Playin' Piano
(excerpted from Spooky Campfire Tales)
retold by S.E. Schlosser
Dah-dah-dum-dum-BLAT!
Charlie winced when his wife hit the wrong note on the piano for the thirty-second time that day. He knew it was the thirty-second time because he’d kept count as he went about his daily chores, cleaning the lighthouse, checking the supplies, mending the rowboat.
Charlie blamed himself for his wife's latest obsession. He should never have taken Myrtle to attend the concert when that high-flutin’ concert pianist came to town. But it was a special occasion and everyone they knew was going. So Charlie and Myrtle went too. And Myrtle decided right then and there that what she wanted more than life itself was to play the piano.
Charlie tried to talk her out of it. No one in Myrtle’s family was any good at music. But Myrtle was stubborn. If she couldn’t find a dad-gum way, she’d make one! Before Charlie could count to ten she’d bought a cheap, used piano (that was always out of tune) and hauled it over to the island on her brother Jamie’s fishing boat. From that day on, it was practice, practice, practice. Morning, noon, and night Myrtle sat at the piano with her piano book open, plunking away at the keys. At first, there was not much to hear, and Charlie could ignore the sour sounds. But after a few months, she got better…and a lot worse. There were parts of her song that sounded pretty good; but she never, ever got that one line right.
There was nowhere on the small island that Charlie could go to get away from the sound of the piano, even when he sat in his favorite rocker out in the woodshed with cotton in his ears. Myrtle’s new hobby was the source of much contention between the husband and wife, who had never argued before in their entire lives. Now they argued every day about Myrtle’s piano playing.
“At least try to learn another song,” Charlie begged his wife. But Myrtle was stubborn. “I ain’t going to learn another song until I’ve mastered this one. You’ve got to practice to get better Charlie.” And Myrtle went back to her piano and started playing again. Dah-dah-dum-dum-BLAT/ Dum-dum-BLAT-BLAT-ding.
Things came to a head the day a nor’easter roared down on the island. Charlie and Myrtle were holed up together in the lighthouse hour after hour after hour. Charlie had nothing to do but sit and carve decoy ducks. And Myrtle played the piano. Hour after hour after hour. Around four p.m. Charlie leapt to his feet and shouted at his wife to stop playing the blasted song. Myrtle leapt to her feet and shouted that she was going to practice until she got it right. Something in Charlie snapped. Afterward, he felt bad about the way he chopped up the piano with his axe. After all, it was a valuable instrument. Try as he might, he couldn’t feel bad about doing the same to Myrtle.
Charlie put on his oilskins, took up a shovel and dug a grave out back of the woodshed. He buried all the little pieces of Myrtle with all the little pieces of her piano. He figured she would have wanted it that way. That night, with the nor’easter raging and pounding the island and the lighthouse rattling and shaking wildly in the blast, Charlie got the best sleep he’d had in months. No more piano playing, ever.
After the nor’easter blew itself out, Charlie spent the rest of the day cleaning the blood off the floor and walls of the lighthouse. After that, he did his daily duties and carefully noted in the log-book that Myrtle had been swept out to sea by a huge wave while patrolling the beaches, helping Charlie look for shipwrecks.
In the middle of the night, Charlie was startled awake by a familiar sound. Dah-dah-dum-dum-BLAT/ Dum-dum-BLAT-BLAT-ding. He sat bolt upright with an oath. It sounded just like Myrtle playing on the piano. This was impossible, since she was buried behind the woodshed.
Charlie leapt out of bed and felt around for his axe. Blast! He must have left it in the woodshed. He picked up a large piece of firewood and carefully stepped through the door into the main room. To his astonishment, he saw a glowing green, translucent piano standing in the place where Myrtle had put it. The keys of the ghostly piano were playing all by themselves. Dah-dah-dum-dum-BLAT/ Dum-dum-BLAT-BLAT-ding.
Then he heard Myrtle’s voice from the stairway leading up to the light. “Charlie. I told you and I told you. I ain’t going to learn another song until I’ve mastered this one. You should have listened to me!”
Charlie whirled around and gazed up the stairs. Standing a third of the way up was the translucent white figure of his dead wife. And in her hands, she held his axe.
Read more Ghost Stories in Spooky Campfire Tales by S.E. Schlosser.
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Comments
It is a spooky story.
Posted by: dylan | October 28, 2010 03:04 AM
spppppppoooooooooookkkkkkkkkkyyyyyyyyy
Posted by: Anonymous | October 28, 2010 09:08 AM
Moaning Myrtel?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 28, 2010 11:19 AM
OMG! scary....kind of. this is a good story. i read it out loud to my friends and thought the same thing...THANKS!
