The Church

The Church is a story from More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. The story is meant to be comedic. Based on a story collected by Vance Randolph in Sticks in the Knapsack and Other Ozark Folktales.

Plot[]

A man named Larry Berger was brave and never feared anybody who was living. But anybody who was dead scared the wits out of him.

One night Larry was out driving in the country in his old jeep when he got caught in a bad thunderstorm. The rain was coming down in sheets. Since his jeep didn't have a top to it, Larry started looking for a place to take shelter. But at the first place he came to he didn't even slow down. It was an old deserted cabin, probably as dry as a bone inside. But Larry knew for a fact that it was haunted, and he wasn't going to stay there.

A few miles farther, he came to an old abandoned church standing all alone in a field. It hadn't been used in years. All the window glass was gone, but it still had sections of the roof intact. So Larry parked his jeep and ran inside. It was as dark as could be in there. Larry groped around until he found a pew and sat down. It was nice and dry, just as he had thought it would be, and he stretched out his legs and made himself comfortable.

Suddenly there was a big flash of lightning, and Larry saw that he wasn't the only one in that church. There were people sitting in almost every pew. They all had their heads bowed as if they were praying, and they all were dressed in white. "These must be ghosts sitting in their shrouds," Larry thought. "They must have come in from some graveyard to get dry."

Larry jumped up and ran down the aisle as fast as he could, right smack into one of those ghosts. And the ghost, he went--BAA-A-A!

Stories
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark	Strange and Scary Things • The Big Toe • The Walk • What Do You Come For? • Me Tie Dough-ty Walker! • A Man Who Lived In Leeds • Old Woman All Skin and Bone • The Thing • Cold As Clay • The White Wolf • The Haunted House • The Guests • The Hearse Song • The Girl Who Stood on a Grave • A New Horse • Alligators • Room for One More • The Wendigo • The Dead Man's Brains • May I Carry Your Basket? • The Hook • The White Gown • High Beams • The Babysitter • The Viper • The Attic • The Slithery-Dee • Aaron Kelly's Bones • Wait Till Martin Comes • The Ghost with the Bloody Fingers
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark	Hoo-Ha's • Something Was Wrong • The Wreck • One Sunday Morning • Sounds • A Weird Blue Light • Somebody Fell From Aloft • The Little Black Dog • Clinkity-Clink • The Bride • Rings On Her Fingers • The Drum • The Window • Wonderful Sausage • The Cat's Paw • The Voice • "Oh, Susannah!" • The Man In The Middle • The Cat in a Shopping Bag • The Bed by the Window • The Dead Man's Hand • A Ghost in the Mirror • The Curse • The Church • The Bad News • Cemetery Soup • The Brown Suit • Ba-Rooom! • Thumpity-Thump
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill your Bones	Boo Men • The Appointment • The Bus Stop • Faster And Faster • Just Delicious • Hello, Kate! • The Black Dog • Footsteps • Like Cats' Eyes • Bess • Harold • The Dead Hand • Such Things Happen • The Wolf Girl • The Dream • Sam's New Pet • Maybe You Will Remember • The Red Spot • No, Thanks • The Trouble • Strangers • The Hog • Is Something Wrong? • It's Him! • T-H-U-P-P-P-P-P-P-P! • You May Be The Next...