December 21, 2025 • 21 mins
She asked for a doll, but the gift waiting under the tree had other plans for her — and her sisters.
Ho ho ho, kids! If you like the stories Santa is telling, tell your friends and family about the Spooky Santa podcast so they can listen too!
STORY AND MUSIC CREDITS/SOURCES…
”The Clown Puppet”: https://tinyurl.com/rmzhwoa
“Devil In The Closet”: https://tinyurl.com/rbcqqoo
“The Carol” by Jessica Bayliss: https://tinyurl.com/wkp7uu6
All music used with permission of the artists. Spooky Santa theme by Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ). All other music by Nicolas Gasparini (http://bit.ly/2LykK0g).
Ho ho ho, kids! If you like the stories Santa is telling, tell your friends and family about the Spooky Santa podcast so they can listen too!
STORY AND MUSIC CREDITS/SOURCES…
”The Clown Puppet”: https://tinyurl.com/rmzhwoa
“Devil In The Closet”: https://tinyurl.com/rbcqqoo
“The Carol” by Jessica Bayliss: https://tinyurl.com/wkp7uu6
All music used with permission of the artists. Spooky Santa theme by Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ). All other music by Nicolas Gasparini (http://bit.ly/2LykK0g).
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ste smell, spooks of steam and the sun, scant.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Saltlan night, deadly fright ball is dead with thin sight
round John basement, Blood and guts flow, Screaming infants run
through the snow. Spooky Santaisy, Spooky Santai. Easy, here he here.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
There you go go. Wasn't sure I could hit that note. Hello, children,
welcome back to Spooky Santa. That's me. I'm Santa Claus,
and I have more scary stories to share with you today.
I have a special story that was emailed to me
from one of the children on my good list. Kimberly
(01:13):
lives in La Mesa, California, and she tells a story
about what her older brother saw, which is even more
terrifying when you hear what happened afterward. Author Jessica Bayliss
brings us a story about a brand new Christmas Carol
that brought jitters instead of joy. But first, I have
a scary tale about three sisters who ask their parents
(01:36):
for Christmas presents. Now why would that be scary? You ask? Well,
keep listening and you'll find out. Now. Bolt your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, pour a mug
of hot cocoa, and come with spooky Santa. For another
holiday chiller, there was a married couple who had three daughters.
(02:09):
The oldest was fifteen, the middle one was twelve, and
the youngest daughter was seven years old. For Christmas, the
oldest daughter asked for a laptop computer, the middle daughter
asked for an iPad, and the youngest daughter asked for
a small doll. On Christmas Day, they all unwrapped their
(02:29):
presence beneath the Christmas tree. The oldest and the middle
daughter received exactly what they had asked for, but the
youngest daughter, who wanted the doll, was surprised to receive
instead a clown puppet. However, the clown puppet was so
cute she decided to keep it, and two days later,
the youngest girl disappeared. The next Christmas, the oldest daughter
(02:54):
asked for an iPad, the middle daughter asked for a
clown puppet in memory of her little sister, and two
days later the middle daughter disappeared as well. The next Christmas,
the last remaining daughter asked for a clown puppet in
memory of her two younger sisters, who disappeared and then
(03:16):
you guessed it. Two days later, she too disappeared. The
parents became very poor and were forced to sell their
furniture for money. One day they went into the attic
looking for something else they could sell, and there, in
a dark recess of the attic, in a dark corner,
they saw the clown puppet. It was sitting on a
(03:39):
throne made from lollipopsticks, and arranged all around were the
severed heads of the three missing girls. Well, that's a
creepy Christmas tale. I sure hope that's not based on
a true story. I'm pretty sure not wiser. Also, Hey,
(04:04):
if you would like to write a scary story for me,
you can send it to me at letters at Spookysanta
dot com and then I can read your story in
an upcoming episode. I love receiving emails. Email, he get email.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
We get your email every day. Here's your man to day.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I received a great email from La Mesa, California. Kimberly
is twelve years old and she sent me this story
that will call devil in the closet. Here is what
she wrote. There is five years between my older brother
