p. 12 “Sounds”: Based on a legend in Mobile, Alabama, toward the end of the nineteenth century. The deserted house described in the text was built by a wealthy Englishman who lived there with his daughter, who he said was “half-witted,” and several servants. No one visited them, and they seldom went out. He abruptly returned to England without her. She disappeared. The house was sold again and again. No one could live there. See Skinner, pp. 17–19. See the Note “Sounds.”
p. 15 “A Weird Blue Light”: Retold from a newspaper report in the Downey, Cal., Champion, Dec. 17, 1892, taken from the Galveston, Tex., True Flag, n.d., reprinted in Splitter, p. 209.
p. 17 “Somebody Fell from Aloft”: Adapted and abridged from a story in Wasson, “Who Fell from Aloft?”, pp. 106–28. See the Note “Somebody Fell from Aloft.”
p. 23 “The Little Black Dog”: This tale of a dog seeking revenge is adapted from the Ozark Mountains story “Si Burton’s Little Black Dog,” (I): Mrs. Marie Wilbur, Pineville, Mo., 1929. See Randolph, Church House, pp. 171–73.
p. 26 “Clinkity-Clink”: A late-nineteenth-century Southern Negro version of the well-known jump story “The Golden Arm,” in which a golden arm or some other part of the body is stolen from a corpse who returns from the grave to claim it. It is adapted from Harris, “A Ghost Story,” Nights with Uncle Remus, pp. 164–69. See the Note “Clinkity-Clink.”
SHE WAS SPITTIN’ AND YOWLIN’ JUST LIKE A CAT
p. 33 “The Bride”: Retelling of a traditional English and American tale, based on variants and the lyrics of the ballad “The Mistletoe Bough” by the songwriter Thomas Haynes Bayly. This is the last verse:
At length an oak chest that had long lain hid,
Was found in the castle; they raised the lid,
And a skeleton form lay mouldering there
In the bridal wreath of the lady fair.
Oh, sad was her fate; in sporting jest
She hid from her lord in the old oak chest;
It closed with a spring, and her bridal bloom
Lay withering there in a living tomb.
There was even a play about the unfortunate bride, “The Mistletoe Bough; or the Fatal Chest” by Charles A. Somerset. See Briggs and Tongue, pp. 88; Disher, pp. 89–90.
p. 35 “Rings on Her Fingers”: Retold from several variants. Dorson, Buying the Wind, pp. 310–11; Baylor, “Folklore from Socorro, New Mexico,” pp. 100–102. The conclusion in which the grave robber dies was suggested by the fate of “The Thievish Sexton,” Briggs and Tongue, pp. 88–89. See the Note “Buried Alive.”
p. 39 “The Drum”: Cautionary tales warning children to behave or suffer the consequences are found in most cultures. “The Drum” is a retelling of such a story which was passed down by several generations of an English family, then migrated to America with another family member. In the retelling in this book, the title has been shortened from “The Pear Drum,” and the names of the children have been changed from “Blue-Eyes” and “Turkey” to “Dolores” and “Sandra.” See the text and letter from J. Y. Bell and the letter from Lilian H. Hayward, in which she recalls a literary version of such a story that appeared in England during the late nineteenth century, Folklore 66 (1955): 302–4, 431.
The folklorist Katharine M. Briggs regards the gypsy girl in the story as a kind of Satan in offering the drum in return for evil behavior, but as more evil; for the girl goes back on her bargain, something Satan would not do. Briggs, Part A, Vol. 2, pp. 554–55.
p. 44 “The Window”: Adapted and abridged from Hare, pp. 50–52. See the Note “Vampires.”
p. 49 “Wonderful Sausage”: Retold from several variants and a song. See Randolph, “The Bloody Miller,” Turtle, pp. 138–40, (I): Mrs. Elizabeth Maddocks, Joplin, Mo., 1937; Edwards, p. 8, an Arkansas variant; and Saxon, p. 258, a New Orleans legend in which a sausage maker grinds his wife into sausage and is driven mad by her ghost.
The song is entitled “Donderback’s Machine,” or just “Donderback,” with various spellings, and minor variations. It concludes when Donderback’s sausage grinder breaks down, and he climbs inside to repair it:
His wife she had the nightmare,
She walked right in her sleep,
She grabbed the crank, gave it a yank,
and Donderback was meat.
