Hair-raising tales from Harrowbarrow

I've had a fantastic batch of spooky stories and artwork from Harrowbarrow School in Cornwall, which I visited in January. I gave a talk for year 5s and year 6s, and then ran a creative writing workshop with an impressive group of year 6s who produced some terrific work. They've been finishing off their stories and pictures, and they are truly blood-curdling!

Unfortunately I can't publish them all here in their entirety, but I've chosen some of my favourite extracts. Here they are.

"Ben staggered into the pitch-black cave. He had a torch made of steel, a bag made of leather and a pocket knife. He felt the walls, which felt like they were closing in on him. They had gushes of blood all over dead people on the floor. Ben tiptoed further into the depths of the cave. He saw a light up ahead – it was a kind of golden glow. He limped toward the light. His bag bashed against the Stone-Age wall. The ceiling collapsed and Ben dived to save his life. He looked behind him, eyes full of red-hot fear. The entrance to the cave was blocked by gigantic boulders and rocks…."
The Skull in the Cave, by Lewis - really spooky stuff!

"Please! Just let me go! PLEASE!’ She banged at the door but it wouldn’t budge. She hung onto the floorboards, but unfortunately they were snapping into tiny pieces. Then she slipped and fell into darkness. Her scream was echoing through the floor. It stopped after a few minutes and before she knew it, she was never seen again."
Kyana's spine-tingling story about a visit to creepy bungalow infested with skeletons

A spooky picture by Rupert - spot the ghostly skull in the background!

"Bill noticed the dark sky devouring the blurred moon. Vaguely, he just made out the silhouette of a wide-eyed white tawny owl isolated in the dull sky, a beacon against the misty brown. Threading in and out of his mind was the piercing screech he rememberd from the deserted station, blank with sound apart from the occasional snores of the slumbering guard"
Hebe's amazing 4-chapter story

"Recovering from shock, a swarm of memories flooded his brain. He remembered somebody shouting “Thomas!” He remembered a dry, flat scorched wasteland of nothingness. He remembered a needle as sharp as jealousy being lowered towards him. A dark-haired girl sprinting. Somehow they all made sense though he was not sure why."
By Thomas. And wow, Thomas, what a great description!

Nathan's scary skull - what's in its mouth?

"I feel as if my eyes have dropped out. Stumbling back, realising I need to go back in. As I slowly get back onto my feet, a shiver fills my spine, my legs tremble and my arms cover in goose bumps. I trudge into the colossal dome, a necklace of sweat forms around my neck. An eternity of stone lay before me. The deep voice boomed “This is the maze of the danger, the maze of horror, the maze of DEATH”
By Rebecca, who certainly knows how to tell a good tale!

“Wow,” Maddie exclaimed. “Look at that amazing old fairground.” She had never seen anything like this in her whole life. Just then, an idea popped into her head like the sun coming out on a cold winter’s day. She saw a small hole in the big heavily chained gate. She managed to get through but she sliced her hand on the barbed wire. She screamed. A prickle, a horrible pain, ran through her hand. But what Maddie did not know was that this would put her life in a spin forever."
By Phoebe - a fantastic writer in the making

Congratulations to you all - these are really good reads - and you are REALLY GOOD WRITERS! And some very interesting artwork too.

And a huge thank you to Miss Pinfield for sending me these and for organising the visit.