Borchuck Plaza held a fright-filled crowd on Oct. 24 during a ghost story open mic night with tales of vampires, flesh eating monkeys, ghost pigs and talking skulls.
Hosted by Sherrod Library, the event began with Nancy Donoval and her story “Squeal,” which retold a camping trip in the 1970s that involved invisible pigs in the night.
Donoval is the storytelling program coordinator as of August 2019. Many of the story tellers during the event were her own students.
“I ended up just feeling proud because the number of people who were telling were storytelling students,” said Donoval. “I was proud of them. Good for you for getting up and telling a story.”
Among the rattling spine chillers heard in Borchuck, a teller shared a legend from one of Elizabethton’s oldest and most historic landmarks, Highland Cemetery.
It was told that if you visit the grave of Granny February on midnight of Halloween, you can hear her rocking chair squeak inside of the mausoleum, where her remains lie.
Although the theme of the night was meant to be frightening, the story tellers put their own twist to bring some lighthearted fun in the dark of night.
“The story that Nancy just told was amazing, and I really enjoyed the monkey story just because of the humor at the very last minute,” said Tanner Ocain, a first-year member of the storytelling program and first-time public teller. “Oh, and Granny February. That entire story was funny, and it’s so crazy because the different way you tell stories can totally change the way people react to it. I’m sure if somebody else was telling that it would have been terrifying, but he made it funny.”
The evening was wrapped up by Donoval and her vampire story, leaving the crowd questioning what may be lurking in the shadows as they left.
