Underpants

The Underpants is a funny ghost story for kids. It is based on an old African-American folktale called “The Half-Clad Ghost” from a folklore collection titled Tone The Bell Easy. Another version of this story appeared in 13 Ghostly Tales by Freya Littledale under the title, “The Ghost With One Sock”.

There was a man who always wore two pairs of underpants. When he died and when his wife was laying him out to be buried, she only put one pair of underpants on him.

After the funeral, the old man’s ghost kept coming back to the house. Every night, at the stroke of midnight, the old man would walk right through the front door.

His wife was so scared that she moved away, but the ghost found her. She moved again and she kept on moving. She must have moved 4 or 5 times, but no matter where she went, her husband just kept on coming back.

Eventually, the woman couldn’t stand it anymore and, one night when her husband’s ghost came walking in, she asked him, “Why do you keep coming back? What in the name of God do you want from me?”

He looked at her for a long time and finally, he said, “Honey, please gimme another pair of underpants.”

So she gave him another pair of underpants and to this day he has never been seen again.