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Start-Up Activity
Tell an engaging ghost story:
An old man was sitting out on his front porch one evening when he heard his wife call his name from inside the house: "Frank!" She had died two years before, so the old man figured he was just hearing things. However, the call came again, more distinctly: "Frank!" The old man wondered if someone was playing a trick. Then the voice shouted, "FRANK!" He leaped up from his seat and went inside to find out where the sound was coming from. Suddenly behind him came a huge CRASH! A car had plowed into his front porch, smashing it and destroying the chair where Frank had been sitting moments before. Frank rushed out to help the driver. After the paramedics took the person away, Frank checked his house again, but neither saw nor heard his wife speak again.
Lead a discussion about this story. What makes it interesting? Why do stories like this catch our attention? Gently guide the discussion to characters (Frank), conflict (a voice from the past), plot (repeated warnings), a climax (the car crash), and a resolution (never seeing or hearing his wife again).
Think About It
“Sometimes a good story's got a ghost in it; sometimes a panther chases my Uncle Bill and Fred Price home from a coon hunt.”
—Tony Earley
Start-Up Activity
Tell an engaging ghost story:
An old man was sitting out on his front porch one evening when he heard his wife call his name from inside the house: "Frank!" She had died two years before, so the old man figured he was just hearing things. However, the call came again, more distinctly: "Frank!" The old man wondered if someone was playing a trick. Then the voice shouted, "FRANK!" He leaped up from his seat and went inside to find out where the sound was coming from. Suddenly behind him came a huge CRASH! A car had plowed into his front porch, smashing it and destroying the chair where Frank had been sitting moments before. Frank rushed out to help the driver. After the paramedics took the person away, Frank checked his house again, but neither saw nor heard his wife speak again.
Lead a discussion about this story. What makes it interesting? Why do stories like this catch our attention? Gently guide the discussion to characters (Frank), conflict (a voice from the past), plot (repeated warnings), a climax (the car crash), and a resolution (never seeing or hearing his wife again).
Think About It
“Sometimes a good story's got a ghost in it; sometimes a panther chases my Uncle Bill and Fred Price home from a coon hunt.”
—Tony Earley
