What child hasn’t been entertained by good old Spooky Stories? Sitting around the campfire or fire pit, as most do nowadays, was a great setting to feel spooked. Someone would have a tall tale to tell and get their audience engaged with wild imaginations.

This one has been told for years in one form or another. Here is one version, and when you hear it be sure to pass on this story a gathering of friends to spook them out!

THE TOWN GRAVEYARD
A group of teenagers were walking home one night, each of them staring down at their shoes but not really paying attention to much of anything. The fact was, they lived in a small town and it had been another boring day in the boring town.

Things had gotten so bad that they didn’t even talk that much anymore because there wasn’t anything new to talk about.

That is, until they happened to pass the town graveyard.

The ringleader of their little group saw an opportunity for something interesting to happen (finally), so he made a sudden turn down the dirt road that lead into the graveyard.

The rest of them followed, half reluctantly and half excitedly. The graveyard had been founded by the mysterious first settlers of the town and was an old, spooky place full of crooked tombstones and moss covered trees. It was definitely terrifying to be there after dark, but at least it wasn’t boring.

THE DARE AND THE KNIFE
As they passed the cemetery gate the twisted trees started to block out most of the moonlight and it gave the air a thick, eerie look.

“Oooooooo,” said the ringleader boy in a fake ghost voice and waving his hands in the air, “whoooooo’s scared? I bet you are… VICTORIA!” He yelled the last word and jumped out at a girl who had been looking around nervously.

She screamed and the rest of the group laughed (mainly because they were happy it wasn’t them that got scared). If it wasn’t so dark out they would have seen her face turning bright red in embarrassment. “Oh stop being so stupid,” she said trying to compose herself so everyone would stop laughing.

“Who’s stupid?” said the boy smirking, “at least I’m not afraid of some old piles of dirt.”

“I’m not afraid!” she said a bit too loudly and made a point of walking near a grave.

“I wouldn’t get too close,” said the boy, “if you stand on a grave after dark a hand will come up from the dirt and grab… YOUR FOOT!” he yelled and pointed at her left foot.

Of course, she immediately screamed and jumped away from the grave. The whole group around her burst out into hysterical laughter.

This was too much for Victoria to bear. “You’re full of it,” she said, gathering up her courage and walking over to the grave. She made herself stand on top if it, “See, nothing. Who’s the stupid one now?”

“Oh no you don’t,” said the boy, “you wouldn’t be so brave if we weren’t all here to save you if something took hold of your foot.” He then handed her something and said “Here.”

“A knife?” she said, “Oh so what, I’m supposed to be stabbing zombies now?”

“No. We,” said the boy pointing to himself and the rest of the group, “are going to finish walking home. And if you’re not too chicken then you can stand on the grave properly, by yourself, and then stick that knife in the grave to prove that you actually did it.”

“Fine, whatever,” said Victoria. She had meant to sound tough but as usual it just came out weak. She watched as the group turned around and walked down the dirt path towards the gate, they were all giggling.

HEART BEATING FAST
“Victoria!” whispered somebody from the back of the group, “Just forget it and come on.” It was a girl’s voice, so it was probably her friend Rakisha.

“No, I’m tired of him and his fake stories,” said Victoria and she made a big point of folding her arms and sitting down on the grave.

She listened to the footsteps and was hoping to hear her friend coming back to drag her off, but no such luck. Soon the footsteps completely faded away, leaving her with only the eerie rustling of the dry grass to listen to.

Victoriasat there shivering on the grave, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as she became extra sensitive the every little noise around her.

How long would she need to stay there to prove she wasn’t afraid? Every second that passed seemed to make her heart beat harder and harder.

She heard a thud from somewhere behind her and practically jumped out of her skin, and at that she decided she couldn’t wait any longer. Plus …had the ground beneath her moved a bit? Just thinking about the ground moving made her heart practically pound out of her chest and she could barely breathe. With shaking hands she unfolded the knife as fast as she could manage and then stabbed the blade straight into the dirt below.

But when she got up to walk off she realized with a sickening sense of horror that she couldn’t walk. Something had hold of her left foot!

“Help! Help it’s got me!” she yelled while trying desperately to pull her leg free, but it only tripped her up and made her fall down onto the grave. She thrashed and screamed but it was no use, something had hold of her foot. Then everything went dead silent.

AT THE GRAVE
The next day at school word got around that Victoria hadn’t come home the night before. The kids from the group all looked at each other guiltily, and then snuck out of class as soon as they got the chance.

They headed to the graveyard, once again not talking, but this time for a different reason. Each one of them was thinking about what they might find there.

And as they walked up to the grave their worst fears were realized. There she was in front of the tombstone, dead but with eyes open and a horror struck look on her face.

Down by her right foot was the knife, still sticking through the corner of her jeans and into the ground.

You see, in her hurry to get away she had stabbed the knife right through the corner of her jeans by her foot and into the dirt. It wasn’t something from the grave that had gotten a hold of her, it was only the knife.

She had been so scared though that she simply couldn’t think clearly enough to set herself free …and had died of terror.