Who's afraid of ghosts? Not you! Or maybe you are a little, just like a lot of kids. But there's more to ghosts than meets the eye, as these fun ghost stories for kids tell. So cuddle up under a blanket with your favorite loved one, dim the lights, and share these fear-free and fun ghostly tales.
Grandpa Willie and the Ghost Cookies
by Karen Frazier
With his sparkling blue eyes
And a billowy grey beardGrandpa Willie checks out
Stories he's heard
Of invisible things
That go bump in the night.
Grandpa Willie hunts ghosts
That give kids a fright.
One night Willie's phone rang
As he sipped on some tea.
Little Rocky was calling.
He was making a plea.
"Come help me," he said.
"There are ghosts about"
At a place called Wellington
"Please help me out."
Grandpa Willie sprang
To action right away
He donned his bowler hat
And he boarded a train.
Up to Wellington he went
With little Rocky in tow
To meet with the ghosts
That put on such a show.
The night was pitch black
There was no one about
The silence was deafening
And it creeped Rocky out.
Suddenly a loud bang
Rang out in the night
A voice whispered, "Help me!"
It gave them a fright.
The darkness extended
As far as they could see,
No person was there
Who could whisper, "Help me."
Oddly enough
Vanilla scented the air
But Rocky could see
There was nobody there.
"Oh! She baked cookies!
"Grandpa Willie said with glee, "She baked cookies for you. "She baked cookies for me!"
"Who baked them?" Rocky asked.
He was very confused.
He didn't see any cookies.
He was not amused.
Grandpa Willie persisted
With a smile on his face.
"Have a cookie," he said
As he nibbled with grace.
Rocky held out his hand
He didn't know what to say.
"No!" Willie corrected, "She has them on a tray!"
As they ate the cookies
That no one could see
Rocky couldn't help but wonder
About strange Grandpa Willie.
Could he taste the cookies?
There was nobody there.
When Rocky ate his cookie,
He tasted nothing but air.
Grandpa Willie, however,
Chewed with delight.
A rapt smile filled his face
With every bite.
And when he was done,
Willie brushed away crumbs
And gave a courtly bow
To the invisible one.
"Thanks for the cookie,
"He said doffing his hat.
"It's the only one I've eaten
"That won't make me fat."
With that, Willie turned
And walked quickly away
From the invisible ghost
With the cookies on a tray.
Rocky followed, confused.
He hadn't tasted a thing
Grandpa Willie'd lost his mind!
He must be joking.
"What was that?" Rocky asked
As he followed Willie out,
"Did you really taste something?
"What was that about?"
Willie smiled and replied
With a twinkle in his eye,
"Silly boy, it had no taste."
And Little Rocky asked, "Why?"
"Why did you taste it?
"Were you playing a trick?"
Why pretend to eat it?"
What is this schtick?"
Willie's answer was simple;
His point was easy to see.
"I always treat others,"
The way I wish they'd treat me."
"The ghost baked some cookies"
For us to enjoy"
So I ate them and thanked her.
"It wasn't a ploy."
Grandpa Willie continued
With a smile on his face,
"It's simple politeness.
"It's simple good grace."
"People and ghosts"
All want the same thing.
"They want kindness and friendship
"They have feelings."
Little Rocky nodded
He finally understood
Grandpa Willie treated ghosts
As kindly as he could.
Although they seemed scary
Ghosts were people too,
And thanks to Grandpa Willie
Rocky knew it was true.
Ghost-Be-Gone
by Karen Frazier
Ryder never wanted to go to bed. His room was dark at night, and mysterious shadows appeared on the wall. He was sure that ghosts lived in his closet and monsters under his bed, and every night he pulled his covers up over his head so the creatures in his room couldn't get to him while he slept.
His room was great in the day, though! Ryder loved to spend daylight time there playing with his toy train set, gaming, and reading his favorite books. As the lights went down, however, the room changed. Rustles sounded from his closet and a voice whispered from underneath his bed.
One day, Ryder was in his room playing a game on his computer when something strange appeared on his screen that he had never seen before. A figure approached him in the game, holding a bottle of something its hand. The figure called him by name.
"Psst, Ryder," it whispered. Ryder was startled and sure he'd heard wrong.
"Psst Ryder!" the figure said more insistently. "Over here! I'm talking to you!"
"What do you want?" Ryder asked.
"I hear you have a specific...problem. One of a....ghostly nature perhaps?"
Ryder looked around to see if maybe his brother was nearby messing with him, but there was no one in his room but him and his computer.
"Y-y-yesss..." Ryder said.
