Spooky Stories That Make Kids Scream
Tips to Tell Frightening Folktales That Make Listeners Jump
Oct 8, 2009
Some of the most enjoyable scary stories to tell at a bonfire or sleepover with a group of kids are those with a surprise or a screaming ending.
Tips for Making Listeners Jump
At a recent storytelling event in Woodstock, Illinois, Jim May, Emmy-award winning storyteller and author was able to make audience members jump on a funny-scary story, even when they knew it was coming. His technique was to slow down, and even freeze, right before the jump.
When telling a jump tale, delivery is the key. It helps to tell the story in a quiet tone of voice, until the very end, which is usually a scream.
Storyteller Priscilla Howe advises, in her Storytelling Notes blog, "Just before the jump, slow down. Get quiet. The listeners will lean in to hear you." She also says, "Right before the jump, pause for a couple of beats, and then make the jump quick and loud."
Here are some traditional folktales that will make listeners jump in fright.
In the Attic
The attic is story about a widower who lives with his two children in the country. One day he goes out to fish and leaves the children alone. When he returns, the boy is missing. The girl looks frightened but does not tell him anything. Another day he must go fishing for a meal and has no one to watch the little girl, so he reluctantly leaves her alone. When he returns to girl is gone without a trace. He looks everywhere and even enlists neighbors to help look for the children, but they are not found. One day, he is about ready to go to sleep, when he hears noises in the attic. He climbs the stairs and when he gets to the top, He Screams! (Scream that part) Then stop. A listener will ask why he screamed. Say, “You would scream too if you stepped on a piece of glass.”
If the thought of children turning up missing is too scary, there is a version of the story in which the hunting dog goes missing.
Phantom Feet
Once there was an elderly woman who lived all alone and was lonely. One day, she wished that someone would come and visit her. Then all of a sudden, two feet popped out of the chimney and started walking toward her. Then two hairy legs fell onto the feet and a big hairy torso and two large, sausage-like arms. Finally, a big ugly head popped onto the body and the being started to dance around the room wildly. When, the dancing stopped, the woman asked, in a timid voice, “What have you come here for?”
“I Came Here for You!!!”
The trick to this story is to act out the woman’s voice in a very quiet and slow drawl, followed by the menacing scream. It would be fun to add more descriptive details to the body parts as well.
Descriptive Adjectives Add to the Scare
Storyteller Lyn Ford suggests that tellers use their five senses to make the story scarier in her article Creating Creepy Characters, which is part of The August House Scary Story Starter Kit.
For instance, instead of just saying, "He was scared," describe how scared he was. "His teeth chattered. His fingers trembled. He couldn't move."
Other good screamers are In a Dark, Dark Room and Big Toe. Screaming stories can be a lot of fun, because often they are not really all that scary, but the surprise makes listeners jump in fright anyway.
There are many good anthologies with scary, funny stories. Two of these are:
Parkhurst, Liz, The August House Book of Scary Stories:Scary Stories to Tell Out Loud, August House, 2007
Schwartz, Alvin, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, HarperCollins, 1986
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