Shivers
& how to tell a scary story
“Shivers” by Arnold Lobel is one of our favorite ghost stories. We love the way it turns the tables on what you expect from these beloved characters, with the normally steady and reliable Frog deciding it’s time to scare the bell-bottoms off of his good friend Toad. Here’s how it begins:
The night was cold and dark.
“Listen to the wind howling in the trees,” said Frog. “What a fine time for a ghost story.”
Toad moved deeper into his chair.
“Toad,” asked Frog, “don’t you like to be scared? Don’t you like to feel the shivers?”
“I am not too sure,” said Toad.
(Of course Toad doesn’t like to feel the shivers! He does not even like to swim naked in a stream, and he is a toad.)
Frog then proceeds to tell the scariest frog-story you have ever heard, with the very best use of a jump rope (“turn for me!”) in any ghost story we know.
How about you—do you like to feel the shivers? Bea and I think that telling ghost and scary stories is a great staycation (or vacation) activity because it allows you to travel somewhere new, and a little risky, in your mind. Plus, research shows that being a little scared is actually good for your health. So we decided to put together some tips for how to tell a really great scary story.
First, you need the right atmosphere. Ideally, it should be dark and spooky. It’s great if you can have a campfire or candlelight (with adult help and supervision), but if that’s not possible, you can also make a fort inside your house. Just use chairs and blankets to make a dark, cozy den where you can settle in and tell your story. (Tip from Bea: use four chairs to make a base. Stretch the blanket over the top, and secure with clothespins.)
It doesn’t hurt to get a little dressed up. Bea has a midnight-blue velvet cloak that makes for spooky storytelling. Anything black, velvet, lacy, or a little tattered should do the trick.
You should also use a serious, scary voice—maybe a deeper voice than usual, or a more whispery voice. Make parts of the story very slow, and use repetition of sound or action (a knocking sound that gets louder, or a “I am getting hungrier… I am very hungry now!”).
Next, you need a good story to work with! Part of what makes the story Frog tells so scary is that Frog presents it as something that actually happened to him—he went on a picnic with his parents, they got lost, and when they tried to find the way he met the legendary Old Dark Frog (and almost became his supper!). Think about a time when you were really (actually) scared. Can you exaggerate what really happened to make it… scarier? Remember that many scary stories, like Frog’s, depend on close calls and barely-made-it escapes.
Or think about a local legend. In Chatham County, where we live, there’s the Devil’s Tramping Ground, a forty-foot diameter circle of bare earth said to be the place where Satan paces, contemplating evil deeds. Now, I’ve never been to the devil’s tramping ground (too chicken!) but I’ve seen pictures of it, and I can imagine a story where, maybe I’m camping (another thing I don’t do!) and I wind up accidentally close to a mysteriously bare piece of earth… and maybe I’m going to get some brush for my campfire and I hear someone’s heavy step, the dragging of a tail…
Use the details from your environment. If you hear dogs barking, you could say—did you hear that? Maybe it’s a wolf! Or, maybe you hear a coyote or an owl. Or maybe you hear nothing but say “Oh! Did you hear that??”
Think about precious things that could be imperiled—maybe a doll gets lost, and you have to go find it in the woods. Or maybe you get lost, like Frog. Maybe your cat starts acting strange…
You can also tell stories connected to myths and legends that you already know. Bea loves to talk about bake kujira, a Japanese phantom said to be the ghost of an innocent whale killed by hunters for its meat and oil. What makes bake kujira so scary is that it will attack anyone out in a boat, whether they have ever hunted a whale or not.
When she was younger, Bea also loved to hear retellings of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. I would tell it to her on walks, and then after a while she started adapting it, trying to make it even scarier.
Of course, you can also read scary books. We like In a Dark Dark Room and Other Scary Stories (Bea asked Santa for this book when she was three!) and our friend Isabel has been reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark with us. Bea also loves the Goosebumps series.
And, if you get too scared, you can tell a silly-scary story, which Bea did for me last night by telling a volleyball version of the girl with the green ribbon story.
Or watch something amazing and inspiring to take your mind off of the story. Like Quan Hongchan, only fourteen years old, nailing dive after perfect Olympic dive!
How about you? Do you like to get the shivers? What’s your favorite scary story?
(Richard and Bea as the Old Dark Frog and Frog, respectively. Halloween 2017.)
i LOVE the shivers!! and I have a whole library of ghost story books I have collected since I was a kid (would love to show you some time!) Your suggestions for how to tell (or read) a scary story are excellent and I plan to wear something dark and tattered next time I'm reading one. My favorites are Gray Man on the NC coast and the one about the girl who is always on her way home from the prom (there was a song written about her!) and one from my hometown about a statue in the cemetery who once had rubies for eyes. Thank you for this amazing post. and oh my, that dive!! how great is that??
i love the Shivers! and scary stories! a favorite from my childhood was
“Little orphant Annie…”
boy howdy! cousin Vicki could tell that tale so good you’d be glad to survive and live to tell the tale!!!