Posted by: Jennifer | October 28, 2010 11:51 AM
great story it's a little creepy;)
Posted by: Anonymous | October 29, 2010 07:58 PM
it is a spooky story i am going to tell it on Halloween!!
Posted by: mary | October 29, 2010 08:13 PM
that was disgustin and spooky at thee sameetimee lool :P ewwwwww
and wat a namee myrtel
wierd
Posted by: keeley and paigee | October 30, 2010 07:04 AM
scary
Posted by: lee | October 30, 2010 07:27 AM
wow
Posted by: Anonymous | October 30, 2010 09:18 AM
All that poor Myrtel wanted to do was practice. I feel bad for her splendid story though I loved it.
Posted by: Kelly | October 30, 2010 10:30 AM
woah right after i read this my sister started playing the pianao, what a coincedence.
Posted by: jaime | October 30, 2010 11:36 AM
charlie must have talked to his wife instead of killing her,or bought her a new piano,or bought her a piano techer at least.
Posted by: nanoush | October 30, 2010 11:36 AM
OMG that was so scary what do you think the dead wife did with that axe it is so abouse that she killed him and chopped him into tiny little pieces still that man could have just chopped the piano not the wife to that dum old gezer p.s not only was that scary but freaky too.
Posted by: Glory | October 30, 2010 04:35 PM
myrtle sucks! she loves the piano more than her husband and then haunts him so the rest of his life will pretty much be h##l
Posted by: Anonymous | October 30, 2010 05:24 PM
hmm .. thanks for that story .. i used it in my project it so useful .. :)) thanks .. :)
Posted by: danielle angela centeno | October 30, 2010 08:19 PM
That was amazing!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 31, 2010 10:13 AM
The part where he felt bad about the piano and then he said he did the same thing to her scared ME to bits.
Posted by: megan | October 31, 2010 10:40 AM
Me and my boys were looking online 2 find scary stories for to night...This was very good and scary!!!! at the end all of our mouths droped open.....It was GOOD!!
Posted by: Laquion an Devon | October 31, 2010 01:15 PM
niceeeeeeeeeee story! great ending, it leaves suspense, and i think that he should've just destroyed the piano not his wife. by the time she got a new piano, they could have a divorce. but that's reality. not this story
Posted by: Kuro-chan | October 31, 2010 02:53 PM
i would do the same thing if someone couldn't play the piano and annoyed me. it was a good story though. ;)
Posted by: Anonymous | November 1, 2010 09:02 AM
watch ghost adventures in travel channel lol one vid of the piano playing solo
its haunted and well when they try to debunk it the piano's keys didnt work so its scary because the melody was playing...
Posted by: brenda | November 4, 2010 01:10 PM
I would of just slapped the crap out of her untill she agreed NEVER to play that piano again
Posted by: angie :D | November 5, 2010 05:24 PM
This was pretty awesome and people, she obviously wouldn't HAUNT him for the rest of his life (Besides, he's old, he would die soon), she was holding the axe, can't you read? She killed him, duh!
Posted by: Jade | November 7, 2010 03:36 PM
awesome
Posted by: asdfghjkl; | November 9, 2010 06:45 AM
i would've killed him too if he was relly tht annoyed he should've just got her lessons or at least helped her learn-really good story tho!!!
Posted by: jessica | November 9, 2010 12:42 PM
hey at scouts we told that roundthe campfire and that night scout leader kept playing her portable piano and was scaring me!
Posted by: lucinda | November 10, 2010 10:01 PM
HaaaHaaa Mrytle!
Posted by: Megan | November 12, 2010 08:24 PM
wow.......scary. I'm learning to play the piao and i hope i dont get my head chopped off... im not that good of a player he he he
Posted by: caty | November 14, 2010 04:38 PM
that's scary! :)
Posted by: Anonymous | November 15, 2010 03:42 PM
strange. Wonder if she killed him
Posted by: Renee | November 20, 2010 12:31 PM
That was so scary!!! Your a great writer... I love it!
Posted by: Kate | November 21, 2010 08:47 AM
OMG Ghost are scary every 1 that has been haunted know that.LOL
Posted by: Isey | November 22, 2010 02:57 PM
awesome story!!!
Posted by: aimee | November 26, 2010 08:38 PM
i listenned to the podcaast and in the end part it got a little louder
SCARY!
Posted by: seth | December 2, 2010 07:05 PM
Wow, that was good, is she moaning myrtle? Hahaha lol
Posted by: Spooky mistress | December 3, 2010 04:56 PM
Scary!
Posted by: O.K. | December 4, 2010 02:54 PM
OMG THIS IS A FREAKY STORY!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | December 6, 2010 06:29 PM
that was freakin funny
Posted by: Anonymous | December 10, 2010 08:31 PM
huh....he felt bad about chopping the piano but not about killing his wife....hmmmm...