and I. One night, shortly after I was brought home,
my brother was asleep in his room. He heard knocking
(04:52):
and scraping around in his closet. He woke, sat up
in bed and watched a man he described as the
devil exit his closet. He walked to the foot of
his bed, smiled and said, I'll see you soon, kid,
and then returned to the closet. My brother, understandably terrified
(05:13):
at this point, went running into my parents' room and
immediately told them what had happened. For the next few nights,
they let him sleep with them, and just a few
nights later, the ceiling in my brother's room collapsed, crushing
his bed. Had he been in bed, he would have
(05:33):
been killed. Ooh, nothing is scarier than strange true tales
like that. Thank you for sharing, Kimberly, and I'm so
glad to hear your brother is okay. That way you
can celebrate Christmas with him year after year and not
worry about that devil in the closet. My final story
(05:54):
is something a bit strange. If you like this thing
Christmas Carols, like I began this episode with, well, this
one's going to be for you. It's another story about
a Carol. But this carol is a bit terrifying, and
you'll find out why. As I read the carol by
Jessica Bayliss. Here's the story. It wasn't until the end
(06:19):
verse of the new song that everyone went crazy. Mister
Bellinger sprang the carol on us at the last minute.
Nobody complained except me. He was all like, now, Zachary,
you know this tune. Everyone does. You just have to
read the words. Shouldn't be hard for a seventh grader
like you. Well out loud, I said, all right, mister
(06:43):
b But in my head I thought I never wanted
to sing at school on Christmas Eve in the first place.
Mister Bellinger made an announcement before the new song, parents, students,
teachers and friends, we have a little surprise this afternoon.
I found this next carol in an antique text. It's
an old watle song. It used to be sung all
(07:05):
over England by working folk who'd go door to door
for Christmas treets. But nobody has sung this version for
hundreds of years, not until today. You'll find the lyrics
in your programs. Merry Christmas. Well, the first couple verses
of the carol were all normal stuff I'd heard before,
(07:26):
about watling all over town, and good cheer and blessings
for the mistress of this house. Whoever she was. But
the last verse sounded weird, even the non Latin part.
We'd sung Latin before, but still you'd think mister b
would have given us a warning or something. Venni volint
(07:47):
take all lives longest, Come fill us of the strongest.
Else tricks he give ye venni vlint. Come pray thee maker,
fill the bowl and let it round the table. T
roll or shame and pranks he'll have for ye venni
ve lint. Only I never got to sing that part
(08:08):
because Mark Brody yanked again on his tie that his
mom forced on him, and he bumped me with his elbow,
and I dropped my music. Shelley Jenkins laughed at me,
and that made my cheeks hot, my neck too, and
my hands were all sweaty when I grabbed my folder
from under Joey Black's retro Jordan. When I stood up,
(08:29):
my stomach felt funny, but not only because of Shelley cackles,
high pitched and cold, mixed with the song. Everyone kept singing, though,
like they couldn't hear it. My mom sat in the audience,
fanning herself with the program. Dad shook his head at me,
but pulled at his collar. Like well, like he was
hot too. He stopped to clap for the end of
(08:51):
the concert. Ah, finally, but we still had the party
to get through before we could go home to start
real Christmas. All the lapping turned into loud talking as
everyone headed for the food. That was very nice, Zach.
Mom said, when I pushed my way to them through
the crowd, is it just me? Or is it hot
(09:11):
in here? I'm dying? Can we go now, please? I said?
Ho Ho Ho shouted a deep voice. How festive? Mom said,
Santa's here, Let's go see him. Mom, I'm too old
for Santa. I wasn't talking about you. She said, what
come on, Steve. She elbowed my dad a crazy grin
(09:35):
on her face. Let's go tell the big guy what
we want. He grabbed her hand and then they ran.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
No, They skipped to the corner where the line was
already growing. They wouldn't, they would they are They didn't
even wait their turn. Mom got right up in front
of Jenny Evans, which was kind of cool because Jenny's
a snob anyway, but still she Mom sat on Santa's
lap in front of the whole school. Even worse, Dad
(10:06):
did too. This had to be a nightmare, some messed
up nightmare. Please let it not be real. I looked
around in case anyone was watching, but no one was.
