Camp’s always a great place for ghost stories, isn’t it? The day camp I went to a few summers when I was a kid had one sleepover night each year. On that night, we’d go on a hike with our group through the dark across the fields, and then the counselors would tell us the story of the ghost train.

According to the story (to the best of my memory), near the camp grounds there’d once been this mansion where a rich and mean-spirited man had lived. He felt nearly everyone in his life had betrayed him in one way or another, so one evening he invited various friends and family members over for a dinner party. During the party, he went crazy and turned on them, murdering all of them. Then he ran from the house, fleeing the scene of his crimes.

But he didn’t get away. As he was running through the night, he heard a sound like a train’s whistle, even though there were no train tracks in the area. Dismissing it as his imagination, he hurried on. But he heard the sound again, and the whir of its passing over the tracks, and it was getting closer. As he ran, the lights of the train appeared, and the ghostly engine hurtled into him, killing him. And that was his punishment for his murders.

I’ve tried to find the source for this story (though it’s possible it was something the camp made up)–if you know one that you think might be the same story, or one this one was based on, let me know!

What ghost story do you remember best from your childhood?