How to tell good ghost stories
Whether it’s on Halloween night or just sitting around a campfire with your closest friends, telling ghost stories is a popular American tradition that dates back many years. The idea, of course, is to tell a story that terrifies listeners in a terrifying but entertaining way. Usually these short stories focus on a supernatural being or event, such as a haunted house, vampires, white sliding ghosts, monsters, and psychotic humans. While most of the stories are fictional or urban legends, many listeners still believe some of them as they hear them from many sources. Telling scary stories is a fun thing to do, especially if you’re already good at it, as your young family and friends will ask you to tell them your ghost stories over and over again. To be good at telling ghost stories, you need to keep three things in mind.
Preparation
Before you start looking for good ghost stories to tell, you must first know who your audience is. Knowing who you are going to tell the story to is essential because people have different opinions and take on issues. If you are planning to tell a story with gruesome imagery, telling it to teens and young adults would be a safe bet, but not to children, as imagining horrible and disgusting scenes may be too much for your innocent little brains. With that said, always remember to match the level of horror your story has with the level of tolerance your audience has. Now, there are many urban legends that you can use. These include the “Mothman” in West Virginia, or the “Hunted Railroad Tracks” in San Antonio, Texas, or the local “Big Foot” sightings, which always work well with children. There are many more short stories that can be found on the Internet. Just visit your favorite search engine and write the type of story you have in mind.
Pick the right place and have your accessories ready
To be honest, setting the mood is more important than the story itself. If you told a really scary story over breakfast, none of your listeners would freak out. In fact, laughing would probably be the most appropriate reaction than being scared. The point is, you need to set the right frame of mind to tell a scary story effectively. You will need a dark room or dark outdoors, candles, firewood (if applicable), flashlights, atonal music, and a very low voice. The more accessories the better. Getting a partner to help you tell the story is even better, as it can help you with the effects. For example, you can have your partner turn on a fan in the room briefly so that the candles flicker, or slam the door shut during the suspenseful moment of the story. Be creative.
Practice makes perfect
Once you are done with the setup and accessories, now is the time to practice your storytelling. The ideal is to practice in front of a mirror with all the accessories present so that telling the story is automatic. This also helps you identify the correct voice tones in the parts of the story that matter. The most important thing is to learn the story by heart. Believe it, or at least make your audience believe you believe it. GP