Kid-friendly ghost story from Arkansas about a haunted house whose ghosts have a serious knack for baking. Written by Harris Tobias.
In the town of Blakeslee, Arkansas, there was a house that everyone knew was haunted. It was an old neglected house on a side street in the oldest part of town. Sometimes, the most wonderful smells issued from the house and filled the street with the heavenly odor of fresh baked bread. Whenever that happened, people would say that the old house must have been a bakery or, at the very least, the former home of a fabulous baker.
Sometimes, the neighbors would hear the sound of music and laughter coming from the empty house as if there was a wonderful party in full swing. Whenever that happened, the neighbors would look at each other and say, “It sounds like a nice party, I wish I was invited.” Whatever ghosts haunted the old house, they were benign and friendly ghosts. But even the friendliest spirits are scary and no one ever actually went inside the house. With the possible exception of a young boy being dared by his playmates, no one ever even stepped foot on the front porch.
One day a man moved into town from a distant city. He saw the empty house and asked the neighbors, “who owned it?” He was told the owner was unknown and that the property could be bought for back taxes. No one told the stranger about the house’s curious history. The man went to City Hall and purchased the property. Soon after moving in, however, strange things began to happen– odd noises in the night, weird lights drifting from room to room, the smells of baking from a cold kitchen and, worst of all, the sound of a party when the new owners were trying to sleep.
After a few days, the man’s wife declared that she could no longer live in so haunted a place and moved out taking the children with her. Before long, the man gave up as well. He was forced to find another place to live but he was angry at the neighbors for not warning him about the house’s reputation. He was angry at the town board for not telling him that the house was occupied by ghosts. In fact he was angry at everyone in town for treating him so badly. So he went to the mayor to complain and see if he could get his money back. The mayor refused saying he never misrepresented the house as anything it was not. “Just because a house is haunted,” he said, “doesn’t mean you can’t live there. The trick is making friends with the ghosts, learning to get along with them.”
So the man went to the pastor of the local church and told him his problem. The pastor said, “You’ve been in town for a month and only now, when you’re having a problem, do you come and see me? Well, sit down and tell me what’s on your mind.”
So the man sat and told the pastor about the haunted house he’d bought. Now the pastor in this village was considered a wise man, set in his ways, conservative in his manner and beliefs. He wasn’t open to new ideas but, reluctantly, he agreed to visit the house and see exactly what the man was talking about.
The pastor accompanied the man to the house. As they approached the block the house was on, the pastor’s smelled a delicious smell. “What’s that wonderful smell?” he asked.
“It’s the ghosts baking bread,” the man replied.
When they got closer, the pastor stopped to listen. He turned to the man and inquired, “I hear music. Is someone having a party?”
“It’s the ghosts having a party,” replied the man.
They went inside and looked around the empty house. The pastor sat at a table while the man looked for something to serve his guest. He found an old bottle of whiskey and poured a glass for the pastor and one for himself. They toasted each others health and drank.
“So you moved from Little Rock to Blakeslee?” said the pastor. “My parents live in Little Rock, I know the town well.”
The man, it turned out, knew some of the pastor’s relatives. They talked and joked about those things they had in common and felt a friendship growing. They were having such a pleasant time that before they knew it, three hours had passed.
They were gone so long, the man’s wife began to get nervous. “He went to the pastor’s house hours ago,” she said to herself. “Maybe the ghosts got him.” So she picked herself up and went to the pastor’s house and introduced herself to the pastor’s wife. Together they pooled their misgivings about ghosts and their worries about their husbands and went to the haunted house together. They peeked in the windows and saw the two men sitting at a table drinking , laughing and having a good time. The wives joined their husbands and found that they had much to talk about.
The laughing and talking attracted the neighbors who stopped by and introduced themselves. Pretty soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of cooking. A neighbor brought his fiddle and another brought his guitar. And just like that, there was a party. The old house filled with real smells and real laughter. It was alive again and that, of course, was what it wanted all along.
From that day to this, the old house came alive again and its ghosts were laid to rest never to be seen or heard of again.
