Spooktacular Special by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Author:Gertrude Chandler Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2013-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

chapter 6

A Haunted Hayride

Violet could not stop laughing. Benny had found a scary skull mask. He was running around the barn making ghostly noises. Jessie pretended to be scared, but she was smiling at her little brother.

“Here you go,” said Jason, walking toward them with a bundle. “These are the rest of the costumes. You can each choose whichever ones you want.”

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny were in the barn. Jason was helping them to get ready for the haunted hayride. He laid all the costumes out on top of some bales of hay.

“Do I look scary enough, Jason?” Benny asked from behind his mask. “Do you think the people on the haunted hayride will be afraid of me?”

Jason frowned. “I suppose,” he said. “But that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“What do you mean?” asked Henry, trying on a long, black cape.

Jason leaned against the tractor. He took a deep breath. “Don’t you know? There is something haunting the fields of the Beckett farm. I’m worried it will come back tonight when you children are out there in the dark. It’s very frightening. You shouldn’t be here. You should go home.”

Benny took off his mask. He stood close to Jessie.

“But that’s crazy,” said Henry. “There’s no such thing as a real haunting. It is all pretend. That’s why we are dressing up in costumes.”

“At first, I didn’t believe it either,” Jason said. “But you will see what I mean. Whatever it is, it wants people to stay away from this farm. There was even a story in the paper about it.”

“We heard that,” Jessie said. “But we still don’t believe in haunted farms.”

“Suit yourself,” said Jason. “But remember that I warned you.”

After Jason left the barn, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny went through all the costumes. Henry chose to be a pirate with a long, shiny sword. He put a black patch over one eye. He wore the long, black cape. Jessie was a ghostly bride with a big white veil. Benny liked the mask he had been wearing earlier. He found a skeleton outfit to wear with it.

“Can’t you find anything, Violet?” asked Benny.

Violet sat on a bale of hay. “I am a little nervous about tonight,” she admitted.

“You don’t have to work at the haunted hayride,” Henry said. “You could help Bessie with the tickets instead.”

“No, I want to do it,” Violet said. “I know it’s silly, but Jason’s talk frightened me a little.”

“It’s not silly,” Jessie said. “Someone is trying to scare everyone around here. We are all a little nervous.”

“Let’s go out and walk the route of the haunted hayride,” Henry said. “That way we will know what everything looks like before it gets dark.”

“That’s a great idea,” said Jessie.

The sun was getting low. Shadows crept across the fields. The children stayed close together. They followed the tractor path through the cornfields. The wind whistled through the dry stalks.

“Look at that!” Benny cried.

Scary scenes were set up in places along the path. Benny ran toward a small haunted house.

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