The Spooky Night Episode 4: Riding On A Ghost

Once upon a time, there was a Celtic village at the foot of the mountain. Every winter it was haunted by the ghosts of the dead. They sometimes wandered in the valley, sometimes snuck out in the village. Some not only were as strong as the bulls but also had giant bull horns.

One day, a young man in the village was heading to the other side of the mountain to visit his friend. Before departure, his fellow villagers told him, “Don’t panic if you see a ghost. Run for a big tree and quickly climb up it. So, it won’t be able to hurt you.”

He kept the tips in mind and went up to the mountain. He was very careful in the beginning, but no ghost showed up. Then he started to feel relaxed. He muttered to himself, “Maybe they are being over concerned.”

It grew dark. Right over a hill, the young man saw a ghost darting across the bushes, rushing toward him. Its thighs were as thick as buckets, a pair of long teeth glimmered in the dusk, the giant horns overhead swished through the air. The young man almost felt faint. But he quickly got his breath back.

Tree! Tree! He turned back and ran for a tree.

Like doing it in childhood pastimes, he quickly climbed up the tree. For a moment he felt the air under his feet whizzing by before a giant hand hit the tree. It just missed his feet by a hair.

Ghosts hated trees. Unable to climb the tree, the giant ghost got furious. It ran around, clawed at the trunk, roared with the force that shuddered the forest. It started to hit the tree with its giant body, the tree shook fiercely.

Eyes close tight, limbs clutching on the branches, the man hang on the tree for a long time. But his grip loosened by the fear and the ferocious movements underneath.

With one last hit at the tree by the giant ghost, the man fell off the tree. Even worse, he hit the back of the ghost. Unconsciously, he slithered his limbs to hold whatever he could get. As soon as he was able to think, he found himself riding on the back of the ghost. His arms held around the pair of horns, legs clamped tight along its belly.

Since coming to this mountain, the ghost only saw other creatures running away from it with fear. It had never encountered this kind of strike back. It roared, bounced, which only made the man hold tighter. Realizing that a stronger enemy had come upon it, the ghost was suddenly hit by a panic attack. In a fleeing mode for the first time, it ran down the mountain wildly. The bumps and pits didn’t shake off the man, instead, he held more tightly with every jump.

Down to the village they ran together. Some villagers saw them. They screamed, ran away in great fear. They looked back in awe once the pair ran past. The ghost looked furious as they always did. But the young man on its back gave little expression, with his eyes closed and face pale.

“The man is awesome,” some fellow villagers shouted. “He is riding on the ghost like a saint.”

The young man heard it. He wanted to laugh and weep all at once. He found himself wanting to shout back, “How can you see happiness and power in me. I am scared to death. My biggest wish now is getting off of the damn back and staying alive.”

Meanwhile, the ghost was thinking, “I thought no one in this world is not afraid of me, let alone dares to ride on my back. Who is this beast? It doesn’t seem to want to get off of me.”

I have no way to know how this spooky story ended. But dear reader, you must agree this is a scene that we come across every day in life. There are moments where people may not be what they look like. Instead, they might be quite opposite. What looks awesome might be in a panic, what looks powerful might be in pain, what looks like a daring ride might end up with a man desperately wanting to get off of a ghost.