Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

Anyone who grew up in the 90s knows exactly what I am talking about when I say Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, for this book series is pure nostalgia for us 90s kids!

If you haven’t read any of the chilling stories yourself, I bet you’ve heard at least one of these stories or even seen parts of these short stories make their way into movies and television adaptations.

Author, Alvin Schwartz, created three books of nightmares and downright creepy stories alongside Stephen Gammell, who created disturbing illustrations to pair with each story. A collector of folklore and urban legends, Schwartz traveled the country and dug through many books, picking out his favorite, creepy details from each tale. Since 1990 to 2009 Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has been in the top ten banned books every year.

To bring back the good old days of telling scary stories in the dark, we’ve gathered four of the best scary story tales from Schwartz’s trilogy.

Best Scary Stories

High Beams

A girl driving down a highway is freaked out because a truck behind her starts flicking on his high beams. No matter which road she takes the truck follows her. When she finally reaches home she gets out of the car and so does the driver of the truck….. With a gun! Turns out the truck driver was only flashing his high beams because there was a man with a knife in the back of her car, trying to kill the woman.

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark

Harold

Personally, I find this story to be terrifying when I was a kid. And even now!

Harold is the story of a scarecrow terribly mistreated by two farmers. Harold begins to grunt and comes to life. He then climbs up onto the roof of the farm house and scares away the farmers. However, one farmer goes back to get his milking stools. Instead, the farmer ends up on the roof dead, with his skin in sheets, nailed to the roof.

Maybe, Harold should be a new character for this year’s haunt??

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark

The Red Spot

If spiders aren’t scary enough. In this scary story, a spider bites Ruth on the face and leaves a red spot. The spot grows worse over the next few days. On the last day, it bursts out dozens of spiders all over Ruth’s face. Gross!

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark

The Big Toe

As weird as the illustration is, the story is just as weird. In this short story, a boy discovers a toe in his yard. He digs it up and gives it to his mom. She decides to make soup out of it! That night though, a ghoul demands to know where his toe is. The story has two alternative endings with a short note stating that this story comes from the south where it is acceptable to eat parts of dead human feet….

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark

You May Be The Next…

Don’t ever laugh if a hearse goes by, because you may be the next to die. Digging up your old copy of Scary Stories to Tell might just be worth it for a few more spooks!