Little Spook of Spook Hall

Little Spook of Spook Hall

long ago a happy family of ghosts

lived in a haunted house in the middle of a dark wood. The name of their house was Spook Hall. Nearby were a few cottages and a church. It was the quietest and loneliest village in the land.

There were four ghosts in the family-Mummy and Daddy Spook, Little Spook and old Granny Groan.

Granny Groan spent her time knitting cobweb socks for the family, while Mummy cooked goblin pies. But Daddy slept all day until the owls woke him at midnight, when it was time for him to go to work.

Then he glided through the walls and, boarding his phantom coach which was pulled by a team of four horses, he hurried off to the crossroads. There he stood shrieking and rattling his chains all night. His coach-driver, a headless skeleton who wore a top hat, was named Mr Bones.

Little Spook said to his mother one day, “Mummy, when can I go haunting like Daddy? It would be such fun to stand at the crossroads and scream.”

But Mummy replied, “You’re far too young, dear. Why, you don’t even know how to scream properly yet. Now eat up your goblin pie like a good little ghost.”

“In my young days nobody ever went haunting until they were at least ten years old,” grumbled Granny Groan. And she went on knitting lots and lots of cobweb socks.

That night Little Spook sat in front of his bedroom mirror in his white night shirt trying very hard to scream like a grown-up ghost. But he could only manage a tiny, stifled squeal. “ Oh dear, I don’t think I’ll ever become a proper ghost,” he said to himself. And he decided to ask his friends for help.

The next day he visited Hoot the owl, who lived in the church tower. “Um, I see your problem, Little Spook,” said Hoot. “Perhaps if I hoot it might help you to scream. I’ll be over at Spook Hall tonight, so we can try then.”

Next, Spook asked Karloff the monster cat, who was kind-hearted but very ugly, to come and meaow and howl. “Sure,” said Karloff, “I’ll see you tonight. My yowls are bound to help.”

Then he set off to find Monty the invisible mouse. No-one actually ever saw Monty - but you always knew when he was around because he wore tiny Wellington boots which made a dreadful noise as he ran along the floorboards. “Yes, I’ll come too,” said Monty, “and I’ll do my squeak— I’ve got the loudest squeak in the world.”

That night they all met at the big tree in the grounds of Spook Hall. Hoot too-whooed, Karloff yowled, and Monty squeaked and thumped. But poor Little Spook could only make a funny little gurgling sound as he tried in vain to scream.

They made so much noise that all the neighbours woke up and complained.

The next morning the landlord arrived at Spook Hall and ordered everyone out of the house. “This is a quiet neighbourhood,” he said. “We can’t have all this noise. You’ll all have to go.” So all the family-except Little Spook and his friends who hid in the attic - drove off in the phantom coach.

“Boohoo,” cried Mummy Spook. “What’s to become of my Little Spook, left all alone. Poor little ghost, he’s too young even to scream.”

Not long afterwards Mr Gubbins, a new tenant, arrived at the Hall. “I’ll try the place for just one night, and if I like it I’ll stay,” he told the landlord. But he did not wait until morning to make up his mind. Because when he sat down in the armchair he woke Karloff, and the monster cat scratched him viciously.

“Help!” yelled Mr Gubbins, as he ran out of the house. “It’s a vampire cat.” He ran into the garden out of the front gate and was never seen again.

The next day the landlord brought in old Mr and Mrs Gammett. “We’ll give the place a try for one night and if we like it we’ll stay,” they said. Just as the clock struck midnight Monty bit Mrs Gammett’s toe.

“Help! Help!” screamed the Gammetts. “The house is haunted.” They rushed out of doors in their night-shirts and were never seen again.

The next person to arrive at Spook Hall was a very fat man named Mr Blob. “I’ll try sleeping here just this once,” said Mr Blob, and if I like it I’ll stay.” That night Mr Blob went to bed and was soon snoring very loudly. The sound of his snoring got louder and louder until the whole house was shaking. Poor Little Spook and his friends became so annoyed that they decided to wake him up.

First they pinched him and tickled his toes. Then Karloff the cat hid under the bed and yowled, while Monty the mouse jumped up and down on the eiderdown in his big, heavy boots. But still Mr Blob just went on snoring. Even when Hoot the owl dropped a clock on his head, Mr Blob just carried on snoring.

Just then two of Little Spook’s special friends arrived - Boris and Bertie, the Bat Brothers who lived in the church belfry. They pulled Mr Blob’s whiskers and tangled his hair, but even they could not wake him.

Finally, Little Spook decided to look into the first-aid cabinet for some sticking plaster to cover up Mr Blob’s mouth. But, instead, he discovered a large box of pills marked: ‘SCREAMING PILLS’. And in smaller letters underneath was printed For ghosts with sore throats-take only one at a time’. Little Spook swallowed a pill, and then suddenly, he gave out a squeak.

Then, taking a second pill, he discovered he could squeal. And when he swallowed a third pill and opened his mouth, he screamed at the top of his voice right into Mr Blob’s ear.

It was the loudest scream anyone at Spook Hall had ever heard. It was so loud that it brought down the ceiling and broke all the windows. It blew Mr Blob and his bed right out of the window and sent him flying through the air. The scream chased the bed over the church tower, above the tallest trees and higher and higher into the sky. Up it soared until it finally landed on the moon, but Mr Blob still just snored and snored.

Then the scream turned round and made for home, blowing the village policeman off his bicycle and knocking down all the chimneys. It rushed through the windows of Spook Hall like a whirlwind, hurried up the stairs, through all the bedrooms, out of a window, across the battlements, then fell deep down into the dungeons and was never heard again.

“Hooray,” said Hoot the owl and all the others. “Nobody will ever want to sleep in Spook Hall after this.” And nobody ever did.

So the Spook family moved back into Spook Hall, arriving by the phantom coach. That night, as the clock struck one, they held a house-warming party to celebrate their relurn. There was a huge goblin pie to eat and lots of moonbeam wine to drink. And they all began to dance. The Bat Brothers flitted through the air, Monty the invisible mouse jumped up and down on the floor in his Wellington boots, Karloff the cat yowled and yowled, Hoot the owl hooted, Mr Bones played a tune on his ribs, Granny Groan clicked her knitting needles and groaned happily, Mummy Spook cried joyfully, and Daddy Spook shrieked and rattled his chains.

But the loudest shrieks of all came from Little Spook_ for he had learned to scream at last. And while everyone else danced and sang, Little Spook just screamed and screamed for joy. He was the happiest ghost in the land.