Scary Stories Treasury – The Hook – Silent Photoplay: A Place for Stories of All Types

Read Time:8 Minute, 4 Second

Kitty: ⭐ ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐⭐

This month we start a new section — cautionary tales in the form of urban legends! The one we will hear about today is the classic The Hook.

The Hook

Donald and Sarah went to the movies. They then went for a ride in Donald’s car. They parked up on a hill at the edge of town. From there they could see the lights up and down the valley.
Donald turned on the radio and found some music. But an announcer broke in with a news bulletin. A murderer had escaped from the state prison. He was armed with a knife and was headed south on foot. His left hand was missing. In its place, he wore a hook.
“Let’s roll up the windows and lock the doors,” said Sarah.
“That’s a good idea,” said Donald.
“That prison isn’t too far away,” said Sarah. “Maybe we really should go home.”
“But it’s only 10 o’clock,” said Donald.
“I don’t care what time it is,” she said. “I want to go home.”
“Look, Sarah,” said Donald, “he’s not going to climb all the way up here. Why would he do that? Even if he did, all the doors are locked. How could he get in?”
“Donald, he could take that hook and break through a window and open a door,” she said. “I’m scared. I want to go home.”
Donald was annoyed. “Girls always are afraid of something,” he said.
As he started the car, Sarah thought she heard someone, or something, scratching at her door.
“Did you hear that?” She asked as they brought away. “It sounded like somebody was trying to get in.”
“Oh, sure,” said Donald.
Soon they got to her house.
“Would you like to come in and have some cocoa?” she asked.
“No,” he said, “I’ve got to go home.”
He went around to the other side of the car to let her out. Hanging on the door handle was a hook.

*****

Schwartz cites a handful of parallels, though this story was not taken from any specific source because it is so widespread. I will retell his citing Barnes, SFQ, 30:310.

The paper cited was written by Daniel R. Barnes, was published in the folklore journal Southern Folklore Quarterly in volume 30 page 310. The specific edition came out in 1966.

The paper even tells us who told the stories to the folklorist. In this case, the following parallel was collected by Stuart Keown who heard it from Jim Johnston in December 1963. Johnston was a freshman at the time at Kansas University. When though the stories are very similar, it’s fun to hear it in the voice of a regular person telling the story.

“A couple was parked out on lovers lane, and as they’re sitting there making out with the radio on they hear over the radio that a criminal has escaped, a rapist and murderer has escaped from the prison and he’s supposed to be in the area so the boy immediately starts his car and drives off, and they pull up in front of the girls house. He gets out of the car and walks around to let the girl out and he sees on the door handle of the car a hook hand.”

Sometimes, Barnes tells us, instead of a hook it is a glove that is found. Roger Harmon, a 21 year old junior at Kansas University told the following story in the fall of 1964.

“These kids are out parked and they heard somebody talking and they didn’t think anything about it and when they got home they found a glove in the door handle. This was a cemetery, too; they always happen in a cemetery.”

These are obviously cautionary tales about what they used to call “parking”, when people drove somewhere to make out. The college kids usually heard the stories when they were freshmen from older students, teachers, or other authority figures.

In similar stories, sometimes a strange little man with white hair would be on top of the car, and other times it was a black man with an axe on top of the car. The stories would be changed so to play on whatever fears people had at the time and place it was told.

Interestingly, sometimes the hook is the whole arm, not just the hand. Duncan Emerich in his Folklore on the American Land (1974) references this.

“This guy had this date with this really cool girl, and all he could think about all night was taking her out and parking and having a really good time, so he takes her out in the country, stops the car, turns the lights off, puts the radio on, nice music; he’s really getting her in the mood, and all of a sudden there’s this news flash comes on over the radio and says to the effect that a sex maniac has just escaped from the state insane asylum and the one distinguishing feature of this man is that he has a hook arm, and in the first place this girl is really, really upset, ’cause she’s just sure this guy is going to come and try and get in their car, so the guy locks all the doors and says it’ll all be okay, but she says he could take his arm and break through the window and everything and she just cries and cries and goes just really frantic and the guy finally consents to take her home, but he’s really mad ’cause you know he really had his plans for this girl, so he revs up the car and he goes torquing out of there and they get to her house, and he’s really, really mad and he’s not even going to get out of the car and open the door for her, and she just gets out on her own side of the car and as she gets out she turns around and looks and there’s a hook hanging on the door.”

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? It’s gray outside. I can see it from my couch. No, my couch is not outside, it’s in my living room. I’m looking through the window, weirdo!
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes! We even told eachother different versions of the story, since we weren’t really old enough to understand the concept of “lover’s lane”.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? The actions of the characters were pretty reasonable, though Donald was kind of a jerk to not understand that being alone at lover’s lane wasn’t the ideal place right now. Maybe he should have suggested that they go somewhere else, such as the town diner or the local soda shop where there were people. I think he just wanted to be alone with her and was mad about it.
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite character was the car which kept them safe. My least favorite character was Donald who was a pushy boy who thought that insulting Sarah by saying that girls are always scared of something was going to make her change her mind.
What did you think of the storytelling style? The storytelling style could have been a little better. The abrupt ending was a little too… abrupt.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? The dripping hook is creepy. It looks like the hook might have been attached to the flesh. Now the hook guy is walking around half armless.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐⭐ It’s a classic, but there are better ones in this book.

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? In my apartment as there are red flags at the beach due to unsafe swimming conditions and I don’t want to die.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? I remember this one. The drawing, especially.
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? Sarah’s actions were very reasonable. She recognized the potential danger and made a conscious decision. Donald has clearly never listened to a true crime podcast before in his life. The only action that doesn’t make sense is being out at 10pm. 10 o’clock?? AT NIGHT??
Which was your favorite and least favorite character and why? My favorite character is Sarah, though slightly a little too scared, was right in her fears. Donald is just fine and made a good point about the probability of the escapee climbing up a hill such as the one they were on. Also, why is he deaf and apparently didn’t hear the scratching sound at the door? At least he went to open the door for her. My least favorite character is the psycho hook killer freak.
What did you think of the storytelling style? It was predictable but still good.
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? It’s fine. It’s a hook being a creepy hook.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ just because I’m in a bad mood that I can’t swim today. But actually, it was fine and a little predictable. Good classic one though.