(Untitled)

[waitingonsunday]

Halloween of 1990 was suitably overcast and as if that weren't perfect enough, my second-grade class had a party that involved telling scary stories with the lights off. This was before I had developed my fear of public speaking, so I didn't hesitate to share several tales, many of which, I probably claimed, had happened to me personally or to

Comments

[becomingkate]

This is a great entry! I LOVED the Scary Stories books (and I loved Babysitters Club too--did they really do scary story books? I don't remember those)
I wanted so bad to be Claudia...but I think I was more like Stacey.

[waitingonsunday]

Thank you! And I did, too, they were probably somewhat instrumental in nurturing my interest in the macabre.

There were a few ~scary~ BSC books. My most distinct/fond memories were of book #9, The Ghost at Dawn's House, wherein Dawn discovers a secret passage in her old-ass house. She starts hearing noises from within the passage and flips her shit on multiple occasions, only it turns out it was just Nicky Pike. Only it also turns out some of the stuff happened while Nicky wasn't there, so THEN WHO WAS PASSAGE? This convinced me for years that basically every house I ever lived in had a secret passage and I'd investigate every wall thoroughly, just to make sure.

And I wanted Claudia's fashion sense (and access to bizarre clothes) so badly as a kid. A set of earrings where one is shaped like a dog and the other is shaped like a bone? A bracelet made out of a telephone cord? Yellow overalls over a red tee and yellow sneakers with cherry-shaped jewelry and a side ponytail?! Where do I sign up?!

[becomingkate]

I wish all houses had secret passages!
Claudia had awesome style.

[waitingonsunday]

Me, too! My dream home would have at least two, Clue-style.

[justgetbackup]

Thank you for these memories. I always loved those tales.

[waitingonsunday]

You're very welcome! Man, they were the best. I know everyone and their mom says the same, but I mourn the loss of the original artwork, which was easily the most striking things about this series.

[queer_theory]

OMG memories. HAROLD. Also, I think the first story I always think of from this series is the one with the spider bite.

These books were a big part of my early childhood. I don't know if they made me more or less inclined to love horror, but they did contribute quite a bit to the kind of horror I like.

I was a huge Baby-sitters Club fan before I read this series of books, and I think they became the catalyst for a shift in what I read. After these books, I read my first two Stephen King books. 10-year-olds should probably not read It or The Stand.

[waitingonsunday]

Any time these books come up, my boyfriend always shudders and says, "Ugh...the one with the spider bite..." The drawing made it so much worse.

I never got around to The Stand, but I started trying to read It as soon as the miniseries aired. Not too far into it, I reached a scene that wasn't in the miniseries and my eight-year-old brain protested, "That isn't how it goes!" and I got bored with it. I tried again and again every year or two and I'd never get past that part. When I was nineteen, my boyfriend got me my own copy of it and I finally realized it's because that chapter is just boring as shit. So I finally skimmed through it and read the entire book in a very short period.

I did, however, enjoy most of King's other books up through 1999 or so. I reread Four Past Midnight so many times, it was ridiculous.

[queer_theory]

It was totally the drawing that made it memorable for me. And I don't think it ever occurred to me that there's something really elegant and beautiful about the artwork from this series until I was an adult, but I look at it now and really admire the aesthetic of it a lot.

It was so boring in sections. I think it's one of the more successful miniseries adaptations just because they were able to cut out all of that really boring stuff that was just completely unnecessary. I like The Stand better, though it's lucky that there was a pared down version of that book released first and then an uncut, longer version, because I read the abridged version first and then chose to read the longer one just because I knew I was a fan at that point. So long winded, Stephen King.

I LOVE Four Past Midnight! It's one of the ones I still re-read. I'll grab his short story collections sometimes when I just want something to read and have nothing new (his pre-1999 short stories, anyway - I haven't read anything new of his in a very long time).

[davesmusictank]

Thanks for the great memories from my childhood of these books.

[waitingonsunday]

You're very welcome! I genuinely love that for an entire generation, these unusual illustrations are a slice of nostalgia.

[call_me_katya]

I've never heard of Harold, or the Scary Stories books, but we had our own versions of some of these, which just got passed on via word of mouth. Like the ribbon neck lady? Ours was a bit grimmer though. In yours, she gave permission when she was old and dying. In ours, the husband just couldn't keep his curious hands to himself and took her ribbon off one night when she was asleep, beheading her in her prime. Jerk husband.

I've heard a version of the bed by the window story too, although it was much more sanitised and uplifting in which... http://amazinggrace-mychainsaregoneorg.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/inspirational-story-hospital-window.html

Much more Chicken Soup For The Soul than your version!

[waitingonsunday]

"Harold" was about a scarecrow ((that'd be Harold) whose farmers treat him like crap. One day, Harold comes to life. When he first gains autonomy, he does such terrifying things as walking into fields and trotting back and forth on the roof for hours. The farmers have time for about a page to shit themselves and then Harold skins one of them. Real children's entertainment.

And seriously, what a jerk! The wife had ONE request and the husband just couldn't listen.

I'd heard about the bed by the window story being told in churches and such, but I wasn't aware that it was so feel-good. I assumed it was about not coveting what your neighbor has or something. And also not killing people, I guess.