Scary Stories Treasury: Three Books to Chill Your Bones

Ah, the memories. I recently picked up this omnibus of spooky favorites from childhood, including the three “Scary Stories” books by Alvin Schwartz “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” and “Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones” and read them for the first time in my adulthood. I really don’t know what about these dark, macabre, downright creepy tales fascinated me so much as a child; normally, I was terrified of anything remotely scary, having to leave the room if a movie showed even the slightest tinge of blood and shying away from even the most innocuous rubber zombie mask. Perhaps because of this, I found these tingly stories all the more attractive. Perhaps, in show more spite of my fear, I enjoyed a feeling of dark, ghostly unease, and reading about the supernatural allowed me to experience it on my own terms. From then on, I was hooked on reading of ghostly, eerie places and phenomena (both “real” and fantasy) and the spooky atmosphere of these and similar stories filled me with a delicious dread. Even if I still could not bear to walk into the horror section of the video store, I relished “Scary Stories.” Especially around late October, as Halloween (always a favorite holiday) approached and the wind blew the leaves from the trees over the plowed fields and pumpkin patches, I returned to such stories again and again.

After so many years have passed, I am still greatly impressed by each of Schwartz's “Scary Stories” entries gathered in this one volume. Despite being short, none more than three pages these stories are still extremely effective, still bringing chills to my sister and I (one particular story my sister could still not sit through). The majority a drawn whole cloth by Schwartz from the deep lake of American and Canadian folklore, which in turn takes aspects from ancient stories from a multitude of cultures. These stories touch the very essence of human fears, desires, and delights. Each remains deceptively simple in its telling, rarely going into detail about the ghostly events they describe but leaving just enough to get across the plot, and they are all the more spooky for it. Interestingly, many don’t really have a point or “moral,” which lends to them an aura of “truth” as if they were an actual recalled experience. Also, it must be said that Stephen Gammell's art that goes along with many of the stories really gives them that extra edge of dread. These drawings have a drippy, macabre, unsettling ambiance that turns even the most mundane object (a chair, a stairway) into a horrifying, unnerving apparition. They are without a doubt the most frightening aspect of the book, and Gammell was an excellent choice to illustrate these scenes. Not all is scary, though. Each book also includes of a collection of joke stories that bring humor as a counterpoint to the horror of the unknown. Best of all, in my mind are the copious references, citations, notes and bibliography that Schwartz includes to trace the provenance and background of each of the tales, and invites the reader to continue their exploration of spooky folklore from North America and elsewhere. For me folklore has a timeless quality that lends itself to telling around a fire in the dark, delighting in imagining all the spooky details.

I would say the Scary Stories theory is ideal in my mind for spine tingly story telling for both adults and children at any time of the year, but particularly around Halloween. I was happy to see that this book remains as memorable now as it had when I was just an easily frightened kid! show less

Truly one of the more famous scary story collections and rightfully so. This was the horror anthology that my generation was built on and has stood the test of time since then. We used to read these books in grade school and this was one of my choices for the 'Story time' read aloud segments we would have in elementary school. Something unique and distinctive about these books is that the stories range from bone-chilling to playful and lighthearted, and even include a song or two to sing- but at least the chapters tell you what to expect and you aren't letdown from a mislead. Alvin Schwartz does a phenomenal job of gathering up timeless tales told across the world; and even includes his sources, notes and bibliography that you can show more reference to read the origins of these tales. Some are old, famous legends like High Beams, the Babysitter and the Hook handed man- while others are supposedly based on true events like Maybe you'll Remember (the infamous 'gaslighting' hotel account) and The Trouble (poltergeist). Stephen Gammel's hauntingly dark and gothic illustrations are candy to my eyes and are a stunning visual and compliment to these stories that add an extra air of disturbing feel. Written in a way that is clearly directed for the easier digestion of younger audiences, adults should never skip out on this one either. We had this one read to us in school publically every other day and it was a hit. Bring it along to read your kids a bedtime story, or even some for yourself. Encourage your friends to pick it up for their next campfire setting, and just overall have fun with this one. There's even some stories that are meant to be jump scares and directly involves you with your audience. It's meant to be loved.

I love this book to tears to the point that the cover I have of my well-loved current copy is mangled and crackling from age and usage. I have well over 15 favorites in this collection, so I will list a few if you want a few best picks:
- The Haunted House: Generic almost mundane sounding title, but it's about a preacher who happens to find a rather helpful ghost. What's in it for him if he helps avenge the ghost?
- Room for One More: This one effectively gave me a temporary paranoia of elevators.
- Wonderful Sausage: A butcher with a popular product at a terrible cost and a gristly secret...
- The Brown Suit: One of the dark comedy stories. A recently widowed woman is quite impressed with the undertaker's job. The undertaker not so much.
- Bess: A man loves his horse to death. Judge for yourself what I mean by this at the story's end.
- Harold: One of the creepiest stories in the entire series, it touches up on the underloved 'farm horror' trope with a villainous scarecrow as the focus.
- The Dream: A woman has a creepy dream that serves as a warning...but does she take heed?
- The Bad News: A charming dark comedy about two best friends that love baseball.
- Strangers: A ghost skeptic and a woman discuss their beliefs.
- Is Something Wrong?: A rather comical story about a concerned monster. show less

When I was in 2nd grade, I got Scary Stories 3 out of my school library, and it is perhaps the only piece of media that comes to mind that has ever truly terrified me. I got as far as the story "Harold," which is the one that really affected me, and I could go no further. Though at the time, I had to return the book unfinished, I always remembered "Harold" very vividly, and as I got older and came to love the horror genre, I looked back on it fondly. Since the movie was just recently released in theaters, I decided to pick up the whole collection and give it a thorough read to revisit "Harold" and also see all the other great stories that I never got to read.

