The Worst Nightmare I Have Ever Had
It's the worst nightmare I've ever had. I say that because though it's possible that since then I've had dreams more legitimately frightening — sometimes my subconscious really lets loose — this is the one that's stuck with me.
I was 11 years old, and had borrowed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from the school library. Although I was only in 6th grade, I was a pretty advanced reader with a hyperactive imagination; I had read Tolkien in elementary school and would curiously pluck Stephen King's It from the racks at the public library a year later. On top of that, the Scary Stories books were extremely popular among kids my age, taking root in the kind of groupthink that can sweep through schools and create weird sub-universes throughout the city. (There was also a hardcover Encyclopedia of Dogs that was weirdly but powerfully beloved by the student body, so much so that the librarian classified it as a reference book and wouldn't lend it out.)
Anyway: The stories are moderately creepy, especially if you're in middle school, but the real killer is the artwork accompanying them, these disturbing and haunting images done in some combination of ink and watercolor and pure unfiltered terror. One image shocked me more than any other, and I'm not quite sure I remember correctly which story it accompanied, but it scared me. It was a woman with no face, just a worn skull and stringy hair, and jagged black holes where her eyes should have been. I hated it on a deep level I could barely define. That's what caused the nightmare.
In the nightmare, I was reading the book in my English class and came across the disturbing art, so I walked up to my teacher's desk to show it to her and complain about how frightening it was. "But why?" she asked. "We're all like that, Daniel." And I saw that her face had become the dead woman's, limp hair plastered to a gleaming skull. I looked around the room, and the rest of the students had turned into the same stark horror. I couldn't escape.
That's when I woke up.
I searched for that image online and found it right away; I've attached it below the fold for the morbidly curious, but I can barely look at it. I squinted or shielded part of the screen when downloading and then uploading the picture. If I'd just come to the image now, I'd find it unsettling, but because it's so inextricably tied to a childhood memory of pure fright, I can't look at it without beginning to breathe heavily and feel the slow creep of fear, like I'm still 11. I guess that's the point, in a way.
Comments: 31
I read all of those books repeatedly throughout grade and middle school (I honestly can't remember when I first read it--I was probably close to the same age you were, though). I was a rather morbid kid; I loved those books.
I recently found the book that collects all three of them in one at Barnes & Noble and had to buy it immediately, even though it's been years since I've read any of those stories.
Yeah, man. These artworks haunted my dreams. There was also one with a woman who had an egg-sack of spiders open in her cheek and they burrowed out. I'll never forget that, and I want to so badly.
Oh, yeah, I totally had this exact book, and I remember that drawing. I think it might still be hanging around my house somewhere (although it would be the copy I bought much more recently.) I loved scary stories, and I loved that book. And some of those stories were scary as hell, even though overall it was the art that was creepier. I also started reading Stephen King when I was around 10 or 11, although I started with Carrie because A) it was on my mom's bookshelf and B) I'm way older than you and It wasn't out yet. Wow, you made me all reminiscey, DC.
I wonder if they even have this in school libraries today. I feel like parents would complain about it being too scary.
These books will forever hold a piece of my soul. I devoured them again and again and again, and the best part was the art. I remember reading somewhere that the artist, Stephen Gammell, created his style by blowing droplets of ink with a straw.
He lives in St. Paul, not too far from me. I wonder if he does commissions, or if I could just meet him and let him know what an impact he had on me.
Jesus, I remember that picture...not much scared me in horror movies, but I've always had an extreme aversion to scary eyes or eyeless people. I would not be surprised if seeing this picture so young was a catalyst.
Oh, man. I remember that book!
The story that stuck with me the most was probably the one about the bride being stuck in the trunk on her wedding day (or was it the groom?). But those illustrations... everyone looking like they were decomposing, even if they weren't one of the creepy dead things... *shudder*
Oh I loved those books ... and you're dead on about the artwork making them ten times as creepy. They had a distinctive style to them, unifying all the stories together as if there was this invisible universe where everyone looked like this, and all was decay and death.
The story that still sticks with me is "Oh Susannah". If I heard someone singing that in my house in the middle of the night, I would jump straight through the glass out the second story.
I remember reading all of one story in this book before having to send it back to the library because I was so freaked out.
I think the thing that scared me as a kid was Bloody Mary. Honestly, I thought she was real. I couldn't stand in front of a mirror for over a year because of that demonic bitch.
I honestly don't know why I even read this post. To this day I have such an overactive imagination that I can pretty much guarantee that reading this will give me nightmares tonight. Seeing that picture doesn't help the odds.
I think Aubrey or I own that book and still have it somewhere. I read it so many times. Remember the one with the spiders exploding out of the girls face? That was one of the worst for me.
