croft with a large meadow. Once, his neighbor helped Hildas Kalva-Lasse to hay in the meadow while she was still carrying her unborn daughter. They went on well into the evening because it was still summer, and no one really thought about how late it really was. Soon the full moon began to rise over the spruce tops and Kalva-Lasse suddenly became very nervous and staring. He ran to Hildas and said: "If any animal comes and attacks you, fight it with the twenty, but do not stab." Then he rushed into the forest and disappeared. Before long the full moon had reached its full height in the firmament, and spread its blue glow over the lowlands so that it was almost as bright as day.

Hildas had just started packing up her things, when she saw something come running out of the edge of the forest with a strange limping gait. As the shape came closer, she saw that it was a giant black wolf that was plunging towards her. She remembered in the same Kalva-Lasse's strange words and seized the twenty to defend herself. Immediately the beast was upon her and with its drooling jaws tore a large piece of her red skirt free. Hulda's mother rained down on the werewolf a flurry of hard blows from the hunting shaft, and finally the beast had to leave its prey and disappeared back into the forest.

The pregnant woman collapsed exhausted on the ground, grateful that her desperate ferocity in the heat of battle had matched that of the werewolf and that both she and her child were actually completely unharmed. Suddenly Kalva-Lasse appeared right next to her. His face was completely bruised and a red thread was hanging out of one corner of his mouth. Hulda's mother stood up and gave him a good ear file.

"Yeah, you're the werewolf!" she yelled. "Shame on you for trying to go after a pregnant woman to save yourself from your own misfortune. Two choices!"

"Well, I'm ashamed," mumbled Kalva-Lasse embarrassed. "But I couldn't bear what happened. But now that you've recognized me as a werewolf, I'm finally free of the curse, and I'm forever grateful to you for that." And so it was. Since that night Kalva-Lasse never ran paws again.

The werewolf

Ghost story from Japan.

Ghost story from Japan.

Once upon a time there were two men, Jiro and Taro who were best friends. Taro took care of himself and always made plenty of money from his various businesses. Jiro, on the other hand, had both bad habits and seemed to be haunted by bad luck. He drank and gambled away his money. Once he had been robbed of the last pennies he had. The next day, both friends went out for a walk together. Jiro bemoaned his fate and explained that now he could not even afford to eat. Taro felt sorry for him and gave Jiro a big buck. But when Jiro saw how much money Taro had with him, his mind flew out of his head. When they came to a mountain pass, Jiro ambushed his friend and killed him with a rock. Then he took all the money and hid Taro's body under a bush.

Over the next year, Jiro spent Taro's money on even more gambling and drinking, and in the end he was just as poor again. One day he took a long walk and suddenly found himself standing in the very mountain pass where he had murdered his friend. Then he heard a voice calling to him from a bush. When he moved the branches away, he saw a human skeleton lying there. The voice came from the skeleton!

“Jiro, Jiro!” said the bone rattle. "Do you no longer recognize your friend whom you murdered and robbed? I have been waiting to see you again.”

Jiro was obviously terrified and tried to run away, but the skeleton grabbed him. “Don't be afraid, my friend!” said the skeleton. “I'm not mad at you anymore. I actually have a business proposition, if you're interested.” Jiro listened attentively. "You play the flute, after all. I could dance to your tunes and you charge me for the show. You can carry me around in a box.” The skeleton stood up and began to clatter and dance around. It looked both comical and terrifying. Jiro immediately realized how brilliant the skeleton's idea was. So it happened that Jiro started traveling around the squares of different villages with the bone rattle in a box under his arm. Jiro played his flute and the skeleton jumped out of the box and danced around. As you can probably guess, Jiro and his dancing skeletons became widely famous and eventually the most powerful nobleman in the area heard about their performances. He immediately ordered a showing for him and his friends. Jiro was obviously flattered and found himself at the nobleman's palace.

A large gathering of powerful men sat and waited to see the dancing wonder, but when Jiro opened the box and began to play, at first nothing happened. Then he got angry and kicked the box over so that the legs fell out. Then the skeleton stood up, but he did not dance. Instead, he approached the nobleman, bowed deeply and said: “Your Grace! I have danced as long as it took for the word to reach you and for you to call us. But now I don't dance anymore. When I was alive I was your honest subject Taro, but my friend Jiro here murdered me and bought me off. Now I demand justice!”

When the nobleman heard this, he became angry and exclaimed: “Guards! Grab this bastard. He shall be beheaded for his crimes!”

Then the skeleton collapsed and never moved again.

The dancing skeleton

Ghost story from France.

Ghost story from France.

