My favourite ghost story is one you're probably never heard of, as it's specific to the area of my hometown of Stephenville, Newfoundland. It's a variation on "The Hook" horror story of the killer chasing a couple of canoodling kids on a dark highway. Campers love to tell it at Camp Ashanti, the old Boy Scout camp, gathered around the fire, or while trying to sleep in their bunks on a cold and snowy evening.
In the lake besides the camp lives The Webber. It's a creature with webbed feet and long, claw-like-fingers. People say it was once a human, born with a hideous deformity and abandoned to live in the wilderness. It has grown hateful and insane during its long isolation, and so when humans stay in the camp near its home, sometimes it creeps up out of the lake to take revenge. It sneaks up to the cabins and murders unwary campers while they sleep.
There are variations of course, about where the monster comes from and how it kills. Some storytellers like to add embellishments like it leaving wet, webbed footprints on the cabin deck or floors, or scratching at the doors and windows with its claws. Particularly creative (or cruel) older campers will sometimes sneak around the back of the cabin while someone is telling the story to younger campers, and then tap on the windows and walls to see how far the kids will jump.
I'm pretty sure the story started in the 70s and 80s, inspired by popular slasher films of the time. I had thought the story was particular to my corner of the island, but in recent years I've learned that it's spread to other parts of Newfoundland as well. It's still used to scare kids at summer camps around the province. I may have to use The Webber as inspiration for a Gale Harbour book one of these days.
Oh, and if the question literally meant a "classic" ghost story, then I vote for A Christmas Carol.
Hugs & kisses,
-CDGK
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11 comments:
A Christmas Carol is a great choice and one I can handle. Creature Lake is definitely too scary for me.
Never heard of the Webber. That is a fun one for scaring campers.
Several have chosen A Christmas Carol today.
The Webber sounds like it needs a new big budget movie.
Webber seems like a cool monster in my imagination. Wonder how AI could make a scaring generated image of it!
I love this story, told over the campfire, in the oral tradition. Does the webber use a Weber grill?
Okay, you found a ghost story I can handle :D As for those scary camp stories, I think there are variations everywhere. I remember my older cousins scaring the living snot out of me with a tale about a 50-foot tall gorilla that ripped people apart. That may be where my dislike of horror comes from.
What I find scary about The Christmas Carol is that the ghosts remind us of misdeeds we would prefer not to remember.
As for scary stories: My fav spooky tales are chicken-skin tales about urban stories of night marchers, and of Madame Pele, the volcano goddess, who appeared along the roadside when people were in need.
https://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com
Ooh, I hadn't heard of this before, so fun to find out about a very specific Newfoundland cryptid!
I LOVE the Muppet Christmas Carol. I always sing along "Marley and Marley..."
A Christmas Carol was my choice too! And I love creepy campfire tales. My favorite of those is the one about the ghostly hitchhiker.
That is a cool and scary urban legend you got in your neck of the woods.
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