We had both volumes when I was a kid. Or where there three? I think I might have even been a few years younger than you when I read them. But oh, that artwork takes me back. The story that I totally remember most wasn't even a scary one. It was the guy with the long bony finger and the red smacky lips.
I loved that book. My very well-worn copy has found it's way into the hands of my son, who has now read it multiple times as well (a love of horror is well entrenched in his DNA)...
They absolutely have this book in school libraries today. It is a huge hit for kids in fourth grade and up.
Oh my good lord, I had all these books, I vividly remember both that drawing AND the horrific one of the woman with the spider egg sac on her face.
Because I'm a masochist, I would read these before bed, but I was always sure to turn the covers face down before I slept.
Gah, sleeping with the light on tonight...
i loved those books, and we've been collecting them recently, if only for the amazing artwork. we've found them at 1/2 price books now and then.
good & creepy!
Scary. This picture looks very much like my crack head cousin. Seriously.
Oh. Lord.
There was a story in one of the books about a ghost that went TTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHBTTTT! And it was supposed to be a funny story, I think, but I had nightmares about the accompanying picture constantly. It was an eyeless ghost with no midsection (legs going straight into arms and neck) above a dresser. Still gives me the willies.
Oh crap, I looked it up and I'm still totally freaked out. This is the one: http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4821/sc29vp4.jpg
Wednesday is right, this book is available in many school libraries. However, it is, and has been for many years, near the top of the list of most frequently banned or challenged books.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I remember that picture because I remember picking that book up when you had it. So I only know this fear because of you. Damn you, brother!
It's so funny, if you reread the stories, the vast majority were urban legends or stories where, in the end, the narrator is supposed to scream "You Got It!" or "Boo!" or something.
They did have a couple of genuinely scary ones. One was about a couple of girls misbehaving and getting a new stepmother with a wooden tail and glass eyes. The other involved two friends making a scarecrow in the image of a hated neighbor, only to have it come to life and prance about the roof like a horse on its hind legs and stretch out one of the guy's skin to dry in the sun.
And the creepiest things about those drawings by far were the fact that everything had stringy bits to it. Everything. What the hell was up with that?
yeah, the one with the scarecrow and the drying of the brother's hide was BY FAR the scariest of all the stories. that one was in the second collection of scary stories.
gah!
You are 100% right, it was totally the illustrations. The stories were average stuff, but the drawings were, well, "pure unfiltered terror," like you said. Guhhhh.
You are 100% right, it was totally the illustrations. The stories were average stuff, but the drawings were, well, "pure unfiltered terror," like you said. Guhhhh.
I seem to remember a story about someone missing a toe? Anyone?
Oh god, the spiders-in-the-face story! That was from these, wasn't it?! That one about the person who was so itchy he/she scratched his/her face off and then it turned out they were itchy because of the BUGS. MY GOD, I had blocked this childhood trauma from my memory. THANK YOU FOR FORCING ME TO RELIVE IT, DC!
I'm sorry, I'll stop spamming now.
OMFG, I used to read those books and scare myself shitless. And the art was always the worst part! I actually remember being horrified by that same skull faced lady. GAAAAh.
the worst one, which im pretty sure was in that collection, was the one where the monster tells the girl he'll grant her a wish. and then comes in the night to take his payment... i dont know if there even was an illustration for that story but in my head it looks just like the rest, waiting large outside her window.
reading these comments is very cathartic. it wasnt just me!
Damn, what a dream. This is the picture that totally freaked my husband out when he was a kid. He's 27 now and he still can't look at it. None of the pictures really bothered him except this one. Even I did the squinty, cover-the-face thing as I scrolled down. That fear really does stick with you. I do think this picture went with the story of the girl who had a spider lay eggs in her cheek. I don't think I can explain how much that story terrified me... like, really really really scary. Good to know so many of us were tortured by these books!
Damn, what a dream. This is the picture that totally freaked my husband out when he was a kid. He's 27 now and he still can't look at it. None of the pictures really bothered him except this one. Even I did the squinty, cover-the-face thing as I scrolled down. That fear really does stick with you. I do think this picture went with the story of the girl who had a spider lay eggs in her cheek. I don't think I can explain how much that story terrified me... like, really really really scary. Good to know so many of us were tortured by these books!
Indeed, I remember those books - - and that particular image - - quite well. That female corpse is quite frightening, especially when you're a kid. I'll never forget it. Even as I read your post, I knew what image it would be before I scrolled down.
What about the song?...
"Don't you ever laugh when a hearse goes by, for you may be the next to die..."
AGGHAHAHAHAHA!
Still with me.
I remember that a story in that book scared me so badly I had to hide the book because even the cover of it was too much too look at. I am almost curious enough to find out which one it was, but just scared enough not to.
May 6, 2009 3:11 PM