Once upon a time there was a rich and distinguished gentleman who was married to a young and beautiful woman. She had once fallen down the long staircase in their large house and broken her leg in seven places. The doctors could not do anything about the injury and had to amputate the leg. But the rich gentleman had a new leg made of gold for his wife. When the gold leg was in place, she could walk and move - yes, even dance - just as well as before.

One day she had bought an expensive and beautiful dress. When she heard her husband coming home, she rushed to the stairs to meet him and show him the dress, but it did no better than the heel of her golden leg caught in the hem of the dress and she fell down the stairs again. This time she broke her neck and died instantly!

The rich lord gave his wife a stately burial and let the unfortunate leg accompany her in the coffin. But in the household there was a greedy servant who made plans. "The lady has no use for that gold bone now," he thought. "I might as well take it."

So one night he went to the graveyard, dug up the fine lady, unscrewed the golden bone and buried her again. Then he returned to his room in the big house and hid the bone in his closet.

But after that night there was no peace in the cemetery anymore. All the while a voice was heard calling:
"Gold, gold! Give me back my gold leg!"

The gravedigger could not bear to hear this lamentation, and went to the fine gentleman to tell of the misery.
"Your wife has no peace in your grave!" he explained. "You guys need to send someone to calm her down."

The fine gentleman himself went to the cemetery and stood by the woman's grave.
"Dear wife, what do you want?" he wondered.
"Gold, gold! Give me back my gold bone!" complained a voice from the grave.
"You have your golden leg," said the man. "I will arrange for someone to say a prayer over your grave, and you will be at peace."

The priest went there and read his prayers, but the voice did not quiet down for that.
"Your wife is still worried," the priest told the rich man.
"You can arrange for another son to speak to her."

So the rich lord sent his wife's maid.
"What does the lady want?" wondered the chambermaid.
"Gold, gold! Give me back my gold leg!"
"Please madam, now you are unreasonable," said the chambermaid. "You have your gold bone with you. I certainly can't calm you down. We'll have to send someone else to talk to you."

The chambermaid went home and told the rich lord how things had gone.
"Then you may go and have a go," said the rich man to his servant.
"No, no, I dare not!" whined the valet.
"Do as I say! Go to the grave and try to calm her down."
"No, I dare not, sir!"
"Now you go or I'll shoot you!" threatened the distinguished man.

With the gun pointed up to his nose, the attendant finally went to the cemetery on trembling legs. There the lone voice was still heard complaining:
"Gold, gold! Give me back my gold bone!"
"Please ma'am," chirped the valet, "I don't know anything about your gold bone. What do you really want?"
"I want you!" hissed the dead woman, rising up in the grave, pulling the servant down below the ground and eating him.

The Golden Bone

Ghost story from Russia.

Ghost story from Russia.

A farmer was returning to his village with a load of clay vessels on his cart. It was a warm summer night and he still had a long way to go. When he passed a cemetery, he decided to spend the night there, because he was afraid of neither devil nor ghosts. He laid down on one of the graves, but before he could fall asleep he felt the earth begin to move beneath him. He ran and hid behind a tree to see what would happen. The grave opened and the dead man who was in it rose up with the coffin lid on his head. The dead man went to the church gate, put the lid there, and then went off to the village to haunt.

The farmer went and got the lid, put it on his wagon and sat down to see what would happen next. When the deceased returned after a few hours, he could not find the coffin lid and was visibly upset. Then he caught sight of the farmer and rushed over to him. "Is it you, you bastard, who took my lid?" wondered the dead man. "Give it back or I'll tear you to pieces!" But the farmer pulled out a large wooden ax and said: "Gapa just enough, dying! Maybe I'll chop both you and the lid to pieces if you don't talk about what you were up to in the village last night!” Then the dead man became a lever and told that he had killed two boys while they were sleeping in their beds. "Then you get to talk about how to bring them back to life," said the farmer, swinging the axe. The dead man gritted his teeth with reluctance, but finally said: "You shall cut off a piece of the left flap of my sweep, burn it in one of your pots in the same room as where the boys lie, and they will immediately begin to come to life again."

The farmer then cut a piece of the shroud and gave the lid back to the dead man, who hurried back into the grave, for dawn was approaching.

When the farmer came to the village, it was soon clear which house the dead boys lived in, because there was a crying and wailing like no other. But the farmer stepped up to the parents and explained that he could probably do something about it. So he was shown into the rooms where the dead boys lay. He set fire to the corpse-sweeping piece and placed it in one of his pots.

