The Scariest Moment
Two boys (Chris and Cad) take a bet with each other on whether the Spook will tell a spooky story at the end of the year. He does. In fact he decides to tell what he calls the scariest story of all, which took place in that very classroom long ago. It concerns a dreadful accident, "green messages", and the naughtiest boy in the class..... and even though many years have passed, it still sends shivers down the Spook's spine.
When the bell rings and the class files out, Chris says "Good story!"
"Certainly was," said Cad, holding out his hand. "You owe me 5p!"
Teddies
Joanne, who always goes to sleep at night surrounded by her collection of soft toys, is invited to an overnight stay by her friend Elizabeth. Her parents aren't too sure about it, as Elizabeth lives on Witch Street, but eventually they decide she can go.
After the visit, they think they must have made the right decision, because Joanne no longer goes to sleep surrounded by the toys. They think she must have started to grow up. Of course, they have no way of knowing what happened that night in Elizabeth's bedroom in Witch Street...
Wings
The story is told from the point of view of Gemma, who is only two and is lying in a crib. She sees Christmas decorations on the walls, the angel on top of the Christmas tree, and snow outside the window, but does not know what these things are. She hears her grandfather telling a story to her brothers about a time many years ago when he was driving his family to a Christmas gathering.....
Dr MacGregor
Much of this story is narrated by letters between Dr McGregor and his doctor friend Vinny, and by newspaper articles. Some children are struck down by a mystery "bug" which leaves them white, quiet, prone to sleep, with a loss of appetite. At the same time Dr McGregor notices strange figures climbing over the boarded up old school next to his house.
Is Dr MacGregor going mad? Or is there something far more serious than a winter's bug striking down the local children? Dr MacGregor has to make up his mind about what is going on - and then he has to decide what to do about it.
The Empty House
Mr Johnston, who works "at being something like an accountant", decides to move into a house nearer the town. He chooses number 121 Witch Street, the Grumpy Browns old home. He receives a mysterious phone call warning him about the history of the house and about Witch Street in general, but nothing at all happens while he is moving in.
But Witch Street has a habit of providing the unexpected, and something is about to happen which will turn the sedate life of Mr Johnston upside down…
A Strange Place
Janice Porter lies in bed high in her grandmother's grim Scottish house, remembering the Witch Street stories and how she thought she was not going to be frightened by the old house. But now she is frightened, and when she eventually goes to sleep she dreams the last story told to her class by the Spook, at school.
The terrifying events of that night and the revelations of her grandmother the next morning challenged everything Janice had ever believed about spooky stories. And, as she herself put it, she never, ever laughed at a ghost story again.
That Year
One Christmas, Dad tells his three young children about an earlier Christmas when some odd things happened. There was nothing very frightening, explained dad, just some curious events surrounding a Christmas card, footprints in the snow, and their dining table.
Everything appeared to stop after Christmas.
But much later, there came an unexpected twist to the story which provided an explanation for that spooky Christmas...
Here Be Giants
This story is set a long time in the future. Pignol and Chevren discover an old bookshop in between the huge glass skyscrapers and go in to investigate. They have never seen books before, but know what they are because they have "seen them on the vid". Their speech is contracted and minimalist. Inside the shop they find an old man who invites them to look round. Chevren finds a book with a map in it, which at one point says "here be giants". The old man overhears them saying that giants aren't real, and while he wraps up the book, he tells them a spooky story about one particular giant from long ago.
But that is not the end of Pignol and Chevren's story...
The Last and Longest Story
This is a "story within a story within a story". It is told from the Headteacher's viewpoint, reading the Spook's last story, which it turns out is about the Spook himself trying to write a love story instead of a ghost story. Only he keeps dreaming about his new story, and the dreams become spooky.
The Spook, of course, is none other than Bill Brown, first introduced in Sunset. But when his dreams spill over into reality, it becomes increasingly difficult for even the Spook to determine what is real and what is not...