Haunted Christmas
A spooky Wisconsin ghost story
retold by S.E. Schlosser
The soft thud of following footsteps echoed behind him as he hurried through the snowflakes toward home. They kept pace with him, quickening when he quickened and slowing when he slowed. It was creepy. His flesh crawled at the sound and he sped up, cursing himself for walking home alone from the midnight Christmas Mass.
Normally not a pious man, the middle-aged bachelor had suddenly been struck by a wish to hear the old Christmas songs sung once again by a church choir, and had walked across town to attend the service. Now he regretted his choice, as he passed dark house after dark house in the snowy night, and the footsteps ever followed.
He sped up until he was nearly running, and skidded into his street. A few more paces brought him to the bottom of his front steps, and as he dashed up them, he realized suddenly that the following footsteps had ceased abruptly. He glanced behind him at the cross-street from which he had just turned and saw only one pair of footprints in the snow-covered street when there should have been two. He frowned in puzzlement, and then shuddered as a cold breeze struck him, driving snow against his collar, and slammed against the door. Almost, it seemed to pass through the door, but that was superstitious nonsense. His hand was shaking as he unlocked the front door and hurried inside.
He expected darkness, but was delighted to see the yellow glow of firelight coming from his study doorway upstairs. His old housekeeper, whom he thought firmly asleep in her attic bedroom, must have lit the fire pending his return. He shrugged out of his coat and paused for a moment, amazed to find it still warm and dry, though he had walked for more than a mile through a snow-storm. It was almost as if he’d been walking in a bubble of calm air, though he remembered the soft snowflakes hitting his face when he first stepped out of church. Before the mysterious footsteps began…
His shudder was interrupted by a shout of greeting as his old friend Andy came hurrying out of the study. His whole face lit up in a grin at the unexpected surprise. The two men shook hands heartily and retreated back to the warmth of the firelight, talking so fast they stumbled over each other’s words. Andy had left town years ago to take a government job in D.C., and they hadn’t seen each other since.
Nearly an hour passed before it occurred to him that his guest might be hungry. His offer of a meal was instantly accepted, but Andy was unwilling to leave the comfort of the fire to eat in the kitchen, so he jogged downstairs alone to fetch some food. He didn’t wonder at his friend’s reluctance to join him in the kitchen. Andy had looked very pale and had kept shivering with cold while they talked. He hoped his friend wasn’t ailing for anything.
A few moments later he was back with warmed up meat and potatoes and a couple of glasses of beer, apologizing profusely as he handed Andy a plate, for the mismatched dinnerware. Andy just laughed and hunkered down to eat. When they were both finished, he showed his friend to a guest room and then tumbled into his own bed to sleep, all his apprehension caused by mysterious footsteps forgotten in the visit of his friend.
He jumped out of bed Christmas morning and dashed immediately downstairs to the guest room to rouse his friend. Andy wasn’t there, and the bed had not been slept in. That was odd. He ran down to look in the study, but Andy wasn’t there either, and one plate full of food was sitting on the end-table beside his old friend’s chair. It was completely untouched, though he’d seen Andy eating from it the night before! Skin creeping at the thought, he ran to the kitchen and asked his housekeeper if she’d seen Andy. But the housekeeper had seen no one either the previous night or this morning. He flopped down on the bottom step of the staircase, completely baffled. Where had Andy gone? It was a mystery that plagued him all Christmas Day, and he did not enjoy his holiday dinner at all, a fact that annoyed his housekeeper.
He was awakened the next morning from a restless sleep by the sound of the front door bell. He stumbled out of bed and was splashing water from the bedside pitcher onto his sleepy eyes when a knock came at his bedroom door. When he answered, his housekeeper handed him a telegram that had just arrived. As she hurried back downstairs to prepare his breakfast, he opened it curiously, not knowing who would be telegraphing him so urgently.
As he read the telegram, he started to tremble. The message was short and to the point: Andy’s family regretted to inform him that his old friend Andy had passed away on Christmas Eve in his home in Washington D.C. He sat down hard on the bed, the telegram fluttering away from his hand. It must have been Andy who had followed him home on Christmas Eve. That would explain the eerie footsteps and the dry coat in the middle of the snow storm. He’d spent Christmas Eve with a ghost!