Everyone was acting weird. Tanisha Johnson pranced around on stage
singing a Beyonce song into the microphone with no music,
(10:30):
and it did not sound good like at all. Missus Rodriguez,
the English teacher, wrestled the mic from Tannisia, but then
she started reciting poetry into it. Tanisha tugged the mic,
but Missus Rodriguez wouldn't let go. She spouted on about
how death and obvious en medichell paced forth or whatever.
(10:51):
Watch me dunk? Joey Black shouted it out. He blew
by me in a running start for the basketball net.
Who was he? Who? Joey couldn't even make a basket
from the free throw line. Before he could go for it,
he slipped on some spilled paunch and landed face first
into the cake that the home in Careers class had made.
(11:12):
Me and Lee laughed her butt off, but all forgot
all about Joey's frosting face. Would a sixth grader tripped her?
I don't know if it was an accident or what
but she fell and her dress went up. I looked
away real fast, but Kendall islam jumped and shouted and
pointed fruit of the looms near and wears fruit of
(11:32):
the looms everyone. Kendall's boyfriend John came over, and that's
when Kendall's face went green. What's wrong, John asked? I
don't Kendall puked all over John's legs and shoes. Gross,
John said, Oh my gosh. Kendall wailed and then sobbed
(11:53):
all the way to the girl's locker room. Zach, what's
wrong with everyone? A voice, said Shelley Jenkins. I couldn't
even look at her. If I tried, my cheeks would
get red again. So I kept my eyes on the party.
Except it wasn't a Christmas party, not anymore. My mom
was arguing with a ninth grader over one of Sanna's presents.
(12:16):
I caught her eye and mouthed, let's go please. I
made prayer, hands under my chin and everything, but Mom
only crossed her arms and shook her head at me.
Oh no, Shelley pointed, look, mister Shepherd. The math teacher
had arranged the dessert plates so that they all lined
up just right. When Bruce Belski tried to take a cookie,
(12:37):
mister Shepherd slapped his hand away. I don't think his
dad liked that, I told Shelley, and he didn't. Bruce's
dad shouted in mister Shepherd's face. Mister Shepherd shouted back,
then shoved Bruce's dad in the chest. What is happening here,
Shelley asked. I have no idea, I said, parents danced,
(12:58):
a teacher cried. I cringed when Simon Cherry snuck up
behind Kim Warner tapped her on the shoulder and opened
a can of soda that he'd been shaking right in
her face. We have to do something, Shelley said, like what,
I don't know. It's like they're all possessed or something.
The carol, mister Bellinger said from behind us. He grabbed
(13:22):
Shelley's arm and stared hard into her face. I thought
it was a joke, he said. We sang the song
but didn't make an offering to the spirit. What do
you mean, she asked. He didn't stay around to answer.
He ran to the stage and wrestled the microphone away
from Missus Rodriguez, and then started singing some opera song.
(13:43):
I almost wished for Tanisha's Beyonce imitation again. It was
that bad. Did you hear that? Shelley asked, Yeah, mister
B can't hit the high notes. I winced and scratched
a finger in my ear. Not that he said something
about the carol that he means the new song he
added to the concert. I got a weird feeling when
(14:04):
everyone else sang that last verse, everyone else, I said,
you mean you didn't sing it? That's right. She'd been
laughing when I dropped my music, which is why I
hadn't sung that part. I felt weird too, and I
heard Shelley put her hand on my arm. I stared
(14:24):
at it like I'd never seen a hand before. She
painted her fingernails sparkly red. Zach, did you hear me?
I snapped my eyes to her face. What we have
to find that book where the song came from. That's
gotta be it. She tugged my hand and we bolted
across the gym, dodging crazed partygoers until we reached the hall.
