Who is the mysterious bloodstained man who stops their coach? Why is no one around when Lance and the rest of Year Six arrive at the brand new Crater Lake activity centre? But this is just the beginning of the school trip from hell; a fight for survival that sees five pupils band together to save their classmates from an alien fate far worse than death. But whatever happens, they must Never. Ever. Fall asleep!

The dark night was strangely quiet. The moon had disappeared behind the clouds, and there were absolutely no sounds. Not just quiet, but total silence. Then the lonesome cry of a whippoorwill broke the silence. Or was it really a whippoorwill!

A strange ghost-like figure appears during the night as the twins and their cousin are camping in the Ozark Mountains above Moore's Lake near Heber Springs, Arkansas. Akiela, the last of a mysterious tribe of Native Americans, has come to warn the young adventurers about evil men in the area of the lake. He seems to be able to appear and disappear at will. He is very tall, and pale, almost deathlike...his long white hair flowing to his narrow shoulders. His eyes burn with agitation and displeasure at what is happening to his beloved mountains.

Die Bitterbosbende besluit om in die skoolkoor te sing. Maar meneer Louw is nie die vriendelikste nie en boonop is daar nuwe koorlede wat Kurt nog nooit in die skool opgemerk het nie en wat blykbaar vir die res van die bende onsigbaar is. Dan ontdek Nieke 'n stuk papier met snaakse simbole, amper soos bladmusiek, in haar geskiedenisboek. Nieke en Kurt besef hulle droom albei oor onaardse aaklige musiek, en 'n koor van kinders geklee in swart, met aardige groot koppe . . .

Among the 100 tales in this book -- drawn from Tidewater Virginia to the Lone Star state -- you can read about the face on the window of the Carollton, Alabama courthouse, the Tex-Mex widower who was haunted by the ghost of his first wife until he paid the grocery bill, the Headless Gownsman at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and much, much more!