You can read more Wisconsin ghost stories in Spooky Wisconsin, by S.E. Schlosser.
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Comments
hey hector this is a really cool story about american folklore creepy storys. hope you enjoy hahahahahahah
Posted by: hector | September 20, 2008 10:55 PM
haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Posted by: sara | October 5, 2008 08:54 AM
that was the wackest story i ever heard.hope you enjoyed my comment.muahhhhh.
Posted by: arshad siddiqui | October 5, 2008 03:00 PM
great story........................................................................................................................
Posted by: Anonymous | October 6, 2008 12:29 PM
nice
Posted by: erika | October 6, 2008 08:21 PM
cool
Posted by: Anonymous | October 7, 2008 10:16 AM
that didnt makje any sence
Posted by: Anonymous | October 7, 2008 01:12 PM
coool story im making my own
Posted by: Anonymous | October 7, 2008 06:38 PM
cool story..........................boooooooooo
Posted by: shaun-d | October 8, 2008 11:32 AM
good story.i enjoyed.go u.bye
Posted by: mary | October 10, 2008 06:47 AM
scary
Posted by: Anonymous | October 11, 2008 05:54 PM
that did not make any sense...but it was all right.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 11, 2008 09:56 PM
My daughter said that was completely whack!!!!!! Booooooooooooooooooo!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2008 07:12 PM
borring
Posted by: azariah e | October 12, 2008 08:51 PM
this story is not very scary!!!!!!!!! but maybe u liked it
:):):)
Posted by: Em27 | October 14, 2008 08:53 AM
it was ok:)
Posted by: bug6 | October 14, 2008 08:54 AM
i didnt really like this story. It was boring.
Posted by: taylor | October 14, 2008 08:57 AM
This is the best book ever
Posted by: zechariah larson | October 14, 2008 08:58 AM
omg
Posted by: Anonymous | October 14, 2008 03:49 PM
didnt make sense
Posted by: idkkkkkkkkkk | October 17, 2008 09:57 AM
wow
Posted by: Anonymous | October 20, 2008 11:12 AM
Good i guess
Posted by: Anonomus | October 20, 2008 11:54 AM
That didnt make sensee.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 21, 2008 04:28 PM
i liket it a lot boooooooooooooooooooo
aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh
Posted by: danielle | October 22, 2008 08:57 PM
oh!hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Posted by: gayu | October 23, 2008 05:27 AM
beware chrismas can be a scary thing if you are alone
Posted by: angela .m. serrano | October 23, 2008 06:23 AM
boring
Posted by: Anonymous | October 27, 2008 09:49 AM
COOL COOL COOL BERY BERY COOL!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 28, 2008 06:29 PM
I liked the story alot!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 29, 2008 01:04 PM
iT ISNT THAT SCARY
Posted by: Rachel McCarry | October 31, 2008 03:22 PM
THAT STORY WAS WACK
Posted by: asia | November 2, 2008 09:13 PM
i dont think personally for me that it was that scary?? but meh. you might have enjoed it i liked the one under scary storys called "no tres pasing". !! its a really good story and im going to read it for ym campers m an intructor an im going to scare the likkle kids there but losts of supernatural things have happened in our camp!!
BOO!! scary aye?
xx.
toffee<3
Posted by: toffee | November 3, 2008 04:27 AM
thanks for helping with my english prep
Posted by: pia hitchcox | November 6, 2008 05:48 PM
sweet
Posted by: Tabitha Sullivan | November 14, 2008 10:19 AM
THAT IS COOL
Posted by: FRANKIE | November 18, 2008 07:42 PM
it was scary jkjkjkjkjkjkjkjk. i hope that dont happen to me on chrismas
Posted by: mary brown | November 21, 2008 09:57 PM
u are so wack dude boo hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahaha mahaha
Posted by: Anonymous | December 3, 2008 02:26 PM
this was very scrary but sad at the end
Posted by: nijahre | December 10, 2008 02:38 PM
man dis stuff was wack
Posted by: brittany | December 10, 2008 02:39 PM
cool its not scary ive seen and read way scarier! Any way email me world!!!!!!!
