Good evening, readers!  It’s that time again.  As we continue our countdown to Halloween, we present a real classic scary tale called Bloody Bones.  This is one of those with a million different versions depending on where you’re from.

This is definitely a story to tell in the dark so turn down those lights and gather up the family as we head into the woods for Bloody Bones…

***Writer’s Note:  We here at iHorror are big proponents of responsible parenting.  Some of the stories in this series may be too much for your little ones.  Please read ahead and decide if your kids can handle this story!  If not, find another story for tonight or simply come back to see us tomorrow.  In other words, don’t blame me for your kids nightmares!***

Bloody Bones as retold by Waylon Jordan

A long time ago when the world was a little less modern and the forests were a lot more plentiful, old Annie lived just outside of town here in a cabin.  Folks said a lot of things about Annie, but mostly they agreed she was a witch.

Her house was full of bottles with all manner of strange liquids in them and herbs hung from the ceiling to dry.  They said Old Annie could conjure a potion to fix whatever ailed you and many a father was seen marching out to Annie’s when his wife or kids fell ill.

Old Annie had a sour disposition and wasn’t much for socializing, but she never turned away anyone in need.  She just did her best to fix them up and get them out of her house real quick like.

Now, Old Annie made her way into town once a week to get supplies with her only friend she’d ever had in tow.  His name was Rawhead and he was a wild boar the old woman had raised since he was a suckling pig.

It was something to see, I tell ya’.  Old Annie in that same black dress and her white hair pulled back in bun walking side by side with that big old hog.  The town almost thought of the two as mascots and even though Old Annie only sneered when some brave soul called out a hello, the townspeople would still grin as she passed by.  She’d get her supplies and march right back out of town just the way she came in.

One day a group of hunters from the next town over went out hog huntin’ in Old Annie’s woods and killed old Rawhead with a couple of other hogs they found.

Old Annie looked for Rawhead for two days before she headed into town to the General Store all on her own.

“Where’s Rawhead, Annie?”  The General store owner asked.

“I’d like to know that myself, Willen.  I ain’t seen him in days, now, and I”m getting right worried.”

“Well, we haven’t seen him here in town, but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out.  I’ll pass the word around.”

“Thank you, Willen.”

Willen smiled a nervous smile.  It was the closest he’d ever heard Old Annie to being civil and that just proved how upset she really was.

When almost two weeks had gone by without a word from anyone, Old Annie closed all the shudders on her old cabin and lit the fire in the fireplace nice and hot.  She put a big pot of water over the fire and began to add herbs from the bundles hanging from the ceiling.  She was chanting something fierce as each new herb went into the pot, and before long the potion started to bubble around the edges.

In the center of the bubbling, Old Annie saw a picture of the hunters killing Rawhead.

The potion fogged over and when it cleared, she saw Rawhead tied up by his hind legs alongside two other hogs being prepared for butchering.

The potion fogged again and when it cleared the last time she saw all that was left of old Rawhead, her only friend.  He was a pile of bloody bones on the ground.

A single tear ran down Old Annie’s face before her eyes hardened.  This was murder so far as Annie was concerned and though the old woman only practiced the white magic, that didn’t mean she didn’t know the black.

The townsfolk heard a lot of strange, unearthly noises coming from the woods that night and they say a storm of lightning blew in like they’d never seen before.

If they’d been able to see inside her cabin, they would have heard her chanting “Rawhead and Bloody Bones…Rawhead and Bloody Bones” over and over to beat the band.  Her voice got stronger the more she chanted until a great bolt of lightning flew right out the top of her cabin.  The bolt of light arced as it hit the sky and came right down on the pile of bones that had once been her friend.

Those old bones started rumbling and shaking and before anyone could say what was happening they had started to put themselves back together.  When they was fully reassembled, Old Annie’s voice rumbled out of the sky, “Find the men that took you down, Bloody Bones.  Avenge yourself and me!”

Those bones started walking just like they belonged to a live boar and Bloody Bones started sniffing out those hunters.  It wasn’t long before he found that first one.  The hunter about died of fright when Bloody Bones walked up to his front porch with eyes that glowed like hot coals.

“Lord have mercy,” he whispered.  “why’s your eyes glowin’ like that?”

“To see your grave…” a low voice grumbled in response.

The hunter let out a nervous laugh and took a step back as Bloody Bones took a few steps forward.  He looked down to see that the boar’s feet had changed to look like claws.

“Oh yeah, well, why you got them big claws?”

“To dig your grave…” that same low voice answered back, and Bloody bones nosed forward a bit more.

“Lord have mercy, what you got that tail for?”

“To sweep your grave when I’m done…” the voice answered a third time, and jumped right up on the hunter.  They say you could hear him screaming for miles around.

Those screams rang out two more times that night as the second and third hunter fell to Old Annie and Bloody Bones’ revenge

The townspeople found Old Annie dead in her cabin a week or two later when she hadn’t come in for supplies in a while.  It took all her power and her life to raise Bloody Bones that night.  They gave her a nice little burial in the town cemetery, though some folks mumbled she wasn’t no good Christian to want such a thing.

To this day, however, they say those ghostly bones wander this area searching out people who’ve done wrong.and sometimes Old Annie is walking with him.

Whenever I heard this story as a kid, it always came with a warning to make sure we knew to be in by dark or Bloody Bones might get us!  It’s just that kind of story.  Join us tomorrow night for another scary story night here at iHorror.com