Terrifying tales

Remember to check under your bed!

Blacker. Terence: You Have Ghost Mail
Macmillan Children’s Books, 2002

Matthew has finally got a computer of his own, but it appears to be a very strange one. It switches on by itself and spooky messages appear on its screen: there is a boy somewhere in another dimension, who needs Matthew’s help. Matthew, who lives on a farm far from everywhere, finds a new friend in this mysterious boy, but somehow he seems to lose contact with the real world at the same time. Matthew’s friend Angie is afraid that the ghost boy is going to lure Matthew into something dangerous.

Brassey, Richard: Ghosts! - The Ultimate Guide for Ghost Hunters
Orion Children’s Books, 2006

Some ghosts come back to sort some unfinished business, others appear every year on the exact date when something terrible happened. There are family ghosts, ghostly animals, ghostly objects or places that attract ghosts, phantoms and spirits. For instance England’s haunted palaces are mentioned here. With the help of this book you can tell if your house is haunted and you will be properly equipped when you go ghost-hunting?  This is a great source of information for anyone interested in ghosts and a great collection of stories, too!

French, Vivian: Wicked Chickens
Macmillan Children’s Books, 2003

When Charlie’s father wins a big sum of money at bingo, he wants to make his big dream come true: he wants a house in the country with roses round the door and chickens in the yard. Charlie and his five sisters don’t find this prospect attractive at all, they would rather stay near their old friends, maybe have a new TV, a swimming pool, or just own bedrooms for everybody. Their father clings to the dream and has never been happier! But when he finally finds a country cottage for the family, the only thing that reminds of his dream house are the chickens in the yard. The house looks like it is going to fall down any minute, and even the chickens are scary, they keep staring with their beady eyes. And there will be more and more of them.

Glover, Sandra: My Spooky Sister
Andersen Press, 2004

Tom’s little sister Alice has been odd ever since she was a baby. She cried a lot, and she smiled. Her first word was ‘footsteps’ and she started to speak whole sentences right from the beginning. So, she is very clever, but there is something wrong with her. She keeps saying that her name is not Alice, it is Alison, and that this is not her real family. Now that she’s eight, she still has terrible nightmares and wakes up crying.  When the family goes on a holiday to Scarborough, Alice seems to know the place even though she has never been there before. How can an eight-year-old know about a terrible crime that happened twenty years ago?

Mark, Jan: Long Lost
Macmillan Children’s Books, 2002

George Bassett is half orphan: his father is dead and consequently the family is short of money: their house is a dark and gloomy place because they have to economize on things like electricity and instead of studying music her big sister Elsie must now teach others. But all of a sudden their luck changes. It seems that they have inherited a large sum of money from an unknown relative. It gets even better when they get to know their new relatives, the charming family of the baronet Bassett-Milne. George finds a new friend in his cousin Fred, but Fred’s brother Bertie is a nightmare. He keeps talking about a family curse that is hanging over George. Is it just a superstitious nonsense, or is it real?

Nimmo, Jenny: The Bodigulpa
Macmillan Children´s Books, 2001

After grandma´s rather mysterious death Grandpa Green has come to live with Danny’s family because Danny’s mother thinks he cannot cope on his own. Danny’s grandpa is not one of those nice grandfathers, but a rather nasty old man, who does not care for his grandchildren in the slightest. First he takes over the greenhouse, where Danny used to play and then he scares off his best mate Matt. All Grandpa Green cares for are his plants, especially the huge one called the Bodigulpa. Strange things start to happen, first Aunt Lorna’s little dog Stanley disappears, then Aunt Lorna herself. Now you think you have guessed what happened, but no, you don’t know half of it!

Price, Susan: Hairy Bill
Macmillan Children's Books, 2002

On a cold night a scary, hairy creature comes down the chimney to Alex’s room, but instead of tearing the boy into pieces and devouring him, the monster asks if it is the Matheson house. It is, indeed, because Alex’s mother is born Matheson. The creature turns out to be Hairy Bill, a bogle, a sort of family ghost, who has served the Matheson family for centuries on the Black Isle in Scotland.  Now that Auntie Jeanie, the last Matheson on the Black Isle, has passed away, Hairy Bill needs a new home. At first Alex thinks it is really cool to have a ghost in the house, as Hairy Bill keeps the house clean, washes up and does the laundry, but he starts to be a nuisance. It is not easy to get rid of Hairy Bill, though. Bogles can be very touchy, and if you hurt their feelings, you will have to pay a terrible price…

Scary Stories for Seven Year Olds
Macmillan Children’s books, 1998

Have you ever wondered where all the odd socks, that everyone in the world has lost, finally go? If you have, this is the book for you. Read also about school dinners that still come back to haunt you when you are grown-up, about a terrifying flat man, who can squeeze himself in through smallest cracks or a teacher turning into a werewolf.

Sedgwick, Marcus: My Swordhand is Singing
Orion Children's Books, 2006

Not all vampires are elegant, suave caped gentlemen: some of the so-called living dead are really much more dreadful. The events of this story take place somewhere in Eastern Europe some centuries ago. Peter and his drunkard father are woodcutters. They lead a wandering life and never stay anywhere for long, until they settle down near the village of Chust. It is a gloomy place and the people are rude and unsympathetic. When some strange deaths occur in the village in suspicious circumstances, Peter seems to be the only one asking questions. The villagers have strange and horrifying customs, like the Wedding of the Dead and their strange traditional song, called the Miorita, keeps haunting Peter. Even though his father says villagers are superstitious fools, Peter knows that there is a real danger approaching them.

Shan, Darren: Koyasan
Harper Collins Children’s books, 2006

All children of the village except Koyasan like to play in the old graveyard on the other side of the river. Everybody knows that there are evil spirits there but that they are powerless in the daylight. Koyasan cannot cross the bridge to the other side even at daytime, because her legs just don’t obey: she’s paralyzed by fear. But when her baby sister Maiko runs away from her to the graveyard and comes back completely changed, Koyasan must overcome her fear and deal with the spirits to save her sister’s soul.

Outi Rantanen
Kallio Library