(14:47):
It's unlocked. Shelley slipped inside mister B's office. We rummaged
through drawers and understacks of papers. Here, I said, Wow,
it really is an antique, cracked red leather cover. The
book Shelley read the gold letter in Charming Chance. What
a bonehead. This isn't a book of Christmas songs, it's
(15:07):
a spell book. Come on, that stuff's not real. She
put a hand on her hip. Then how do you
explain what's going on out there? Even from here? The
chaos in the gym rang out loud and clear, shrieks, laughs,
voices singing silent night, but all out of sync, crashes, bangs, stumps.
(15:29):
It sounds pretty bad, pretty bad. She made that face
where her eyebrows scrunched up and her lip gets pouty. Okay, okay,
it's bad. Let's see. She flipped through the pages. Here
it is. Oh no, we summoned the lint, the trickster.
He haunts celebrations at yule Tide. I knew I hated Latin.
(15:54):
Does it say how to get rid of him? Hold on,
maybe there's a counter chat or something. Her lips moved
as she read I've got it. We need to sing
these lines I had to sing in front of Shelley.
Maybe you should do it alone, I said, no, it
says many voices shout, dispel him. We'll be lucky if
(16:16):
just two is enough, I huffed, out of breath. Fine.
I had to get close to read the words, so
close our shoulders brushed. I cleared my throat ready. Shelley
met my eyes and nodded as she counted one, two, three,
currevlint lest dawn, take ye be gone for present. No
(16:39):
tricks we will give ye, currevolent. Thy bowl is empty,
no carols control, all pranks be ended, curlevelint. My voice
cracked twice. Shelley clenched the book so tightly her fingers
turned white and her hands shook. What's wrong, I asked,
I don't know, Oh, I can't hold it. Wind roared
(17:02):
through the room. All the papers on mister B's desk
flew into the air. Windows banged open, then closed, open, closed.
The wind whistled higher and higher and louder. I covered
my ears. When a gust tugged the book from Shelley's hands,
she covered her ears. The book smacked against the wall.
It stuck for a second, then slid to the floor.
(17:25):
The pages turned by themselves. When they stopped, everything got quiet.
Even the party down the hall went silent, like we
were in some kind of bubble. Shelley wrapped her arms
around me and pressed her cheek into my shoulder. This
surprised me so much I forgot about the book for
a second. Zach look. Smoke curled up from the book's pages.
(17:50):
It spiraled higher and darkened, forming the shape of a tall,
skinny troll man with limbs no thicker than table legs.
Spikes stuck out where his ears should have been. Now
I could tell where the smoke came from. Fire burned
from each of the lint's fingertips like ten candles. The
(18:10):
spirit's smile was so huge it barely fit his face.
Oh my goodness, Shelley whispered. The lint threw his head
back and cackled. My DearS, what fun you've given me.
You're supposed to leave, I shouted, We sang the song
I shall, But first, one last prank. He darted and
(18:32):
our heads fiery fingers first. Shelley screamed and hit her face,
flinching from the flames. I threw my arms around her,
but before he touched us, the lint burst into a
million particles of dust that fell like ugly, dirty snow.
He's gone. I tried to look all around me at once.
(18:53):
Shelley peeped with one eye, really think so she straightened,
and that's when I I did something so crazy I
couldn't believe it even while it was happening. It was
messed up, so totally messed up. I kissed Shelley on
the lips. She smelled like the paunch from the party.
(19:14):
Her lips were pink from it. They tasted pink. Her
eyes wide from the ghost got even whiter. The lint
made me. I jumped back. I the Lint's crackling voice
sing songs all around us, tricks free, tricks free, until
his words faded to nothing. I tried to look at
(19:34):
Shelley without actually looking at her. Should we see if
everyone's okay? She asked after a minute. Uh yeah. Before
I could take a step, she slipped her fingers with
their red glittery nail polish into my hand. Her hand
was warm. As we walked, she clapped her free hand
(19:55):
over her mouth and giggled. They're all gonna be so embarrassed.
I know, good thing, we didn't do anything we'll regret totally.
