“May I Carry Your Basket?” – Kitty: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐

This month’s edition of our Scary Stories commentary is a 2-for-1! The one we both will be commenting on will be “May I Carry Your Basket?”, and I will just say a few words on The Dead Man’s Brains. This is because The Dead Man’s Brains isn’t really a story, it’s just describing a creepy party game. Let’s get right into it.

The Dead Man’s Brains

This scary story is a scary game that people play at Hallowe’en. But it can be played whenever the spirit moves you.

The players sit in a circle in a darkened room and listen to a storyteller describe the rotting remains of a corpse. Each part is passed around for them to feel.

In one version, a player is out if he or she screams or gasps with fright. In another version, everybody stays to the end, no matter how scared they get.

Here is the story:

Once in this town there lived a man named Brown. It was years ago, on this night, that he was murdered out of spite.

We have here his remains.

First, let’s feel his brains. (A wet squishy tomato)

Now here are his eyes, still frozen with surprise. (Two peeled grapes)

This is his nose. (A chicken bone)

Here is his ear. (A dried apricot)

And here is his hand, rotting flesh and bone. (A cloth or rubber glove filled with mud or ice)

But his hair still grows. (A handful of corn silk or wet fur or yarn)

And his heart still beats, now and then. (A piece of raw liver)

And his blood still flows. Dip your fingers in it. It’s nice and warm. (A bowl of catsup thinned with warm water)

That’s all there is, except for these worms, they are the ones that ate the rest of him. (A handful of wet, cooked spaghetti noodles)

*****

I love the rhyming nature of this game, makes it kind of ritualistic, reminding me of the Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board game that most of us have played at sleepovers from one time or another.

I asked one friend who grew up in the 70s mostly in Florida, and she had never heard of The Dead Man’s Brains game. I then asked my mother, who also grew up in the 70s (but in New Jersey), and she knew the game well and had played it mostly in 8th or 9th grade. She told me that they used Chiclets as the dead man’s teeth. This is interesting, as you will note that teeth are not a body part that is listed in the above description. I played this game when I was in 7th or 8th grade at a Halloween party, and mostly remember the spaghetti and grapes. I’m going to guess that the inspiration for this party game in that particular case was Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

In our book, Schwartz states that there was no reference to this story, as it is so well known that it does not need one. I’m willing to bet that this is one of if not the first time that this specific depiction of the game was in print, though other sensory games have been described as early as 1919 in The Book of Halloween by Ruth Edna Kelley. Unfortunately, nothing about body parts was described in that book, though, meaning that it was probably not a popular game at that time. According to what I can find, I think it emerged in the 60s and became popular from the 70s onward, and was immortalized in the publication of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. This description has since become the main guideline of this game.

Now on to the main story!

“May I Carry Your Basket?”

Sam Lewis spent the evening playing chess at his friend’s house. It was about midnight when they finished their game, and he started home. Outside it was icy cold and as quiet as the grave.

As he came around a turn in the road, he was surprised to see a woman walking ahead of him. She was carrying a basket covered with a white cloth. When he caught up to her, he looked to see who it was. But she was so bundled up against the cold, it was hard to see her face.

“Good evening,” Sam said. “What brings you out so late?”

But she didn’t answer.

Then he said, “May I carry your basket?”

She handed it to him. From under the cloth, a small voice said, “That’s very nice of you,” and that was followed by wild laughter.

Sam was so startled that he dropped the basket — and out rolled a woman’s head. He looked at the head, and he stared at the woman. “It’s her head!” he cried. And he started to run, and the woman and her head began to chase him.

Soon the head caught up to him. It bounded into the air and sunk its teeth into his left leg. Sam screamed with pain and ran faster. But the woman and her head stayed right behind. Soon the head leaped into the air again and bit into his other leg. Then they were gone.

*****

This one has all the earmarks of a Japanese ghost story. I absolutely love it.

For this one, Alvin Schwartz cites Zelia Nuttall. It is under the heading “Ancient Mexican Folklore” in the Journal of American Folklore, volume 8 page 122, which was published in 1895. Here is the quote:

“Another nocturnal phantasm was a human skull that suddenly leapt up to one’s knee, and then followed behind, producing a hollow sound as it bounded along. [Padre] Sahagun relates that when an Indian heard this awful sound he fled in terror, but it followed and ran when he ran, and halted when he halted. If he attempted to seize it, it sprang to one side and eluded him, so that at last, worn out with fatigue and terror, he was obliged to abandon the chase and fly to his house.”

His other citing is Katharine Briggs, Dictionary of English Folk Tales Volume 1. I think it’s Volume B part 1 that the story is in, but I unfortunately could not get access to that book. Luckily, I found a version of “May I Carry Your Basket?” on a website called Scary For Kids. This is entitled The Basket, but I still don’t know if it is the exact story that is in Briggs’ book. Either way, here it is! 😁

The Basket

Gabriel Fisher spent the evening in the pub, with his dog Trotty by his side. It was just before midnight when he finished his last drink and started for home.

Outside it was cold and frosty and as silent as the grave. He thought he saw a figure moving in the distance up ahead. As the man walked on down the road with his dog, he saw that it was a woman walking ahead of him. She was carrying a basket on her shoulder and it was covered with a white cloth.

When he caught up to her, he looked to see who it was, but it was dark and she was so bundled up against the cold that it was hard to see her face. Trotty started to growl at her.

“Good evening,” Gabriel said. “What brings you out so late?”

The woman didn’t answer.

They walked on in silence for a while. Then Gabriel said, “May I carry your basket?”

Without a word, the woman took it off her shoulder and handed it to him.

From inside the basket, he heard a small voice say, “That’s very nice of you,” and that was followed by wild laughter.

Gabriel was so startled that he dropped the basket on the ground. The white cloth slipped off and out rolled a woman’s severed head.

He looked down at the head, and he stared at the woman.

“It’s… It’s… It’s your head!” he cried in horror.

His dog Trotty gave a howl and fled in terror. As the woman stooped down to pick up her head, Gabriel took off running too.

The woman chased after him, holding her head in her hands. He could hear her footsteps behind him. She was gaining on him. Then, he looked down and noticed something rolling along the ground beside him.

It was the severed head.

With a ghastly laugh, the head rolled in front of him, trying to trip him up. Gabriel managed to jump over it.

He could hear the Slap! Slap! Slap! of running footsteps behind him.

Then, the head sprang into the air and sank its teeth into his ankle. Gabriel screamed with pain and shook the head off.

He tried to run faster, but the woman’s body and her head stayed right on his tail.

The head sprang into the air again and bit into his other leg. He let out another scream and kicked the head away.

Just then, Gabriel came to a small stream. With a mighty effort, he leaped across it and kept running, not daring to look back until he got home.

His dog Trotty was waiting at the house when he returned. Gabriel looked back into the darkness, but the headless woman and her severed head were gone.

1. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000092287436&seq=132
2. https://www.scaryforkids.com/basket/
3. My Scary Stories Treasury. Get it wherever good books are sold.

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Kitty

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