Posted by: Chrissyp7@gmail.com | December 10, 2008 03:40 PM
I guess it was good. Next time can you try to make it a little more scary
Posted by: Anonymous | December 10, 2008 04:38 PM
amazing storie
Posted by: TANIA | December 15, 2008 06:56 PM
heard of it but it is still awsome dude
Posted by: linzie | December 15, 2008 08:07 PM
boring dont like it
Posted by: sarah | December 17, 2008 07:21 PM
Good story. Nice Ending.
Posted by: Peter LeBrun | December 31, 2008 01:58 AM
freaky...........
Posted by: Rebecca | January 2, 2009 08:55 AM
it was okayyy-ish...really confusing....kinda boring....yeeeahah ive read better. sorry
Posted by: danielle (: | January 2, 2009 05:00 PM
UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..............good??????
Posted by: Sarah | January 15, 2009 09:40 PM
i was there next store t sware this is real its not funny
Posted by: Danielle Aguirre | January 30, 2009 11:29 PM
I love this story too!!!
Posted by: Yazmine | February 22, 2009 12:08 AM
it is so boring
Posted by: Anonymous | February 23, 2009 02:14 PM
I liked that story. It's kinda sweet that his friend didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. Sad that it was on Christmas though.
Posted by: Holly | March 11, 2009 04:31 AM
i loved the story so good it was amazing
Posted by: lilly | March 22, 2009 10:36 AM
yes good story but did guess it the mate was a ghost....
Posted by: Anonymous | March 28, 2009 04:29 PM
it was a really scary storie
Posted by: Anonymous | April 3, 2009 10:53 PM
wow great story kinda creepy but really great
Posted by: Saarrah | April 4, 2009 08:28 PM
I liked it. He he he. At least he didn't spend christmas with a mean ghost!
Posted by: Anonymous | April 12, 2009 11:21 AM
mm... luv it.
Posted by: Reherlert | April 16, 2009 05:11 AM
I luv this story
Posted by: Kelsey | April 21, 2009 09:19 AM
*** all da peope that say thiz story aint good cuz its bad ***:)
Posted by: chelsey | April 23, 2009 02:17 PM
OMG!!!!!! This story was the bomb. Wasn't that scary though, just really creepy. I couldtn imagine that happeneing to me! That would like crazy!!!!! But idk...=]
Posted by: casey | April 24, 2009 11:13 AM
awww thats actually quite sad and not scary, though
Posted by: morgan | May 9, 2009 02:09 PM
You rock
Posted by: Eden | May 14, 2009 09:38 AM
OMG not scary at all. but it was a little bit scary at the beginning and the middle part.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 24, 2009 02:52 AM
it was scary for real.
Posted by: Alisia | May 24, 2009 01:47 PM
cool
Posted by: Anonymous | June 2, 2009 02:19 PM
creepy........ i hate clowns
Posted by: Amber Erwin | June 11, 2009 03:27 PM
its so creepy
Posted by: michelle | June 15, 2009 07:00 PM
It wasn't that good but it was kinda scary
Posted by: Cynthia | June 18, 2009 06:33 PM
this is a nice oneeee,,,,!!!
Posted by: mayurakshi | June 28, 2009 02:01 AM
man yall need to lightin up and give the boy some props for even makin the story
Posted by: Anonymous | August 21, 2009 10:25 AM
Badly need your help. So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
I am from Equatorial and too bad know English, give please true I wrote the following sentence: "Madonna lay with reggie lucas, who responded the reliable while john benitez brought the date shorts and luxury means, gant chart excel."
With respect ;-), Hateya.
Posted by: Hateya | September 5, 2009 07:45 AM
I just wanted to say, well done guys! Lovely!.
I am from Cyprus and now teach English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "Loss rising katie holmes."
