"He Walked By Day" by Julius Long

"He Walked By Day" 

by Julius Long

From Spooky Campfire Stories

Edited by Amy Kelley

Tagline: Spooky outdoor tales for all ages.

I’ve returned to Spooky Campfire Stories because this story was very cool.  This type of ghost is not one I have really seen in ghost fiction. 

Karl Rand shows up at a worksite where some men are tarring a road and he asks for work.  He is tall, thin, sickly and scares everyone but he proves to be super strong.  He can work for long hours without a break and he never eats.  The workers call nickname him Shadow and, naturally, they want to know what his deal is. He tells them, very frankly, he’s a ghost.  He needs money for his mom who is very ill.  The workmen aren’t sure if they believe him because he appears real enough but he is so freakin’ creepy!


Favorite Line

“Whose ghost are you?” gibed Juggy. “Napoleon’s?”

The Spoiler Bits

(In order to give a full analysis I will have to spoil the ending.  I'm not going to tell the entire story so you will still be able to read the story for the full picture. Highlight the section below to read the spoiler.)

Karl Rand explains that he fell into a cave, cracked his skull open and died.  That was 6 years ago.  The narrator, a manager from the worksite, asks about Karl around town and everything people say seems to point to Karl being dead.  No one can figure why he seems so solid in appearance. 

Then Karl’s mom dies he says his job is over. He walks back into the cave where he said he died and disappears.  The next day a search party finds the cave and inside is a skeleton. 

His purpose for walking by day is to complete a mission and once his duty is fulfilled, he moves on.

 An explanation is given as to how he may not have been a ghost but this doesn’t sufficiently explain all that happened when Karl Rand was in town.  The narrator remains sure he’d been working alongside a ghost.

GOMS Classification

Level 10 Manifestation with awareness of current state and enhanced abilities.

This haunting is marked with much questioning of “is he or isn’t he?”, “Did he just..?”, “Are you sure?”, “What happened just now?”, “Wait…. What?”, “How the heck…?”, "Huh?" and “I need to get my eyes checked, don’t I?”

Scared Beyond the Book?  No

If the dead are walking among us and they are like this guy then I'm not worried.  He doesn't mean any harm.  He just has an ill mother to take care of. His goal is honorable and isn't harming anyone.  What a great son!

 Afterthoughts

As the daughter of a worker similar to these and in a small town just like this, this story really creeped me out.  At least the ghost was friendly but the idea that he could pass for a flesh and blood being is hair-raising. If I were in his presence and I felt safe enough I might poke him to see how corporeal he is and run as fast as I can.