Chilling Ghost Stories

by Bernhardt J. Hurwood

Ghosts are abroad! Things walk in the night! Here are sixteen shivery, quivery stories to haunt the dark hours - famous stories unchallenged for sheer spookiness. These are stories that dare you to put them down unread. Stories included: The House That Didn't Want Anyone to Live In It, What the Gravedigger Saw, The Pirate Ghost of Gombi Isle, The Midnight Ghost, The Haunted Clock, A-Ling and the Evil Spirits, The Magician, The Thing, The Woman in Green Velvet, The Phantom's Gold, Riding a Tombstone, The Headless Princess, The Woman Who Climbed From Her Grave, The Banshee Whose Feelings Were Hurt, The Ghost Who Helped a Ghost, and The Poltergeist with the Heart of a Genie

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Short Stories, Paranormal, Childrens, Fantasy

110 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Bernhardt Jackson Hurwood

Reviews

[Christopher]

I have carried this book with me since I was faithful Scholastic Book Club reader way back in grade school. Every so often, usually in October, I open this book up, take a deep whiff of the pages and spiral back into childhood while I read a story or two. This year, I read the whole collection again.

Some of the stories were particularly chilling way back then. Some are still good now. My favorites are the The Woman In Green Velvet and The Headless Princess. These are still great stories for kids as well.

[Cindy (BKind2Books)]

I’m not the target demographic for this one, and it shows. I got this from the books left behind by my kids. I’m sure that younger kids - say 8/9 up to 12 year olds - would enjoy this collection of spooky stories. There were a few that I enjoyed, but overall they were not spooky enough for me. I’m betting that the younger set will enjoy these.

[Brandi D'Angelo]

An oldy but goody... really meant for kids, but is fun to read and pretend you are young again

[Michaell Baumler]

Gave away

[Jonathan Schildbach]

I was trying to think about if I would like this book from the perspective of myself back in elementary school, maybe third or fourth grade, and maybe it would have worked for me then. This was in my mom's house for many years, from Scholastic Book Club. I'm not sure which of my siblings it belonged to. I'm guessing it wasn't mine, since I don't have any recollection of ordering it or reading it, and I was pretty plugged into that whole book-ordering thing back in the day. At any rate, these are mostly very short, some under two pages, ghost stories, most that involve weak set-ups and some kind of twist ending that's not really a twist, and the phrase 'scared out of his/her wits' at least once. The last story, which I believe was the longest, was also a kind of happy ghost story, as if the book was trying to close out on a positive, non-scary note, which is the exact opposite of what a book of this title should do.

[Katt Hansen]

When I was a kid I would have been delighted by this book. The stories here are very simple, and don't have a lot of scare to them which makes them good for younger readers or those who don't have a strong constitution when it comes to paranormal things. Some of these stories are very typical - drawn on urban legends or things we used to tell at slumber parties. The idea of the dead rising up out of graves to be hauled away by devils for their misdeeds or banshees howling to predict a death are a part of the fabric of what it means to be human.

The problem is, a lot of the time, this felt like just fragments of longer stories - the scariest bits plucked out of context. This takes away a lot of the chills. Is this book worth tracking down? Not really. But it's worth a glance if you happen across a copy.

[George Glass]

A big favorite from my youth. Also, one of many, many purchased through Scholastic Books during the mid-seventies. Of course, scouring the Scholastic Books order pamphlet was like reading a book in itself. From the many mornings sifting through their pamphlets while eating bowls of cereal, I probably drooled glossing over the cover of "Chilling Ghost Stories," while barely noticing the brief summary. Ahh, the memories from our youth...

It's been almost 50 years since I've last read a story or three from CGS. Fortunately, I do recall one particular story that really freaked me out - "The Headless Princess." I can still recall the tuning in, melding with the pages, the projected (mind) imagery, while completely forgetting the actual reading process. A frightful experience indeed.

A 5-star nostalgic rating.

[Gary Sites]

This is one of the first books I owned. I was 10 years old when I selected it from the Scholastic reader at school. What wonderful memories of going through that thing, choosing a few books. (They averaged about .75 cents) Then, in two or three weeks, we'd walk into the classroom one morning, and find stacks of new paperbacks that our teacher would pass out at lunch time. Do they still do this in schools? I hope so.
This book of little ghost stories isn't very remarkable, but I loved it as a ten year old.

[Roger]

I was looking for a book of ghost stories I’d read in grade school. This wasn’t it, but several of these stories were pretty entertaining. “The Midnight Ghost” about a rich earl who invites his niece to come visit under false pretenses, and “The Thing,” about a haunted lonely stretch of road, are probably my two favorites of the 16 short stories.

[Angel Woodrum]

I will never forget the sausage vendor.

[Dash]

They weren't chilling or really even scary stories. they were more what I think would make good campfire stories. Clean, short, and end with a bit of mystery.

[Tracy Ebeling]

Quick little scary stories!!

[Eric Stutzman]

This book and the stories which it contains are nothing worthy of either note nor of scorn. They are far from memorable, yet were not objectively bad. However, this is not a book I can ever see myself revisiting, and, despite having read it not even a week ago, I have all but forgotten it entirely.

[Amanda]

This book was intersting.

I love short ghost stories, I read this one awhile ago and I do not remember any specific stories. I think kids who are intrested in the paranormal of such would like this book. It's not scary just intresting. That's my review for this book for now.

~Bookworm~

[Brittany]

I love the short stories. Great for camping out!