Summer-Time Ghost Stories

It’s June! And to me that means it’s officially summer! And as the season for campfires and fire-fly nights awakens I find myself reminiscing on some of my favorite ghost stories from my childhood, and how my fascination for all things ghoulish told around a campfire or under the stars still holds me to this day.

When I was growing up my little family, (Mom, Dad, my little sister, and our two big floppy-eared dogs) would take summer trips up to Michigan to visit my dad’s side of the family. While there we stayed with my Grandparents. Their was a reeeeaalllly old farmhouse, which apparently was originally a stop on the pony express. It was a home full of love and character also poor lighting and creepy noises. Which lead lead young minds like my sister and I to image all of the possible things that could lurk in it’s deep shadows. One of the best things about visiting was that living right next door were 5 of my cousins all around my age. We, of course, got into plenty of mischief since our deep country-side location made our parents leave us unsupervised most of the time. Which at night meant trying to scare the living daylights out of each other with scary stories.

I took great pride in my ability to get the most ernest screams out of my cousins with perfectly timed jump-scares and dramatic reactions to “did you see that thing out in the field just now?!” My greatest weapon was a beautiful leather bound copy of Ghosts – A treasury of Chilling Tales Old and New I picked up from the discount section of Borders one year. It’s tales were timeless enough that when read aloud on a summer night by a circle of little girls, lightly dampened by dew under Michigan’s clear sky full of glittering stars, it’s pages seemed to hold a particular sort of magic.

I’m still constantly consuming ghost stories in movies, in books, or told on podcasts, I just can’t get enough of them. So I figured I’d take a moment and share with you my favorites.

Horror Made’s

Favorite Sources for Summer-Time Ghost Stories

Podcasts

1. Jim Harold’s Campfire True Ghost Stories
2. Anything Ghost Show
3. Real Ghost Stories

Books I have personally read

1. Ghosts – A treasury of Chilling Tales Old and New – Selected by Marvin Kaye with Saralee Kaye
   1. (The tome of ghostly tales I mentioned from my childhood which- holy *&^&! It’s apparently wortha fair chunk of change! Still never giving it up.)
2. Haunted New England – A Devilish View of the Yankee Past – by Mary Bolte
3. Haunted Inns of New England by Mark Jasper
4. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – by Alvin Schwartz – The one with Stephen Gammell’s artwork
5. True Irish Ghost Stories by St. John D. Seymour

Books on my wishlist

1. Campus Chills by Mark Leslie
2. Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits and Haunted Places by Brad Stiger
3. I really want the printed edition of True Ghost Stories: Jim Harold’s Campfire 1, 2 and 3 – because I enjoy the show so much and would love to have those stories on good ol’ fashioned dead trees.
4. Ghosts: True Encounters With the World Beyond by Hans Holzer
5. Haunted Houses: Tales from 30 American Homes by Nacy Roberts

What are some of your favorite places to find ghost stories?