Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

Some of the “jump stories” use repetition (of words, rhythms, and phrases) while building to a climax. How does this set the stage for the stories’ jump scares? Cite examples.

The story “The Thing” features an apparition whose behavior is markedly different from that of the book’s other ghosts and menaces. What is the reason for this? Compare and contrast.

The ghost in “The Haunted House” takes revenge on her murderer in an unusual location: a church. Discuss why this setting may be an especially apt one for the story’s climax.

According to the book’s “Notes,” “The Hearse Song” was originally sung by soldiers in World War I. How might the gruesomeness of the song have held a special appeal for men heading to the front? Compare their use of it to children’s (more recent) fondness for it and similar songs, such as “Old Woman All Skin and Bone.”

“The Hook” and “High Beams” both address relatively modern anxieties involving automobiles. Discuss the fears at the heart of these stories. Why are the protagonists of the Part 4 stories (the urban legends) all teenagers?

Discuss how the humor of “Aaron Kelly’s Bones” derives not just from its supernatural events but from the behavior of its living characters. What other stories in the book find humor in perverse or incongruous human behavior?

“The White Satin Evening Gown” features the death of an innocent young woman who only wants to go dancing. Though the story is (apparently) apocryphal, what real-life anxieties does it exploit?

Some of the stories make supernatural use of animals, both as victims (“Me Tie Dough-ty Walker!”) and menaces (“The White Wolf,” “Wait Till Martin Comes”). In fiction, what qualities make animals natural agents of the uncanny?