ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: HAL SHEIKERZ STAFF WRITER
It was a scary sight at The Current. More than 400 short stories and pieces of artwork were submitted for the Halloween Scary Story Contest. The staff had a ghoulish time reading all the stories and selecting winners.
The contest was open to New River Valley students in first through eighth grade. Awards for first, second and third were given for short stories and artwork. Honorable mentions were also awarded to two drawings. Short story entries were divided into three groups: grades 1-3; 4-6; and 7-8. Artwork was divided between grades 1-3 and 4-6.
On Page 6 are samples of the writing and a list of winners in each category.
SCARY STORIES
GRADES 1-3 - SECOND PLACE WINNER
"Ghost" by Anna Podkovyrova, second grade, Harding Avenue Elementary
Once upon a time there was a ghost. His name was Ghosty. He had brothers that always teased him. On Halloween night they said, "You are too small." When he was playing with his friend, his brothers came in and said "it was time for dinner." It was really not time for dinner. They took him in this scary house. But he did not die. But his brothers died because they ate too much beer and wine. So Ghosty came back. Two years passed and Ghosty married a fine lady and her name was Halloweeny. They had a baby named Lucy. They lived happily ever after.
* Tiffany Anne Brown's first-place story, "Sally and Count Dracula" was not printed because of its length.
GRADES 4-6 - FIRST PLACE WINNER
"The Staple Man" by Justin Cox, fourth grade, Belview Elementary School
One hot June day near the end of school, I was in language arts class stapling my vocabulary words to their definitions.
The stapler jumped out of my hands and started shooting staples at me! I started running out of the room. Staples were flying at me from behind. My teacher screamed for me to come back to the classroom. "No, I'm not coming back, staples are shooting at me! " I yelled loudly.
I ran out of the school and went home. I went into the garage and got a hammer and started hammering those staples. The stapler ran out of staples. As soon as I finished hammering, the staples started to fly again. This time they all came together and they made a man. He started running after me. I ran out of the house to the car dump two blocks from my house.
The magnet that picks up cars picked up the staple man as it was picking up a junky old blue Toyota truck. I felt glad when the magnet took the staple man over to the car smasher and smashed him.
I ran back to school to finish language arts. The class was talking about the stories they wrote. I wrote a story about the staple man.
I taped it together.
GRADES 7-8 - FIRST PLACE WINNER
"Hiding: A Halloween Party" by Ali Jones of Pilot, eighth grade, home schooled.
It was a dank and smoky night. Spiders hung from the rafters above the Haunts that crammed the old run-down barn. The Haunts had been summoned by the head Ogre, who had spent years digging them out of hiding places. He now gathered them in this barn, the only place where Humans would not hunt them down. The Ogre sighed.
Across the room there was a sudden yowl as a witch's cat disappeared down a Werewolf's throat. The Witch who had owned the cat pointed at the Werewolf and said a magic word. The Werewolf shrunk to the size of a mouse, turned into his Werehuman form, and started yelling. The Witch popped him into a cage. "For my next cats," she explained, cackling.
"Quiet!" said the head Ogre. Every one was quiet except the Giants. Because Giants are smaller, less scary, and more common than ogres, they are always trying to assert themselves. The Ogre ignored the Giants and began to speak. "I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you here tonight."
Loud "Boos" came from those Haunts intelligent enough to understand this common Human way of beginning speeches. A few of the less intelligent Trolls shouted "Yes, us do!"
The Ogre reverted to Ogre talk. " Humans be all over the land. Us has no caves or castles for live in. Humans dumb. Not think We exist. Almost no Haunts left. We need LEAVE!"
The Haunts were silent. The truth was there had not been enough Witches in one area to form a coven in 16 years. There weren't any Mummies left. And only one Spook still survived.
A Pixie fixed the head Ogre with a glare. "But where do we go?" she asked.
"Not think of."
There was silence for a while. Then, "I think we should go to Hawaii," said the Ghost of a Human. Laughter followed. Then more sensible suggestions came, such as moving to the North Pole or to the Arctic or to the Sahara Desert: and using magic to live and breathe under water. The Witch put forth sarcastically that all should learn to fly and live in the air. But what they finally decided on was going under the earth. There were huge caverns and tiny tunnels and passageways all crisscrossed underneath a mountain in an uninhabited forest. The magic workers could provide food and light forever. And Haunts never get bored. Just irritated.
When the night to go under came, the Haunts waited outside a huge cave at the foot of a mountain. The Ogre stood up and spoke. He said that every year on a certain October night, all the Haunts who had broken Haunt laws would be pushed to the surface of the earth. If they returned a year later and reported that the world was still civilized, all Haunts would remain underground. If it was reported that the world was uncivilized, the Haunts would arise and wreak havoc on the Humans, the way they did in the good old days. If no Haunt returned, it would be assumed that the world was very civilized. And all Haunts would be very careful not to break any laws that year.
The Haunts moved sadly underground in little clumps. The Ogre was the last to go. The cave mouth closed to a crack.
Underground the Haunts dispersed to find their homes and wait to come out. A Dragon ate a Troll.
They are still waiting.
ARTWORK
GRADES 1-3
* First place: Sally Ann Canter, third grade, Gilbert Linkous Elementary.
* Second Place: Shaun Downey, third grade, Prices Fork Elementary.
* Third Place: Kelli Marie Linkous, third grade, Belview Elementary.
* Honorable Mention: Amber Dalton, second grade, Elliston-Lafayette Elementary.
GRADES 4-6
* First Place: Heather Huff, sixth grade, Dublin Middle.
* Second Place: Matthew Dustin Spencer, fifth grade, home schooled.
* Third Place: Amanda Bishop, fifth grade, Macy McClaugherty.
* Honorable Mention: Timothy Devore, fourth grade, Elliston-Lafayette. STORIES
GRADES 1-3
* First Place: Tiffany Anne Brown, third grade, McHarg Elementary.
* Second Place: Anna Podkovyrova, second grade, Harding Avenue Elementary.
* Third Place: Ben Jones, third grade, Elliston-Lafayette Elementary.
GRADES 4-6
* First Place: Justin Cox, fourth grade, Belview Elementary.
* Second Place: Anthony Rhea, sixth grade, Christiansburg Middle.
* Third Place: Benjamin Dallas Spencer, fifth grade, home schooled.
GRADES 7-8
* First Place: Ali Jones, eighth grade, home schooled.
* Second Place: Nathaniel Wade, seventh grade, Dublin Middle.
* Third Place: Megan Parker, seventh grade, Dublin Middle.
LENGTH: Long : 146 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: 1. First place winner in the 4-6 grade category.by CNB"It's Halloween Again!" by Heather Huff, a sixth-grader at Dublin
Middle School. color
2. First place winner in the 1-3 grade category. Sally and her
friend Amy are visiting the graveyard. Artwork by Sally Ann Canter,
a third-grader at Gilbert Linkous Elementary. color
3. Second place winner in the 4-6 category. "The Scary Haunted
House" by Matthew Dustin Spencer, a fifth-grader who is taught at
home.