{"id":535,"date":"2011-10-20T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/2011\/10\/20\/halloween-nights-pt-2-ghosts-of-the-cave\/"},"modified":"2018-11-04T18:16:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-04T18:16:11","slug":"halloween-nights-pt-2-ghosts-of-the-cave-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/2011\/10\/20\/halloween-nights-pt-2-ghosts-of-the-cave-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween Nights Pt. 2 &#8211; Ghosts of the Cave"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\">\n<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.halloweenghoststories.com\/index.html\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/39\/Ghost_Cave,_Pictograph_Park,_Billings,_Montana.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(Click this picture for Halloween ghost stories*)<\/span><\/div>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">I love how&#8230;innocent this picture is. The cave entrance you see is for Ghost Cave. I fell in love with the picture before I learned the name of the cave, so when I did learn the name, I had to laugh at the irony. It&#8217;s the kind of cave I imagine for the story below.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll admit straight up &#8211; this story IS GRUESOME. It&#8217;s my most disgusting work of writing, but the idea behind it intrigues me. Either way, it&#8217;s the story Stephen tells. Don&#8217;t say I didn&#8217;t warn you.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"color: orange;\">____________________________________________________<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: orange;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">It was a dark and stormy night, and my pals and I were gathered around the campfire telling stories. It was just the five of us: Sam, Caleb, Johnny, Rob and me. Rain fell in torrents, and thunder shook the ground we sat on. We had found shelter from the storm in a cave, and we\u2019d gone so far in that lightning no longer brightened our view. And as I said, we were telling stories \u2013 the kind of ghost stories full of gruesome tortures.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">It was Sam\u2019s turn, and he had us near frightened out of our wits.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\u201cHe didn\u2019t notice until it was too late,\u201d Sam said. \u201cThe demon\u2019s icy fingers grabbed hold of his scrawny neck, twisting with all their might, \u2018til suddenly\u2026SNAP!!!\u2026his head fell down, sagging like a yoyo. The monster ripped open the man\u2019s neck and drank from the sweet juice that seeped out.\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">Maybe it was lucky for me that Sam got no further, for it was then that we heard the piercing scream. It came from somewhere deep in the cave, but a huge boom of thunder interrupted and silenced it. Sam of course went silent as well, and I don\u2019t blame him.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">We just sat around the fire for a few seconds, looking at each other and wondering what we had heard. We knew for sure we hadn\u2019t heard wrong though. It was not thunder. The sound was spooky\u2026in a creepy sort of way. We might have put the sound in the back of our minds if not for what happened next.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">All of a sudden two rows of bright, white human-like ghost things trailed out from the depths of the cave. I can\u2019t describe them any better because I don\u2019t know what they were. There were twelve of them \u2013 I actually counted. They had bald, white heads with human parts at least: mouth, ears, nose and eyes.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">Their eyes were solid black, but it felt like they were staring straight at us. They had hands and clawed fingers but lacked legs or feet of any sort. Instead, their bodies flowed down like drapes or curtains blowing in the wind. As terrified as my friends and I were, we lacked the courage to run, or to do anything for that matter. We remained seated in fright.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">The ghost things circled around us. We never should have let them do that, but we did. They closed in around us while we watched. Then, one grabbed Rob by the neck. And as Rob kicked and screamed, the beast opened its wide mouth and bit deep into the back of Rob\u2019s head, killing him. This broke these monsters\u2019 silent hold on us as our terror turned into panic.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">Johnny ran further into the cave, three ghost-beasts following him. I don\u2019t know what came of him, but I know it wasn\u2019t good.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">I think Caleb had lost his mind. He ran to the fire, picked up a burning branch, and started swinging it all around him. The ghosts didn\u2019t care in the least bit. A few jumped on Caleb and started devouring him. I couldn\u2019t watch any longer; his screams were unbearable.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">Instead, I ran. And ran. And ran. Some of the things pursued me, but they couldn\u2019t catch me. One clawed at me, tearing deep into my skin. I bled badly, no doubt, but I kept running.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">When I had found the cave\u2019s entrance, I rushed out and saw they didn\u2019t follow. They tried alright, but something stopped them. The cuts from the one ghost stung so bad I could hardly see. Drops of rain felt like daggers stabbing my flesh, and when the pain became too much, I fell. The last thing I remember is a flash of lightning striking the mountain.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 150%;\">I awoke the next morning to find Sam, safe as ever, standing over me. Nobody else made it out.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;\">* * *<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\u201cThat\u2019s so gruesome!\u201d Megan said.<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\u201cOf course it is,\u201d Stephen said, \u201cit\u2019s supposed to be. What\u2019s the fun in Halloween if the stories aren\u2019t even spooky?\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\u201cThey don\u2019t have to be gruesome to be spooky,\u201d Megan said. \u201cTell him Jeffrey.\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\u201cYou tell him,\u201d Jeff laughed. \u201cLet\u2019s hear your story and we can decide if spooky equals gruesome.\u201d<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;\">\u201cOkay, I will,\u201d Megan said, and she launched into the story of<o:p><\/o:p><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.25in;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;\">*<a href=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/39\/Ghost_Cave,_Pictograph_Park,_Billings,_Montana.jpg\">Image<\/a> from Wikipedia.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Click this picture for Halloween ghost stories*) I love how&#8230;innocent this picture is. The cave entrance you see is for Ghost Cave. I fell in love with the picture before I learned the name of the cave, so when I did learn the name, I had to laugh at the irony. It&#8217;s the kind of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,11,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-halloween","7":"category-holidays","8":"category-my-writing","9":"category-uncategorized","10":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tdspeirs.com\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}