Ghost in the Graveyard

Ghost in the Graveyard

Written by Cassia Sherrill

A friend and I were talking about playing Ghost in the Graveyard, and I retold the story of the scariest time I have ever played it. I can still vividly remember it to this day, and it still makes me laugh because I can remember how terrified I was.

If you have never played ghost in the graveyard or don’t know what it is, I will give you a brief summary. Basically, it is like hide and seek. One person is the ghost and has to find the other players unless they make it to the designated safe zone. If they are caught by the ghost, they become a ghost and have to help find the rest of the players. Pretty easy rules and is quite a fun game. Obviously, it is most fun when played at night!

My friend, Lauren, always had the coolest sleepovers, and I looked forward to them every year. I cannot remember which year this took place in specifically, but this had to have been either late middle school to early high school. Anyway, this year was no different. I was super excited for her birthday sleepover, but this particular year my mom didn’t want me to go. Earlier that week, there had been a pretty bad murder in the town over from ours, which never happened in or around where we lived in North Carolina. But this was pretty bad and like three or four people died. It was quite tragic news! My house was a good twenty to thirty minutes away from where it all took place, but my friend’s house was much closer. I think it was within less than ten or fifteen minutes away. The killer had not been caught by the time the sleepover day rolled around, and mom was not a fan of me going. However, I begged and begged, and she finally was okay with me staying the night despite what was going on.

I arrived at the sleepover, and when it got darker, everyone was suggesting we play Ghost in the Graveyard. Everybody was pretty down to play, but some were suggesting that we play outside in their backyard. There were a few of us who were a little afraid of doing the game outside, especially since the murderer had still not been found. We discussed this for a while, and I remember one girl even mentioned that the last place the murderer had been spotted was on Lauren’s street. Not sure if that fact was even remotely true, but that set us all straight! There was absolutely 100% no way we would play this game outside. I am a bit of a chicken, I’ll say it. So there was no way I was going to play that game outside after that.

Obviously, playing in the basement was going to be a little bit more space restrictive than some would’ve liked, but we chose that was the best option (yay for us being smart youngins!). We played a few rounds, and I remember sitting out a round with my friend Cydney and another girl (I feel bad, but I cannot for the life of me remember who was sitting beside Cydney and myself during this). The three of us were sitting on the couch in their basement that faced a door with a huge window. This door opened up to their backyard so all we could see was blackness outside really.

We sat there chatting quietly while everyone else played the game, and I remember most vividly that I saw a man’s silhouette step into the window area of the door. I cannot remember who noticed it first, but I do remember my stomach fell to my literal toes. I just knew in my heart that this was the murderer dude, and I was a goner. I was too scared to scream or even to run, but I do think either Cydney or the other girl squealed. I don’t really recall the specifics of those moments after we first initially saw the silhouette because I was beyond scared. We were definitely freaking out and probably very close to hyperventilating. It was bad. We were probably the three that were the easiest to scare in the bunch so of course, this happened to us!

All of a sudden the lights to her basement were turned on, and we saw her dad standing in front of the basement door’s window just dying of laughter! Everyone else started realizing what was happening and started laughing too. Obviously, the three of us were still pretty shaken, but we laughed out of relief that it was just Lauren’s dad. All three of us were convinced that it was the murderer in those few moments of fear and panic before the lights turned on, and to this day, it is probably one of the best pranks pulled on me ever. Mainly, because ya girl was quite ready to run very fast and very far away from that basement door. It was a comical time especially now when I think back on it every time I play Ghost in the Graveyard (which let’s be really isn’t often because I may or may not still be scarred slightly lol).

Anyway, thanks for taking a stroll down memory lane with me. It was a moment that you obviously had to be there for to get the full comedic effect of the moment, but I hope it still managed to make you laugh!