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Scary Stories to tell in the Dark

Deleted member 12790

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Oct 27, 2017
24,537
holy shit, remember these:

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They sold this shit in elementary schools to like kindergarteners. These books scared the SHIT out of me but I read all 3 over and over again. Anybody else remember these?
 
Unspoken90

Unspoken90

Member
Oct 28, 2017
956
Still find these these drawings scary.

My school was giving out books one year and I got these, but my mom threw them out because she thought they were bringing evil spirits into the house.
 
TheCthultist

TheCthultist

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,450
New York
Krejlooc said:
I know, the illustrations were the best part. Even as a kid, once I got these books, I had this distinct "Whoa, this is really... kinda fucked up" reaction to them. But they were legitimately addictive.
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It might as well have just been the illustrations. The stories themselves were almost all pretty terrible; but those pictures are some of the best, must unsettling things you could come across as a kid reading a book. The influence got me into some interesting artists as an adult.
 
poptire

poptire

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
9,993
Harold still messes me up if I think about it before I go to bed. I'm 34.
 
HiLife

HiLife

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
39,688
Still can't believe they put these drawings in kids books lol. Elementary was so long ago.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

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24,537
TheCthultist said:
It might as well have just been the illustrations. The stories themselves were almost all pretty terrible; but those pictures are some of the best, must unsettling things you could come across as a kid reading a book. The influence got me into some interesting artists as an adult.
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The stories are typical sci fi. Rote even. But they're intended for such young kids that they hooked me. I literally read these books in like the first grade. I hadn't seen the stories told over and over again in other mediums. To give a frame of reference, the Outer Limits revival series was still like 5 years out from when I had read these books. They stuck with me, besides the illustrations. Like the one about the ghosts in one of the sequels, who don't know their ghosts and vanish one by one. And each time they vanish, nobody else in the house remembers them except the little girl? Such a standard Sci-fi story. But this was my first exposure to it.
 
Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Banned
Feb 10, 2018
17,534
Does anyone know How many text pages in this version?
Are the stories as good as you would find on reddit nosleep?
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

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Anthony Hopkins said:
Does anyone know How many text pages in this version?
Are the stories as good as you would find on reddit nosleep?
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It's a kids book. Like, the target age is seriously like 6-7 years old. So probably no. The stories are maybe a paragraph long each. Usually typed in big font. Even with the illustrations, the book was like... 30 pages long? So it probably isn't worth looking into as an adult.
 
FaceHugger

FaceHugger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
13,949
USA
I read a story from this to my 2nd grade class. We had drawn the blinds and people were taking turns telling spooky stories. I think I read the one about the decaying doppelganger that chased the two kids through the field. One girl started crying.
 
HiLife

HiLife

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
39,688
The Hook, High Beams and Harold are the ones I remember most (in my mid 20s now). As I said, a group of us got our hands on these in elementary, crazy how the images can stay in your head.
 
DarthSpider

DarthSpider

The Fallen
Nov 15, 2017
2,958
Hiroshima, Japan
I brought all three with me when I moved to Japan, and I've shared a few with my students over the years at summer camp.

Weren't they gonna make a documentary or anthology movie based on these?
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

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All these mentions of Harold made me look it up, because I had forgotten about that one

the one where the dude is skinned and put on top of the roof. Oh yeah. Holy shit I had forgotten about that.
 
Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Banned
Feb 10, 2018
17,534
Krejlooc said:
It's a kids book. Like, the target age is seriously like 6-7 years old. So probably no. The stories are maybe a paragraph long each. Usually typed in big font. Even with the illustrations, the book was like... 30 pages long? So it probably isn't worth looking into as an adult.
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Arhh, thats a shame. The art in it is really captivating. Thanks for the reply.
 
Chance Hale

Chance Hale

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,847
Colorado
I mostly remember Harold because the illustration is so fucked up with the context of the story

Poor trunk lady made me sad as a kid.
latest
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Anthony Hopkins said:
Arhh, thats a shame. The art in it is really captivating. Thanks for the reply.
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See, but what's weird is it was a book for kids... but it really wasn't. All this shit was pretty fucked up for a kid's book. Like that Harold stuff, I had forgotten about that. It's about a doll skinning a man alive and putting his bloody skin on the roof to dry.