Soon a foul-smelling smoke seeped out of the pot and swirled around the room and behold – suddenly the boys woke up again! The farmer had probably expected thanks from the family and a good reward, but instead they arrested him and called the village bailiff. "You must be a wizard," they told the farmer. "It was probably you who also killed the boys last night with your sneaky tricks!" Then the farmer explained how it was and who was to blame for the boys' deaths. Accompanied by the village bailiff, the family and most of the village, the farmer returned to the cemetery and showed the grave he had laid in the night before. The grave was dug up and the dead man was found as stiff as a stick in the coffin. But the corpse's feet were dirty with earth from his long nightly walk. An aspen sturgeon was retrieved and driven through the corpse's chest until the sturgeon went right through the bottom of the coffin. Now the dead man was nailed in his own coffin and could never leave his grave again. After that the farmer received a reward for his courage and honesty, and was respected and honored for the rest of his days.

The coffin lid

Ghost story from Russia.

Long ago, when the Tsar ruled Russia, the soldiers were away from home for long periods of time. But sometimes they could be allowed to travel home on certain special occasions. A soldier had been granted leave just to travel home and attend his sister's wedding. But when he arrived at the family farm, he was greeted only by wailing and sadness. His sister was sick to the point of death and lay in bed, pale and dull. The soldier obviously wondered what had happened. His crying parents explained that there had been a sorcerer in the area who died a few months ago, but returned as a vampire. It was he who sucked both blood and life out of his sister. They all sensed that the vampire would return any night to finish his evil deed. "But why hasn't anyone put an end to this monster?" asked the soldier. "At night he is so strong that no one dares him," explained the man the sister was to marry. "And no one knows where he hides during the day." The soldier thought for a moment as he looked at his sister. "Still, someone has to stop him," he said. “It might as well be me.” So he took his saber and went out into the night before anyone could stop him.

The soldier didn't know where he could possibly find the vampire, but he chose to walk the very darkest and loneliest paths that night. Suddenly he heard someone walking right next to him and he smelled earth and mold. He realized that he was joined by the vampire. He stopped and made a sign he had learned during his travels, a secret sign that only wizards make to each other.

"Greetings, brother!" exclaimed the vampire. "Why do you walk in my lonely ways?" "I have heard that you have solved the secret of overcoming death," said the soldier. "That's right," replied the vampire. "By drinking human blood, a little every night, I easily escape the grip of death. Last night I stole the lifeblood of a young woman here in the village and when dawn comes she is gone, but I live on!”

The soldier wanted to know more about this and the vampire took him to his grave in a clearing in the forest. "I feel that the dawn is coming and I must go to my rest, but I still have time to show you," said the vampire, taking out a small bottle from a pocket in his coat. The bottle was filled with blood that glowed in the moonlight. "If I drink this now before the sun rises, I'll be a normal man again the next night, and the girl will have to take my place as undead," laughed the vampire. “So to cure her the blood has to be returned to her?” asked the soldier. "Not just that!" replied the vampire. “I must also be completely annihilated. But you would have known all that if you had been a real wizard, and for your falsehood I will now tear you to pieces!”

With those words, the vampire lunged at the soldier, who had been expecting to be exposed at any moment. He had his saber ready and unleashed it on the vampire. There was a fierce fight with the monster, but as soon as the roosters hatched and the sun began to peek over the treetops, the vampire lost his strength and fell to the ground. The soldier put on the vial of blood and then began the gruesome work of chopping the sorcerer's body into small pieces. The soldier knew that every little part of a vampire's body must be destroyed in order for it to die completely. So he built a pyre and threw the wizard's body parts onto the fire. But as the flames began to consume the monster's flesh, it turned into a multitude of snakes, toads, lizards, spiders and worms that tried to crawl down from the pyre. These were not real animals but the last of the vampire's evil essence trying to escape. But the soldier fought them all back into the fire with his sword and after a few hours only ashes remained. He scattered those ashes to the wind in the four directions and returned home to the family farm. Carefully he poured the blood over the wounds the vampire had given his sister and almost immediately the color returned to her cheeks. After just one day she was as lively and happy as ever and you could celebrate weddings like you had never celebrated before in that village!

The soldier and the vampire

Ghost story from Missouri, USA.

Ghost story from Missouri, USA.

In the deep woods around the Ozark Mountains, there once lived an old woman who was said to be the best witch in the area. Old Betty was no beauty with her crooked nose, streaky hair and different colored eyes (one green and one yellow) but there wasn't an ailment she couldn't cure. So you went to Betty when no medication helped, regardless of whether you thought she was creepy or not.

