Every year, once Halloween rolls around, I think of one thing: “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz. Where I grew up, if you didn’t know at least one story from “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” you were doing something wrong. It was only a matter of who would bring up the book series first. We would gather around and everyone would pick a short story to read aloud. We would get scared at the sight of whatever creepy picture was attached. We would laugh and scream, but no matter what, we always had fun. It was easily one of the best times of the year. While all the stories are iconic, here are some of my personal favorites.
“Harold”
Probably one of the most famous stories to come out of the book is “Harold.” The story goes that two farmers, Thomas and Alfred, decided to make a human-sized scarecrow. Each day, they set him outside in the morning and bring him inside for the night. Sometimes they talk with him and make jokes, while other times they kick or bully him. One day, while they were wiping his face, Harold grunted. They left him alone for a few days after that, only hearing occasional grunts. Shortly after, they returned to their normal routine. One day, Harold began to move on his own, walking like a horse and climbing on the roof of the hut. Spooked after seeing this, they decided to move the cows — who were a distance away — only to realize they forgot the needed equipment. Neither wanted to go back, but eventually Thomas did. When Alfred went looking for him, Thomas was nowhere in sight, but Harold was. The scarecrow was on the roof again, and as Alfred watched, Harold knelt and stretched out bloody skin to fry in the sun.
“Alligators”
The number of times I had my sister read me this story is ridiculous, but for some reason, it has always been a personal favorite. “Alligators” is a short story about a young woman who marries an outsider, and they have two sons together. Every night, her husband would go for a night swim in the nearby river, sometimes staying out all night. As the boys got older, they started going too. The wife would stay at home alone, and after a while, she began telling the town that her husband was turning into an alligator and doing the same to their kids. Early one morning, soaking wet, she claimed that a big alligator and two smaller ones tried to pull her in and get her to live with them, but she escaped. After that, no one saw her husband or sons again, but once in a while fishermen would tell someone about seeing alligators in the river, one big and two small ones.
“Cold as Clay”
Now this story isn’t really scary but I always feel a sense of melancholy after reading it. The story is one about forbidden love and goes like this. The daughter of a wealthy farmer falls in love with a farmhand, Jim. The father does not approve and sends his daughter away to live with her uncle. Heartbroken, Jim falls ill and dies. The father, fearful and remorseful, hides the news from her. Weeks later, Jim arrives on a horse at her uncle’s home, claiming her father sent him to bring her home. During the ride back, Jim complains about a headache, causing her to touch his forehead and utter the words, “Why, you are cold as clay,” and wrap her handkerchief around his head. They arrive at the farm and Jim and the horse vanish. Her father is shocked to see her and confesses that Jim is dead. Panicked, they open Jim’s grave and find his corpse lying in the coffin, with the girl’s handkerchief still tied around his head.
“The Big Toe”
“The Big Toe” is just one of those stories that is very memorable and popular, but you’re not sure why you love it. “The Big Toe” starts with a young boy digging in the garden when he finds a toe sticking out of the dirt. Intrigued, he grabs it hard and hears a groan and something scattering away. He shows his mother, who decides to throw it into the family’s soup that they were having for dinner. That night, his father cuts the toe in three and gives each family member a piece. In the middle of the night, the boy is awakened by a ghostly voice groaning, “Where is my to-o-o-o-e?” The voice grows closer and closer, moving through the house before it pauses at the boy’s door. The door swings open and the voice shouts, “You’ve got it.”
“The Hook”
“The Hook” is a story that has always caught my attention because it’s just right, not too much and not too little. “The Hook” is a story about a young couple who decided to see a movie, then park on a dark hill with a nice view. While listening to the radio, breaking news reports that a dangerous murderer with a knife and a steel hook for a hand has escaped a nearby prison. The girl, terrified, begs her boyfriend to lock the doors and take her home, but he thinks she’s being silly. She then hears a strange noise that sounds like scratching and her boyfriend quickly takes her home. When he gets out of the car to let her out, he finds a bloody metal hook hanging directly from the passenger door handle.
To top it off
These are only some of the scary stories that raised me, and trust me when I say it’s a whole different experience when someone reads the story out loud. Maybe these stories sound silly to everyone else, but maybe that’s because they didn’t grow up with a paperback copy, a group of friends sitting in a circle and jumpscares at the right moments. These are the scary stories that raised me, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.