Of course, as an adult, very few of these stories really hold up as scary. A show more lot of them, especially in the first two volumes, felt like they ended very abruptly. You never find out what happened to the characters or how they responded to the threat presented, because the point of the story is just to approach that moment of maximal fear. However, the illustrations in these books are still possibly the eeriest I've ever seen, and it was a pleasure to get to see them all collected together here. I also discovered that, at the end of each book (a place I never reached in my youth), Schwartz discusses the origins of all the stories, as he is a folklorist and actually did a lot of research in compiling these volumes. I thought those parts of these books were actually very interesting, especially when I found an entry that connected one of the stories to a different story (with similar format) that my dad told me growing up.

All that said, this book wasn't meant for adults. Despite not being scared by it as a 26-year-old, I rated it five stars because, when I was in the target demographic, it was the scariest book out there written for me. show less

I snagged this the other day merely due to fond memories from my childhood. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was probably my first scary book. 'Salem's Lot was the second. Yes, there is something wrong with me. But that book and it's sequel (More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) made an indelible mark on me, leaving me with psychological scars that would never totally leave. The image on the cover of this collection (originally from SStTitD) inspired such a mortal terror that I dreaded having to turn that page, not wanting to touch the image for fear it would bite me; reading the page opposite the image was almost impossible, since she was LOOKING at me. The image associated with The Thing (also from the original volume) was burned show more into my brain, inspiring nightmares and frequent window checks for almost ten years.

I count it as a mark of favor if years later, I can still recall nearly every aspect of a book and in that example, the Scary Stories series shines. Every detail was just as I remembered it, and while I might not have QUITE the same level of dread when coming to The Thing's portrait, and I no longer fear touching the page where the dead young woman waits, I still feel the echoes of those old dreads. Not bad for a series of kid's books that's nearing 30 years old, eh?

There's about a hundred stories in this one (including all three volumes of the series, artwork intact), all of them quick, 2-5 page reads. All of them are wonderfully executed in language anybody can understand - including occasional "reading tips" for ways to scare your friends if you're doing it campfire-style - but that still manage to trigger a twinge of atavistic fear in the staunchest of adults. The bibliography sections are also interesting, if you like learning odd things about folk tales (I do.) There's also a few singsongs (The Worms Crawl In, and The Woman Who Lived by the Cemetery come to mind) with proper notation if you're feeling jovial, as well as a nod to The Winter's Tale. All in all, a solid collection that I'd recommend to anyone attempting to infect a child with a love of reading, or any adult who still remembers hiding under the covers with a flashlight. show less

Ok, first off let me just say that I am soooo nostalgic for these books. I remember in the summer between 2nd grade & 3rd grade I was at a slumber party and my friends older sister had these books and we snuck them out and all sat in her room in the dark with some flashlights and we all read stories from them. That is my first memory of reading horror and I have loved it ever since. Re-reading them now as an adult was still so fun and so enjoyable. I even read some to my daughters and they enjoyed them too.

I made my nephews listen to these stories Friday night. The oldest vaguely recognized the cover but wasn’t intrigued, but was more interested in the movie. That being said, I put the audio book on while we were playing board games. He was so enraptured that he could not remember to play. In Fact board games stopped after the first round because he just wanted to listen. That to me is a sign of not only a good book, but a good narrator. I read these when I was young, and loved every minute of it, so I am incredibly happy to pass it on to a new generation. And the best part, he kept asking if we could listen again, and again and again. Plus, we watched the movie later that night and he had to point out what was different and why it did show more and did not work. All in all, a very successful Friday night, and a very successful book series.
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So, I never actually read these stories as a kid, but I wish I had! But, I'm sure back then, the illustrations would have given me nightmares. As an adult, they're still scary, but not so much nightmare-inducing.

Anyway, I bought the box set in preparation to see the Scary Stories movie. I loved this collection and went through it quickly, and even though the stories are meant for youngsters, I still felt a chill at some of them (Harold the scarecrow, the Bride, the babysitter and stranger upstairs, the killer at the back of the girl's car, to name a few). Others were funny, some were mysterious rather than scary. All in all, a good mix of creepy, disgusting, shocking, funny and lighthearted. All stories are between 1-3 or 4 pages long, show more so you can go through them quickly.

I also liked the addition of resources at the end of each book, and the folklore behind each story. I appreciated reading about them and learning a little background of our tales.

Would recommend, even if it's to just reminisce with a bit of childhood nostalgia, or to check out for yourself what the hype is really about, now that there's a feature film based on the stories. But, be sure to get the copy with the original illustrations by Gammell. They really add to the creep factor and atmosphere. show less