The real star of these books was that artist. So much nightmare fuel in those pictures.

My Family made our own audio books of this series. good good memories.

I remember this book but not this story. so what did they singing from the darkness and the talking dog have to do with the bloody head in the chimney?

Oh god, I remember these. Not just the tapes, but the damn illustrations too. Stephen J. Gammell, you owe me for years of therapy.

What I didn't remember, though, were "Kimchi Kali-Ma dingo dingo" and the Final Countdown keyboards. Somewhat less scary now.

Instant 5 stars for the related Youtube videos, though. Going to watch all of these now.

The Hearse Song is the only one that really needs to be in audio form. You spread it on a slice of bread, and that's what you eat when you are dead.

This is awesome. I never heard the audiobook versions.

"Harold" is one of the related videos. Oh, that story...

... the reader is a dork unfortunately, so just read it somewhere.

Dear God. That scream at the end gave me chills.

I have a history with these audiobooks as well. One story in particular scared me so badly (it was the one about the vampire with the big yellow eyes looking through the window) that I kept my bedroom curtains and shades closed for about three months because I was afraid it would be out there, looking in at me.

I've always wondered - was there any meaning at all to the "lyrics" from this story, or was it all just nonsense-talk chosen because it sounded slightly creepy?

These pictures still kind of creep me out a little.

I've got a collections of these on audio, they're great. You can get the books in one big hardcover omnibus edition now, too.

For the comments on what the story's supposed to mean - the story's not supposed to really MEAN anything. The idea is, you tell the story while sitting at a campfire or something, while in a group. It's all about building tension to the part at the end where you scream, thus scaring the shit out of everyone else.

Coherency isn't the goal of this sort of story, soiled underpants is.

Jesus fucking Christ, this was from a CHILDRENS' book!?!

Oh man I loved these books as a kid. I would read them alone in my room at night, all engrossed in the spooky stories, and I'd flip the page and BAM! Full page scary face with eyes all scooped out where I was expecting words to be. That scared the shit out of me every time, and I'd actually hold the page up to a light to see if there was a scary drawing on the other side before turning the page, hahah!

Man, those drawings still kinda freak me out, to tell the truth.

Yep, the drawings themselves where what fueled nightmares for years. The tales would be laughable if it weren't for the creepy illustrations that accompanied them.

did anyone else have these banned from their elementary school libraries?

The narrator's Heat Miser!

Hey Chet, maybe you can fix the tags to reflect this?

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OH JESUS

THIS IS IT.

THIS IS THE AUDIOBOOK I LISTENED TO AS A LATCHKEY KID AND ABOUT PISSED MYSELF WITH TERROR.

HOLY SHIT THANK YOU FOR FINDING THIS.

Pretty munch what everyone else said. Illustrations, therapy, terrified of windows at night.

Damn was the 3rd book disappointing though. Not only was so a shitload shorter than the others, but half of it was taken up by a boring poltergeist documentary story.