#SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK BOOK SERIES#

The story ends with it unclear whether her family drowned and she made up the story to cope or if her husband actually did what she claimed. 'Alligators' has the protagonist being placed in a mental hospital after claiming her husband turned himself and her sons into alligators before trying to change her as well.

Did the window disappear as punishment for Richard murdering George? Was there ever a window at all? Did George actually exist? In the original story's ending, George is revealed to be blind and only made up all the things he saw outside the window to cheer up Richard.

All of the Other Reindeer: The nursing school in 'The Dead Man's Hand.' Apparently at this school, being nice and friendly and not having bad habits is a bad thing.

The amount of agony she's put through is so much even the farmer starts to feel sorry for her.

Alas, Poor Villain: Addie Fitch in 'Such Things Happen.' Even though she (may have) tried to ruin the protagonist's life with spells, she was still at heart a lonely and grieving old woman who dearly loved her cat.

While they didn't contain any of the scary pictures from the books, the sometimes over-the-top telling of the stories could be a sufficient replacement.Ī film adaptation of the books, co-produced by Guillermo del Toro and faithfully adapting the infamous Gammell artwork for its monsters, was released in 2019.

#SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK BOOK SERIES#

The stories were also collected and turned into a series of audiobooks with the same names. There was a price spike (and a high one!) when older editions were pulled from store shelves, but Scholastic Press, who released the books originally, still sells them with the original art. Harper-Collins released new editions of Scary Stories and More Scary Stories in 2011, albeit replacing Gammell's artwork with new artwork by Brett Helquist (best known for his work on A Series of Unfortunate Events), eliciting mass controversy. That being said, the series has collectively sold over seven million copies. As a result of both this and the subject matter of the stories, the series was listed by the American Library Association as the single most challenged note Moral Guardians demanding they be pulled from library shelves book series of the 1990s, and the seventh most challenged of the 2000s. Using little more than black ink and water, Stephen Gammell brought Schwartz's stories to life with a dark, evocative art style, with his artwork considered by many as among the most disturbing imagery ever published in a book, let alone one for children.

However, the key factor cited for giving the books their impact (and much of their controversy) comes in the illustrations that accompany them. The series is geared towards young audiences ( not that this stops the stories from being surprisingly violent), and while the stories may be scary for an eight-year old, older audiences may likely find them more cheesy than anything. Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones (1991).More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1984).Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1981).

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a trilogy of children's books written by Alvin Schwartz, made up of stories based on urban legends and local myths and known for being probably one of the most controversial series to hit American bookshelves.

Scary stories to tell in the dark book