Scary Stories Treasury

Read Time:5 Minute, 26 Second

The Walk — Kitty: ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐

Hello! We are on month 2 of our Super Cool Scary Stories Book Club Thing. The first story is presented here, in which we talk about The Big Toe, a variant on the Golden Arm story.

This month, we will be talking about the second story in the first book. We are still in the jump scare section.

This extremely short tale is entitled The Walk.

My uncle was walking down a lonely dirt road one day. He came upon a man who also was walking down that road. The man looked at my uncle, and my uncle looked at the man. The man was scared of my uncle, and my uncle was scared of that man.

But they kept on walking, and it began to get dark. The man looked at my uncle, and my uncle looked at the man. The man was very scared of my uncle, and my uncle was very scared of that man.

But they kept on walking, and they came to a big woods. It was getting darker. And the man looked at my uncle, and my uncle looked at the man. The man was really scared of my uncle, and my uncle was really scared of that man.

But they kept on walking, and deep down into the woods they went. It was getting darker. And the man looked at my uncle, and my uncle looked at the man. The man was terrible scared of my uncle, and my uncle was terrible scared of —

(Now SCREAM!)

§ § § § § § §

This story was told to Alvin Schwartz in the 70s by a man from Maine, but is there another variant? The short answer is just as short as the tale itself: Yes!

This retelling is based on a Scottish tale which tells the exact same story. It is called Ma Uncle Sandy. It tells of the time that the narrator’s Uncle Sandy took a walk in the woods along side another mutually scared man. It’s in Scottish dialect and has racist terminology in it, so I won’t republish it here. Anyway, it doesn’t deviate at all from the above story, except instead of a scream at the end, the teller yells “WOW!”. The only value it might have is to give context as to why the two men are so scared of each other. One might speculate that the white man is scared of the black man because he is different from him, and the black man might be afraid of what the white man might do because of that fear. Or maybe it’s not that deep, and is a just a stupid story. Folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs collected Ma Uncle Sandy in her Dictionary of British Folktales in the English Language (1970), and there seems to be no context for any of the stories she collected there.

And now for the ratings:

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? Sitting in my living room on the couch with a cup of hot tea alongside and my dog staring at me.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes, though I usually would skip over it to read one of the scarier ones.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? It’s hard to tell from this retelling if the actions in the story made sense. Why were the two men scared of each other? Maybe they are both very dead looking, the forest is the afterlife, and the two don’t know it yet. But how did he get the story from his uncle? This question blows this theory right out of the water.
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? I did not have any preference or aversion to either character without more information.
What did you think of the storytelling style? The storytelling style was kind of annoying, very repetitive. I think it would be more entertaining if it were told to me out loud.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? One word: Mysterious. I liked that the two figures are ghostly, though it is unclear how they are supposed to be looking at each other, back and forth with growing tension, if they are so far apart from each other. An afterthought: It definitely looks like a picture that an AI picture generator might come up with.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ This is one of the weakest stories in the book, though it was fun to revisit it.

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? I read this on the floor of my apartment because I have no furniture. Actually, just kidding. I have furniture.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? I don’t remember this story at all!
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? First of all, I wouldn’t be walking because I have my driver’s license. Secondly, I wouldn’t even make eye contact with a stranger on the same road. I would stare at my phone pretending to be doing something important (or not important).
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite character is the uncle because…well there’s only two characters and it was coin toss. My least favorite character is the other man because why is he being so scary?
What did you think of the storytelling style? I don’t mind this slow storytelling style. It’s a unique way of building suspense. It’s both detailed and vague at the same time. The author gives a detailed description of the feelings of both characters but a vague account as to why they are both scared or any other circumstances of the story.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? The artwork is simple yet spooky!
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ lol. A silly story where nothing happens but still a fun 3 seconds!