It is sung to the tune of “The Son of a Gambolier,” which became the tune for “I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech.” See Spaeth, p. 90; Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. 3, pp. 488–89.
p. 51 “The Cat’s Paw”: Retold from a widespread witch tale. See Randolph, Ozark Mountain Folks, p. 37; Randolph, “The Cat’s Foot,” Turtle, pp. 174–75, (I): Lon Jordon, Farmington, Ark., 1941; Puckett, p. 149; Gardner, p. 174; Porter, p. 115.
p. 53 “The Voice”: Traditional jump story, to which the compiler added the two concluding lines. See SS, p. 7, p. 14; Opie, p. 36; Saxon, p. 277.
WHEN I WAKE UP, EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT
p. 57 “Oh, Susannah!”: A well-known legend among college students, this frequently is entitled “The Roommate’s Death.” The text in this book is retold from a number of variants: NEFA, (I): Linda Mansfield, (C): Mary Dudley, Orono, Me., 1964; IUFA, (I): Shelly Herbst, (C): Diane Pavy, Bloomington, Ind., 1960; questionnaire interview by the compiler with Lin Rogove, Lancaster, Pa., 1982; IF 3 (1970): 67. See the Note “Horror Stories.”
p. 59 “The Man in the Middle”: This legend has been told in New York, London, Paris, and other big cities with subways. Around the turn of the century the same story was being told about a horse car, a horse-drawn bus in New York as it moved south on Fifth Avenue in a snowstorm. See “Folklore in the News”: WF 8: 174; Clough, pp. 355–56.
p. 61 “The Cat in a Shopping Bag”: I first heard this story in the late 1970s in Denver and Helena, Montana. Text is based on my recollections and similar versions in Brunvand, pp. 108–9, collected in the Salt Lake City area in 1975.
p. 63 “The Bed by the Window”: Retold from Cerf, Try and Stop Me, pp. 288–89.
p. 66 “The Dead Man’s Hand”: A tale told in medical and nursing schools. Retold from variants in Parochetti, p. 53, and Baughman, “The Cadaver Arm,” pp. 30–32. In another variant, the victim is found dead with the dead man’s hand clutching his throat, Barnes, p. 307.
p. 68 “A Ghost in the Mirror”: Based on references in Knapp, p. 242; Langlois, pp. 196–204; Perez, pp. 73–74, 76.
p. 70 “The Curse”: A retelling of a legend frequently entitled “The Fatal Fraternity Initiation.” It is based on several variants: Baughman, “The Fatal Initiation,” HFB 4: 49–55; NEFA, (I): Linette Bridges, (C): Patricia J. Curtis, Blue Hill, Me., 1967; Dégh, Indiana Folklore: A Reader, pp. 159–60.
THE LAST LAUGH
p. 77 “The Church”: Retold from a text in Randolph, Sticks, pp. 24–25, (I): Wayne Hogue, Memphis, Tenn., 1952.
p. 79 “The Bad News”: (I): Constance Paras, 12, Winchester-Thurston School, Pittsburgh, 1983.
p. 81 “Cemetery Soup”: This jump story is based on a tale in Puckett, pp. 124–25, (I): Marie Sneed, Burton, S.C., about 1925. For a similar English version, see Gilchrist, pp. 378–79.
p. 84 “The Brown Suit”: Compiler’s recollection.
p. 86 “BA-ROOOM!”: Lyrics, (I): Margaret Z. Fisher. Manheim Township, Pa., 1982. Music, “The Irish Washerwoman,” a traditional dance tune played in fast jig time. Musical notation transcribed by Barbara C. Schwartz, Princeton, N.J., 1984, from a performance on the dulcimer by Thomas Mann, Ortonville, Iowa, 1937, tape recorded by Mrs. Sidney R. Cowell, in the recording “Folk Music of the United States, Play and Dance Songs and Tunes,” ed., B. A. Botkin, Library of Congress Music Division, AAFSL9.
p. 87 “Thumpity-Thump”: Adapted from Gardner, pp. 96–97, (I): Maggie Zee, Middleburgh, N.Y., about 1914. See the Note “Poltergeists.”
