Muriel
Excerpted from Spooky Oregon
retold by S.E. Schlosser
She climbed the sand dune swiftly, giggling nervously at her daring, as the soft mist of an early evening fog swirled around her. Around her, her friends were scrambling their way through the sand and long grass, heading steadily upward toward the haunted lighthouse on the summit.
When one of Muriel's friends suggested visiting the abandoned lighthouse on top of the ridge between the sea and the harbor, Muriel had felt a pang of warning in her ribs. Folks said that mysterious lights appeared in the darkened windows of the menacing structure, and some swore that moans and shrieks could be heard coming from the top floors of a building in the foggy weather just prior to a storm.
Muriel half-believed the stories, and the idea of visiting the lighthouse made her nervous. Still, her friends wanted to go, and they had persuaded the caretaker to loan them the key for their excursion. So she went with them, in spite of her misgivings. Now they were standing next to the rickety old fence that surrounded the dark sentinel atop the hill. Before them the dilapidated, box-like structure with its creaky, crooked little porch and ominous tall door loomed menacingly in the growing fog. The cracked glass windows of the house looked like black eyes, peering menacingly down upon the eager faces of the young people who dared enter its presence.
Nervously, the group entered the dusty interior of the old lighthouse, staring around the front hallway and up the steep staircase. One or two of the girls giggled and started exploring the old kitchen and the dusty sitting rooms, while the boys peeked into the rickety cellar.
Then Muriel grabbed her boyfriend Harold by the hand and pulled him upstairs. After exploring several rooms, they wandered up to the third floor landing and looked into a tiny room beside the metal staircase that led up to the lantern in the tower. A moment later, their friends joined them and everyone crowded into the small room. One of the boys bum
ped into the wainscoting on the wall by accident, and a piece of it broke off on impact. “This place is falling apart!” he exclaimed in disgust.
Then they saw it. An iron panel gleamed through the gap in the wall. They tapped the iron panel and heard a hollow knocking sound ring through the cupboard. The sound filled Muriel with a sense of foreboding.
“Let’s see if we can move it,” Harold said, and together the two boys removed the iron square, revealing a small crawl-space with a gaping black hole in the bottom of it. Everyone gasped in amazement, and took turns looking down into the dark space. One intrepid lad crawled inside and dropped pebbles down into the hole, but none of them heard them reach the bottom of the pit.
All the hair on Muriel’s arms stood on end as she thought of smugglers crawling up the dark hole and into the uncanny old house. Or pirates stashing their ill-gotten gains in the empty rooms, waiting to load them aboard their ship. Anything or anyone might come through such a hole. Her face flushed with fear and her arms grew cold.
Muriel pulled out her handkerchief with shaking fingers and wiped her suddenly sweaty forehead. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, backing away from the crawl space and starting toward the stairs. No one jeered at her this time. They were all frightened by the black hole inside the dark crawl space.
"Let’s go home,” said one of the other girls. The others were quick to agree. It didn’t take them long to swarm down two flights of creaky worn stairs and out into the foggy dusk. As Muriel stood beside Harold, watching him lock the door to the lighthouse, she reached again for her handkerchief to wipe away the telltale sweat of relief on her face and realized it was gone.
“Harold, I’ve left my handkerchief inside,” she exclaimed. “I’ll go get it and come out the kitchen door.”
"Let me come with you," said Harold, but she shook him off. She was a big girl and didn't need help from a boy! Reluctantly, he let her back into the house. “You don’t have to wait,” she called over her shoulder. “Lock the door and go on. I’ll meet you down the hill.”
She turned and marched up the staircase. Behind her, she heard the door snick shut, and the sound of the key turning. And that’s when she realized she was all alone in the drafty, dark uncanny house. All alone. Dread seized her and turned her legs to jelly. She wanted to run. But what a fool she would look if she returned to the others without her handkerchief. Panting with terror, Muriel forced herself across the little landing and started up the second staircase toward the linen cupboard. She paused once, pulses pounding madly. Was that a thump she heard upstairs?
Don’t be silly, she told herself, forcing her shaking legs up another step. It’s just the loose shutter blowing in the wind. And then all the hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she realized she could hear something breathing behind her…
The boys and girls all came running back to the lighthouse when they heard several terrible screams, the last one a stifled cry for help. They ran through the house, frantically yelling for Muriel. But the house was empty of all life. At the top of the small, second story staircase which led to the linen cupboard and the iron ladder leading to the tower, they found a large pool of hot blood, still steaming in the cool air of the house. Beside it was a small white handkerchief.
Muriel was never seen again.
You can read more ghost stories in Spooky Oregon.
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Comments
Nice story. Why was her blood steaming?
Posted by: won't say who | September 4, 2009 08:54 PM
cool story .............. bring more
Posted by: Eboni | September 15, 2009 04:46 PM
DIS IS A SCARY STORY TO ME
Posted by: LEXUS | September 15, 2009 05:43 PM
scary!! i have to go down a big hill and go up a big hill to get to my bus stop. And it's pitch black at the bottom and trees are all around! i'm gonna be sprinting from now on!!!!
