{"id":12723,"date":"2019-09-06T15:29:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T19:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=12723"},"modified":"2019-09-06T15:29:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T19:29:35","slug":"in-praise-of-ill-intentions-i-watch-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2019\/09\/in-praise-of-ill-intentions-i-watch-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark.html","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Ill Intentions: I watch “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

& review for America<\/em>:<\/p>\n

What we remember are the pictures. Children of the \u201980s through the \u201900s\u2014the heyday of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark <\/em>series, whose first installment was published in 1981\u2014<\/em>will tell you that the stories themselves, by Alvin Schwartz, were only O.K. It is true that we think of them now and then: the grisly nursing school prank; the bride who played hide-and-seek and got trapped in a trunk. Eerie phrases do float through our heads in dark hours: \u201cWait till Martin comes.\u201d \u201cSomebody fell from aloft.\u201d \u201cShe was spittin\u2019 and yowlin\u2019 just like a cat.\u201d But what we remember\u2014what made us pad down the stairs in the dead of night to shove the books in the fridge, where they couldn\u2019t get us\u2014are those drawings.<\/p>\n

Burnt-out eyes and splayed screaming figures. Spider legs and splotches of ink. Roots and hair and everything that twists. Stephen Gammell\u2019s illustrations made Scary Stories<\/em> feel like a pop-up book, with a new grinning horror springing forth from every page. Those unforgettable drawings seemed to leave a child\u2019s mind soiled; the very pages reeked of grave-dirt and the sweetness of rot. Those drawings could convince a kid that reading is bad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

& review for America: What we remember are the pictures. Children of the \u201980s through the \u201900s\u2014the heyday of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, whose first installment was published in 1981\u2014will tell you that the stories themselves, by Alvin Schwartz, were only O.K. It is true that we think of them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[21,119],"class_list":["post-12723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","tag-childrens-books","tag-horror"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Praise of Ill Intentions: I watch "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"& review for America: What we remember are the pictures. 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