There really isn't much to the story, but the subject matter is just fucked up. Two dudes make a scare crow, then take out their frustrations on it over the course of weeks while they farm. Yell at it, punch it, etc. Then one day it stands up and skins them alive. The end.

Not much of a narrative. But fucked up for kids, and they had horrific drawings to accompany them.
 
TheCthultist

TheCthultist

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,450
New York
Krejlooc said:
The stories are typical sci fi. Rote even. But they're intended for such young kids that they hooked me. I literally read these books in like the first grade. I hadn't seen the stories told over and over again in other mediums. To give a frame of reference, the Outer Limits revival series was still like 5 years out from when I had read these books. They stuck with me, besides the illustrations. Like the one about the ghosts in one of the sequels, who don't know their ghosts and vanish one by one. And each time they vanish, nobody else in the house remembers them except the little girl? Such a standard Sci-fi story. But this was my first exposure to it.
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You know what, that's probably all the problem was for me then. I quite literally grew up with sci-fi and horror tropes all around me. My dad was a huge Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt fan and while he was overseas in the army had built up a big collection of that sort of stuff that he'd get sent, read through, then send home. So those were always around during my childhood and we'd always watch the TZ together whenever it was on. Compared to those, these stories never did much for me; but that was probably just because of my overexposure to those sorts of themes. Plus the pictures still stand out in my memory right up there with the rest of that top tier sci-fi/horror stuff.
 
Last_colossi

Last_colossi

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
4,257
Australia
DarthSpider said:
Weren't they gonna make a documentary or anthology movie based on these?
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I just checked and the last update was on April 29th with the announcement that Guillermo Del Toro will co write the movie, so it still seems to be a go?

I never read these as a kid as I only heard about them a couple of years ago, I just read a shit ton of goosebumps instead.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

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TheCthultist said:
You know what, that's probably all the problem was for me then. I quite literally grew up with sci-fi and horror tropes all around me. My dad was a huge Twilight Zone/Tales from the Crypt fan and while he was overseas in the army had built up a big collection of that sort of stuff that he'd get sent, read through, then send home. So those were always around during my childhood and we'd always watch the TZ together whenever it was on. Compared to those, these stories never did much for me; but that was probably just because of my overexposure to those sorts of themes. Plus the pictures still stand out in my memory right up there with the rest of that top tier sci-fi/horror stuff.
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It's still neat that, despite the stories themselves being nothing too special, that the illustrations still stood out. Those illustrations really, really put the book on another level. They're just so... disturbing.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

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Last_colossi said:
I just checked and the last update was on April 29th with the announcement that Guillermo Del Toro will co write the movie, so it still seems to be a go?

I never read these as a kid as I only heard about them a couple of years ago, I just read a shit ton of goosebumps instead.
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Goosebumps came later, but I never thought goosebumps were scary. In fact, I thought many goosebumps stories fell apart after about midway through and would usually get too zany or out there.

These stories in Scary Stories are too short to really get a chance to fall apart. They're just really morbid, dark, and short. They don't overstay their welcome. They get creepy then end. Good pacing, actually.
 
apocat

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,066
Not being american, I've not read the books and only encountered these illustrations on the internet as an adult, but they're really well done. This one in particular

Krejlooc said:
like what the fuck is this supposed to be

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stands out to me. It's wonderful.

I honestly think we coddle children a bit too much when it comes to fiction nowadays. I loved scary stuff from an early age, and the stuff that freaked me out was what I later came to remember the most fondly. The updated illustrations seems really tame, and I seriously doubt they really jolt the imagination for kids the way the old ones must have done back in the day.
 
Skelepuzzle

Skelepuzzle

Member
Apr 17, 2018
6,119
Reading these in elementary school fucked me up. That art style is still nuts. Goosebumps had nothing on them


Edit: My parents believed that nearly every place they lived in was haunted (they claimed a ghost followed them), so I didn't really get a true "monsters don't exist" talk. Instead it was more of a "I don't know about monsters but the ghost of someone is making random shit happen in our house!", so this stuff made my imagination run wild to the point of serious fear.
 
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Conciliator

Conciliator

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Oct 25, 2017
5,132
The stories are good but the shit is really pointless without the original illustrations

give this shit to kids it's good for 'em, expands the imagination
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 12790

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apocat said:
Not being american, I've not read the books and only encountered these illustrations on the internet as an adult, but they're really well done. This one in particular

stands out to me. It's wonderful.