(20:15):
I love it when the hero gets the girl in
the end. Well, did you like the stories? I told kids.
If so, do Santa a big favor and tell your
friends and family about the Spooky Santa podcast. That way
they can listen to and remember. You can write your
own scary story and email it to me at letters
(20:37):
at Spookysanta dot com. I love scary stories and true
stories so long as they're spooky, I love getting them.
If you want to learn more about the stories that
I've told or the authors who wrote them, you can
find links in the episode's show notes. Spooky Santa is
a registered trademark of Martler House Productions copyright Martler House Productions.
(21:00):
Now be a good little boy or girl and join
me next time for more creepy tales from Spooky Santa
Ste smell, spooks of steam and the sun, scant.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Saltlan night, deadly fright ball is dead with thin sight
round John basement, Blood and guts flow, Screaming infants run
through the snow. Spooky Santaisy, Spooky Santai. Easy, here he here.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
There you go go. Wasn't sure I could hit that note. Hello, children,
welcome back to Spooky Santa. That's me. I'm Santa Claus,
and I have more scary stories to share with you today.
I have a special story that was emailed to me
from one of the children on my good list. Kimberly
(01:13):
lives in La Mesa, California, and she tells a story
about what her older brother saw, which is even more
terrifying when you hear what happened afterward. Author Jessica Bayliss
brings us a story about a brand new Christmas Carol
that brought jitters instead of joy. But first, I have
a scary tale about three sisters who ask their parents
(01:36):
for Christmas presents. Now why would that be scary? You ask? Well,
keep listening and you'll find out. Now. Bolt your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, pour a mug
of hot cocoa, and come with spooky Santa. For another
holiday chiller, there was a married couple who had three daughters.
(02:09):
The oldest was fifteen, the middle one was twelve, and
the youngest daughter was seven years old. For Christmas, the
oldest daughter asked for a laptop computer, the middle daughter
asked for an iPad, and the youngest daughter asked for
a small doll. On Christmas Day, they all unwrapped their
(02:29):
presence beneath the Christmas tree. The oldest and the middle
daughter received exactly what they had asked for, but the
youngest daughter, who wanted the doll, was surprised to receive
instead a clown puppet. However, the clown puppet was so
cute she decided to keep it, and two days later,
the youngest girl disappeared. The next Christmas, the oldest daughter
(02:54):
asked for an iPad, the middle daughter asked for a
clown puppet in memory of her little sister, and two
days later the middle daughter disappeared as well. The next Christmas,
the last remaining daughter asked for a clown puppet in
memory of her two younger sisters, who disappeared and then
(03:16):
you guessed it. Two days later, she too disappeared. The
parents became very poor and were forced to sell their
furniture for money. One day they went into the attic
looking for something else they could sell, and there, in
a dark recess of the attic, in a dark corner,
they saw the clown puppet. It was sitting on a
(03:39):
throne made from lollipopsticks, and arranged all around were the
severed heads of the three missing girls. Well, that's a
creepy Christmas tale. I sure hope that's not based on
a true story. I'm pretty sure not wiser. Also, Hey,
(04:04):
if you would like to write a scary story for me,
you can send it to me at letters at Spookysanta
dot com and then I can read your story in
an upcoming episode. I love receiving emails. Email, he get email.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
We get your email every day. Here's your man to day.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
I received a great email from La Mesa, California. Kimberly
is twelve years old and she sent me this story
that will call devil in the closet. Here is what
she wrote. There is five years between my older brother
and I. One night, shortly after I was brought home,
my brother was asleep in his room. He heard knocking
(04:52):
and scraping around in his closet. He woke, sat up
in bed and watched a man he described as the
devil exit his closet. He walked to the foot of
his bed, smiled and said, I'll see you soon, kid,
and then returned to the closet. My brother, understandably terrified
(05:13):
at this point, went running into my parents' room and
immediately told them what had happened. For the next few nights,
they let him sleep with them, and just a few
nights later, the ceiling in my brother's room collapsed, crushing
his bed. Had he been in bed, he would have
(05:33):
been killed. Ooh, nothing is scarier than strange true tales
like that. Thank you for sharing, Kimberly, and I'm so
glad to hear your brother is okay. That way you
can celebrate Christmas with him year after year and not
worry about that devil in the closet. My final story
(05:54):
is something a bit strange. If you like this thing
Christmas Carols, like I began this episode with, well, this
one's going to be for you. It's another story about
a Carol. But this carol is a bit terrifying, and
you'll find out why. As I read the carol by
Jessica Bayliss. Here's the story. It wasn't until the end
(06:19):
verse of the new song that everyone went crazy. Mister
Bellinger sprang the carol on us at the last minute.
