Spooky&Spookier

Spooky&Spookier

Is America haunted? Across the country, in tiny towns and in big cities, you hear ghost stories. Thousands of them! Ask around. Chances are, there's a strange and spooky tale about your hometown. But are these stories true? Many of them, like the ones in this book, started with real people, places, or events. Somewhere along the way, legend got mixed up with history. Today it's hard to tell what really happened. What we do know is that at one time or another, people believed the four stories you're about to read. The question is . . . do you?

1 The Mooncusser's Horse Monomoy Point Cape Cod, Massachusetts September 1660 The old pirate peers into the sky. " Perfect, " he whispers. He cackles to himself. Not a star is shining. A thin sliver of moon is hidden behind dark clouds. It's a pitch-black night. A perfect night for a shipwreck.

Over three hundred years ago, ships sank along Cape Cod almost every week. Sailors called it the Graveyard of the Atlantic. There were many reasons for the shipwrecks. Thick fog. Strong currents. Fierce storms. There was another, more terrible reason, too. Mooncussers.

Mooncussers were pirates. But not the usual kind. They didn't sail the ocean, looking for ships to attack. Instead, mooncussers worked on land. They paced the shore in the dead of night. Over their heads they swung lanterns.