Bibliography
Books
Books that may be of interest to young people are marked with an asterisk (*).
Baker, Ronald L. Ho
osier Folk Legends. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1982.
Belden, Henry M. Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folklore Society, vol. 15. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri, 1940.
Bennett, John. The Doctor to the Dead: Grotesque Legends & Folk Tales of Old Charleston. New York: Rinehart & Co., 1943.
Botkin, Benjamin A., ed. A Treasury of American Folklore. New York: Crown Publishers, 1944.
———, ed. A Treasury of New England Folklore. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1965.
Briggs, Katharine M. A Dictionary of British Folktales. 4 vols. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1967.
Briggs, Katharine M., and Ruth L. Tongue. Folktales of England. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1965.
Brookes, Stella B. Joel Chandler Harris—Folklorist, Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1950.
Brunvand, Jan H. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1981.
*Cerf, Bennett A. Famous Ghost Stories. New York: Random House, 1944.
———. Try and Stop Me. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944. Reprint Edition: Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Books, 1954.
Clough, Ben C., ed. The American Imagination at Work: Tall Tales and Folk Tales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1947.
Dégh, Linda. “The ‘Belief Legend’ in Modern Society: Form, Function and Relationship to Other Genres.” In Wayland D. Hand, ed. American Folk Legend, A Symposium. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press, 1971.
———, ed. Indiana Folklore: A Reader. Bloomington, Ind.: University of Indiana Press, 1980.
Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. New York: The Heritage Press, 1938.
Disher, Maurice W. Victorian Song: From Dive to Drawing Room. London: Phoenix House, 1955.
Dorson, Richard M. American Folklore. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1959.
———. “How Shall We Rewrite Charles M. Skinner Today?” In Wayland D. Hand, ed. American Folk Legend, A Symposium. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press, 1971.
———. Jonathan Draws the Long Bow. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1946.
———, ed. Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1952.
———, ed. Buying the Wind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
———, ed. Negro Tales from Calvin, Michigan. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1958.
Eliot, T. S. The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909–1950. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1952.
Gardner, Emelyn E. Folklore from the Schoharie Hills, New York. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1937.
Hare, Augustus, J. C. The Story of My Life. London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1950. An abridgement of Vols. 4, 5, and 6 of The Story of My Life, George Allen, 1900.
Harris, Joel Chandler. Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1882.
———. Richard Chase, ed. The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1955.
Hole, Christina. Haunted England: A Survey of English Ghost-Lore. London: B. T. Batsford, 1950.
Janvier, Thomas A. Legends of the City of Mexico. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910.
*Jones, Louis C. Things That Go Bump in the Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 1959.
Knapp, Mary and Herbert. One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1976.
Krappe, Alexander H. Balor with the Evil Eye: Studies in Celtic and French Literature. New York: Institut des Études Françaises, Columbia University, 1927.
Langlois, Janet. “Mary Whales, I Believe in You” in Linda Dégh, ed., Indiana Folklore: A Reader. See Dégh above.
*Leach, Maria. Rainbow Book of American Folk Tales and Legends. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Co., 1959.
*———. The Thing at the Foot of the Bed and Other Scary Stories. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing Co., 1959.
*———. Whistle in the Graveyard. New York: The Viking Press, 1974.
———, ed. Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Publishing Co., 1972.
Musick, Ruth Ann. Riddles, Folk Songs and Folk Tales from West Virginia. Morgantown, W. Va.: West Virginia University Library, 1960.
Opie, Iona and Peter. The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren. London: Oxford University Press, 1959.
Puckett, Newbell N. Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1926.
Randolph, Vance. From an Ozark Holler: Stories of Ozark Mountain Folk. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1933.
———. Ozark Mountain Folks. New York: The Vanguard Press, 1932.
———. Ozark Superstitions. New York: Columbia University Press, 1947. Reprint edition: Ozark Magic and Folklore. New York: Dover Publications, 1964.
———. “Witches, and Witch-Masters.” In Benjamin A. Botkin, ed. Folk-Say: A Regional Miscellany. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1931.
———, ed. Ozark Folksongs, vols. 1, 3. Columbia, Mo.: State Society of Missouri, 1949.
———, ed. Sticks in the Knapsack and Other Ozark Folk Tales. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.