I honestly think we coddle children a bit too much when it comes to fiction nowadays. I loved scary stuff from an early age, and the stuff that freaked me out was what I later came to remember the most fondly. The updated illustrations seems really tame, and I seriously doubt they really jolt the imagination for kids the way the old ones must have done back in the day.
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The stories themselves are written in kind of a beowulff way that leaves most of the creepiest bits to your imagination. It's the blunt, non-descriptive tone of the book that makes it so scary. Like, it'll say something like "she woke up and her blood ran cold as she noticed a thing standing in the corner of the room." Coupled with the illustrations, of which many are actually out of context and have little to do with the story, just set my kid imagination off.
 
R0b1n

R0b1n

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Jun 29, 2018
7,787
I loved them when I was a kid, but I didn't find them scary. More intriguing.
 
Rassilon

Rassilon

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Oct 27, 2017
10,593
UK
Those original illustrations are great.

I think it's important to allow children to be scared through the medium of story telling.
 
apocat

apocat

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Oct 27, 2017
10,066
Krejlooc said:
The stories themselves are written in kind of a beowulff way that leaves most of the creepiest bits to your imagination. It's the blunt, non-descriptive tone of the book that makes it so scary. Like, it'll say something like "she woke up and her blood ran cold as she noticed a thing standing in the corner of the room." Coupled with the illustrations, of which many are actually out of context and have little to do with the story, just set my kid imagination off.
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Haha, sounds like Lovecraft for kids! I honestly think this approach is not only effective for the intended audience, but borderline healthy for a child developing their imagination and creativity. Though that might indicate that I wouldn't be the ideal parent.

Skelepuzzle said:
My parents believed that nearly every place they lived in was haunted (they claimed a ghost followed them), so I didn't really get a true "monsters don't exist" talk. Instead it was more of a "I don't know about monsters but the ghost of someone is making random shit happen in our house!", so this stuff made my imagination run wild to the point of serious fear.
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That's kind of hilarious, if maybe less healthy! Looking at your avatar the effects of your particular upbringing can be felt to this day.
 
Skelepuzzle

Skelepuzzle

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Apr 17, 2018
6,119
apocat said:
That's kind of hilarious, if maybe less healthy! Looking at your avatar the effects of your particular upbringing can be felt to this day.
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Oh it's hilarious in a dark way for sure, and it made me a hard skeptic who thinks they were batshit crazy and influenced by drugs.

Having sleep paralysis made the supernatural VERY convincing to me when I was younger. I saw/slept through some weird shit.

I'll put it this way: if your dog is barking at a wall it's because they're a fucking dog, not because an evil child spirit has chased you for the last 20 years, which was conveniently the last time you did acid.
 
Eegah

Eegah

Member
Oct 27, 2017
651
For those asking about length.

I'm looking at the books right now. All three are approximately 100 pages long. The stories tend to be about 2-3 pages long each, with a font size expected in children's book. Some stories are as short as less than one page while others go on for 5 or 6.
 

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
8,689
I actually liked most of the new illustrations. But yeah, they were not as good as the original.
 
Sowrong

Sowrong

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Oct 29, 2017
1,442
front.jpg

Growing up collecting these, the illustrations in the books were just neat, never scary.
 
apocat

apocat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,066
Skelepuzzle said:
Oh it's hilarious in a dark way for sure, and it made me a hard skeptic who thinks they were batshit crazy and influenced by drugs.

Having sleep paralysis made the supernatural VERY convincing to me when I was younger. I saw/slept through some weird shit.

I'll put it this way: if your dog is barking at a wall it's because they're a fucking dog, not because an evil child spirit has chased you for the last 20 years, which was conveniently the last time you did acid.
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Sleep paralysis was scary enough for me without believing in the supernatural, so I can only imagine how bad it must have been having been taught that ghosts are actually real. As much as I've advocated the benefits of stimulating the spookier side of childrens imagination in this thread, actually bringing that stuff into the everyday life is borderline cruel. At least you benefited from it by fostering your skepticism.
 
Philia

Philia

Member
Oct 25, 2017
439
Still have those books. They're FANTASTIC. Amazing stuff of legends. Those books are the books that are purely worthy of handing down to future generations. Seriously, there's NO other horror books like it for kids.
 
MilkBeard

MilkBeard

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,783
Yep, my family read these. The stories are fun but the pictures are what really make them scary, I think.
 
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