Posted by: confused | October 15, 2009 06:35 PM
This soooo scary! I told my friend it and she actually hyperventilated!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 19, 2009 01:22 PM
you srory sucks
Posted by: Anonymous | October 19, 2009 03:24 PM
good story need to get to the point faster
Posted by: Anonymous | October 20, 2009 02:18 PM
The blood was steaming because it was fresh. Our regular body temp is 98.9 thats ushally hotter than the air outside or inside, that is why it was steaming because it JUST came from her body. cool story! ^-^
Posted by: napua | October 21, 2009 11:05 AM
It was steaming because It was cold outside, you know like how you can see your breath in cold air
Posted by: Ariel Collins | October 22, 2009 01:56 PM
good but were is the rest of the stories like this one
Posted by: vannah | October 27, 2009 10:13 AM
Wow,That was a good story! I liked it! I'm a story critic, Is this your work?
Posted by: Annie | October 28, 2009 06:53 PM
Omg that story isn't scary!
Posted by: Horis | October 31, 2009 10:21 AM
good but not scary
Posted by: Anonymous | October 31, 2009 06:58 PM
that wa a good story it wasn't scary tho
Posted by: bella cullen | December 22, 2009 02:24 PM
that was a good story but...wasnt scary as i thought it woulld be, i give it a 8/10
Posted by: Anonymous | January 2, 2010 05:53 PM
Awsome story need more
Posted by: beth | January 4, 2010 05:25 PM
omg not scary, but ok
Posted by: avril laghuvene | January 7, 2010 04:43 PM
scary. Nice.
Posted by: Saul | February 1, 2010 06:09 PM
lol that was a good story!!
..." and from then on no one dared enter the old haunted lighthouse. those who do also become victims of the demon that lives there. some people even say that they can hear the giggling of Muriel's friends, then creeks, and then the bloodcurling screams for help and of pain and terror of Muriel and all of the other victims of the deamon."
Posted by: iwonttellol | March 20, 2010 02:19 PM
IT OKEY I DON'T LIKE IT ALOT BUT IT'S STILL OKEY.
Posted by: susie | April 23, 2010 08:15 PM
i likey
Posted by: Anonymous | April 23, 2010 08:32 PM
very scary but good to read
Posted by: Ying | April 23, 2010 10:57 PM
good story best one read so far need to tell all my friends gave me chills
Posted by: Anonymous | April 24, 2010 08:16 AM
this is an awesome story
Posted by: cristy | May 19, 2010 06:54 PM
our body tempature is actually 98.6. not 98.9....
Posted by: jordan | June 23, 2010 09:30 AM
people stop saying it is scary it's not scary..it's scary for some not scary for others..The point is it's a good story
Posted by: Alex | June 28, 2010 10:10 AM
That was really scary to meh, it gave meh da nightmarez. :(
Posted by: Bewbsnsuch | July 20, 2010 01:34 AM
This story is very cool, I would like to have the whole book to read tho!
Posted by: anonymous | August 19, 2010 08:50 AM
Very interesting, would love to read more
Posted by: Aaron | August 23, 2010 12:18 PM
NOTE THE WORD!!! SSSCCCCAAARRRYYY!!!!
Posted by: Vladimir | August 26, 2010 02:57 AM
that gave me the creeps
Posted by: will | August 29, 2010 10:09 AM
It was a good story but more time was spent on the build up to the climax than the actual climax it needed a little more.
Posted by: icy | September 13, 2010 07:38 PM
OMG. that is soo scary, i nearly wet my pants!! lol
Posted by: Ash | September 16, 2010 11:09 PM
what happened to Muriel?
Posted by: Ash | September 17, 2010 02:02 AM
Muriel is an idiot! what moron goes back into a house she is scared of JUST TO GET A HANDKERCHIEF?? she could have gotton it at daytime, or just bought a new one!
Posted by: KittyKat | November 23, 2010 05:14 PM
Whoa! Poor Muriel, I wonder what got her...
Posted by: Lisa | November 27, 2010 12:32 AM
This is one of my faves! It doesn't scare me but I really really like it! PLEASE write more like this!
Posted by: Anonymous | December 21, 2010 12:13 PM
it was good. pretty different from the other ghost stories on this website. it needs a better ending. they should of saw her ghost or something.
Posted by: tay-tay | February 14, 2011 08:44 AM
Imagine how bad Harold felt for letting her back in alone.. :D Awesome story :)
Posted by: Nasha | February 24, 2011 05:57 PM
spookyyyyyyyyyyy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Posted by: Alisha Joshua | March 10, 2011 01:24 PM
the beginging was kinda boring but the end was *&&))*^&^*^ creepy!!!!! me and my sister will not sleep for days :D
Posted by: breena/riverara | August 1, 2011 10:31 PM
I wonder what Harold felt like after he saw that...
Posted by: Wyvvie! | November 14, 2012 08:44 PM