Thank you very much :-(. Ridgley.
Posted by: Ridgley | September 8, 2009 02:25 PM
this is so boring
Posted by: simone moore | October 20, 2009 02:21 AM
OMG THIS STORY DONT MAKE SENSE MAN WHO EVER MADE THIS CHANCE IT COZ IT MAKE'S NO SENSE OK W***T**F
Posted by: rosie | October 31, 2009 09:14 AM
could'nt do better,great job.:)
Posted by: Anonymous | December 14, 2009 06:47 PM
great job.I give that two thumbs up.BRAVO.
Posted by: grim reaper | December 14, 2009 06:49 PM
I read the first sentence and got bored...yawn
Posted by: bloodymaryexpert | December 17, 2009 04:12 PM
freaky
Posted by: emma | January 16, 2010 10:10 PM
dafdsfd
Posted by: xdsds | February 7, 2010 07:51 PM
uhhh wow. this story was creepy but didnt make sense. why was his coat dry even though he was in a snow storm ? what does it have to do with the ghost ?
Posted by: jazmine(: | March 4, 2010 10:07 PM
that wasnt scary it was sweet his friend came to say good bye after he died i liked it
Posted by: Magnus | April 24, 2010 11:26 PM
Not scary but very good its sad that he died on christmas eve though...
Posted by: OMG! | April 28, 2010 07:22 PM
this was so not scary
Posted by: sharna | May 16, 2010 02:10 AM
hey !!! dis was a great story !!! i totally got it and it was lovely too !!! it was lovely because he spent his christmas with his friend dats nice !!!!!!
Posted by: megan rose | June 28, 2010 05:26 PM
that didnt really make sense but it was kinda scary...good job :)
Posted by: hailey | July 25, 2010 02:55 PM
friends forever til death do us part....inspiring story this is ....=)
Posted by: chim | August 7, 2010 06:40 AM
whoa tht was scary my big sis got scared half to death!! >:D thank for the stories make more scary ones 1,000,000% scary >:D im evil aren't i hehehe!
Posted by: ashley | October 1, 2010 06:23 PM
thats pretty weird but it was good
Posted by: cheyenne | October 26, 2010 09:44 AM
THX for sharing.
Posted by: facial cleanser best | October 27, 2010 07:23 PM
that was SO scary. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: rebecca | October 30, 2010 11:49 AM
that was quit scary when i read it it made me not want to look behind me. i always stay in my corrner of my bed
Posted by: Anonymous | November 10, 2010 06:46 PM
omg that story was so freaky! awesome!!
Posted by: Hailey | November 18, 2010 05:14 PM
it gave me goose bumps
Posted by: teresa wilt | December 17, 2010 08:56 AM
NICE.!
Posted by: Anonymous | January 7, 2011 12:52 PM
cooooooollll
Posted by: perry | January 13, 2011 07:43 PM
I have too admit,that was pretty creapy.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 17, 2011 03:06 PM
POOR ANDY I FEEL BAD FOR HIM
Posted by: BELLA | January 29, 2011 11:17 AM
so scary
Posted by: Anonymous | February 2, 2011 09:21 PM
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
thats scary
Posted by: morgan | February 11, 2011 11:22 AM
creapy i read it to my cuzin she was crying its kinda sad too
Posted by: felisha | February 13, 2011 10:09 AM
that was scary
Posted by: emily | March 1, 2011 09:23 PM
O.K. story...
It was pretty creepy!
Posted by: McLiney15 | March 5, 2011 08:33 PM
scary
Posted by: Anonymous | March 17, 2011 01:29 PM
iT WAS FANTASTIC!
Posted by: Anonymous | April 8, 2011 11:17 PM
So sad for Andy..This story is amazing!!!
Posted by: emcee | April 14, 2011 06:36 PM
Its a ghost story people, its not going to make sense. If you want to be fastidious about every thing that you read than go flip through a dictionary and try to make rude little comments about that.
Posted by: Holly | June 18, 2011 12:52 PM
That story was beyond awesome
Posted by: maya | July 10, 2011 11:06 AM