Content Warning: This guide’s source text discusses abuse of prescription substances and alcohol, suicide, physical and sexual abuse of children, violence, and sexual assault. The source text relies on anti-Black stereotypes and contains some anti-Black epithets.



Ghost Story opens with a question: “What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?” (12). The prologue follows Don Wanderley driving south, stopping for food and rest only when needed. Don pauses to obscure his license plate, and when he realizes he has fallen asleep at the wheel, he pulls over in West Virginia to take a nap. He has a small girl in the car with him, and he ties her to him as he sleeps. When she asks him where they are going, he gives her a vague answer. Don allows the girl more freedom as they drive on, but he also imagines strangling her. He decides to get a motel room for the night after almost falling asleep again.

Before Don finds a motel, he has a vision or hallucination of a woman walking a dog in New York City. He comes out of his reverie thinking, “What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?” (12). Don pulls into a motor lodge in Valdosta, Georgia, and gives a fake name when registering for the night.