Scary Stories Treasury
Scary Stories Treasury
The works of Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell
Inspired by the spooky season, I have been rereading the Scary Stories Treasury by Alvin Schwartz. What is always surprising to me is how these stories are so short, simple, and effective. I am almost certain that I first encountered the Scary Stories series (Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark, More Scary Stories, and Scary Stories 3: Scary Stories To Chill Your Bones) at a school book fair. Many people my age share much the same story. More than one person has claimed that the grotesque drawings of illustrator Stephen Gammell mentally scarred them. Even now, it is difficult to comprehend Gammell’s technique and inspirations. The stories provided some basic outlines that Gammell then took in a phantasmagoric direction. I consider us lucky that Gammell was never interested in working in film. Had he been a concept artist on movies many horror films would have been even more terrifying.
Many say there is a profound disconnect between Schwartz’s simple stories and Gammell’s terror-inducing illustrations. But I am not so certain. Schwartz began the book series in 1981 with the purpose of compiling the campfire tales and scary stories that already existed but were rarely written. I guess today you would call them “urban legends”. Although, back then they were just as likely to take place out in the middle of a farm field or woods, making them “rural legends”. In the end, “scary stories” is as appropriate a term (and title) as any.
We may not remember as kids when we first encountered “The Hook” or “High Beams” but the tales were out there. Did Schwartz make them more popular, or did he just preserve them before constant retelling altered every miniscule detail? Schwatz’s versions are not the definitive versions of the tales. In fact, they often seem to be abbreviated and truncated to the point of simplicity. But it is his knack for brevity that makes these tales live in our minds long after we have finished reading them. Our imaginations go back and fill in the gaps in the stories, and our dreads and fears grow as we do so.
The most terrifying and grotesque of Gammell’s work in the book is the stuff that is most often reproduced to suggest this book is entirely inappropriate for children. However, many of Gammell’s drawings in the series exhibit a slightly playful or even comedic tone, showcasing a skill and range for which he is rarely given credit. What is common across all the drawings is an ethereal nature, as if the images are coalescing from within the tooth of the paper itself, or that a lazy breath of wind laid them down on the paper. Perhaps that makes them so frightening as I struggle to imagine a human laboring to produce the images.
Many readers of the books have a favorite story, favorite illustration, or both. I like The Wendigo, although Algernon Blackwood’s version, while longer, is also far more evocative.
One Sunday Morning is also quite fun. I could have sworn Schwartz’s tales included Tally-po, but I could not locate it at the time of writing this. His other stories, The Big Toe and Me Tie Dough-ty Walker! have much of the same premise.
Memories can be strange things. I also remember the book containing the poem Antigonish by William Hughes Mearns. Which is also not the case. Still, the Scary Stories Treasury includes many poems and songs. I like The Hearse Song and BA-ROOOM!
Inspired by the works of Schwartz and Gammell, I wrote a story in the style of Schwartz. I am calling it The Jangling Man. Capturing Scwartz straight-forward style was a challenge that I hope I accomplished. I believe his gift for definitive endings still eludes me. I used the names of two friends that I was visiting when the idea of the Jangling Man came into my head. I illustrated it in my best attempts at Gammell’s style as well. My wife Jackie also made an attempt at a Gammell-style illustration. We will be posting the story and the illustrations in a pay-what-you-want file pack on itch.io. If I’m not too embarrassed, I will even include a self-made tune that goes along with the story. However, my music skills, like my blogging, are incredibly amateurish.
