Ghost Stories

Introduction Ghost stories is the book I am going to talk about. It deals with several short scary and intriguing stories but I am going to talk about only two. The ones that I like most, which are “Smee” and “The Judge´s House”.

The Judge´s House It was April, and John Moore, who was a student, was going to do a very important exam soon, so he decided to go to a quiet place where he could study better. John spent the first night at a hotel but it was quite noisy so he thought that renting a house was the best thing because there nobody will disturb him. John found a house that was exactly what he was looking for. This house was really quiet and lonely; it was also old and outdated. But it was perfect for John, so he went to talk to the state agent to rent the house.

The man was surprised and also really happy that someone was interested in the house. What happened was that this house had been empty for so long that it has formed a prejudice about it, and any villager wanted to know anything about this house. The state agent was so happy when john told him that he wanted to rent the house because he thought that maybe if the people see that the house is inhabited again they would cease to be afraid about the house.

Later, John went to talk with a very kind woman who was going to help him, and when he told her where he was going to stay, the women got shocked. Then she told John that staying there was the worst thing that he could do because some years ago a judge from the village had lived there and one day the people found him inside the house hanged. John didn´t believe this story and didn´t care about what people had told him. John should have listened what people were telling to him because a few days later they found her in the same conditions as the judge, hanged.

Smee It was Christmas Eve and Tony Jackson was having a good dinner with all of his friends. When they finished the dinner they wanted to play Hide and Seek. Eveybody, except Tony Jackson. And he suggested to play Smee, but without him. It was uncommon that Tony refused to play a game, so one of his friends asked him why he wouldn`t play neither Hide and Seek, nor Smee.

Tony told them that he wouldn´t play Hide and Seek, because ten years ago a girl who was playing Hide and Seek, had broken her neck, when she was going to hide in a room, then she fall down stairs and died instantaneouslly. But that wasn´t the worst thing, Tony told his friends that five years ago, in Christmas eve too Tony was having dinner with some friends and an unknown cold and pale girl. After dinner they wanted to play something. So that, one of them, Reggie, suggested to play Smee. Almost nobody knew what it was like. So Reggie explained the rules. He said that first of all someone should count all the players and have a sheet of paper for each one and just in one paper must be writen the word “Smee”. Then the papers had to be mixed and everyone should take a paper, and the person who had the paper with the word “Smee”, should hide somewhere nobody could found her or him, but if the paper was in blank, he or she should try to find Smee. The two most impotant rules were that all the game should be played with no lights and that Smee musn´t answer to the other players if he or she was Smee.

After Reggie told them all the rules, all agreed. So Reggie started to count all the players, they were thirteen including him. Then they made the papers and everyone took one. So the lights went off and the game started. After some minutes someone shouted that he had found Smee, then the others arrived and Jack started to count all. Thirteen! He said, and then screamed: but at the beginning of the game I counted twelve! Everybody was surprised whith the counting, when suddenly a loud scream listened, was violet Sangston, who said that she had had an uncomfortable something in the air, and a cold finger seemed to touch them all.

After, they decided to play again Smee, even although nobody was enjoying the game. The play started again and everybody were searching for Smee. Tony was so bored so he decided to get out the others who were looking for Smee, and went to the first floor, then he found a window with window-seats, where he could sit, when suddenly he felt a pair of knees and then he touched a woman´s arm, so he whispered: Smee? And he had any answer, so he thought he had found Smee. Then he asked Smee for her name, and a whisper said: Brenda Ford. At the moment Tony wasn´t sure who was she, because he had known everyone of the players, except one, of that tall, pale, and dark girl whom saw at the dinner.

He decided to stayed there to wait until someone came there and realized that Smee was there. Then Mrs. Gorman found them and she stayed with them. After some hours came Reggie asking for Tony and Mrs. Gorman, then Tony and Mrs. Gorman told to Reggie that they had found Smee. But Reggie told them that was unsense, because he had been Smee that time.

But Tony and Mrs. Gorman said that they were sure they had found Smee, so Reggie turned on an electric torch and they realized that nobody was there. So they insited. When they went down to the sitting room, Tony saw the pale, dark girl and acussed her for trying to be Smee, but that was false. They were really shocked. After this Jack thought that Tony was in love with Mrs. Gorman so that´s why he invented that silly storie about Smee. But obviously that wasn´t true, so Tony protested that they really had been with someone else called Miss Ford. - Miss who?- Asked Jack Sangston. - Brenda Ford -, said Tony Jackson. - No, no, that´s immposible - said Jack, - why? - asked Tony. So Jack said: Because Brenda Ford was the name of the girl who broke her neck on the stairs, when she was playing hide and seek in that house ten years ago.