2025 Spooky Story Competition

An Encounter with the Lantern Men

The darkness was descending on the marshes. The wind was rustling in the trees and the lonely owls were hooting in the distance. “What is that?”, said my dark-haired friend Oliver, who was pointing at a warm orange lamplight trembling through the reeds. Our group of three stopped for a while, staring at the light intently until my friend Jack, an old Norfolk boy, turned as white as the full moon glaring at us from above. “Stop looking NOW!”, said Jack, pushing us down to the muddy floor. “Those are the infamous lantern men! Haven’t you heard of the legend? They are evil pixies who lead unwary souls to their deaths! If they don’t drag you to your watery graves, they will steal the very breath out of your lungs!” Jack and I stuck to the floor frozen in fear, but Oliver laughed it off. “Don’t be such cowards, evil pixies don’t exist! I will go check for myself”. Oliver laughed at the warnings, and when he finished his Coca-Cola, he marched off into the marsh, searching for the lantern light. We begged him not to go but he headed off into the dark, whistling brightly. Three days later the coastguards found his body washed up by the sea. He was still wearing his red crocs. To this day locals walking along the marshes on a warm August evening can still hear his whistling among the reed. BY MASSI BRADY