With Halloween around the corner, I thought it was fitting to pay homage to the children’s series that started my love for horror: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. If you were a kid in the 80s, you were probably familiar with these books, not only for the stories that were based on folklore and urban legends, but for the very creepy illustrations by Stephen Gammell. I read the books over and over, even though they gave me nightmares! But that’s what I love about them. I own the collection that includes all three books (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones). Flipping through the stories now, they still give me the chills.
How can we forget stories like “The Red Spot” about the girl who wakes up with a red spot on her cheek only to have it to explode with tiny spiders? Or how about “The Dream” when a young woman named Lucy has a dream about a woman with a pale face, black eyes, and long black hair who warns her about staying at an evil place, and then when Lucy comes face to face with the pale woman, she runs for her life? And you will think twice about eating sausage after reading “Wonderful Sausage” about a butcher whose secret ingredient might be connected with the missing children and grown-ups and kittens and puppies in town.
This series introduced urban legends to young readers (“The calls are coming from inside the house!”), and because of that, the books are among the most banned or challenged books out there. A new version with new (and not so scary) illustrations was also released. But they can’t top the original!
These books scared an entire generation of kids, and with an upcoming movie set to come out next year, I’m sure it will scare a new generation. I’m excited to see how the books will be adapted to the big screen especially with Guillermo del Toro as a writer and a producer. I’m confident he will be faithful to the books. He’s already announced he will incorporate Gammell’s illustrations into the movie.
So, did you read any of the “scary stories” as a kid? If so, which ones caused you to lose sleep? Let me know in the comments!
Images from FictionUnbound.com, Bloody-Disgusting.com, TheVerge.com.
After the new versions of the books came out, people were furious. It got to the point that Scholastic finally realized what idiot’s they’d been to leave the original (terrifying) art out and then brought them back. Can’t tell you how many people were bummed to be handed the new versions (and then didn’t buy them) and how many people were thrilled to see the originals back (first day I noticed, sold the box set of all three to a very excited dude!).
These books scared me more than anything I’ve ever read by Stephen King. I read them in elementary school and to this day, I’m freaked out by the story about the chihuahua that turns out to be a rat and the story about the scarecrow that comes to life, especially when the farmer looks back to see the scarecrow putting a human skin out to dry on the roof. As an adult that sounds so completely inappropriate for a children’s book, but I was downright livid when I learned that they changed the illustrations and so happy when they brought them back. I still have my original copy of the third book.