For my project I have picked one of the best urban
legend sites as my source for finding the scariest ones possible and
retelling them the scariest way I can. Snopes.com is an
unbelievable website which devotes itself to collecting massive numbers
of urban legends. Most of these urban legends are told in the
sense that it could happen to you, or a friend, or even a friend of a
friend! A tale is said to be
an urban legend if it spreads widely, is told and re-told in different
ways, and is said to be true. Some urban legends are funny, but a
lot of them are scary! The scary urban legends imply an obvious
intention of scaring the reader in a number of different ways.
This storybook will be based on the scary urban legends, not the funny
ones. They vary greatly in themes and
endings, but a good majority of them get the job done by leaving the
reader feeling as if he or she could easily be trapped in the
narrator's shoes.
In this storybook, you will be introduced to a
few different ghosts that you may or may not have heard of before, so
this may frighten some of you into the temptation of pushing the little
exit button on your browsers. These stories will tie together
very
nicely once they are retold, so when reading these stories, make sure
you grab some popcorn and turn the lights down low so you can
experience it the way it should be told!
I have been asked
for several years why I am such a big fan of horror flicks and ghost
stories, and I have not been able to answer a single one of the those
questions with an honest answer. I believe it is because in a
scary story or movie, the feeling of reality and suspense is so close
that it shoots chills up your spine, and in a way that is a bit of a
rush. When I read a scary story, or watch a scary movie, I
prepare myself so I do not become too afraid of what could happen in my
own life, which I think adds a little spark to the fictional tales of
horror.
My website of choice is loaded with wonderful urban
legends and the main reason I was so attracted to it was because of the
chilling, spine-tingling ghost stories. I have decided to
pinpoint ghost stories specifically, as opposed to slasher tails with a
lot of blood and guts, because with a ghost story, the reader can use
their imagination and let it run wild. Also, ghost stories are
less violent, some not violent at all, and yet somehow more intriguing
and thrilling to many. The legend of "Helping Hands," is a very
old tale about the ghosts of children who were killed in a crash on a
train track, and it contains many different opportunities to shoot the
reader right out of their seat! Also, "The Vanishing Hitchhiker"
is an old legend
that involves a creepy hitchhiker, and everyone has seen a hitchhiker
or two before! It might seem as if these two
stories could never connect, but I promise if you read the stories you
will see how they come alive!
My stories will all be told with the interview theme
as the primary means of dialogue. To me, the interview theme
seems to allow the characters to come alive and provide the reader with
a sense that these stories could be TRUE! The main character in
each
story will be driven as close to insanity as the human mind can handle,
so they resort to a therapist/counselor for consolidation. The
narrators in each of the four stories will not know one another
outside of the therapist's office, but at the beginning they will start
out seeking advice from the same counselor in a group session, and once
they realize they may have a connection, the journey will actually
begin! Each story will be narrated in the therapist's
office by the victims themselves with obvious occasional dialogue
between the victim and the counselor. The narration
itself will be a story inside a story so it will have many great
details necessary for the retelling of such fabulous tales!
The first story, "Dead
Children Save Lives,"
is based on the urban legend of "Helping Hands."
The main
character, Evan, lives through this haunting tale and has to try and
explain it to the counselor as he goes first in the group! In the
second story, a member of the same counseling session explains his
haunting tale to the group in "Unbelievable Car
Ride." In this
story, Ronnie retells his encounter with a hitchhiker that he
reluctantly picked up and then immediately regretted. My third
story is a little more suspenseful in "Fearful
Christmas Shopping," and
Keith retells his story beautifully. A Toys 'R' Us trip ends up
being the most horrific experience of his life. In my final
story, "The Mirror of Death," David plays one
of the most fearful sleepover games of all time,
and Dr. Kriegel finally reveals his secret!
Image Information: Scary
Jac'o'lantern