Nobody complained except me. He was all like, now, Zachary,
you know this tune. Everyone does. You just have to
read the words. Shouldn't be hard for a seventh grader
like you. Well out loud, I said, all right, mister
(06:43):
b But in my head I thought I never wanted
to sing at school on Christmas Eve in the first place.
Mister Bellinger made an announcement before the new song, parents, students,
teachers and friends, we have a little surprise this afternoon.
I found this next carol in an antique text. It's
an old watle song. It used to be sung all
(07:05):
over England by working folk who'd go door to door
for Christmas treets. But nobody has sung this version for
hundreds of years, not until today. You'll find the lyrics
in your programs. Merry Christmas. Well, the first couple verses
of the carol were all normal stuff I'd heard before,
(07:26):
about watling all over town, and good cheer and blessings
for the mistress of this house. Whoever she was. But
the last verse sounded weird, even the non Latin part.
We'd sung Latin before, but still you'd think mister b
would have given us a warning or something. Venni volint
(07:47):
take all lives longest, Come fill us of the strongest.
Else tricks he give ye venni vlint. Come pray thee maker,
fill the bowl and let it round the table. T
roll or shame and pranks he'll have for ye venni
ve lint. Only I never got to sing that part
(08:08):
because Mark Brody yanked again on his tie that his
mom forced on him, and he bumped me with his elbow,
and I dropped my music. Shelley Jenkins laughed at me,
and that made my cheeks hot, my neck too, and
my hands were all sweaty when I grabbed my folder
from under Joey Black's retro Jordan. When I stood up,
(08:29):
my stomach felt funny, but not only because of Shelley cackles,
high pitched and cold, mixed with the song. Everyone kept singing, though,
like they couldn't hear it. My mom sat in the audience,
fanning herself with the program. Dad shook his head at me,
but pulled at his collar. Like well, like he was
hot too. He stopped to clap for the end of
(08:51):
the concert. Ah, finally, but we still had the party
to get through before we could go home to start
real Christmas. All the lapping turned into loud talking as
everyone headed for the food. That was very nice, Zach.
Mom said, when I pushed my way to them through
the crowd, is it just me? Or is it hot
(09:11):
in here? I'm dying? Can we go now, please? I said?
Ho Ho Ho shouted a deep voice. How festive? Mom said,
Santa's here, Let's go see him. Mom, I'm too old
for Santa. I wasn't talking about you. She said, what
come on, Steve. She elbowed my dad a crazy grin
(09:35):
on her face. Let's go tell the big guy what
we want. He grabbed her hand and then they ran.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
No.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
No, They skipped to the corner where the line was
already growing. They wouldn't, they would they are They didn't
even wait their turn. Mom got right up in front
of Jenny Evans, which was kind of cool because Jenny's
a snob anyway, but still she Mom sat on Santa's
lap in front of the whole school. Even worse, Dad
(10:06):
did too. This had to be a nightmare, some messed
up nightmare. Please let it not be real. I looked
around in case anyone was watching, but no one was.
Everyone was acting weird. Tanisha Johnson pranced around on stage
singing a Beyonce song into the microphone with no music,
(10:30):
and it did not sound good like at all. Missus Rodriguez,
the English teacher, wrestled the mic from Tannisia, but then
she started reciting poetry into it. Tanisha tugged the mic,
but Missus Rodriguez wouldn't let go. She spouted on about
how death and obvious en medichell paced forth or whatever.
