Growing up, every year around Halloween our neighbor would come to our house and read us the story of the misbehaving ghosts. His wife had made little felt ghosts to go with it and we loved flipping them over to reveal the color behind. It was one of our favorite fall traditions. The other day, my oldest came home from preschool and was telling me all about these silly ghosts who didn’t eat white foods so they changed colors. It made me smile, but it also made me realized that I wanted that tradition for our family. So, I made a little cut file for the story. I cut mine out on cardstock and laminated them. Feel free to use my file for your family, friends, class, or customers. Please don’t sell the file, but feel free to make a set of ghosts for your next boutique!
I’m familiar enough with the story that I just summarize it for my kids (ages 3, 2, and 1) but I’ll provide it here in case you want to read it. There are many versions of this story, but here is mine:
The Ghost Story
One day, Mama Ghost looked in the refrigerator and found that all of the white food was gone! As you know, ghosts must keep to a strict diet of cottage cheese, cauliflower, vanilla ice cream, and milk to keep themselves nice and white. Mama Ghost gathered her five little ghosts around her and said, “I’m going to the store to get more food. I’ll be back soon. Don’t eat any of the colored food while I’m away.”
Not five minutes after Mama had left one of the ghosts tummy started to rumble. He headed for the fridge for a snack. He had been told many times that he was only allowed to eat white food, but there wasn’t any in there. “It’s ok.” He thought, “I’m sure eating something else, just this once, won’t hurt me.” He found a big, juicy, red apple on the middle shelf and took a bite. It was delicious and he quickly ate it all. Suddenly, the ghost turned bright red! He ran back to his bedroom and slammed the door.
A few minutes later the second ghost made her way to the fridge. She couldn’t find anything white inside, but she was so hungry she decided it was probably ok. She opened up the drawer and found a nice piece of broccoli. Now, eating broccoli might seem like a great choice to you and me, but it’s not good for a ghost! One bite and the ghost turned green all over! She ran outside and hid in the tree house.
The third ghost came along. Mama Ghost was taking a very long time at the store! This ghost knew he wasn’t suppose to eat anything, but he thought he might starve before his mom came back. He found a nice long carrot in the fridge. He gobbled the whole thing up and looked down to find he was completely orange! “Oh no!” He said, “Mama Ghost is not going to be happy about this!” and he hid under the table so she wouldn’t see him.
The fourth ghost was flying through the attic practicing her spooky dance. All of that exercise really worked up her appetite! She flew downstairs to see what she could find in the fridge. Mama Ghost still hadn’t come back from the store, but the little ghost was too hungry to wait. She plopped a fat blueberry into her mouth and instantly turned as blue as the sky! She flew back to the attic to hide.
The last little ghost was reading a book when his stomach growled. He was so hungry! He went to the fridge to find something to eat. There wasn’t anything white! He checked the freezer too. There, he found a little bit of vanilla ice cream with just a few chocolate chips. “It’s mostly white.” He said. “I think it will be just fine.” He ate a bite, and then another. Nothing seemed to happen so he finished the entire carton. Then the little ghost flew past a mirror and screamed. He was covered in little brown polka dots! He flew behind the shower curtain so no one would see him.
Just then, Mama Ghost walked in the front door. “Kids!” She called, “I know you must be hungry. Come get some food!” Slowly, all five ghosts flew from their hiding places. “Oh, no!” Mama Ghost cried when she saw them, “You didn’t follow the rules! How are we going to fix this?” Mama Ghost called the doctor and he said to make sure all of the kids got plenty of rest, exercise, and ate only white foods. If they followed the rules, they would be white again by Halloween. The little ghosts listened and on Halloween night they were all better. Just in time for trick-or-treating!
What are your Halloween traditions? Have you heard this story before? Let me know in the comments. Happy Halloween!
