This Story has scary parts and is meant for Boy Scouts, Webelos scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.

Get a small box, such as a cardboard jewelry box. Cut a whole the size of your middle finger in the bottom. Cover the bottom inside with a bed of cotton. Color the cotton around the hole with red marker. Put your middle finger through the hole from the bottom.

In the old, old days, where my ancestors lived, it was tradition that when a loved one died, you would keep one of the fingers in a small box! It would bring you love, luck, and a good harvest. These small family boxes have been passed from generation to generation. They were displayed as family heirlooms.

My great-grandfather was named Hans and his brother was Frederic. They were always interested in the bloody finger in the box that their father kept. Every time their parents left, they would get out the little box and stare at the finger. They were both too scared to touch it, yet both of them wanted to. They had both been told that if any living being touched the bloody finger, it would vanish and bad luck would befall the family for 3 generations.

One day they had the box down and were looking at it. A loud knock boomed at the front door, startling the boys! Hans was holding the box and he jumped at the loud knocking. The finger fell out of the box and he instinctively grabbed it as it fell. Poof! It vanished! Hans quickly put the box back up on the shelf and the boys answered the door. It was just one of Hans' friends so he said he couldn't play and sent him away.

Hans and Frederic were in a panic. What would they do about the finger? Then, Hans had an idea - a dreadful, awful idea.

Two hours later, their parents came home. Hans was on the couch holding the box! His mother demanded to see the finger. She took the lid off and saw the bloody finger and put the lid back on. She told Hans to put it back where it belonged and get ready for bed. She didn't notice the tears in his eyes or the bloody knife in the kitchen sink!

Hans was my great-grandfather and the bloody finger has been passed down to my grandfather, then my father, and now I have it.
Would you like to see it?

(uncover your hand holding the box and let anyone brave enough open it.)