Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

Ghosts of Kersal Moor
by Ellis Reed
Very little remains of Kersal Moor, but the surviving heath would make a
wonderful home for some ghosts? especially with the graveyard right
next door! In this story, I try to imagine what they?d be like, and when
you might be able to meet them.
They say som e f unny t hi ngs 'r ound Ker sal Moor , and by 'f unny', I m ean
queer . If t hey ever m ade m e l augh t hey don?t any m or e.
Ther e was a time w hen the moor s r an all the way to the r iver , but that was long
ago, and all that r emains is a w ild patch of land by St Paul?s Chur ch. On that little
heath, footpaths cr oss the sandy hills, w hich ar e dotted w ith gor se and Scotch
br oom.
Ever yone in a tw o-mile r adius know s the moor s w er e haunted once. Few er know
they still ar e. They think the ghosts all left, fading away as the moor s got smaller.
The tr uth is they?r e still ar ound. They just have less r oom to br eathe now.
This is the stor y of how I met them.
When I was young, Gr andpa had an aw ful-smelling dog called Din-Dins, w hich he
used to walk dow n Moor Lane.
Fr om time to time I?d tag along. Mostly to listen to his stor ies but also to watch
him smoke. Ever yone smoked back then, but Gr andpa r olled his ow n w hich wasn?t
as common. He used to pinch the tobacco in a Rizla and lick the edge to seal it.
Sometimes he let me do it for him, but I was sw or n to secr ecy on that point. I used
to like it w hen a speck of tobacco stuck to my tongue because it gave my mouth a
danger ous little buzz.
97