Tales for the campfire

Recently I ran across a storyteller on YouTube that I really enjoy listening to. I'm not sure what the magic ingredient in his voice is or why I prefer listening to him vs. many of the voices on YouTube. I think part of it is that he genuinely sounds like he is telling you these things firsthand. He's probably reading these stories unless he has a photographic memory but they're told in a way that sounds like a friend is talking to you. He gets the emotions and the timing right.

The storyteller is Otis Jiry and he reads stories that are anywhere from a few minutes to an hour long as well as some dark poetry. A lot of the stories he reads are those "Creepypasta" stories. For those who don't know, Creepypastas are short scary/shocking stories posted online. They're usually written in way that sounds like they really happened, even if what's being described is pretty wacky.

So I thought I'd post a few of my favorite readings from Otis Jiry. Those of you who get my blog by email will probably have to come read my actual blog because I know these videos don't generally show up for you.

The first one is called "Ash Hollow: The Odd Little Well" and was written by R.J. Wills. This story isn't too scary, it's more mystifying. It would be good for a discussion group where everyone could share what they think it means. I thought it was descriptive in the way where there are just enough personal details to make it sound real.

This next story "Birthday at Freddy's" will seem extra spooky and familiar for people who remember Chuck E. Cheese's. It's a little scarier than the last story.

I always thought those animatronic critters were creepy!

If you'd like to listen to more of Otis Jiry's storytelling, here is his YouTube channel:

Otis Jiry's Creepypasta Crypt

There are a variety of different types of stories on his channel. Some are pretty morbid.

While listening to Otis' channel, I saw a recommended video on the side of my screen. I clicked on it and really enjoyed what I heard. Listen to this one in a dark, quiet room. The lady who reads this has a whispery, haunted tone to her voice. It's a story from the point of view of a babysitter but it's different from most scary babysitter stories. This is another one worth discussing, because there would probably be a lot of different opinions about what happened. "My Last Night Babysitting" by Jeanna Saccomano:

It's Fright Night! Gather 'round for some Halloween stories!

Happy Halloween everyone! Are you up for a few ghost stories?

I thought it would be fun to tell you a few spooky stories. I chose stories that either scared or fascinated me when I was a child. Just press play on the video below to travel back down memory lane! Story time lasts about 15 minutes.

You won't see anything in this video, but I posted a virtual campfire you can watch while listening to me tell a few tales:

Did you remember a few of these spooky stories or urban legends? They really stuck with me! Credit goes to Alvin Schwartz, the author of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. I chose to read the versions of "The Hook" and "The Golden Hand" that were retold by S. E. Schlosser. There are so many variations on "The Golden Hand", but I preferred the one that's closest to how I heard it when I was young. The man in the story has to be wicked and the ghost has to exact her revenge, otherwise it's just boring!

If you're around my age or older, you'll be familiar with the original illustrations that accompanied some of these stories.  They were drawn by Stephen Gammell. The books have been redone with new less threatening illustrations. I find this strange, because I could handle those drawings as a kid! That one with the zit exploding with spiders traumatized me a bit, but only in the way where you enjoy being creeped out! Here are some of the original illustrations.

"The Hook" illustration with a nice bit of dripping blood, hair, and skin fragments:

"The Red Spot" illustration that really got to me! She's actually pretty icky looking even without stuff hatching out of her face.

Our little Vindow Viper, who is almost too cute for this book:

The Hearse and a bit of the music sheet that goes with "The Hearse Song":

I love all the shadows and drippiness in the artist's work.

Did I read any of your favorite old stories? Maybe you've heard them told differently. It's always interesting to hear the many different spins given to an urban legend or campfire tale. I always like hearing a new urban legend, so if you know any good ones, send them along! 

I hope you all have a scary night in the best of ways!

A Tale of the Supernatural fit for a Campfire

I've always thought that a fun way of relaxing during the summer months was to read spooky ghost stories. This could be because I'd rather picture cool, autumn days than the summer heat we're being hit with. Or maybe reading ghost stories makes me think of telling spooky tales around a fire at summer camp. It's not like I have a personal camp fire memory from my youth, but I still somehow have the nostalgia. I think I watched enough episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark? to get campfire ghost story moments engrained in my memories.

Whatever the reason for my summer attraction to these kinds of stories, it recently seemed the perfect time to start reading The Body Snatcher and Other Classic Ghost Stories. I mentioned this collection of supernatural stories a few posts ago. So far I've read the first two stories in the book, and both were new to me. I'm going to skip describing the first story, because it was written in such a long-winded, old fashioned style, that I could barely understand it. Even after I did piece it together, I didn't particularly like the plot.

The second story was much better! It's titled The Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter and it was written by J Sheridan Le Fanu. Although, I wasn't familiar with Le Fanu, he is listed as "the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century" on Wikipedia. It turns out he was also the man who wrote Carmilla, that saucy female vampire story you're probably familiar with.

The illustration above depicts pretty much what I pictured in my mind while reading Schalken the Painter. If anyone else has read this ghost story, I'd like to discuss it with you. In a way, it's not entirely a ghost story. It could also be seen as a monster story or a story about Satan. I even ran across some reviews online that suggest this story is about a vampire. It all depends on how you interpret the villain.

I don't want to spoil the story by giving too much away, or influence your thoughts on the villain. I'll just give you a quick summary. In this story, Godfrey Schalken is an artist who is more or less apprenticing under a master artist named Gerard Douw. The characters are based upon Godfried Schalcken and Gerrit Dou who were actual seventeenth century artists. In fact, Dou was a pupil of Rembrandt's. Aside from the characters being based upon actual artists, the rest of the story is fiction. Let's hope.

The above painting was painted by the real Schalcken. It's titled Girl with a Candle and it hangs in the Pitti Gallery in Florence. Some people believe that this painting inspired Le Fanu in writing the Schalken tale.

In the story, Schalken falls in love with his boss Douw's niece, who is named Rose. Let's pretend that's Rose above. Douw is completely clueless about his apprentice's attraction.

One night, a strange cloaked figure appears at Douw's door asking for his niece's hand in marriage. Douw knows nothing of the strange man except that he is very wealthy. The man does not show his face, or reveal anything about himself. He more or less pressures Douw into giving his niece away in marriage. At the time this story takes place, it was common for a marriage to be arranged based on money. Still, this is a rather extreme situation, as the mysterious man wishes to remain mysterious.

I'll leave the rest of the story for you to read and interpret.

If you don't already own the book, you can read the story here:  

The Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter

 
I also found a BBC special of this ghost story, which was very nicely narrated. I was going to post all of it here, but I wasn't completely impressed with it. I'm afraid that the villain my mind cooked up was a heck of a lot scarier than the bad guy in the BBC special.

What was in my mind as I read the story:

What was in the BBC Special:

Still, if you'd like to get a feel for the special, here's a link to it: BBC telling of Schalken the Painter

It just goes to show how reading a ghost story is always scarier than seeing someone else's interpretation of it on film! The exception for me being The Shining, which I found equally scary in book and movie form.

It's obviously not the most convenient for us to meet around a campfire to share ghost stories. How about the next best thing? Let's have a virtual night around the campfire! I've already got us started with the Shalken story, and here are some virtual marshmallows for you to roast:

If you'd leave me a comment with link to a story or a YouTube clip of your favorite ghost story/urban legend, it would be much appreciated. Let's see what you've got!