The Babysitter Kitty: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
December’s scary story is The Babysitter, a horrifying tale and the worst fear of any teen babysitter. Let’s get right into it.
It was nine o’clock in the evening. Everybody was sitting on the couch in front of the TV. There were Richard, Brian, Jenny, and Doreen, the babysitter.
The telephone rang.
“Maybe it’s your mother,” said Doreen. She picked up the phone, Before she could say a word, a man laughed hysterically and hung up.
“Who was it?” asked Richard.
“Some nut,” said Doreen. “What did I miss?”
At nine-thirty the telephone rang again. Doreen answered it. It was the man who had called before. “I’ll be there soon,” he said, and he laughed and hung up.
“Who was it?” the children asked.
“Some crazy person,” she said.
About ten o’clock the telephone rang again. Jenny got to it first.
“Hello,” she said.
It was the same man. “One more hour,” he said, and he laughed and hung up.
“He said, ‘One more hour.’ What did he mean?” asked Jenny.
“Don’t worry,” said Doreen. “It’s somebody fooling around.”
“I’m scared,” said Jenny.
About ten-thirty the telephone rang once more. When Doreen picked it up, the man said, “Pretty soon now,” and he laughed.
“Why are you doing this?” Doreen screamed, and he hung up.
“Was it that guy again?” asked Brian.
“Yes,” said Doreen. “I’m going to call the operator and complain.”
The operator told her to call back if it happened again, and she would try to trace the call.
At eleven o’clock the telephone rang again. Doreen answered it. “Very soon now,” the man said, and he laughed and hung up.
Doreen called the operator. Almost at once she called back. “That person is calling from a telephone upstairs,” she said. “You’d better leave. I’ll get the police.”
Just then a door upstairs opened. A man they had never seen before started down the stairs toward them. As they ran from the house, he was smiling in a very strange way. A few minutes later, the police found him there and arrested him.
*****
Here we have another misspelled works cited by Mr. Schwartz. Alvin Schwartz cites Fouke, p 264. The name is, in fact, really Edith Fowke. I found the source in Fowke’s Folklore of Canada (1976) (1)
The Babysitter
Told by Brian Smith, 14, Willowdale, 1973
There was this babysitter that was in Montreal babysitting for three children in a big house. She was watching T. V. when suddenly the phone rang. The children were all in bed. She picked up the phone and heard this guy on the other end laughing hysterically. She asked him what it was that he wanted, but he wouldn’t answer and then hung up. She worried about it for a while, but then thought nothing more of it and went back to watching the movie.
Everything was fine until about fifteen minutes later when the phone rang again. She picked it up and heard the same voice laughing hysterically at her, and then hung up. At this point she became really worried and phoned the operator to tell her what had been happening. The operator told her to calm down and that if he called again to try and keep him on the line as long as possible and she would try to trace the call.
Again about fifteen minutes later the guy called back and laughed hysterically at her. She asked him why he was doing this, but he just kept laughing at her. He hung up and about five seconds later the operator called. She told the girl to get out of the house at once because the person who was calling was calling from the upstairs extension. She slammed down the phone and just as she was turning to leave she saw the man coming down the stairs laughing hysterically with a bloody butcher knife in his hand and meaning to kill her . She ran out onto the street but he didn’t follow. She called the police and they came and caught the man, and discovered that he had murdered all the children.
(Brian heard this story from a friend named Gordon Weidauer whose brother’s girlfriend was the babysitter.)
Kitty
- In what environment did you read the story? At my computer. Sorry, I thought this question was going to have interesting answers when I made it part of this series.
- Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes
- Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? Well number one, I think I would have called the police right away. I mean, I have 3 kids to worry about, and someone is saying threatening things on the phone. I wouldn’t be like well let’s get back to the movie and forget about it immediately.
- Which was your favorite and least favorite character and why? My favorite character was Jenny, who had the best response of “I’m scared.” My least favorite character besides the maniac is Doreen, the babysitter, because for some reason she didn’t seem that bothered that someone was calling the house saying creepy things. She’s in charge of these children, and her response is “Don’t worry, it’s just some weirdo who knows your phone number and keeps calling in the middle of the night.”
- What did you think of the storytelling style? It was good, but I don’t have much to say about that one.
- Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? Ugly. And there wasn’t even a baby in this story. Worst illustration yet! You didn’t even read the story, Stephen!
- Your overall rating and why: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you’re an easily spooked babysitter, this could be pretty horrifying and something to worry about.
Winterjoy
- In what environment did you read the story? In my room.
- Do you remember having read this story as a kid? I remember the ridiculous picture and not so much the story.
- Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? Literally nothing makes sense in this story. Who are these multiple people in the house and why does the babysitter need to be there? Or is she referred to as the babysitter solely because that is her profession like “doctor”?? The strange man just hung out in the house afterwards?
- Which was your favorite and least favorite character and why? I don’t have a favorite character. Everyone is weird. Except maybe the operator.
- What did you think of the storytelling style? It’s short and fun. One second, the characters are getting weird calls and the next, a literal strange man that they’ve never met before is walking down the stairs in their own home. It’s also a classic “the call is coming from inside the house” story.
- Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? Literally what the hell LOL. It genuinely makes me laugh. The woman looks so ridiculous and creepy. So does the baby. Why is there a baby if not mentioned in the story? I thought for a second that the caller was the baby hahaha.
- Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Not the most creepy but the picture did it for me and the quick escalation of the ending. I enjoy a ridiculous one.
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