"The Hook" and "The Girl Who Stood On A Grave"

Welcome darklings to this week’s spooky folk tales! Ah youth, how full of life, and filled with a sense of invincibility! It takes most of us a few years to understand how fragile life can be. A few years or the dodging of an anvil before it crashes down on your skull once or twice. Things like that do tend to speed up the realization of your own mortality quite a bit, but enough about silly pranks to play on your siblings. Perhaps the young ones in these stories will be the wiser and avoid becoming a cautionary tale. But, we think it might already be too late for one of them. Take a seat on the rack and find out for yourself, as we present two fun little ditties called, “The Hook” and “The Girl Who Stood On A Grave”.

The Hook

Donald and Sarah went to the movies. Then they went for a ride in Donald’s car. They parked up on a hill at the edge of town. From there they could see the lights up and down the valley.
Donald turned on the radio and found some music. But an announcer broke in with a news bulletin. A murderer had escaped from the state prison. He was armed with a knife and was headed south on foot. His left hand was missing. In its place, he wore a hook.
“Let’s roll up the windows and lock the doors,” said Sarah.
“That’s a good idea, “said Donald.
“That prison isn’t too far away,” said Sarah. “Maybe we really should go home.”
“But it’s only ten o’clock,” said Donald.
“I don’t care what time it is,” she said. “I want to go home.”
“Look, Sarah,” said Donald, “he’s not going to climb all the way up here. Why would he do that? Even if he did, all the doors are locked. How could he get in?”
“Donald, he could take that hook and break through a window and open a door,” she said. “I’m scared. I want to go home.”
Donald was annoyed. “Girls always are afraid of something,” he said.
As he started the car, Sarah thought she heard someone, or something scratching at her door.
“Did you hear that?” she asked as they roared away. “It sounded like somebody was trying to get in.”
“Oh, sure,” said Donald. Soon they got to her house.
“Would you like to come in and have some cocoa?” she asked.
“No,” he said, “I’ve got to go home.”
He went around to the other side of the care to let her out. Hanging on the door handle was a hook.


The Girl Who Stood On A Grave

Some boys and girls were at a party one night. There was a graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was.
“Don’t ever stand on a grave after dark,” one of the boys said. “The person inside will grab you. He’ll pull you under.”
“That’s not true,” one of the girls said. “It’s just a superstition.”
“I’ll give you a dollar if you stand on a grave,” said the boy.
“A grave doesn’t scare me,” said the girl. “I’ll do it right now.”
The boy handed her his knife. “Stick this knife in one of the graves,” he said. “Then we’ll know you were there.”
The graveyard was filled with shadows and was as quiet as death. “There is nothing to be scared of,” the girl told herself, but she was scared anyway.
She picked out a grave and stood on it. Then quickly she bent over and plunged the knife into the soil, and she started to leave. But she couldn’t get away. Something was holding her back! She tried a second time to leave, but she couldn’t move. She was filled with terror.
“Something has got me!” she screamed, and she fell to the ground.
When she didn’t come back, the others went to look for her. They found her body sprawled across the grave. Without realizing it, she had plunged the knife through her skirt and had pinned it to the ground. It was only the knife that held her. She had died of fright.


Thanks again for popping in to hear the tales we dug up for you this week. We hope they made you giggle with fiendish glee! Until next time…

Xane and Dane Dravor

Stories taken from: Scary Stories Treasury, collected from folklore and retold by Alvin Schwartz

ISBN 0-06-026341-5