Horror Roundtable - Week Fifty-Nine
Name your favourite creepy tale for around the campfire.
I love the old classics. Give me a story with a brutal murder and a narrow escape, and I’ll be a happy man (as well as one inclined to sleep with the light on).
The dead, dangling boyfriend’s fingernails scratching on the roof of the RV.
The friend with the axe in her back, rattling the doorknob, trying to get back inside before she bleeds to death.
Written in blood, next to the dead dog: “HUMANS CAN LICK TOO.”
And, of course, the greatest of all, with no further explanation needed: “AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU DIDN’T TURN ON THE LIGHT?”
Ah, the lone survivor, the unsung hero of horror. There always has to be one left to tell the tale.
Where I live in the North East there’s a lot of rural area and mountains close by, so naturally these places kind of lend themselves to legends. While staying at my friends camp about an hour away, he told me a story about a 7 foot tall albino that had murdered some hikers in the area in the 80’s. As it turns out, the story is actually true, and they never caught the guy.
I’m 18 at this point, and pretty drunk, and the more I drink the more I get freaked out about this giant albino. I had to sleep on a couch underneath this huge bay window at his camp, and the whole night I just kept thinking I was going to open my eyes and see this albino standing over me in the window. That story still kind of freaks me out when I’m in the woods to this day, and my friends still make fun of me.
Glad that my first week on the panel gave everyone a chance to see how much of a wuss I am.
Dave - Rue Morgue’s The Abbatoir
This is an easy one. It’s so scary, in fact, I won’t recount it here,
but the title alone should send a chill down your spine.
Hands down, the scariest camping tale I know is:
“The Man Who Went Into The Woods Without Enough Beer!”
Mwuh huh huh huh huh!
Rony
The tale that scared me the most as a kid was when someone told a story about a kid who died in the same woods we were in and then later on that same person who told the story scares the crap out of you by jumping out of some bushes 20 minutes later.
There was one that I first heard about seven or so years ago, about this country named America, that elected this monster, named George Bush, President of the United States. Long story short, the call was coming from inside the house!
There’s this dude that rises to power and he’s totally evil and brings a thousand years of devil’s reign with seven-headed dragons and all manner of demons from the depths and no this isn’t current politics I went to Church Camp.
The various versions I’ve heard of the “Velvet Ribbon” story are my favorites. I’ve heard the story told many different ways but it always involves a beautiful woman who wears a velvet ribbon around her neck and the male protagonist of the story always ends up removing it and the girl’s head falls off. I believe it’s originally based on a classic horror story by Washington Irving, but it’s become a a great campfire tale over the years.
Thanks to all this week’s contributors. Even the smart asses. You’ll get yours one day. If you’d like to share your creeptacular campfire tales, please do so in the comments below.
August 12th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Oh, gods, yes, “The Yellow Ribbon!” That’s a classic creeper if there ever was one.
August 12th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
“Yellow?” Velvet. Whatever.
HER HEAD FALLS OFF!
August 13th, 2007 at 4:14 am
“He was the last man on earth, then, there was a knock on the door.”
Loved that when I first heard it.