Campfire Story: Vinder Viper

Is it a snake?

I don’t think so…

Years ago a man inherited a house from his uncle when he died.

He packed up and moved to the large home that sat on a hill outside the town where he was raised.

He settled in and set out to meet his new neighbors. Everyone he met looked concerned when he mentioned he lived in the mansion on the hill. Curious, he finally asked one woman, “Why are you surprised I live in my Uncle’s home?”

She shook her head and told him, “That place is haunted, everyone knows that.”

The man was a worrier and over the next few days what the woman had told him nagged at him. He imagined all kinds of terrible things.

One evening as he got ready for bed his phone rang.

He answered it and heard, “I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in one week.” Then the line went dead.

Thinking it must be a wrong number the man forgot about it.

Three days later his phone rang again just as he went to bed.

“I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 4 days.”

The man now became nervous. While in town the next day he asked if anyone knew a Vinder Viper. No one knew what he was talking about.

The man now was nervous and concerned.

Three days later his phone rang again late at night.

“I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there tomorrow.”

The man could no longer hold back---he was frightened.

He waited all the next day but nothing happened. He was relieved as he prepared to go to bed that evening.

Then the phone rang.

“I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 1 hour.”

In a panic the man made sure all the doors and windows were locked then he called the police.

57 minutes later his phone rang and rang. The man took comfort in the fact the police were on their way. He answered the phone.

“ I am the Vinder Viper. I will be there in 1 minute.”

His doorbell rang. He ran down the stairs to answer it thinking it must be the police. He opened the door just a crack and asked, “Is that the police?”

He opened the door a little further. 

A small man holding a bucket and rags announced,” No, I am the Vinder Viper. I come every month to vash and vipe the vindows.”

As the man went back upstairs he could not believe how silly he had acted.

He opened the door to his bedroom and there in the middle of the floor stood the ghost of his UNCLE.

He fainted dead away.

Click to enlarge

In Alvin Schwartz’s book, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark he shares another version of this classic scary children’s story. Click graphic to enlarge to read his version.





An audio version is below.