Scary Stories That Raven Told In The Dark

We tend to look back with rose-colored glasses. Movies and books we loved as kids tend to be seen as these great masterpieces it is often best not to go back and try again. Not everything ages like wine after all. Many of the works that scared me as a child do not scare me now, as most of us would say. However, there is one book I could never shake the fear of.

Many of us have read Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark and many of us have fond (re: horrific) memories of it. Years ago there was a trend on YouTube to share "nightmare fuel" from your childhood TV favorites. A fair amount in passing still mentioned this book series. This speaks to the lasting impression the story has on us. For those of us who have read it before, we get it isn't easily forgotten.

The perfect mixture of terrifying stories paired with the unholy artwork that seems to be the most malicious Rorschach inkblots, this book only takes one read-through to claw its way into your memories. I'm sure many of you are currently picturing the eerie works of art that plagued many a nightmare for me as a kid.

For the uninitiated, this is an anthology series that focuses on scary stories across many cultures. Some of these stories were simple ones that were passed in many variations around the campfire. Some of them however were complex stories that it seems the only version people know is the one contained within this harrowing series. The stories were placed into their own special sections based on what the story was about. Generally, they also included a humor section as well. Some sections included songs or stories that were meant to be read aloud that give the narrator special instructions on how to scare your friends and not be invited to the next sleepover. Author Alvin Schwartz compiled stories from many sources and teamed up with illustrator Stephen Gammell to make the stories jump right off the page.

Fun little aside, in 2011 they released the book with new illustrations by Brett Helquist. The artwork was much more child-friendly as opposed to the original works. However many fans of the book demanded the rerelease bring back the original works so in 2017 the original artwork was restored for another rerelease. If you are curious about how the artwork paired up take a look at this article from litreactor. https://litreactor.com/columns/the-18-most-egregious-art-replacements-from-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark Of course let's not be to harsh on Helquist. He was given an impossible job to follow up. And his style has been well suited to many other series.

A series such as this of course drew plenty of attention to itself and many times was it called into question. Some felt the nature of the books was too graphic or disturbing for young audiences. Many defended however saying it was a good read for middle schoolers and helped many deal with difficult and scary ideas.

So what was actually in these stories? Anything from cannibalism to dark humor, to walking spirits. Yes, I am intentionally avoiding naming a certain folkloric monster that starts with W. The content of many of these stories is definitely in the disturbing category. A key trait of this anthology that often seems overlooked is its dark humor stories. As a child, I remember often being more scared by the humor stories than some of the scary ones (for whatever reason "It's Him!" scared me as much as "The Big Toe" or "Harold").

The most common aspect of these stories is either ghosts or reanimated corpses. Not to say that there aren't more monstrous stories or ones that manage to subvert expectations. But plenty of the classic stories readers remember tend to involve a corpse popping up somewhere they probably shouldn't. A prime example of this is "I've Come for You" in which the story can be summarized as a corpse fell down a chimney. The ghosts in the stories as lent themselves to the perfect opportunities for dark humor.

As previously mentioned many of these stories had dark humor. I can safely say about 90% of it went over my fourth-grade head. These were generally the final sections of the book and often still leaned into the full horror of the stories, but with comedic twists. Works like "The Attic" never let up on the terrifying ambiance until the storyteller is instructed to scream. After scaring their poor audience they were meant to clarify that they screamed because the character in the story stepped on a nail. For me, I was always terrified of "Pardon Me Sir, But Is Something Wrong?". In which a man witnesses a corpse come crashing down and tries to run from it. He thinks he gets away, only to have the corpse tap him on the shoulder and ask the titular question. Perhaps again my lack of humor in these could be attributed to the harrowing artwork of Gammell which did not let up simply because the stories were humorous.

Now that I am a teacher I have often asked students if they had also read these books. It seems that maybe that generational line has been broken. What seemed like a staple of scarred children everywhere since the 80s is less common now. A few of them knew about the movie (perhaps one day I'll share my thoughts on that another time), but I have yet to find a student of mine who had read the books. As heart breaking as that is, it has inspired me to teach a mini-unit on folklore and legends soon. Perhaps I can surprise them with a story or two from the great anthology that is Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Final Rating: 4/5 Stars. For being a chilling part of so many childhoods. For all the nightmares that prepared me to face the real world. While sometimes these stories are short and need a bit more to them, they will always hold an important place in my dark heart.

-Sincerely Raven