That Night at Grandpa's (And Other Scary Stories)

The Barnyard Ghoul

Growing up on a farm was lots of fun, especially when you had to be on the lookout for the barnyard ghoul. Ghosts could be seen through; ghouls could not. Ghouls also cast a shadow. Well, at least most of the time that's all you'd ever see. One night, I touched one.

We saw the barnyard ghoul a lot during harvest time. It'd run across the top of the silage pile, peek out of the corn crib, stand motionless in the hayloft, sit at the top of the corn elevator, or climb the outside of the silo. This made playing hide and seek quite thrilling. You never knew if it was your cousin or the ghoul. Sometimes you could get away if you pretended to be the ghoul. But, somehow, you could always tell when it really was the ghoul. Something about the deep black eyes, the eerie sense of its presence, its extended fingers, and the way it moved.

It is hard to describe how it moved, but you'd know it when you'd see it. Without effort, it'd stride into other shadows and disappear, which left you with the sensation that you just cheated death. It seemed to feed of your surprise and wonder-turn-to-fear. The barnyard ghoul had never hurt anybody. There is a first time for everything, and I was the one to find out.

I nearly jumped out of the feeding area when Frank screamed at the top of his voice. I ran to him. His pitchfork stuck clean through his foot. Blood ran down the side of his shoe.

"What happened?"

"I think it was the ghoul!"

"How do you know?"

"I turned to climb the silo to toss down some more ..." Frank could hardly breathe. The tine stuck stiff into the boards below. It wasn't going to come out easy. "When I reached for the ladder, there it was. Just before it leaped up the silo, it stabbed me with the pitchfork!"

"It is still up there!"

"Go get him!"

"No way! Don't we need to get you to the hospital!"

"Quick, go get my brother."

I left Frank there and went to find my other cousin. What would I tell him. I saw a shadow on the outside of the silo. It was dancing around the rim. It is the ghoul! It jumped, but I could not tell where it landed.

I now ran to find my cousin. Where is he? He had to be in the far barn. I ran around the corner of the corn crib only to be knocked down by something black. It was the ghoul! I surprised it as much as it did me and it oozed its way inside the crib. I don't know why, but I chased after it. I tumbled inside of the crib and as it ran up the mountain of corn, I caught it by the leg and pulled. It hissed at me and my hands felt strangely hot, so I let go. My hands dripped of something and smelled horrible. The ghoul's shadow disappeared over the top of the corn pile and out the top of the crib.

"Kent, is that you? Git outta there!"

It was my cousin, Hoddy, Frank's older brother.

"Frank's hurt! He has a pitchfork stuck through his foot!" He took off running toward the silo. I ran behind rubbing my hands onto my pants as I went.

When we got to Frank, he was coming out of the barn, latching the door, and walking just fine. "Are you okay? Kent said you stuck your foot"

"Nope. "I'm alright. See?" Frank's shoe did not even have a hole in it! I looked at it and was just about to take it off when the both of them busted up laughing at me.

"You should have seen your face!"

"Your foot was stuck into the floor boards!"

"Come here." Frank took me back to the scene of the crime and the shoe with the hole and blood.

"It was a joke?"

"Yep."

"What about the silage coming down on me?"

"Climb up and see."

"No way!"

"I'll go first."

We climbed to the top of the silo. Inside were my two brothers. One of them shoveled a fork full of silage and the other was walking around the top.

"Hey, Kent! I jumped off the top of a forty-foot silo and live to tell about it!"

"How?"

"I jumped down on the inside."

We all laughed together then. It was pretty funny.

"I want to do that too!" Just then, the supper bell rang from the house.

"Let's get some supper!"

I was the first one down and ran to the house. Halfway through the meal, Frank told my mom and aunt what happened. They had a good laugh too.

"That ghoul story has sure gotten a lot of mileage," my Aunt Marie said.

"So, who did I chase inside the corn crib?"

Everyone stopped laughing, but then started up again.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. I ran into someone that knocked me down and he took off into the corn crib. I chased him then caught him by the leg, but then let go when it hissed at me."

Everyone looked at each other. That eerie feeling came.

"Well, it wasn't me," said Hoddy.

"Me either," my two brothers chimed in.

"Well, it wasn't me. I was still stuck to the floorboards," Frank said then chuckled.

"And don't look at me," said Aunt Marie.

I could never figure out what the looks on their faces meant. Do they know, or don't they?

I was glad to get a hot shower that night, but the smell from my hands stayed with me a long, long time.