RangerDanger
New Member
(kinda long)
This is not a ghost story, but about them.
I alluded to this in another post. One of my fondest childhood menories was when, on family group camping trips, older cousins or uncles would tell scray ghost/monster stories around the campfire.
Scared the living daylights out of us kids, but we felt relatively safe cause we were with grown-ups.
Over the years and hundreds of campouts, I have repaid the favor, often to groups I'd meet while camping. I always ask permission from parents/troop leaders.
I'd start by letting the kids tell stories. Often they had no begining or end and were pretty lame (what do you expect from a 10-year old, Bram Stoker?).
Then I'd let the other adults tell some. These were better and sometimes quite good.
But not as good as mine.
One of my favorites:
>I camped out a lot in the same canyon, up in the mountains. And I started a story about The Phantom.
It was a story about a group of religious zealots who used to live in that same area way back in the 1800's. They lived there for 20 years, keeping to themselves, the only time they were seen was when they ventured into town for supplies.
When the gov't decalred those mountains a National Forest, the group was told they had to leave.
Most did without incident.
But not their leader.
A bearded tall gaunt man with a deep vioce and pentrating eyes, he insisted God gave him that land. He wasn't leaving.
Forest Service personel repeatedly asked him to leave, then gave him a court order which he ignored.
Finally, when this guy strated raiding campers for food, the Forest Service sent in a posse to forcibly remove him.
They searched and searched and they finally found him.
Well, most of him.
They found his body--but his head was missing!
And it's said, to this day, he still roams these canyons looking for his head. You could always tell when he was around because he glowed this strange green color.
And to-night is the 150th anniversary when they discovered they found his headless corpse.<
All fabricated by yours truly.
Sometimes I'd take it a step further. Like I'd excuse myself to take a leak and I'd bring out one of those green "break and shake" light sticks. I'd suspend it in the brush from a string so it would sway in the breeze.
Now the trap was set, all I needed was victims.
I'd go back into camp all wide-eyed and acting scared.
"What's up with you?" they'd ask.
"Oh man you guys I just saw something really weird."
"What?"
"I was taking a leak and I saw this weird green light moving around."
"Sure sure" they'd say. "No way" "Bogus". "What a bunch of bull".
"Listen you guys come out and see for yourself. Maybe it was an optical illusion or something. I sure hope so, I'd hate to meet the Phantom to-night of all nights."
They'd follow me and I'd purposely direst their attention in the other direction. They looked, didn't see anything and were about to head back.
"Told ya" they'd say.
Then I yelled "LOOK OUT" and pointed to the green light.
Scientists tell us that nothing can exceed the speed of light, but the kids got close, the ones that didn't freeze into stone from pure fear. And they'd scream like girls.
I told this story to hundreds of kids over 3 decades, and I knew it had achieved legendary status when I would hear campers/hikers ask me "have you ever heard about The Phantom?"
Heh heh.
This is not a ghost story, but about them.
I alluded to this in another post. One of my fondest childhood menories was when, on family group camping trips, older cousins or uncles would tell scray ghost/monster stories around the campfire.
Scared the living daylights out of us kids, but we felt relatively safe cause we were with grown-ups.
Over the years and hundreds of campouts, I have repaid the favor, often to groups I'd meet while camping. I always ask permission from parents/troop leaders.
I'd start by letting the kids tell stories. Often they had no begining or end and were pretty lame (what do you expect from a 10-year old, Bram Stoker?).
Then I'd let the other adults tell some. These were better and sometimes quite good.
But not as good as mine.
One of my favorites:
>I camped out a lot in the same canyon, up in the mountains. And I started a story about The Phantom.
It was a story about a group of religious zealots who used to live in that same area way back in the 1800's. They lived there for 20 years, keeping to themselves, the only time they were seen was when they ventured into town for supplies.
When the gov't decalred those mountains a National Forest, the group was told they had to leave.
Most did without incident.
But not their leader.
A bearded tall gaunt man with a deep vioce and pentrating eyes, he insisted God gave him that land. He wasn't leaving.
Forest Service personel repeatedly asked him to leave, then gave him a court order which he ignored.
Finally, when this guy strated raiding campers for food, the Forest Service sent in a posse to forcibly remove him.
They searched and searched and they finally found him.
Well, most of him.
They found his body--but his head was missing!
And it's said, to this day, he still roams these canyons looking for his head. You could always tell when he was around because he glowed this strange green color.
And to-night is the 150th anniversary when they discovered they found his headless corpse.<
All fabricated by yours truly.
Sometimes I'd take it a step further. Like I'd excuse myself to take a leak and I'd bring out one of those green "break and shake" light sticks. I'd suspend it in the brush from a string so it would sway in the breeze.
Now the trap was set, all I needed was victims.
I'd go back into camp all wide-eyed and acting scared.
"What's up with you?" they'd ask.
"Oh man you guys I just saw something really weird."
"What?"
"I was taking a leak and I saw this weird green light moving around."
"Sure sure" they'd say. "No way" "Bogus". "What a bunch of bull".
"Listen you guys come out and see for yourself. Maybe it was an optical illusion or something. I sure hope so, I'd hate to meet the Phantom to-night of all nights."
They'd follow me and I'd purposely direst their attention in the other direction. They looked, didn't see anything and were about to head back.
"Told ya" they'd say.
Then I yelled "LOOK OUT" and pointed to the green light.
Scientists tell us that nothing can exceed the speed of light, but the kids got close, the ones that didn't freeze into stone from pure fear. And they'd scream like girls.
I told this story to hundreds of kids over 3 decades, and I knew it had achieved legendary status when I would hear campers/hikers ask me "have you ever heard about The Phantom?"
Heh heh.
