Help the camper finish his spooky campfire story by selecting the correct words.

I woke up in the middle of the night because ___ a strange scratching sound outside my tent.

The correct answer is there was.

We use there was for singular nouns in the past tense. Since "a strange scratching sound" is just one thing and the camper "woke up" in the past, "there was" sets the perfect spooky scene.