In the quaint little town of Hootville, a house stood alone on Vulture Peak. Once an eager, charming mansion, now regarded as ‘The Phantom Palace’, this element of rusty decadence was believed to be haunted.
One enthusiastic Halloween, for a dare, naughty Noah, a spunky twelve-year-old, tiptoed into the spine-chilling silence of the mansion. Cobwebbed chandeliers loomed, creaking floors moaned, and Noah’s own echo was his creepy companion.
As he explored, he came across an old, dust-covered mirror with an ornate silver frame. Curiously, he wiped the mirror clean and peered in.
His heart almost leapt out of his chest! A small, blue creature with shiny beetle eyes and a mischievous grin bared its fangs at him. Scared witless, Noah watched as the creature stepped out from the mirror.
Before Noah could scream, the creature laughed. ‘Boo! I got you there, didn’t I?’ it giggled, dramatically stifling its laughter. It revealed itself to be an apparition of a young boy, a previous dweller of the mansion, with a peculiar affinity for pranks. He’d been scaring off locals for a laugh, the origin of the haunted rumors.
So, if you ever pass Vulture Peak, remember that the ‘phantom’ of the Phantom Palace may be more in search of chuckles than ‘chills’!