Read Coffin Hollow and Other Ghost Tales for Free Online

vehemently that his family was unable to live in the house. Footsteps, groans, and shrieks filled the night with horror. My grandfather thought this was nonsense and said so in no uncertain terms.
    The first night he and his family lived in the house they thought they heard steps in the hallway. Each night the sounds increased in volume until at last no one could sleep unless the gas lights were left burning in the hall. Also, no one could sleep in the bedroom where Clara had once slept because the blankets would not stay on the bed. Grandfather was a stubborn man and determined not to let these strange happenings ruin his investment. He was convinced that there was a logical explanation.
    Several months later, during a hot summer night, a gust of wind blew out all the gas lights. Before anyone could relight them, shuffling steps were heard on the stairs, a loud crash came from the kitchen, and sounds followed as if every dish in the house was being broken. Horrible screams came from one of the bedrooms. Several minutes later grandfather’s sister was found lying on the floor in Clara’s bedroom; her nightgown had been stripped from her body, and great welts — some as big as a thumb — covered her entire torso. She said that she had been beaten with a blacksnake whip.
    Even Yankee thrift could not withstand this incident. Soon afterwards the house was left vacant, and one night it mysteriously burned to the ground.

    12: The Mysterious Music
    Several years ago near the small town of Cottageville an elderly engineer died. The old man had lived in a small house approximately two miles down the track from the town, and it was fairly well concealed by the heavy woods.
    It was said that the old engineer had been very fond of the Christmas season and was always singing carols and buying the smaller children candy. It was also said that he had one possession of which he was really proud — an old phonograph with some old-time records, mostly of Christmas carols.
    In the summer of 1968 the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-road Company took up the tracks outside of Cottageville so they could be put to use elsewhere. After the tracks were removed, hunters found that the track bed provided good access to the thicker parts of the woods. During the track-lifting process, the house where the old man had lived was completely destroyed.
    Two days before Christmas, Bill Johnson was driving out the track bed when he heard what he described as music blowing through the trees. He turned off the motor so he could hear more clearly. When he tried to start the car again, the starter wouldn’t even turn the engine over. Then Bill saw a man walk across the track bed and go into an old house on the other side, and at the same time the music began to grow softer. Then, all of a sudden, the music stopped and at the same moment the house and the man vanished.
    Bill said he was scared to death and knew he had to get out of there. To his relief, now his car started as easily as it ever did. It has been said by elderly neighbors that the old engineer always insisted that any visitor listen to his records. If a person didn’t, the old man considered it an insult.
    The next night thirteen boys in three cars went to the same place Bill had gone. They turned off their motors and had been waiting there for about fifteen minutes when a strange, disturbing type of music became audible. It sounded as if it were coming right through the trees or perhaps out of them. It was just as Bill had described except for the fact that neither the man nor the house appeared to them. But they did hear the music, and none of the cars would start until the music had stopped.
    This happened on the evening before Christmas Day, and it never happened on the nights that followed. Every-thing mysterious stopped when Christmas had passed, but there will be another Christmas, and the boys plan to investigate further.

    13: The Last Lodge of Ravenswood
    During my last