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[waitingonsunday]

Halloween of 1990 was suitably overcast and as if that weren't perfect enough, my second-grade class had a party that involved telling scary stories with the lights off. This was before I had developed my fear of public speaking, so I didn't hesitate to share several tales, many of which, I probably claimed, had happened to me personally or to

Comments

[becomingkate]

This is a great entry! I LOVED the Scary Stories books (and I loved Babysitters Club too--did they really do scary story books? I don't remember those)
I wanted so bad to be Claudia...but I think I was more like Stacey.

[waitingonsunday]

Thank you! And I did, too, they were probably somewhat instrumental in nurturing my interest in the macabre.

There were a few ~scary~ BSC books. My most distinct/fond memories were of book #9, The Ghost at Dawn's House, wherein Dawn discovers a secret passage in her old-ass house. She starts hearing noises from within the passage and flips her shit on multiple occasions, only it turns out it was just Nicky Pike. Only it also turns out some of the stuff happened while Nicky wasn't there, so THEN WHO WAS PASSAGE? This convinced me for years that basically every house I ever lived in had a secret passage and I'd investigate every wall thoroughly, just to make sure.

And I wanted Claudia's fashion sense (and access to bizarre clothes) so badly as a kid. A set of earrings where one is shaped like a dog and the other is shaped like a bone? A bracelet made out of a telephone cord? Yellow overalls over a red tee and yellow sneakers with cherry-shaped jewelry and a side ponytail?! Where do I sign up?!

[becomingkate]

I wish all houses had secret passages!
Claudia had awesome style.

[waitingonsunday]

Me, too! My dream home would have at least two, Clue-style.

[hippie_in_dior]

Oh my god, THIS. This entire post brought back so many memories and this comment did as well!

My personal favorite was Mallory and the Ghost Cat because that shit was SCARY. Mysterious deaf cats named Tinkerbell who came and went in the laundry room? WTF. 10 year old me was terrified.

Second favorite was the secret passage one you referenced. Claudia was the best because of her fashion sense and obsession with Nancy Drews.

I thought I had read all of the Scary Stories books, but I definitely do not remember the one about the man in the nursing home. Much LOLs were had over your re-telling of the girl with the green ribbon. I have to confess, I never understood that story so it never scared me.

You must remember Goosebumps too. I was haunted by the living dummy until I was in my mid-twenties, I think. The TV show was pretty good, too!

(Sorry, I edited because my HTML was showing.)

[waitingonsunday]

Ooh, I never read about Mallory and the ghost cat! I just checked bsc-snark and I see there are entries for it, so I'm going to catch up on that. I'm pretty sure I've seen it referenced on that community before.

The secret passage one was my jam. Dawn was either really stupid or really ballsy to go exploring it alone--and then she explored it AGAIN with Jeff during a power outage. And then she and Stacey went out there during a storm AT NIGHT to fuck with their friends during a slumber party. Like, I don't even know that I would do these things as an adult.

I actually never read the Goosebumps books! I remember visiting a cousin of mine and he asked if I'd ever heard of them. I thought it was some new thing, but then he opens a cabinet in his desk and it's stuffed with these books. I could never get into them, but I know my boyfriend was a big fan, both of the books and the TV show.

[waitingonsunday]

Okay, yeah, the ghost cat would have been my jam. I thought the mysterious attic meowing with the cat right in front of them was going to turn out to be kittens, in which case, I was going to be really annoyed that no one could tell the difference between newborn kittens and adult cats meowing. But, no, it was just...never explained. Aight.