In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories retold by Alvin Schwartz, 1984.

This is a collection of classic scary stories based on folktales from around the world.  A special section in the back of the book explains more about where the stories came from.

This book was a favorite scary book of mine when I was a kid, and the stories are the type that kids commonly like to tell at camp or at sleepovers to spook each other.  Stories like these stay with you for years!

Sometimes, you can find individual stories from this book read aloud on YouTube. The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Stories in the Book:

The Teeth – A boy meets a series of strange people with increasingly long teeth.  Based on a story from Suriname. (Here is a video of someone reading this story as an example.)

In the Graveyard – A woman sees bodies carried into a graveyard. Based on the song “Old Woman All Skin and Bone.”

The Green Ribbon – A girl wears a green ribbon around her neck for her entire life, refusing to explain to even her husband why she wears it, until she is old and about to die.  Based on a European folk tale.  Originally, it was a red thread.

In a Dark, Dark Room – Classic slumber party story!  “In a dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house.”  What will it all lead to?  It is known in Europe and America.

The Night It Rained – A man gives a boy a ride home on a rainy night.  When he returns the next day to pick up the sweater he loaned the boy, he gets an eerie surprise.  Based on a class of ghost story known as “The Ghostly Hitchhiker,” which has many variants.

The Pirate – When Ruth visits her cousin’s house, her cousin tells her that her room is haunted by the ghost of a pirate.  Based on a British folktale.

The Ghost of John – A short poem. The author of this book first heard this from a young girl in California in 1979.