Make This Game Part Of Your Halloween Fun

This old-fashioned party game was once one of the most-requested items from The Spokeman-Review’s Dorothy Dean files.

Assemble the props and dim the lights. Appoint a reader, a helper and a “ghost.” Guests sit in a circle and the reader uses a flashlight to illuminate the story.

The helper passes out each ghostly prop as it’s mentioned. Then, they’re passed around. Your “ghost” makes his appearance at the finale.

Once upon a time, in this very town,

Lived a miserly man whose name was Brown.

Alas and alack, on a Halloween night,

He was terribly murdered because of spite.

And ever since he has roamed the Earth,

To warn and haunt the place of his birth.

Tonight we have some of his restless remains

So we’ll make you acquainted at once with his brains. (Damp sponge)

And now your shuddering touch will know,

The victims hair has continued to grow. (Yarn or corn silk)

He heard too well the tinkle of gold;

It’s a powerful ear that now you hold. (Dried peach)

His hand is clammy, cold and still,

No longer can it shoot to kill. (Rubber glove filled with damp cornmeal)

The tendons which helped his strong right arm,

We pass to you; keep them from harm. (Cooked spaghetti)

The meals he ate were coarse and dry,

So his teeth were strong, they’ll never die. (Kernels of corn)

His eyes were small, but very keen,

Though the kind deeds of earth they’ve never seen. (Two peeled grapes)

He was sly and cruel from the start,

And now you’ll feel his bleeding heart. (Piece of raw liver)

But wait! He comes and stands within.

He’s hunting for some friends or kin.

Listen closely and above the moans,

You’ll hear the rattling of his bones. (Sheet-shrouded “ghost” moves through dark, moaning, shrieking and rattling chain).