-THE END –
About the author
Harris Tobias
Harris Tobias lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of The Greer Agency , A Felony of Birds and dozens of short stories. His fiction has appeared in Ray Gun Revival, Dunesteef Audio Magazine, Literal Translations, FriedFiction, Down In The Dirt, Eclectic Flash, E Fiction and many other publications. His poetry has appeared in Vox Poetica, The poem Factory and The Poetry Super Highway. You can find links to his novels at: http://harristobias-fiction.blogspot.com/
It was a good story
very creepy
Niiice
good story
Wasn’t much of a horror story but a good story for the little ones, nice wholesome ending
It was ok
Good Story
it looks scary
omg i love it good 🙂
I think this story really wasn’t that scary, but, I liked it! Nice story!
This is a great narrative for little youngsters, I feel like it would be scary for them but as the result, it would be a pleasant conclusion 🙂
i love this story it is good for the spooky szn
To long of an intro too boring
Good and nice story
That was cool and it was very fun cant wait to here more
it was oook. It wasn’t scary but it was good. I hoped you enjoyed writing it I love writing scary stories:)
Loved it great story to tell young kids onn holloween
dude its scary
ghosty at the begining but not much nicer at the end
It was good but not scary!!
Unfortantly it was not scary but it was good???
I actually didn’t like it
the story was amazing and a little haunted
ti didn’t get the ending
very nice!!!!!!!
Best story ever
coooooooooooool , the story has a nice ending and a bit of logic 🙂
lov da storys
it was ok i will give it a 9 out of 10 i had picture it i my mind but need more description
Im 8 years old and I liked this story. But my mom thinks it wasn’t scary at all
That was amazing but who is the story written by I loved reading the story I makes me get a picture in my head
Very scary
it was nice and it helps me a lot.it help me to get a theme for writing a ghost story
wow..!!amazing story 🙂
I WAS NOT SCARED AT FIRST EVEN AT THE END…but it was so cool,the story was so cool:)_
That was a good story. You had me spooked, but the ghosts were a nice bunch.
RIP friendly ghosts 🙂
Their stories are really interesting keep making more ~nikki
it was really a interesting story
I liked but it wasn’t very scary
I loved it it was really interesting I would love to donate but I am a child so I can’t I don’t have any money. Lol~John Doe (not my real name sorry I don’t want to post my name)
I love this story
it wasnt scary to me
It was an excellent story with brilliant detail and a fabulous creepy ending.
As soon as I saw the title I knew that it was be awesome and by that title it grasped my attention. I have some experience of writing stories like these myself but I have got to admit some of the phrases such as ‘with the heavenly oder of fresh baked bread’ were exceptionally and truly stunning,I am sure there were more phrases like that in the story but that one for me stood out from the crowd.
I also picked up a do pho nominal word which was misrepresented. I also picked up another word that wasn’t as good as the first word but I thought it was quite out standing and it was the word accompanied. This is definitely the best (10/10) story I have read in a long time and I hope who ever wrote this is extremely proud. One word describes it all really, EPIC!!! Well done!!!
This story is amazing!! I will be using this to take in for kid-friendly ghost story day at school! 😀
Such an amazing and thrilling story, to be honest i also belive in all this cuz l’m scared of the dark n a little weird things happen iin my house! :'(
I loved it!
My kids thinks it’s spooky.
I loved this story, but wondered about the man’s wife. If she’d left him and taken the kids, how come she knew where he was and then went to join him? But over all it was a good ghost story with a happy ending. I teach conversational English to adult students and have used this tale to stimulate their interest. They have all loved it and asked for more.
AWESOME AND THRILLING 🙂
wow!!! that was thrilling and chilling…
Kinda creepy I liked it not to scary me and my mom liked it I like the mystery
I enjoyed the story because it was the best story i have read and a amazing story i am also intrested in story of ghosts and i love any story of hunted house because ghosts are cool for me and they most of the time make a good ending it was a very intresting story i hope i can find a story the same story as it and maybe they mat have a diffrent story but the same story.
that i have read
very very very cool story;) 🙂
its awesome story do any of you guys know about one direction i am a big fan of 1d so i want to you all love them plz reply
This story was my great help to my homework for English course. I had had a task to write a short story with a topic strange house and some children in. I had changed only some characteristics of main character and I was ready. Thank you for you lesson how to write storytelling. This was my first successful work with which i won my teacher’s attention.
truely an amazing story!! 😀
good story … with good endin…. every house must be full of love and laughter
Really cool story!!
nice
this is such an amzing ghost story!
It was scary at the beginning and it turned out to be a happy ending
I liked the story but a little more suspense would have been great.
OMG OV IT
HAHAHA I LOVE THIS STORY!!!
