Week 2 Story: The Haunted Forest

The Haunted Forest

Johnny clutched his lunch bag, took a deep breath, and walked into the forest. He checked his watch—three p.m. exactly. "Only 30 minutes... how hard can it be? I don't believe in ghosts anyway," he thought to himself. Behind him, he could hear his classmates laughing. He walked faster to get away from it.

Earlier in the day, Johnny had lost a bet to his number one enemy, the fifth grade class bully. As punishment, he must spend the entirety of recess in the supposedly haunted forest behind the school. Although circumstances surrounding the forest were a little mysterious—countless urban legends detailed disturbed spirits, some of whom could tell the future—Johnny didn't buy any of it. He wanted to show the rest of his class how brave he was, and how stupid they were for still believing all that.

“They’ll see,” he said aloud.

“Who will see?” said a whispery voice.

Johnny stopped in his tracks. Where did that voice come from?

“Hoo hoo hoooo”

Looking up and seeing an owl, Johnny laughed, his breath misting in the cold winter air. “My mind is playing tricks on me,” he thought, shaking his head.

Getting tired of walking, and now sufficiently deep within the forest, Johnny sat down on a weathered-looking rock. Looking back, he could still see the school fence through cracks in the trees. He looked at his watch again—3:08. He had a lot of time left, but not wanting to go any further and risk getting lost, Johnny laid his head on the rock and curled up under his coat for a quick nap.

Twigs cracked in the distance. Opening his eyes, Johnny quickly sat up, realizing he had slept much longer than intended. The time was only 5:45, but the sun set so early in the winter. Looking around, he had no idea which direction would lead him out of the forest, but he did see a bright blood moon shining through the black winter trees.

Johnny remembered with a shiver stories about how the forest became most haunted during the blood moon. After considering his options, he decided he would stay the night in the forest rather than get even more lost on his way out. That would really show them—staying in the haunted forest overnight, alone, and during a blood moon—no one would mess with him again. He made a fire, a skill he recently learned from his dad, and ate an extra sandwich from his lunch bag. Eventually, he fell asleep.

Johnny woke up freezing cold to what sounded like wailing in the distance. He tried to convince himself he was dreaming and covered his head with his coat. The wailing got louder and louder. He began to make out the words a women was lamenting: “my son, my son.” The voice got even closer. Then, it abruptly stopped.

Johnny felt a shiver down his spine. Then a soft footstep directly behind him. He couldn’t move out of fear. Though he felt like screaming, his throat wouldn’t make a sound. The next thing he knew, a hand grabbed his foot and lifted it in the air. He kicked it off, shot to his feet, and looked directly at his attacker: the ghost of a woman wearing an old-fashioned dress and apron. She was holding up a very real-looking knife with a crazed look in her eyes. Johnny swung his lunch bag at her, and she turned and ran away screaming.

After making sure she was gone, Johnny sat back down, breathing heavily. His earlier fearlessness had evaporated, and the night suddenly felt very cold. He made his fire again, and gathered a lot of brush, knowing full well that he would not be able to fall back asleep. After a while, he finally calmed down. He pulled some apple slices from his bag and was about to eat them when he heard a man singing. Not wanting to be caught by surprise, he called out, “who’s there?” but heard no response.

After a few minutes had gone by, a man did appear before Johnny could hide. He asked him for his food. Feeling threatened, Johnny handed it over immediately. The man took the bag, and Johnny realized with a sinking stomach that the man was actually a rotting skeleton. His jacket fell down, and Johnny saw the apple fall undigested through the rib cage. Johnny tried inching away slowly. But after eating the apples, the skeleton said,

“Let’s wrestle. If you beat me, your enemies will respect you forever.”

The next thing Johnny knew, bony hands clawed into his shoulders. His adrenaline kicked in, and all of Johnny's strength poured into defeating his opponent. It appeared the skeleton lost his strength the nearer they were to the fire but was very strong in the dark and when the fire got low.

Though holding his own, Johnny's strength seeped slowly away. The faint light of a coming sunrise appeared in the distance, but he didn’t know if he would live to see it. Then he remembered the pile of brush he had gathered earlier. He kicked it onto the fire and immediately felt its warmth. Suddenly, Johnny was doing a lot better than his opponent, and finally he won the wrestling match.

The sun rose all the way, and looking down Johnny realized that the rock he had been sleeping on had etchings. It was an ancient gravestone. Able to see the schoolyard again, Johnny scrambled out of the forest and back to his house. And the ghost was right—after learning that Johnny had stayed overnight in the forest, everyone in the class knew he was much tougher than the bully. For the rest of his days at school, everyone admired Johnny and no one made fun of him again.

Author's Note

This story is based on "The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost," reset to modern-day. I gave the protagonist a different backstory than going to war, as well as a different perspective on ghosts, to fit this new setting. I also added a few small details to make the story seem a little spookier, like the blood moon. Other than that, I tried to keep most of the details very similar.

Story Source: "The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost," from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913). 

Forest photo from Ben on Unsplash.

Moon photo from Martin Adams on Unsplash.