*This is Part 2 in the Spooky Campfire Stories series.

There once was a brother and sister, Caleb and April (You could insert any number of children with different names). They lived on a farm and they liked playing in the old barn behind the house. Their parents did not like this, and they had been scolded several times. That didn’t seem to deter them. The barn was broken down a bit and probably more dangerous than they realized.

They usually went in through a tiny side door with flashlights at night. The old farming tools inside were dangerous. They avoided these as they reached their usual hay bale seats. In the darkness, the silhouette and shadows of the decaying equipment looked like skeletons. They liked getting worked up in these surroundings, telling each other spooky stories.

The most frighting part of the barn was. . .the loft. The loft was only blackness and what was left of the latter leading up reminded the children of trees they’ed heard about in faerie tales. . .the ones that grab and pull you in to the woods, never to be seen again. They never when up to the loft, but did at times imagine it’s contents. . .huge, black, harry spiders with menacing fangs and cold unblinking eyes. They really had no idea what was in the loft.

One night the children were siting on the floor of the barn talking. They were enjoying the spooky noises the old barn made as it’s frame groaned and wind howled through cracks. They were telling their favorite ghost stories in hushed voices. Just when one story hit its scariest point a noise came from the loft, a metallic scraping sound (insert your own sound effects). At first they though it was just their imaginations, but the sound grew in intensity and volume.  Was someone there?

Then it went quiet for a moment.  All they could hear was their own heavy breathing and beating hearts. They held hands.  Again the metallic sound came…even louder this time. The children bolted arm in arm from the barn and ran out into the night. Once in the back yard and at a safe distance from the barn, the children stopped to catch their breath. Then they went up to the back porch and opened the door.

Their mother was there and said, “Time for supper! I’m happy I didn’t have to go looking for you,” she continued, “a prisoner escaped tonight and the authorities are searching for him. You kids need to stay inside…reports are that he was an evil person who murdered six people.” Listening, though still a bit dazed from their scare, the children sat down at the table. Their mother went on, “It shouldn’t be hard to find him. They say he has a metal hook in place of one hand.”