The Golden Arm
| Category: | Ghost Stories |
|---|---|
| Notes: | This one is all about delivery, not plot - the story is just an excuse to get to the ending. Start the ghost's line in a near-whisper: "Who...has...my...golden...arm...?" Repeat it a few times, each one a little louder and a little closer, with longer pauses between words. On the final repetition, wait in total silence for a long, uncomfortable moment - then suddenly point at one listener and shout the last line right at them. |
Once there was a poor man whose wife had a golden arm. Not a golden bracelet, not a golden ring - a whole arm, made of solid gold, that a doctor had given her years before after an accident. She was very proud of that golden arm, and she made her husband promise that no matter what happened, she would be buried with it.
Not long after, the woman took sick and died. Her husband buried her just as she'd asked, golden arm and all, out in the little graveyard on the edge of town.
But the man was poor, and he could not stop thinking about that arm lying in the ground, doing nobody any good. The very night after the funeral, in the pitch dark, he took his shovel out to the graveyard, dug up her coffin, and pried loose the golden arm. He tucked it under his coat and hurried home through the cold and the wind, and climbed into bed, and pulled the blanket up to his chin.
The wind was moaning around the house that night. And as he lay there, just starting to drift off, he heard something outside, far off, coming closer -
speak slowly, in a low whisper
The man pulled the blanket tighter and told himself it was only the wind.
a little louder, a little closer
It was coming up the road now. He could hear it on the porch steps.
louder still
It was in the house. On the stairs. Coming down the hall toward his door.
very loud now, right outside the door
The door creaked open. The man pulled the blanket over his head and did not move, did not breathe, did not make a sound.
pause here for several long seconds of total silence before delivering the last line
"YOU'VE GOT IT!"