|
Post by dem bones on Apr 27, 2012 18:47:22 GMT
Frank W. Dixon - The Hardy Boys: Ghost Stories (Armada, 1984) Paul Frame Foreword
The Walking Scarecrow The Mystery Of The Voodoo Gold The Disappearance Of Flaming Rock The Phantom Ship The Haunted Castle The Mystery Of Room 12Blurb: The Hardy Boys are experts at solving mysteries that have the police baffled. But the adversaries they tackle now are no meree mortals. Ghostly spirits from another world haunt Frank and Joe with blood-freezing fear .... The ghastly scarecrow that haunts the night ... A haunted castle, cursed by witches ... The phantom ship that sails to doom .... Dare you face them? Not read any of their adventures before now, and likely would have ignored Ghost Stories were it not for the cover illustration (i'm big on scarecrows). Am determined to find time to finish at least one more of these, The Haunted Castle - set in Scotland - which is shaping up pretty tidy. The Walking Scarecrow: After a day's healthy backpacking in the Bayport Hills, Frank Hardy, eighteen, and younger brother Joe, return to their sports car to find the engine won't start. Where to find somebody to give them a tow in this desolate countryside? It seems their luck is in when Joe spots a figure in the distance stood among the cornstalks. Deciding he must be a farmer, they head across the field toward him. The figure stands in silence, black eyes glaring at them from beneath a stove pipe hat, all tall and menacing in his ragged clothes, a permanent sneer etched across his face. "This guy's a weirdo,' Joe mumbled. 'I bet he lives in a haunted house ... Maybe he's off his rocker." No, Joe. He's a scarecrow. When the penny eventually drops, the boy detectives sheepishly head off in the direction of a farmhouse. From behind them, an eerie voice. "Beware! Leave this place and flee for your lives!" The Hardy boy's ignore the warning and break into the first deserted old house they come to. The scarecrow is even more agitated about them being here than he was when they trampled across his field and sets to scaring them off. For their part, the boys decide it's their turn to go chase him. And so it continues until .... a bolt of lightening strikes the old place, setting it ablaze. At last the walking scarecrow can rest, having saved the lives of the youthful investigators. Alerted by the flames, Josh Compton, who owns the property next door, gives the boys a tow to the nearest garage ten miles away while his wife treats the boys to a slap up country breakfast. "Why didn't the scarecrow simply tell us what would happen?" wonders Joe, not unreasonably. "I don't know. I'm not an expert on scarecrow psychology."
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Apr 28, 2012 11:50:11 GMT
"Why didn't the scarecrow simply tell us what would happen?" wonders Joe, not unreasonably. "I don't know. I'm not an expert on scarecrow psychology." That's a higher level of wit than I would have expected from a Hardy Boys story. Are there enough scarecrow stories for a DIY anthology? It sounds easy, but I can only think of three off the top of my head: "Children of the Corn" (Stephen King), "Timothy" (Keith Roberts), and "The Dangerous Scarecrow" (a.k.a. "Witches in the Cornfield," Carl Jacobi).
|
|