For a very long time Betty lived alone in her dilapidated cabin, but then she was suddenly visited by a giant boar who started rummaging through her garbage. Betty was happy for the company and let the pig stay. She named him "Raw Head" because he was so hideously ugly. Raw Head followed Betty everywhere she went, even into town where she went shopping once a week. Some people could also swear they saw Raw Head walking around on his hind legs sometimes. Who knows what Betty could make the pig do with her magic.

But one day Betty came to town alone. People whispered and wondered where Raw Head had gone. The grocer, who always bought Betty's homemade medicines, wondered too.
"Where is Raw Head today?" he asked.
"I haven't seen him today," muttered Betty. “I'm getting worried. If anyone in town sees him, tell him to go home at once!”
"I will," promised the grocer.

When old Betty got home to her dingy cottage, she mixed up a strange concoction and poured it out on a plate.
"Where has the old pig gone?" she asked the mourner. In the mysterious liquid, a series of images began to form and Betty watched closely. First she got to see a sloth for hunters who lived around the next mountain bend. She probably knew that he used to round up pigs that weren't his and take them home to his own cabin. But this time she could see that Raw Head was one of them. All the pigs were taken to Hog-Scald Hollow, a small valley where pigs used to be slaughtered. And that now became Raw Head's fate. He was hanged and turned into chops along with all the other pigs.
Then Betty could see how the hunter threw the bloody bones into a big pile in the woods and headed home with the pieces of meat.

Old Betty seethed with rage when she now learned Raw Head's fate. Everyone in the area knew that Raw Head was her pig and of course the hunter knew that too. But that hadn't exactly bothered him in his bloody deed. And it would now cost him dearly. Old Betty mostly practiced white magic for people's benefit and protection. But she could probably conjure black magic just as well. Now she picked out an old moldy book she gets from her grandmother once upon a time and flipped to the very last page. She lit several candles and placed them around the plate of mourning that showed Raw Head's remains in the pile of bones. Then she began to read: “Raw Head and Bloody Legs. Raw Head and Bloody Legs!” So she went on until suddenly a bolt of lightning came rushing up from the plate, out the window and straight through the hill to the slaughterhouse. There the lightning struck Raw Head's head, which was at the top of a pile of other pig heads.

Immediately the head opened its eyes and shouted, "Bloody Legs, get up and dance with you!" All of Raw Head's bones grew back together and stood up. The head jumped up onto its cervical vertebrae and began to look around for suitable weapons to use against the hunter. In the forest, he borrowed the teeth of a dying cougar, the claws of a dead bear, and the tail of a rotting raccoon. He stuck his teeth into his skull, put his claws on his hooves and put his tail on his head (because he thought it looked cool). So Raw Head and Bloody Bones trotted off towards the hunter's cabin. When he got there, the hunter wasn't home, but he went into the barn and jumped into the loft to wait.

When it got dark the hunter came home and went into the barn to put the horse in. Hearing a strange grunt from the loft, he looked up, but could only make out something faintly in the foam.
All he could see were two large eyes staring at him. The hunter thought it was some kids playing a joke on him so he joked back.
"Cross in all my days, such big eyes you have! What do you have them for?” he asked.
"To see your grave with!" grunted Raw Head.
"Ha! Very funny!" laughed the hunter, moving closer to get a better look. Now he saw both the eyes and the claws.
"Cross my fingers, what big claws you have! What do you have them for?” asked the hunter.
"To dig your grave with!" grunted Raw Head.
Then the hunter got to see the raccoon's tail.
"Cross my fingers, what a tail! What do you have it for?” he wondered.
"To brush over your grave with!" growled Raw Head and jumped out of the loft.

The hunter had never seen anything so terrifying in his entire life and he threw himself out of the barn in terror. He had intended to rush into his cabin and lock himself in, but before he reached the stairs Raw Head was upon him. He stared at the monster's yellow eyes, bloody stinking legs, raccoon tail, claws and sharp teeth in the ugly pig head.
"Cross all my teeth, such sharp teeth you have! What do you have them for?” peep the hunter.
"To eat you with, as you wanted to eat me!" laughed Raw Head so that it echoed far above the mountains. Then the people of the Ozarks heard such a bloodcurdling scream that no one has ever heard anything worse before or since!

It was several days before anyone ventured up to the hunter's cabin to see what had happened. But no trace of him was found at all - he had completely disappeared. However, people started talking about another gruesome thing they had seen. Raw Head had returned to old Betty, but now he was just a skeleton smeared with dried blood. Just like before, he rummaged through her garbage, but now he no longer followed Betty into town, and all the townspeople were grateful for that. But once a month, at full moon, Raw Head could be seen riding the hunter's horse through town with his hideous head held high in one clawed paw!

Short Ghost Stories