Admit it. You read this series as a child and subsequently peed your pants. Or maybe you didn't read it because you knew you would end up sleeping with the closet light on for the rest of your life if you did. You, my friend, are one of the lucky ones. As for the rest of us, the nightmare continues every Halloween when we're rather unceremoniously reminded of the existence of the children's book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
How was this allowed for kids?! What were our parents thinking?!
Of course, someone finally realized that these spectacles of terror probably shouldn't be on the shelves at a children's library, but instead of simply removing them, they cut out or altered most of what makes the books scary: the illustrations. They're safe to read now (sorta). But we're not here to complain.
We're here to celebrate the most spine-chillingest anti-bedtime story pictures to ever exist, courtesy of illustrator Stephen Gammell. Let the childhood nostalgia nightmares commence.
These images are NSFL. (Not safe for life.)
Happy Halloween?
Holy crap, what is that thing? Why was this in a children's book? It's staring into our soul and we pretty sure it wants to feast on our innards.
NOPE.
Once upon a time, we looked at this illustration and had night terrors for the rest of our lives. The end.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry...
...too late we're all crying, please make it stop!
You can't outrun the nightmares. No one can. Because nightmares apparently have one creepy limb that's reaching through the sky for you. And would you look at those weird, hollow eyes? The better to see you poop your pants, I guess.
This guys knows there's nowhere safe to hide, even if you don't. The best part? He'll let you try to hide anyway, and he'll probably still find you even though he's just a severed head on a string!
Nothing says "nightmare fuel" like an undead scarecrow, right?! If we remember correctly, his name is Harold. He's not very nice, you know, because of the whole skinning people thing.
In what universe is this OK? Answer: there will never be a universe in which this is OK. We're really not sure what level of Dante's hell it crawled out of, but it really needs to go back. Like, now. Bonus nightmare points for the whole spider motif. Ugh.
Of course we had to include this one. It's the ever-famous rabid sewer rat. The real question isn't why it looks like that, but why the hell would anyone mistake this thing for a dog?!
Sorry about your sleeping status tonight. We know these photos probably ruined any chance of a nightmare-free snooze for the next week or so.