Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? As the weather cools and the sky darkens earlier and earlier, we all are reminded of that cold chill that follows the night wind.
Everyone remembers that one ghost story that got them as a kid; the hook hanging from the car door handle, the twin girls in the Overlook hotel, the calls coming from inside the house! These tales all feature ghastly horrors ripped straight from your nightmares, but what if one of them had a history? What if you knew the people these ghosts had been before they began haunting. Would that make these stories any less horrific?
This week in Second Saturday Stories we answer that question with the latest chapter of The Wraith. Set 40 years after Lucinda Hessen became The Butcher of Oak Patch, the story finds three teens breaking into the institution where Lucinda lived out her final days. The amateur ghost hunters are seeking fame, accolades, but most of all proof of the unexplained by capturing evidence of The Butcher’s ghost.
Merfey Davis, Esther Sanderson, and Clark Matthews have been friends since summer camp, but with the teens heading off to college in the fall they have started growing apart. Merfey wants to stay close, at least to Esther, as they go off to school. Convinced that one last ghost hunt might bring Merfey closer to his crush, he’s incensed when Clark decides to tag along.
As the three navigate the derelict building it will soon become clear that not everyone is there for the same reason, and that danger lurks just beyond the beam of their flashlight.
Readers will learn that just because we know the ghost, doesn’t make her any less terrifying. Read Chapter 6: Ancient Darkness later today at 3pm.
Before you dive into, catch up on the whole story below.
