Ghost Stories for Kids

From LoveToKnow Paranormal

The paranormal is considered taboo by most cultures around the world, but ghost stories for kids offer a way to change this common misconception. Adults who believe that paranormal phenomenon is something real, but nothing to fear, can use funny ghost stories to teach children that ghosts and spiritual matters aren't scary. The following story is an example of the sort of tale you can tell children in order to remove the spooky stigma from concepts like ghosts and hauntings.

Scary Stories for Kids

Ghost Stories for Kids: The Rapping in the Attic

One day, Judy and Henry were playing baseball in the deserted street just outside of Henry's house. Judy and Henry lived next door to one another, and played together often. The dead end street often made an ideal playground. Just across the road from Henry's house was an old abandoned home. The house had a menacing feel, with half of the windows cracked and broken from both age and vandalism. The front porch sat broken and slanted, and the door itself appeared to simply hang on its hinges, partially opened to reveal a tiny slice of the unimaginable darkness inside. Although it was an eyesore, and a menacing building to look at, both Judy and Henry had grown accustomed to the building. They'd learned to avoid it, both because their parents warned them to, and because going inside the building was an idea that neither of them were willing to entertain.

The Accident

On this particular evening, just as dusk was approaching, Judy and Henry stood on opposite sides of the road. They were having a baseball throwing competition, throwing the baseball as high in the air as possible, while the other person would catch it. If they couldn't catch the ball before it hit the street, the thrower scored a point.

Judy was a better catcher than Henry, so she'd easily racked up seven points to his four. Frustrated and determined to make her miss, Henry wound up his arm and started to launch the ball. In the middle of his throw, Henry stepped forward and his foot caught a rock on the pavement. He stumbled as he launched the baseball far up into the twilight sky; instead of shooting straight up, it sailed horizontally across the road, over the weed-strewn front yard and directly through the glass of a second story window of the old abandoned home.

A Difficult Decision

Judy turned around and faced Henry with a look of horror on her face.

"Oh no, what are we gonna do?" Judy held her glove up over her mouth, her eyes wide with panic. Henry was standing with his hands hanging to his sides, staring up at the gaping hole in the second story window and his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Henry! What do we do now?" Judy put her hands on her hips, frustrated with Henry's lack of response. Finally, Henry's eyes dropped from the window to Judy's face.

"I don't know. That's the ball my dad gave me when I was little, it's my favorite baseball," Henry responded as tears welled up in his eyes. He struggled to maintain his composure, but the thought of losing one of his most prized possessions was almost more than he could bear.

"I guess...I mean, I think we better get it then," Judy responded, trying to sound as brave as possible, even though the thought of entering the building, which she'd dreaded her entire childhood, brought goose bumps up and down her arms.

"Yeah...I...I guess so," Henry agreed. Neither of them would admit to the other how horrified they were with the idea of entering the darkness beyond that front door.

Mission Accomplished?

The moment Judy pushed the front door open and they both stepped beyond the threshold, the pungent aroma of some kind of dead rodent and the stench of animal feces struck them both like a hot wind.

"Aw god...it's horrible!" Judy cried.

"Yuck...it smells like something totally died," Henry squinted in the darkness. A hallway led straight from the front door to another open doorway that led to the kitchen. Another dark doorway to their right led to an empty room with shuttered windows, where shadows danced in every corner. Both children looked up the dusty staircase. Judy immediately started up the staircase, but the moment her foot touched the first step, they heard a sound from above them...rap, rap, rap.

"What was that?" Judy asked.

"I don't know, but it's coming from upstairs. Let's just get the ball and get out," Henry replied.

As they raced up the stairs and reached the second floor landing, they heard it again, but louder this time. RAP, RAP, RAP.

Henry found his ball at the base of the hallway window.

The Rapping, the Trunk and the Horror

RAP, RAP, RAP.

Being children, and terribly curious now, they saw the narrow staircase leading to the attic, and decided to find out what the rapping noise was. Cautiously, they crept up the staircase, opened the attic door and entered the dark attic. Lit only by a large window at one end, the attic was completely empty except for a single trunk in the middle of the attic floor.

RAP, RAP, RAP.

The sound was clearly coming from inside the trunk. Both children walked carefully to the trunk. It was made of dark, aged wood, and it wasn't locked. Whatever was inside could easily escape if it wanted to.

RAP, RAP, RAP.

Henry and Judy looked at each other with horror. But curiosity would not allow them to leave. They each grasped one corner of the trunk lid, and bracing themselves, slowly opened the old trunk lid to reveal...

Wrapping paper.