Ghost Train

We were off to visit the Carnival,

Me, George and Julie Anne,

George was our mother’s boyfriend,

(Though in fact, he was a man!)

I was seven and Julie six

And our Mum waved us goodbye,

She said she had some shopping to do

Told Julie not to cry!

 

George looked up to the heavens with

His fake, long-suffering grin,

For Julie cried a helluva lot,

She couldn’t keep it in,

He took us down on the bus that night

There wasn’t room to park,

The evening stars were coming out

It was getting kinda dark.

 

We saw the lights of the Carnival

And Julie’s face lit up,

There were lots of rides and coconut shies

And Julie rode in a duck,

While George and I on the rifle range

Picked off some metal bears,

That raced across at the back, stood up,

Then fell to the pellets there.

 

There were clowns and men with megaphones,

And Chili Dogs with cheese,

And plenty of fluffy candy floss

That Julie stuck to her knees,

There was soda pop at this little shop

And we ate and drank our fill,

While George went up on a flying fox

And he said: ‘Now you be still!’

 

The evening mist came down at last

And George said we should go,

For Julie Anne was ready for bed

But I said, ‘Can’t we go?’

I pointed over the other side

Where a stall was draped in black,

With a skeleton painted on the front

Near a man with a bowler hat.

 

The sign had said ‘The Ghost Train’

And it looked all creepy, too,

With little cars that rumbled along

With room on them for two,

So George went over and paid the man

Who gave us an awful leer,

Said, ‘Come on kids, here’s an empty one,

We can sit you both down here.’

 

So I sat me down on the outside

Julie Anne was next to me,

The car jerked once, then rumbled off

Through a curtain, I said ‘Wheee!’

We travelled into the darkness

With the odd red flashing light,

A spider brushed against Julie’s cheek

And she screamed in a sudden fright.

 

A skeleton stuck out its bony arm

And it made a horrible sound,

Much like the scream of a banshee

Then a monster spun it around,

Its head revolved on its shoulders

And its teeth were yellow and red,

As a witch on a broomstick flew at us

And sailed right over my head.

 

I think I must have been more than pale

As the train passed ghosts and lights,

And creepy-crawly horror things

That would give you an instant fright,

We went through a darkened spider den

It was then that I looked around,

No Julie Anne, just an empty seat

As the car went thundering down.

 

I called and called for Julie Anne

But I couldn’t hear her scream,

Only the weird and ghostly sounds

As that train passed by in a dream,

But then it parted the curtain and

I found myself in the air,

With George just standing there startled

Running his fingers through his hair.

 

‘What have you done with Julie Anne?’

He shook me, made me sick,

‘She disappeared in the tunnel there,

It must be a Ghost Train trick!’

Then George looked round for the barker,

For the man in the bowler hat,

But the man had gone, and the lights went down

And the car sat, still on the track.

 

‘Your mother will kill me,’ George had cried

As he dived through the curtain there,

I followed him in, I wouldn’t be left

With the crazies at the Fair,

We stumbled over the rails, and fought

The cobwebs and the freaks,

With George still calling out ‘Julie Anne!’

In a voice that sounded bleak.

 

We went right through, saw nobody,

And stood in a sweat outside,

When suddenly there was a rumbling

From a car that was still inside,

The curtain parted, the car came out

With a woman as old as Pan,

She staggered up with a walking stick

And she cried: ‘I’m Julie Anne!’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[John Phoenix Hutchinson..]

Congratulations this poem has been "approved" for publication in...

THE MAGICAL MYTHICAL MYSTERY COMPENDIUM.
-Metaphysical, Mystical & Fantastical Poetry.

By John Phoenix Hutchinson and Others. (c) 2012

Please feel free to submit other poems as you are not limited to one entry. Also please write a short "bio" about yourself and send to me via private message. This will be published along with your poem. Thanks J.P.H.

Anyone wanting to make Submissions to this Writers Cafe "e" book Project can do so on my group page, the deadline is 1st of November 2012.

[C Wood]

haha, scary and funny with a lovely twist at the end. brilliant.

[Enid Blake]

I remember being aruck on a ghost train ride when I was younger and crying the whole way through it lol. Brilliant poem, spooky and funny. I liked the ending.
'There were lots of rides and coconut shies' - I find this line exquisite (meter and inner rhyme). That's what I like - just saying! ;)

[Enid Blake]

*stuck* :)

[kdanill]

Awesomely twisted! nice work.

[spiritwind]

Oh, how I love reading your story-poems! Each one seems to have a different tone, a different style, to match its plot. This is so full of gaiety and laughter and memories for all your readers who have ever gone to a carnival UNTIL Julie Ann disappears... then Stephen King would envy your handling of the terror. Love it--love it--love it--- Fantastic writing skills and imaginative talents!

[Tate Morgan]

LOL well I went to many a fair as a boy .We raced horses at the fair in the summer.The carnies were all a bit strange .I have ridden rides like this back in days when the freak show still existed. Now that would be considered politically incorrect /.

[MOON]

So well narrated as usual , twisted scary too.

[Mr Dunne Poetry]

This is weaved with such passion, I enjoyed this :)

[Patricia B. Hepler]

This is so cool! Just enough to be scary, yet not...until Julie Anne disappears.

I enjoyed all the previous comments, especially Marie's-- '...what terrible thing could have happened to take Julie from one side of her life and bring her out the other...?'

Another wonderful story, David :)

[eatmills]

I can never bore of reading your tales. Thanks for sharing.

[Arya Le Dasmones]

deliciously frightening. Left me with goosebumps, of which i am not entirely appreciative right at this moment. Lovely write, though and love how she went in and came out as the entirety of her life. Your rhymes are so casually weaved in as an added bonus to a wonderfully flowing piece. Perfection. Although slightly creepy. Thanks for sharing, this is a beautiful piece.