"I can help!" the figure exclaimed, thrusting the spray bottle to the front of Ryder's screen. On the bottle was a label that said Ghost-Be-Gone. "Try this!"
Ryder was both interested and confused. "It sounds perfect," he said. "But how can I use a spray from a computer game to make ghosts go away?"
"Turn around!" the figure told him, pointing behind Ryder to his bed.
Ryder turned and was shocked to see a spray bottle labeled Ghost-Be-Gone on his bed. When he turned back to the screen, the figure had disappeared. Ryder would have thought he'd imagined everything, if not for the spray bottle that was still on his bed.
Ryder grabbed the bottle, opened it, and gave it a cautious sniff. It smelled like water.
Ryder was skeptical, but as darkness fell, the shuffling started in his closet. Deciding he had nothing to lose, Ryder grabbed the spray bottle, stuck it around the closet door, and gave three quick spritzes. The shuffling stopped.
Next, whispers emerged from under Ryder's bed, but he was ready! He closed his eyes, thrust the bottle under the bed, and sprayed. The whispers stopped. That night, before he went to bed, Ryder sprayed the Ghost-Be-Gone around his room, in his closet, and under his bed. It was the first time he was able to sleep with his head above his covers.
Ryder's ghosts never came back, and he has the bottle of Ghost-Be-Gone that he uses until this day. No matter how often he uses it or how much he sprays, it always remains full and ready to protect Ryder from all things that go bump in the night.
The Night the Toys Come to Life
by Karen Frazier
Tucked in her bed on Halloween night
Alex opened her eyes and had a terrible fright.
All her toys were were dancing around the room
There were dolls leaping, dinosaurs roaring, and cars going zoom!
And in the middle of it all danced her elephant, Fred.
Who usually slept beside her when Alex went to bed.
He was laughing and twirling and waving his trunk,
Then leaping in the air and coming down..kerplunk!
"Who's there? What's happening?" Alex squeaked out with fear,
"Who's making you dance? What's going on here?"
After she asked, a light in the closet turned on
And a high, cheerful voice started humming a song.
Then a friendly face peeked from behind the door
Put a finger to its lips and pointed at the floor
Where Fred twirled and jumped and trumpeted with glee.
Said the friendly face, "They're dancing for me!" "Who are you?" Alex asked, and she felt less fear
For the one in the closet was filled with good cheer. "I'm April, I live here, I hope I did not offend."
Your toys are so fun, but what I really want is a friend.
"Alex smiled and nodded. April laughed with joy.
For friends are more special than the coolest of toys.
As for Alex's parents, they can't see April there.
They say she's "imaginary" but Alex doesn't care.
She loves playing with April as her toys come to life
They whisper secrets and stories and laugh together 'til they cry.
Best friends are special, you love them the most.
And Alex is happy that her best friend's a ghost.
The Rapping in the Attic
By Ryan Dube
One day, Judy and Henry were playing baseball in the deserted street just outside of Henry's house. They lived next door to one another and played together often; their dead-end street 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 was broken and slanted, and the door itself hung loosely from 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 it. 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 was willing to entertain.
One particular evening, just as dusk was approaching, Judy and Henry stood on opposite sides of the road. They were having a baseball throwing competition, tossing the baseball as high in the air as possible, and the other person had to 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 the next throw, Henry wound up his arm and started to launch the ball. In the middle of his throw, he stepped forward and his foot caught a rock on the pavement. He stumbled as he launched the baseball far up into the twilight sky, but 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 in the old, abandoned home.
Judy turned around and faced Henry with a look of horror. "Oh no, what are we gonna do?" She covered her mouth with her glove, and her eyes were wide with panic. Henry stood with his hands hanging by his sides as he stared up at the gaping hole in the second-story window. He opened his mouth in disbelief.
"Henry! What do we do now?" Judy put her hands on her hips, frustrated by his lack of response. Finally, he dropped his gaze from the window to settle on 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 with tears welling 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 said, trying to sound as brave as possible even though the thought of entering the house, something 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 terrified they were over the idea of entering the darkness beyond that front door.
The moment Judy pushed the front door open and stepped beyond the threshold, a pungent aroma of some kind of dead rodent and the stench of animal feces struck them like a hot wind. "Awe 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 for the staircase, but the moment her foot touched the first step, they heard a sound 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, only this time it was louder. RAP, RAP, RAP.
Henry spotted his ball at the base of the hallway window.
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 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 as both children approached it carefully. 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.
Ghost Stories for Kids
It's fun to share ghost stories that are silly or spooky. Whether you're gathered around the campfire with your friends and family, or you want to tell your friends a fun tale, these kids' ghost stories will keep everyone entertained.
