October 2017 - Hoodoo by Ronald Smith

I walked through the graveyard on my tiptoes, trying not to step on the graves.  If you stepped on a grave, people said, the dead could steal your soul.  I could barely see, and the only light came from the moon, spreading a glow through the long-beard trees.
            Something kept tickling my face, like a spider’s web.  I brushed it away, but that didn’t do any good.  It was stuck there, creeping across my skin.
I was looking for Daddy’s grave.  I didn’t know why, but I had to find it.  The headstones on the graves were so old, I couldn’t read the names.
            I took a few more steps and stopped.
The ground was moving under my feet!
            My head went dizzy, like I was back on the merry-go-round at the fair.  My mouth clamped shut.  I saw something out of the corner of my eye and turned.
A hand, followed by a long arm, shot right up out of the dirt.  Crooked black fingers grabbed at the empty air.
            And then, with the sound like an ax chopping through wood, a dead man rose up out of his pine box.”   pg. 40-41 Hoodoo by Ronald Smith
 
Hoodoo was born with a little red, heart-shaped smudge under his left eye, and right away Mama Frances, his grandmother, knew he was different.  See, Hoodoo comes from a long line of folks who practice folk magic, and his grandmother knows he is special.  Unfortunately, Hoodoo can’t conjure or cast a spell, there doesn’t seem to be a lick of magic in him.  That all changes one hot summer day when The Stranger shows up in town looking for “Main de Glorie, The One That Did the Deed”.  Hoodoo starts having nightmares and something strange seems to be going on with his left hand, sometimes it feels hot and itchy, sometimes when he gets angry, it seems to have a power about it.  Then his daddy, who died when Hoodoo was five years old, shows up in a strange dream, and Hoodoo learns the truth about The Stranger, and what he must do to protect his family and friends, before it’s too late!
 
I myself am a bit of a lightweight when it comes to scary reads, so you might not get the shivers while reading Hoodoo by Ronald Smith, like I did.  However, it is still a thrilling read, with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat to the very end.
 
If you are looking for a few more scary reads, try some of these titles:
Thornhill by Pam Smy
Room of Shadows by Ronald Kidd
Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Ghostlight by Sophie Gensler
The Wrong Train by Jeremy De Quidt
Frenzy by Robert Lettrick
On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave by Candace Fleming
Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh