Ghost,
Horror & Mystery Stories
The Signalman by Charles Dickens
A man was standing by the red light near the tunnel. ‘‘Look out!" he was calling. "Hello! You down there! Look out!'’
‘What did you see?’
‘A man standing by the red light near the tunnel. His left arm was across his face but his right arm was being waved. This way.’
He moved his own left arm to show me. ‘‘Look out!" the man was calling. "Hello! You down there! Look out!"'
Is there really a ghost on that lonely railway line? What is he trying to tell the signalman? And why does his hand cover his face?
The
Signalman: (new print friendly PDF with glossary
and activities)
Print
friendly PDF version has a glossary, activities and notes.
With links to text & audio recording of original.
ESL Reading level guide
- Intermediate
(some
unfamiliar vocab but within narrow range).
Length: 2,535 words
The Body Snatcher
by Robert Louis
Stevenson
A strange tale of grave robbing and murder in 1820's
Edinburgh.
ESL Reading guide
-
Intermediate (long but story easy to
follow). Length: 3,374 words
The Marble
Finger by Edith Nesbit
Why do the locals fear the two marble statues in a country
church?
Classic horror story from the writer of 'The Railway
Children.
ESL Reading level guide
-
Pre-Intermediate
The Same in
Japanese
The ghost of old Japan haunts modern Tokyo.
Length: 1,446 words
(Flesch Reading Ease 88.9 Flesch-Kinkaid Level
4.9)
ESL Reading guide: more descriptive and
atmospheric than story-based - Upper
Intermediate
The Mystery of the Mary
Celeste
In 1871 a deserted ship is
found drifting in the sea. The captain and the crew
have disappeared and nobody knows what has happened.
Length: 926 words
(Flesch Reading Ease 79.7 Flesch -Kinkaid Level 2.9)
ESL Reading guide
- story
will be familiar to most readers. Lower
intermediate+
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
ESL Reading
level guide - Advanced
(shortened
version of opening but with some unfamiliar vocabulary)
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