Campfire Stories: Told Around The Flame

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. Mr. Anderson thought about his childhood at Bronze Lake and wondered if the ghost was still there haunting the campground. He comforted himself by telling himself that it was many years ago, and he need not live in fear.

He planned a camping trip with his family, where they could revisit the Lake and have the same childhood memories he did around the campfire.

A campfire is where stories are told, and memories are made! It's a place where adults who deal with the positive and negative energies of the universe create these fictional stories to teach their children about the world to come.

Campfires are a place where children are protected from darkness. Adults try to shelter their children from their own adult experiences and prepare them for what is to come. The stories the adults sometimes share with their children around the campfires can be horrifying. The adults use their negative real-life experiences and turn them into lessons around the campfire.

The Anderson family arrives at the Bronze Lake camp, and tents are set up everywhere. They take their suitcases from the car and carry all their luggage to the campground by the lake to set it up and unpack it.

Everything is finally set up, the sun has gone down, and now they want to roast marshmallows. After they roast the marshmallows, they get the graham crackers and the Hershey's chocolates! The Anderson family makes smores together -- It's delicious.

The father, Sir Mister Anderson, gets his two boys, Duncan and Derrick, to collect wood for the fire pit. They gladly do this together as a family while Mrs. Anderson attends to her screaming toddler.

Mr. Anderson and the boys eventually set the fire up, and Mrs. Anderson finally gets her screaming toddler to calm down. They all sit around the fire and sing their favorite camp songs. It is family time for the Anderson family that they all value and prioritize.

Mr. Anderson tells a story about when he was a young boy and went camping with his friends Joe and Carson. Mr. Anderson told his sons that he and his friends Joe and Carson were all around the campfire telling stories when one of his friends began to tell a horrifying story.

His friend Joe said he saw a monster in the woods and was coming to get them.

"Are ghosts real?" Asked Derrick?

"Let me tell you the rest of the story," said Mr. Anderson, Derricks' father, "Everyone was so scared they ran away from the campfire into a barn and sat on a haystack. I was so scared I ran into a tree and knocked myself out. I woke up alone in the dark woods!"

"What happened next?" asked Duncan.

"I heard something coming towards me, and it turned out to be Carson. Carson was searching everywhere for me. My friends Joe and Carson laughed at me and how scared I had been the night before," continued Mr. Anderson. "We finished our camp activities for the day, at night. We all returned to the campfire to tell more stories."

"What kind of stories did they tell?" asked Derrick.

"Oh, all sorts. Stories about frogs and snails. They told stories about how their school was historically, and how it was built around a magic tree, and even one about a ghost ship," said Mr. Anderson.

"I remember that one," said Mrs. Anderson. "It was supposed to be haunted."

"Yes, and that's why they had so many scary stories around the campfire," replied Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson took a sip of the black coffee he got from the kitchen near the cabins, and there was no more left in his cup. He looked at his wife, Mrs. Anderson and his daughter Lucille, who was sleeping in her arms.

"Can I ask you something?" Mr. Anderson said.

Mrs. Anderson nodded, fearful of what her husband might ask.

"Why does your sister still go on about what happened in childhood? Did something bad happen to her too? Does she have a bad memory?" asked Mr. Anderson.

"I don't know," replied Mrs. Anderson, "I've asked her many times, but she always says the same thing, 'why does your husband go on and on about what happened. Does he have a bad memory? Did something bad happen to him?'"

Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Anderson were in their tent now, and Mr. Anderson looked down at the tent floor. "Maybe it was something we both saw once," he said.

"Well..." Mrs. Anderson shrugged. "Neither of you will tell me what you both saw! I chose just to let it go!" Mrs. Anderson started pumping up the air mattresses with the pump for her and her children inside the tents where everyone would sleep and ensured they all had sleeping bags.

"How about we go back to the campfire!" Mr. Anderson requested.

Mrs. Anderson put Lucille on her air mattress in her sleeping bag to sleep. "I love you, Lucille," she said as she kissed her goodnight.

Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Anderson, Duncan, and Derrick returned to the campfire. The family once again sat around the campfire, telling stories, and sharing memories as a family. They laughed and cried together, and the campfire began to symbolize their family values and the love they all have for each other as a family. These are the moments the Anderson family will cherish for the rest of their lives.

Derrick hears a noise and scurries to figure out what he hears. Duncan follows close behind.

The boys bring their flashlights and can not find anyone, but they both hear footsteps outside!

Duncan, one of the boys, now hears a sound like someone walking near the tent. Duncan follows the noise to investigate, and Derrick is now following Duncan.

Duncan returns to get his parents, telling them about the footsteps. Mr. Anderson also goes to investigate, but he doesn't find anyone other than Lucille still sleeping in her tent.

"Were not crazy!" Derrick says! "We heard someone!"

"Your dad believes you," says Mrs. Anderson. "We will check it out. I'm sure everything is fine! You boys get in your tent and try to get some sleep."

The parents take turns staying up all night to keep watch over the campground.

In the morning, Mr. Anderson is shocked; he's come across footprints leading away from the campsite. The footprints he's come across are not footprints that look like they belong to humans at all. "Maybe it's just an animal?" He thinks to himself.

They continue their day as a family fishing, canoeing, and hiking, and when they finish their day -- they spend it at the fire pit again. The campfire is set. Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Anderson, Lucille, and Duncan are already at the fire pit.

"Where is Derrick?" Mrs. Anderson asks.

Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Anderson, Duncan, and Lucille look up, and Derrick walks over to greet them.

"Mom! Dad!" Derrick shouts, "I saw a ghost!"

"It's probably just the wind," Mr. Anderson says.

"It probably just sounds you're hearing because we are close to the lake!" Mr. Anderson says.

"No, I saw a ghost!" said Derrick.

"Come sit down around the campfire." Derrick's mom, Mrs. Anderson, says.

Derrick's family was skeptical, but Derrick was positive he had just interacted with a ghost.

Derrick and Duncan's father, Mr. Anderson, remembered when he was a child and had an interaction with a ghost on the same campground. He decided to walk over to the cabin and find out what was there.

The cabin in the woods was abandoned for years, but he still remembered the night in his childhood a candle had burned in the window. He wondered if it would happen again. No one knows who lit the candle or why, but it's a sign that someone is in the woods, watching and waiting.

Mr. Anderson had to find out who the ghost that haunted the campground was. Were there ghosts watching over him and his family? He was desperate to know the person the ghost belonged to and why the person's spirit always lit a candle.