14 Disturbing Facts about the ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ Books
Having just learned of the 'Scary Stories' books, some of these facts freaked me out enough to possibly never read them... EVER.
For those that don't know the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, here's a quick education:
The first installment of Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark trilogy hit bookshelves in 1981, the second book in 1984 and the last book in 1991. CBS Films is working on a movie adaptation, and a Chicago filmmaker is making a documentary. Here's a trailer for Cody Meirick's documentary.
The series became a preteen cult classic and among the most banned or challenged books of the following decades.
Of the 14 facts, many are very interesting finds for those that know these books and this author very well. If you're like me and you're very new to these stories, some of these facts are a bit disturbing.
3. Parents hated the books (well... maybe not THIS mom)
(From Mental Floss) By the time the Scary Stories series reached the height of its popularity in the early '90s, the book was condemned by parents nationwide. "There's no moral to the stories," former elementary school teacher and mother Sandy Vanderburg told the Chicago Tribune. "The bad guys always win. And they make light of death. There's a story called Just Delicious about a woman who goes to a mortuary, steals another woman's liver, and feeds it to her husband. That's sick."
One parent even made a connection between Schwartz’s book and a serial killer, citing the story Wonderful Sausage, about a butcher who puts people through his sausage grinder and sells the meat to his patrons. “Right away I thought of Jeffrey Dahmer," Jean Jaworski, then the mother of a fifth grader, told The Argus-Press in 1995. "It's just not appropriate for children." She asked the school board to remove the book from the library, but a special committee voted unanimously to keep the books, and the school turned down an appeal.
8. What happens in The Red Dot probably won't happen in real life
This story instilled a deep fear of spiders laying eggs in your face. May Berenbaum, entomologist at The University of Illinois, explained that a spider’s egg-laying structure isn’t equipped for injecting. “I suppose a spider could drop or plaster eggs on the skin’s surface,” Berenbaum said, “but it’s not clear why a spider would want to do such a thing.”
9. One tale goes back to the Brothers Grimm
The Big Toe, the notorious story in which a starving boy finds a human toe in the ground and makes the terrible mistake of eating it.
12. There was at least one story he wouldn't feature
And I wish I hadn't read it...
“Infanticide … is a theme in American folklore and European folklore. There is an Ozark folktale ... in which a man in his youth goes away and travels and becomes quite successful. His parents are quite poor. He comes back one night after many many years have elapsed and he looks completely different. He thinks he will therefore surprise them. He has come back with a lot of money and he wants to give it to them. They have an inn and he takes a room there for the night. They don't recognize him and he thinks that in the morning he will announce that he is their son. Well, they murder him during the night for his money. It's a marvelous story but I would not put it in one of my books. … This kind of thing I avoid.”
Whether you're a fan or just learning of these books, head to Mental Floss to see the rest of the 14 Terrifying Facts About 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'
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