(10:51):
Watch me dunk? Joey Black shouted it out. He blew
by me in a running start for the basketball net.
Who was he? Who? Joey couldn't even make a basket
from the free throw line. Before he could go for it,
he slipped on some spilled paunch and landed face first
into the cake that the home in Careers class had made.
(11:12):
Me and Lee laughed her butt off, but all forgot
all about Joey's frosting face. Would a sixth grader tripped her?
I don't know if it was an accident or what
but she fell and her dress went up. I looked
away real fast, but Kendall islam jumped and shouted and
pointed fruit of the looms near and wears fruit of
(11:32):
the looms everyone. Kendall's boyfriend John came over, and that's
when Kendall's face went green. What's wrong, John asked? I
don't Kendall puked all over John's legs and shoes. Gross,
John said, Oh my gosh. Kendall wailed and then sobbed
(11:53):
all the way to the girl's locker room. Zach, what's
wrong with everyone? A voice, said Shelley Jenkins. I couldn't
even look at her. If I tried, my cheeks would
get red again. So I kept my eyes on the party.
Except it wasn't a Christmas party, not anymore. My mom
was arguing with a ninth grader over one of Sanna's presents.
(12:16):
I caught her eye and mouthed, let's go please. I
made prayer, hands under my chin and everything, but Mom
only crossed her arms and shook her head at me.
Oh no, Shelley pointed, look, mister Shepherd. The math teacher
had arranged the dessert plates so that they all lined
up just right. When Bruce Belski tried to take a cookie,
(12:37):
mister Shepherd slapped his hand away. I don't think his
dad liked that, I told Shelley, and he didn't. Bruce's
dad shouted in mister Shepherd's face. Mister Shepherd shouted back,
then shoved Bruce's dad in the chest. What is happening here,
Shelley asked. I have no idea, I said, parents danced,
(12:58):
a teacher cried. I cringed when Simon Cherry snuck up
behind Kim Warner tapped her on the shoulder and opened
a can of soda that he'd been shaking right in
her face. We have to do something, Shelley said, like what,
I don't know. It's like they're all possessed or something.
The carol, mister Bellinger said from behind us. He grabbed
(13:22):
Shelley's arm and stared hard into her face. I thought
it was a joke, he said. We sang the song
but didn't make an offering to the spirit. What do
you mean, she asked. He didn't stay around to answer.
He ran to the stage and wrestled the microphone away
from Missus Rodriguez, and then started singing some opera song.
(13:43):
I almost wished for Tanisha's Beyonce imitation again. It was
that bad. Did you hear that? Shelley asked, Yeah, mister
B can't hit the high notes. I winced and scratched
a finger in my ear. Not that he said something
about the carol that he means the new song he
added to the concert. I got a weird feeling when
(14:04):
everyone else sang that last verse, everyone else, I said,
you mean you didn't sing it? That's right. She'd been
laughing when I dropped my music, which is why I
hadn't sung that part. I felt weird too, and I
heard Shelley put her hand on my arm. I stared
(14:24):
at it like I'd never seen a hand before. She
painted her fingernails sparkly red. Zach, did you hear me?
I snapped my eyes to her face. What we have
to find that book where the song came from. That's
gotta be it. She tugged my hand and we bolted
across the gym, dodging crazed partygoers until we reached the hall.
(14:47):
It's unlocked. Shelley slipped inside mister B's office. We rummaged
through drawers and understacks of papers. Here, I said, Wow,
it really is an antique, cracked red leather cover. The
book Shelley read the gold letter in Charming Chance. What
a bonehead. This isn't a book of Christmas songs, it's
(15:07):
a spell book. Come on, that stuff's not real. She
put a hand on her hip. Then how do you
explain what's going on out there? Even from here? The
chaos in the gym rang out loud and clear, shrieks, laughs,
voices singing silent night, but all out of sync, crashes, bangs, stumps.
