Dutch Etymology Compound of spook (“ghost”) + verhaal (“story”). Pronunciation IPA(key): /ˈspoːk.fərˌɦaːl/, /ˈspoːk.fɛrˌɦaːl/ Audio:(file) Hyphenation: spook‧ver‧haal Noun spookverhaal n (plural spookverhalen, diminutive spookverhaaltje n) ghost story Hypernyms griezelverhaalWikiwand - on Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.