I've been researching some of the stories that I had found before, mainly the myths and legends. The ones I chose to research were Cormoran the Cornish Giant, The Witch of Wookey Hole, Legend of the Wrekin, The Black Annis and The Mermaid of Zennor. All of which are from English folklore.
I liked this story but I don't feel that it's appropriate for children and there's no way that I can make it appropriate for children. Plus it's not scary and gripping enough.
I thought that The Witch of Wookey Hole would n't really appeal to children and is more for adults, I loved the Legend of the Wrekin and would make a good story for children but it's not scary, the Black Annis was a good story to scare the children but maybe a little much and would have to dull it down a bit, maybe cut some bits out for example the tanning of childrens skins, this would be too graphic. And then finally The Mermaid of Zennor, this I feel definitely wouldn't appeal to children and if it did I don't think that boys would be interested.
I feel that with these sorts of things the whole point of them is knowing the locations that they are set, which the majority of children wouldn't and so if I was to use one I would have to adapt it in that way too.
I've decided to take a new approach and search for 'scary campfire stories for children'. This is what I came up with...
Creak
"Creak", a sound, faint, distant, but still heard.
"Crack", something snapping, or being trampled on.
The man sits in his room, reading. The room is silent except for the quiet fire burning.
"Creak"..Just the the house settling, nothing more.
"Crack", Perhaps some small animals outdoors.
"Whoosh", Was that the wind?
The man stands up and peeks out the window. A clear night is all he sees, the full moon brillent in the sky. Laughing at his nervousness, he returns to his book.
"Creak", the man now silently chuckles at the sound.
"Crack", how could he have been scared of some sounds.
"Whoosh", must be breezy out tonight.
"Thump"...did that come from within the house?
The man stares into the fire, trying to calm his jangled nerves.
"Creak"...
"Crack"...
"Whoosh"...will the sounds never cease?
"Thump"..."Thump"..."Thump"...
Closer, he thinks, the sounds are getting closer. He shuts the book and closes his eyes, and thinks of something besides his wild imagination.
"Creak"
"Thump"
"Crack"
"Thump"
"Whoosh"
"Thump"..."Thump"..."Thump"...a pause? The man moves quietly, slowly, towards the door with a nervous gait. "Thump"...a step back..."Thump"...yes, it's getting closer. "Thump"...he stares at the door, trying to somehow see through it..."Thump"...he reaches slowly for the doorknob, hand shaking, no longer able to take not knowing..."Creak", a loose floorboard, near the door outside..."Thump", he slowly opens the door...
"A scream"
...silence...
I quite like the way this is set out and the build up of it but I'm not too keen on the ending, I feel that it end too suddenly and is quite a weak ending. It's like telling a crazy story and then ending it with 'and then I woke up and it was all a dream'. Maybe the character could open the door and it could be someone he knows so that the audience is kept in suspense throughout and made to feel scared but in the end finds out that actually there was nothing to be scared of. Or maybe something more could happen when he opens the door rather than a scream followed by silence. Or a conclusion like 'if you ever hear the creaks, cracks, whooshes or thumps, beware of the (make a name up) monster, him may just be waiting outside your door.'
Much to the displeasure of our parents, we liked hanging out in the old barn. The barn was situated toward the back of the house and was a dilapidated, crumbling building that we were forbidden to enter.
My brother and I usually went there at night and with our flashlights we would enter the barn through a side door that hung precariously on its last corroded hinge. It appeared ready to collapse at the tiniest provocation, so holding our breath and very careful to avoid touching anything, we would squeeze through the tiny opening to the inside.
Scattered randomly throughout the interior were rusting farming implements, rakes, a scythe and numerous long-forgotten other tools that no longer resembled anything useful. All of the items appeared dangerous and capable of serious damage if they were mishandled or if careless passage caused contact with fragile skin. We kept our distance and tried to remain clear of these things, finding our usual seats in the center of the room on the old hay bales left there.
The barn itself was pretty spooky and in the darkness, the outlines of the objects and decaying contents resembled the skeletons of the dead, but my brother and I liked it. We would go there and share spooky stories and get ourselves so frightened, we'd barely find our balance to get back out the decrepit barn door as we would literally be shaking in our boots.
But the loft was the most sinister part of the barn. It was dark as pitch and the ladder leading up to it had years ago crumbled into an unusable heap of kindling that lie uselessly on the barn floor. The few remaining steps appeared in tact at the top, but at ground level the decaying rungs appeared through the murkiness to be the gaping holes of a skeleton's dislodged teeth.
We never went up to the loft and could only imagine its contents: huge spiders covered with coarse hair and menacing fangs. Their enormous eyes watched and waited for anyone who dared to ascend the rotting ladder to the elevated platform. Other than our mental images of the spiders, we had no idea what was in the loft.
One night, we were in the barn sitting on the floor talking. During pauses in our conversation, we listened to the mournful groans of the old structure slowly yet very audibly decaying. Why this caused us such fascination is unknown to me, but we were thoroughly enjoying the spooky, musty ambience that was the old barn.
My brother was telling his favorite ghost story for the hundredth time in low, hushed tones. I was enthralled by the tale as my brother was very good at making any story sound terrifying beyond belief.
Just when the story hit its scariest point, a scraping noise began to emanate from the loft. At first we thought it was our over active imaginations. But the soft sound grew in intensity as we listened, almost as if the originator had waited to ensure it's audience was paying attention.
Scraaaaape. Screeeeeech. Scraaaaape.
Then for a second, the only sound we could hear was our heartbeats pounding wildly in our ears. We stared at each other with wild eyes, lids locked wide open, almost bulging.
A chill ran down my spine. I grabbed my brother's hand and held it to me. I couldn't imagine what could be causing the sound and in terror, I whispered loudly, "Michael!"
At that, my brother shifted position and leaped over to sit beside me. He shook loose my grip and wrapped his arms around me, covering my mouth with one of his hands. "Shhh," he whispered, very quietly.
Screeeeech. Scraappppe.
It was a metallic sound, hollow and ominous.
Michael grabbed my hand and pulled me with him as he jumped up and ran for the door. We held our breaths as we squeezed through the passageway, careful to keep from touching the sides. We escape the barn and ran out into the night using all of our might to keep from screaming.
We made it to the backyard and stopped, bending over and holding our sides, chests heaving. We gained our composure before we stepped onto the porch and opened the screen door. Mom was there and said, "Time for dinner kids!"
"I'm glad you're here," she continued, "a man escaped from jail tonight and the police are on the lookout. You kids should stay inside. Guess the guy was a terrible, evil person. Murdered five people before he got caught."
We half listened as we pulled out our chairs to sit down.
"Shouldn't be hard to find, though. He had a metal hook for a hand. Gotta be pretty easy to find a fellow like that.
"Did you kids wash your hands?"
This story was very long but worth reading. There's a lot of description which I think lengthens it, but this is good for if I was going to use it as it very vividly puts an image in my head to know what the setting would look like. I like this story as although it's scary, no one gets hurts or anything which would be great for younger children. I can imagine a parent or grandparent telling their children/grandchildren this story. Of course again I would have to alter how the story is told but only so that it suits being animated and being told through animation. I may contact the writer and ask for permission to maybe use it.
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