(15:29):
It sounds pretty bad, pretty bad. She made that face
where her eyebrows scrunched up and her lip gets pouty. Okay, okay,
it's bad. Let's see. She flipped through the pages. Here
it is. Oh no, we summoned the lint, the trickster.
He haunts celebrations at yule Tide. I knew I hated Latin.
(15:54):
Does it say how to get rid of him? Hold on,
maybe there's a counter chat or something. Her lips moved
as she read I've got it. We need to sing
these lines I had to sing in front of Shelley.
Maybe you should do it alone, I said, no, it
says many voices shout, dispel him. We'll be lucky if
(16:16):
just two is enough, I huffed, out of breath. Fine.
I had to get close to read the words, so
close our shoulders brushed. I cleared my throat ready. Shelley
met my eyes and nodded as she counted one, two, three,
currevlint lest dawn, take ye be gone for present. No
(16:39):
tricks we will give ye, currevolent. Thy bowl is empty,
no carols control, all pranks be ended, curlevelint. My voice
cracked twice. Shelley clenched the book so tightly her fingers
turned white and her hands shook. What's wrong, I asked,
I don't know, Oh, I can't hold it. Wind roared
(17:02):
through the room. All the papers on mister B's desk
flew into the air. Windows banged open, then closed, open, closed.
The wind whistled higher and higher and louder. I covered
my ears. When a gust tugged the book from Shelley's hands,
she covered her ears. The book smacked against the wall.
It stuck for a second, then slid to the floor.
(17:25):
The pages turned by themselves. When they stopped, everything got quiet.
Even the party down the hall went silent, like we
were in some kind of bubble. Shelley wrapped her arms
around me and pressed her cheek into my shoulder. This
surprised me so much I forgot about the book for
a second. Zach look. Smoke curled up from the book's pages.
(17:50):
It spiraled higher and darkened, forming the shape of a tall,
skinny troll man with limbs no thicker than table legs.
Spikes stuck out where his ears should have been. Now
I could tell where the smoke came from. Fire burned
from each of the lint's fingertips like ten candles. The
(18:10):
spirit's smile was so huge it barely fit his face.
Oh my goodness, Shelley whispered. The lint threw his head
back and cackled. My DearS, what fun you've given me.
You're supposed to leave, I shouted, We sang the song
I shall, But first, one last prank. He darted and
(18:32):
our heads fiery fingers first. Shelley screamed and hit her face,
flinching from the flames. I threw my arms around her,
but before he touched us, the lint burst into a
million particles of dust that fell like ugly, dirty snow.
He's gone. I tried to look all around me at once.
(18:53):
Shelley peeped with one eye, really think so she straightened,
and that's when I I did something so crazy I
couldn't believe it even while it was happening. It was
messed up, so totally messed up. I kissed Shelley on
the lips. She smelled like the paunch from the party.
(19:14):
Her lips were pink from it. They tasted pink. Her
eyes wide from the ghost got even whiter. The lint
made me. I jumped back. I the Lint's crackling voice
sing songs all around us, tricks free, tricks free, until
his words faded to nothing. I tried to look at
(19:34):
Shelley without actually looking at her. Should we see if
everyone's okay? She asked after a minute. Uh yeah. Before
I could take a step, she slipped her fingers with
their red glittery nail polish into my hand. Her hand
was warm. As we walked, she clapped her free hand
(19:55):
over her mouth and giggled. They're all gonna be so embarrassed.
I know, good thing, we didn't do anything we'll regret totally.
(20:15):
I love it when the hero gets the girl in
the end. Well, did you like the stories? I told kids.
If so, do Santa a big favor and tell your
friends and family about the Spooky Santa podcast. That way
they can listen to and remember. You can write your
own scary story and email it to me at letters
(20:37):
at Spookysanta dot com. I love scary stories and true
stories so long as they're spooky, I love getting them.
If you want to learn more about the stories that
I've told or the authors who wrote them, you can
find links in the episode's show notes. Spooky Santa is
a registered trademark of Martler House Productions copyright Martler House Productions.
(21:00):
Now be a good little boy or girl and join
me next time for more creepy tales from Spooky Santa
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.