There are some strange occurrences going on in Searra Sawka's grandparent's home.

According to Sawka, a junior at Whitehall High School, her grandparents don't live alone; they live with a ghost named John.

As a young child, Sawka would sit on the top of the stairs and ask John to make noises. Then she would hear knocks but was never fearful, she said

Sawka embellished and wrote about some of the strange events she experienced at her grammy's house and wrote other pieces from her own imagination. These are compiled in her newly published book, "Ghost Stories: John, Are You Down There?"

Sawka began writing the book when she was 12, having been influenced by Steven A. Schwartz, author of "Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark" and dozens of other books of folklore. Schwartz is no longer living, but it appears that Sawka is taking over the task of chilling young bones.

The material is lighthearted for tender minds and each short story ends with a word of advice such as, "When you feel like something is going to go wrong, make sure you stop whatever you're doing."

Another valuable lesson that ties in with the preceding story includes, "Make sure that if you are dared to do something, that you are willing to take on the consequences."

Sawka completed the project when she was 14 and she was officially published by iUniverse this past October.

The hardest thing about the process, she said, was the illustration involved. Drawing and redrawing the spine-tingling pictures was very time consuming, she said.

Initially, Sawka was crushed when a reviewer wrote comments on her originals.

"I was actually kind of happy that I had to redo the pictures because I made some of them better," she said.

Sawka is not currently writing anything, but stays busy with school, work and modeling. When asked what she is currently reading, her mother, Stephanie Sawka quipped, "She reads a lot of texts."

The young author tells her readers, "Never stop believing in yourself, and don't let anybody tell you that you can't do something. If you want it, go for it."

The collection of spooky stories, written for preteens, is available at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.