The Ghost of Windy Hill

This is a book I believe I have owned since a small child but have never bothered to read for nearly fifty years.

A simple bit of children's literature fluff about a skeptical professor taking his family to the country to prove a farm manor is not haunted. Some mildly mysterious hijinks ensue, but all turns out well in the end.

I'm amused by the major role the wives play in causing everything to happen the way they want it to happen while barely getting to appear in the story at all. The husbands get to sit around talking all the time but are shown to really accomplish nothing. I'm convinced the women had the whole mystery worked out in the first chapter with a couple of unstated glances and nods.

A professor and his family are asked to temporarily vacate their rooms in Boston in favor of a residence in a small country town. The reason behind this is that the country home's owner wants to prove to his wife that there is no ghost on the property, and the professor has a reputation of scaring away ghosts. While staying at the farm over the course of a summer, the professor's two children encounter interesting people who inhabit the countryside and find some unexplained happenings.

I recall this book from childhood, although I was a bit murky on the details. This book is my kind of horror, in that it's really more a mystery with a touch of eerie elements. Reading it again as an adult, the writing style is rather bland; however, the show more simple, declarative sentences, short chapters, and occasional black-and-white illustrations should make this book a good bridge between early readers and chapter books. show less

We owned this when I was little. I never liked ghost stories, so I never read it. Too bad! It's a very short novel about a family that disproves ghosts and solves mysteries, could be considered historical fiction as it's a slice-of-life of 1851. Entertaining and thoughtful.

Read now because I'm learning that the author has done good work; I'll continue to read more by him. Illustrator did well, too, and I'd like to see more of his work.

What I thought: I wanted to read this story because I love mysteries. I read this book thinking that the family would find a ghost in the house, but I liked how the "Ghost" was acctually the little boy who sat out by the road everyday. I thought it was a cute story about building trust and friendship. This is a great story about mystery and friendship. It shows that if you go out of your way to be nice to somebody they will be nice back. I liked how the boy was able to stay with the family after he got caught because he was able to stay with those who cared about him. I really enjoyed the mystery behind the story of this book, I thought that because of the mystery in the story it made the book easier and more fun to read. When I started show more reading the book I thought that it was just going to be a story about a ghost, but the story had a twist at the end that kept me guessing.

Summary: The Ghost of Windy Hill by Clyde Robert Bulla (1968) A family was asked to move into a house for the summer and if they made it through the whole summer without seeing a ghost the man that owned the house would be able to move back in with his wife. While there the two children befriend a boy that sits at the crossroads before they get to the house on Windy Hill. One night the boy sneaks in and moves the young girls quilt to another room while she was asleep so that she would think that a ghost had moved it. Then another night he came back but there was a trap set and he got caught. The reason why he snuck in and moved her quilt was because he wanted the family to stay because they were the only friends he had. In the end the owner showed up with his wife, but she did not want to stay so far away from the city and the family was able to stay in the house.

Classroom Extension
1) The students would be able to make a connection between the book and real life. They would be asked to write about a time that they went out of their way to help someone else, and tell why they felt like they should.
2) I would probably read this story around Halloween so that my students could write their own ghost stories to tell to the class or to take home. This exercise will help them in their writing. show less

Some people think the house on Windy Hill is haunted. Lorna and Jamie aren't so sure they believe in ghosts. So how can they explain the mysterious sounds of knocking, running steps, and tinkling bells?

Some people think the house on Windy Hill is haunted. Lorna and Jamie aren't so sure they believe in ghosts. So how can they explain the mysterious sounds of knocking, running steps, and tinkling bells?

"Shut your eyes, Jamie. Now think of Windy Hill and tell me what you see."
"I see a big house on a high hill," he said, "where the wind comes in from the sea."
"And it's night and there are trees all around," she said. "There's tall grass in the yard. An old man is creeping through the grass - " (8-9)

"Windy Hill is not haunted. We can be sure of that already," said professor Carver. "If something mysterious happens here, it still won't mean there's a ghost in the house.A strange sound might be the wind. A strange sight might be someone playing a joke." (18)