Author: Mrs Prestwich, Word Count: 666
Featured in The Spooky Archaeological Tales: Live Stream – Halloween 2021
It was early evening when dark, grey, thunderous clouds were building on the horizon as Emily set out to do her chores in the sorghum field. As she saddled her coal black mare the wind whipped around the corner of the old historic barn making a whining eerie sound, as old barns will, sending shivers up her spine. As she rode her horse down to the field, Shadows long black mane tossed in the wind like ravens feathers and her tail swished around like a witches broom in flight on a dark and dreary night. Whilst she rode along she noticed long fingers of fog creeping in along the ground from the sea, and as she approached the field she could hear the stiff dry stalks of sorghum rattling in the unusually strong wind. She made sure the gate was closed and looking up she noticed the decrepit old scarecrow slumped to one side, his button eyes drooping, his nose peeling off, and the once pleasant smile now a down-turned grimace giving her a fright. Done with her chores she rode Shadow down to the shore, as on most days, to look at the sea and an old lighthouse standing on the high point above the jutting, craggy rocks and now dark and empty, not working for many years. Most villagers tried to avoid it due to its superstitious history and stories about the moaning sounds it emitted at night. She worried about the fishing boats on their courses around the point with old ship skeletons from past ship wrecks that could be seen on the sharp and dangerous rocks. Tall tales of ghosts and goblins from those wrecks were heard around town now and then making Emily and her friends from school nervous.
As of late, after a storm surge had shifted rocks and sand near the lighthouse base, revealing evidence of relics from around the time the lighthouse was built. A team of archaeologists from the nearby academy had started digging up the ground around the seventeenth-century lighthouse. Rumor had it that the archaeology team found the bones of an old man still wearing a leather belt with a heavy brass key attached revealing he was the original lighthouse keeper. The old man would have lived around the time of the great tall ships in 1686. They also recovered the remains of a tall ship that was dashed upon the rocks from that same periot. This scared Emily because rumour had it that on certain foggy nights just like this one, a ghost could be seen around the lighthouse. At this thought Emily felt cold and began to ride back to the barn when she saw the movement of a shadowy, dark, black figure, out of the corner of her eye.
The storm worsened and the wind grew stronger as the clouds began to move in closer. Waves pounded on the rocks, and she hurried her horse towards the safety of the barn. wBen suddenly, she sees the figure streak across the field towards the lighthouse and she quickly turned her horse around. Through the fog she could see a ship dangerously close to the rocks. Looking up at the lighthouse and wishing it worked, the dark and odd figure of the scarecrow appeared at the storm lashed top of the lighthouse making Emilys mind race with confusion and fear as she continued to stare unable to take her eyes off the scene unfolding in front of her. She was confused knowing the lighthouse doesn’t work and then she sees the ghost of the scarecrow in his full glory, with his arms raised, mouth agape. All of a sudden he glows with a bright white light and at the very last second the ship is saved and …
A few weeks later she heard a story in town that the bones of the old man had disappeared. The rest is up to your imagination…MWAH HA HA HA!
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