Illustration by Ana Hinojosa.

Illustration by Ana Hinojosa.

Happy almost-Halloween, Rooks! I am so so so ready for some ghost stories and spooky sights. How about you? Good. Let’s make this thing happen. Ghost stories and urban legends are some of my favorite creative fodder. Probably the most fun I’ve had writing a short story was when I created a character from a local legend: the mysterious hitchhiking flapper. I went to the cemetery where she used to be spotted, scoped it out, and took pictures. Then I came up with a tale about how she became a ghost and why she hadn’t been seen for a while.

I’m guessing that there is a local legend or ghost story in your town or among your friends or family—maybe you’ve even had a supernatural or ghostly encounter! Now is the perfect time to tell it either as fiction, nonfiction, or poetry with all of the scary detail you can muster. Exaggerate! Make the legend bigger! Attempt to explain it! If you are a visual artist, draw, paint, or collage a representation of your favorite frightening tale, or share some supernatural photos of your favorite haunts. Whatever you create, send it along with your first name, last initial, age, and location to [email protected] with the subject line “Creative Prompt” by Monday, October 17 at 6 PM EST. I’m looking forward to the nightmares you are about to give me!

Last week we asked you to create a story with a dog, a bird, and a clown. Here’s where these unlikely characters took you…