This story really gave me the creeps at first but towards the end i was releaved to find out that the ghost where nice and just wanted to PARTY!!!
woooooooo spooky story:)
LOVED IT!! 🙂
This story was a sweet story because Everyone was saying no no stay away that house is hunted smells come out of that house and the sound of laughter comes out of the house and there are ghost!!! In the end they had a party and the ghost left and where never saw agian just because the house wanted to be loved.
<3 sweet 🙂
thats not how you spell suprising
🙂
I liked how the story was scary at first but in the end it was really sweet. Although I would have loved it if there was more action and suspence in the story.
This would be a frightening movie! Scarier than a smiley face!
the story started out making you thing it was going to be scary.
I liked how you were scared at first and then it got really loving and caring.
I really loved how they forgot all about the gosts and actually had fun.
i loved this story! at first i thought it was gonna be scary! but it wasnt in the end. i especially liked the ending because all the people ended up as friends! oh, and the people i know that read this, dont make fun of me!
This story was cute. I liked the surprise ending. -bailey(:
I liked how the man didn’t leave the house immediately. -ZACK
It was a good story. -Michaela
I liked the scary begining and also the way the ending suprised me
I loved this story! In the begining it, captured your attention. But then at the end it was really surprising. It was CUTE!!!! 🙂
It was a great story it was a little scary at first but it had a great ending that was really cute!!!!! LOVED IT!!
This story was so…..CUTE!!! Haha!!
I liked the end of the story. the end was surprizing!
What a chiller! Frozen, Just Frozen
This story was pretty good but it had a kind of boring ending it should have had more suspense, but i really liked it.
This story was interesting……it wasn’t scary at all but nice short story
I thought it was going to be scary at first. I was suprised at the ending and how it turned out…
i wish i was invited to the party!!!!!
This story is so sweet….. and so were the ghosts!!
That lady had some serious mental problems to be hanging elephants and stuff i mean what did the elephants ever do to her all they ask is to be feed and loved and cleaned every once in a while thats why i like elephants more then people you don’t see elephants going around and hanging people do you no !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Loved It!!!!
I Love It!!!
this story was great!
When she hung that elephant i was like omg swag
I LOVE THIS STORY!! <3
I LOVE THIS STORY
this was really good, it was kinda scary in the beginning, but very sweet at the end! loved it!
it was an awesome stroy
EXELLENT
GOOD STORY
oot oot great story
It was OK but suspenceful, over all it was ARSUM! :^)
The story was good, but i think it needed more action.
I was so interested and i was scared at first but at the end it was good and happy!!!
I like how these people were avoiding this house for all these years just to turn out it just wanted to be loved
i like this story
it was exsellent an scary
At first we were scared! Then it was interesting and intense. We love this story!!!!!!! 😀
It was a little creepy at first and then they were having fun.
I LOVED IT! I was scared at first but then I became very Interested in it and then it ended very well with an Enjoyable ending 😀
At first we were scared! Then it became cool, interesting, and intense. Finally we found out that the ghost were at rest and we then felt relief :D! WE LIKE THIS STORY VERY MUCH!!!
It was kinda scary at first, it had a sweetish ending.
Was scary at first then got very interesting and different then anything i have ever heard.
Oh wow what a story that was pretty funny i got to find the original book to this story
GREAT my teeth are chattering and im crying wa wa wa
It was totally awsome i loved it da!
i am a baNANA!!!!!!
i wonder iss this realll O.M.G
it was pretty cool, and was sweet at the end.
That was cool, intersting, and scary.
At first it was kinda scary, but then it was an good ending when everybody forgot that the house was aunted, and they sat there and had an party in the house, and the house was happy and they didn’t anybody anymore . It was a happy ending
At first it was scary then BOOM it was a happy story at the end
At first we were scared, but in the end it ended out to be a really good story, we loved it!
This was a very enjoyable story i especially liked the ending it was a perfect ending for a perfect story…!!!
there is a scary house and i use to live in
theres this haunted house and its so scary its for halloween
i love this story. it made me have so many chills and i so did i i read scary stories in the dark all the time ;D so much fun because i freak my self out ;p Yeah Buddy
wow i was scared i was reading it in the darkk ;D
im so scared
cool story
HOw likely to have that kind of unusual visitors. pretty neat!
Cute one. 🙂 Really like the ending! “The evolution of a party.” 😀
Enjoyable to read; definitely loved the happy ending!
It surprised me that so many people were willing to believe it was ghosts without a doubt, though.