Posted by: Dionna | December 11, 2010 10:52 AM
very scaryyyyyyyy
Posted by: Anonymous | December 11, 2010 01:53 PM
ONE WORD
AWESOME
Posted by: Anonymous | December 11, 2010 11:35 PM
okay this sounds kind of unreal but its true... sometimes i hear voices and foot steps up in my atic
Posted by: madison mayne | December 12, 2010 01:31 PM
This is a creepy story but all Myrtle wanted to do was to play that piano. :(
Posted by: Lala | December 15, 2010 11:32 AM
creepy!
Posted by: Anonymous | December 19, 2010 03:55 AM
WOW KINDA CREEPY... DOESNT SHE HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THEN PLAY PIANO????????
ANYWAY COOL STORY :D
Posted by: Polly | December 19, 2010 04:39 PM
That was kinda creepy and what kind of a name is Mrytle? Is it ment to be from that ghost on Harry Potter? And why did he chop the piano and his wife up? He could have just soled it and tell her they were robbed.
Posted by: Courtney | December 21, 2010 05:10 PM
cool but y kill her?
Posted by: Kenzie | December 23, 2010 06:52 PM
TALK ABOUT SCARY ! that's nicely done . and omq myrtle could have really picked another sonq lolss .
Posted by: Miss Soowat | December 23, 2010 08:52 PM
WOW!that is a very great and spooky story!!!I hope my husband does not chop me up!!!I would haunt him forever!!!
Posted by: genna | December 23, 2010 09:54 PM
ok, awesome!!! but the idiot shouldn't of left the axe.
Posted by: rachel | December 24, 2010 03:46 PM
that was spooky really really spooky kindof
Posted by: Anonymous | December 30, 2010 07:42 PM
Wasn't scary to me but kinda funny.
Posted by: Matthew | January 3, 2011 04:28 PM
5000000000000000000000 year later dum ding dum thepiano is still playing.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 17, 2011 03:24 PM
eye for an eye
tooth for a tooth
Posted by: Lala | January 24, 2011 06:23 PM
sooooo scary
Posted by: Anonymous | January 31, 2011 12:35 PM
omg i loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: ashley.p | February 7, 2011 02:34 PM
HA! moaning myrtle (^_^) look out Harry!
Posted by: Rayvn | February 7, 2011 02:44 PM
OMG!!! SUPER SCARY!!!
Posted by: Tyler | February 11, 2011 07:43 PM
Creepy but cool I love ghost stories!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | February 12, 2011 06:03 AM
creepy Ilove it and im going to tell something like it at my next campout.
Posted by: Addie culfer | February 17, 2011 06:28 PM
AHH.. RUDE HUSBAND!!! AINT THERE LOVE??
Posted by: Kamdavid | February 18, 2011 03:15 AM
omg!that was scary
Posted by: Anonymous | February 19, 2011 08:25 PM
That was a little better than the last one i read. Even though I would have killed him too. He could've helped the woman!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | February 23, 2011 04:49 PM
er...how should i put this...... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!::):):):):):):):):):):):)
Posted by: CHII | March 2, 2011 04:29 PM
this one was very creepyyy
Posted by: Anonymous | March 17, 2011 12:16 PM
Dude... They never should have been married.
Posted by: TT | March 17, 2011 07:16 PM
that's weird..
chopping her wife's piano does not make him feel bad..
Posted by: anonymous | March 24, 2011 11:24 PM
she loves music but music does not love her!!... :D
Posted by: Chariss Marion | April 1, 2011 03:29 AM
i would cut the piano strings
Posted by: zad | April 5, 2011 10:58 AM
CREEEEEEEPY LOVE IT!
Posted by: Anonymous | April 9, 2011 09:58 AM
wow heart breaking how could he kill his wife
Posted by: bb | April 13, 2011 02:44 PM
That's disgusting, and I laughed at the ending :D
Posted by: Gabby | May 10, 2011 12:56 PM
wow what a couple! :)
Posted by: aylin | May 12, 2011 01:51 PM
charlie could have just chopped the piano
good thing myrtle came back!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: ashi | May 27, 2011 03:43 AM
Hahaha I used to be like Myrtle! My mom didn't like it whenever I don't play the piano right so I kept practicing!
I hate Charlie :(! Good thing his wife settled her revenge.
Posted by: Seungrified | June 7, 2011 02:57 AM
Geez thats scary >.<
Posted by: B) | June 20, 2011 04:09 PM
CREEEEEPY! :{
Posted by: anonymous | June 22, 2011 04:38 PM
i love this story
Posted by: jade | August 16, 2011 11:25 AM