———, ed. The Talking Turtle and Other Ozark Folk Tales. New York: Columbia University Press, 1957.
———, ed. Who Blowed Up the Church House? And Other Ozark Folk Tales. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952.
Saxon, Lyle et al. Louisiana Writers Project. Gumbo Ya-Ya. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1945.
*Schwartz, Alvin. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1981.
Skinner, Charles M. American Myths and Legends. Vol. 2, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1903.
Spaeth, Sigmund. Read ’em and Weep, the Songs You Forgot to Remember. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1927.
Wasson, George S. Captain Simeon’s Store. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1903.
Wilson, Charles M. “Folk Beliefs in the Ozark Hills.” In Benjamin A. Botkin, ed. Folk-Say: A Regional Miscellany. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1930.
Articles
Bacon, A. M., and Parsons, E. C. “Folk-Lore from Elizabeth City County, Va.”: JAF 35 (1922): 250–327.
Barnes, Daniel R. “Some Functional Horror Stories on the Kansas University Campus.” SFQ 30 (1966): 305–12.
Baughman, Ernest. “The Cadaver Arm.” HFB 4 (1945): 30–32.
———. “The Fatal Initiation.” HFB 4 (1945): 49–55.
Baylor, Dorothy J. “Buried Alive Stories, Folklore from Socorro, New Mexico, Part II.” HF 6 (1947): 100–102.
Beardsley, Richard K., and Hankey, Rosalie. “The History of the Vanishing Hitchhiker.” CFQ 2 (1943): 3–25.
———. “The Vanishing Hitchhiker”: CFQ 1 (1942): 303–36.
Bell, J. Y. “The Pear Drum.” Folklore 66 (1955): 302–4.
Boggs, Ralph Steele. “North Carolina White Folktales and Riddles.” JAF 47 (1934): 3–25.
Dégh, Linda. “The Hook, the Boyfriend’s Death, and the Killer in the Back Seat.” IF 1 (1968): 98–106.
———. “The Roomate’s Death and Related Dormitory Stories in Formation.” IF 2 (1969): 55–74.
Dorson, Richard M. “The Folklore of Colleges.” The American Mercury 68 (1949): 671–77.
———. “Polish Tales from Joe Woods.” WF 8 (1949): 131–45.
Edwards, J. C. “Dunderbeck.” AF 2 (1952): 8.
Fauset, Arthur Huff. “Tales and Riddles Collected in Philadelphia.” JAF 41 (1928): 529–57.
“Folk Tales, Folklore in the News.” WF 8 (1949): 174–75.
Gilchrist, A. G. “The Bone.” Folklore 50 (1939): 378–79.
Grider, Sylvia. “Dormitory Legend-Telling in Process.” IF 6 (1973): 1–32.
Hawes, Bess Lomax
. “La Llorona in Juvenile Hall.” WF 27: 153–70.
Hayward, Lilian H. “Correspondence.” Folklore 66 (1955): 431.
Krappe, Alexander H. “The Spectres’ Mass.” JAF 60 (1947): 159–62.
Lawson, O. G., and Porter, Kenneth W. “Texas Poltergeist, 1881.” JAF 64 (1951): 371–82.
Leddy, Betty. “La Llorona in Southern Arizona.” WF 7 (1948): 272–77.
Parochetti, JoAnn S. “Scary Stories from Purdue.” KFQ 10 (1965): 49–57.
Perez, Soledad. “Mexican Folklore from Austin, Texas.” PTFS 24 (1951): 71–136.
Porter, F. Hampden. “Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Mountain Whites of the Alleghenies.” JAF 7 (1894): 105–17.
Splitter, Henry W. “New Tales of American Phantom Ships.” WF 9 (1950): 201–16.
Copyright
MORE SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK. Text copyright © 1984 by Alvin Schwartz. Illustrations copyright © 1984 by Stephen Gammell. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover art by Stephen Gammell
Cover design by Catherine San Juan
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schwartz, Alvin.
More scary stories to tell in the dark.
Sequel to: Scary stories to tell in the dark. 1981.
Bibliography: p.
Summary: More traditional and modern-day stories of ghosts, witches, vampires, “jump” stories, and scary songs.
Scary Stories Complete Set Page 10
