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

Read Time:7 Minute, 57 Second

Kitty: ⭐⭐⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hello! Welcome to entry number Thirty-One in our trek through the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Trilogy. Today we are focusing on a story that could be pretty scary if you consider everything that’s actually happening here. It’s not your typical Scary Stories entry, as it involves real things that could really happen. A rarity in these books, for sure.

Sounds

The house was near the beach. It was a big old place where nobody had lived for years. From time to time somebody would force open a window or a door and spend the night there. But never longer.
Three fishermen caught in a storm took shelter there one night. With some dry wood they found inside, they made a fire in the fireplace. They lay down on the floor and tried to get some sleep, but none of them slept that night.
First they heard footsteps upstairs. It sounded like there were several people moving back and forth, back and forth. When one of the fishermen called, “Who’s up there?” the footsteps stopped. Then they heard a woman scream. The scream turned into a grown and died away. Blood began to drip from the ceiling into the room where the fisherman huddled. A small red pool formed on the floor and soaked into the wood.
A door upstairs crashed shut, and again the woman screamed. “Not me!” she cried. It sounded as if she was running, her high heels tapping wildly down the hall. “I’ll get you!” a man shouted, and the floor shook as he chased her.
Then silence. There wasn’t a sound until the man who had shouted began to laugh. Long peals of horrible laughter filled the house. It went on and on until the fishermen thought they would go mad.
When finally it stopped, the fisherman heard someone coming down the stairs dragging something heavy that bumped on each step. They heard him drag it through the front hall and out the front door. The door opened; then it slammed shut. Again, silence.
Suddenly a flash of lightning filled the house with a green blaze of light. A ghastly face stared at the fisherman from the hallway. Then came a crash of thunder. Terrified, they ran out into the storm.

*****

Here, Schwartz cites Charles Skinner as the collector of this one. It is in 1903’s American Myths & Legends: Vol II (1)on pp17-19.

A Night in Madison Manor
For fifty years before it was removed—as the only way to rid the neighborhood of its uncanny reputation— the Madison mansion, that fronted the bay near Mobile, Alabama, was a place of common avoidance. People who had, perforce, to spend a night near by never went within gunshot of it again, and they had tales to tell of their one experience that taxed credulity. The last company that passed the time there between two days went home as soon as it was light enough, convinced that it was an abode of devils. The responsible business-men who composed this party had been fishing in the bay, and, belated and bedraggled in a rain, had taken shelter in the rickety old house, for they set little store of faith in the yarns about mysterious sights and sounds that had so long been told about it. They had a fire a-going shortly, ate supper, and wrapping themselves in whatever they had for coats and waterproofs, tried to sleep.
So soon as they dozed they had nightmares, and all fancied the same thing—an incident of treachery and murder. Lying awake and exchanging this experience of dreams with one another, they heard the slow march of feet overhead, accompanied with groans. “Who’s there?” called one of them. And the sound stopped. But in a little while a liquid began to drip through the ceiling, and to pool and clot before the fire. It was blood. Now a door was flung open and the floor shook with the mad chase of a frightened woman by a cursing man, who ever and again wrung a cry from her by a blow. The listeners knew them for man and woman in the dark only by their voices. Footsteps appeared in the blood; those of a large man without shoes, and those of a woman with high-heeled slippers. Nothing, however, was seen.
After an hour of quiet a wild dance was heard overhead, objects were flung here and there with a crash, laughter rose into long howls, then a silence fell for some minutes, and something or somebody descended the stairs, dragging a burden that bumped on each rotten step, was pulled through the hall and flung out at the door, falling with a thump among the weeds. The barefooted dance was then resumed.
Toward morning the tired men were roused from a troubled sleep. The rain was ending in a thunder-storm, and the house trembled as if it was about to fall. They resolved to brave the lightning rather than stay longer. As they reached the door a green blaze filled every room with light, and a crash of thunder deafened them. One of the men saw by this flash a face that might have looked out from hell, staring at them from the landing of the stairs. What had been done in that house? None ever knew. It was built soon after the Revolution by an Englishman named Madison, who was a rich recluse. A young woman was the only other inmate, except the servants, and no visitor was allowed to see her, Mr. Madison saying that she was his daughter, and half-witted. Without a word of warning he went home to England after a residence of some years, and wrote back to an agent to sell the house. It was sold, and resold, but could never keep a tenant.

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? I read it while watching a Popeye cartoon and standing on the top of Mount Everest. I should have brought a chair.
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Surprisingly, I do not remember this one at all!
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? The logical thing to do would to run out into the storm and get out of there at the first scream, but, in reality, I probably would have just hidden somewhere until it was over. I definitely wouldn’t have stayed sitting in the living room motionless.
Which were your favorite and least favorite characters and why? It’s a tie for least favorite character. One is the woman, because she was wearing high heels on the beach. She chose fashion over comfort, and that probably is what did her in. She would have been able to get away if it weren’t for those 12 inch stilettos she just had to wear to a beach house. Lesson learned: Always wear sensible shoes when you’re at a beachside cottage. My other least favorite character is the contractor who made the house, because, why is blood seeping through the ceiling so easily? It’s not like it’s an overflowing tub with gallons and gallons of water soaking into the floor. It’s just 8 pints of blood leaking out of a person. No reason that blood should be dripping through and disturbing the visitors’ pleasant time.
My favorite character are the dry logs that happened to be there so the fishermen could dry off from the rain due to their terrible weatherman skills.
What did you think of the storytelling style? I liked it. It was a great, spooky story. We don’t even know if the fishermen were there for a real murder or if it was a ghostly re-creation of one. Mysterious!
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? Extremely bad. This could be why I don’t remember this story at all.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐⭐⭐ because the fishermen didn’t even bother calling 911 when an obvious murder just took place.

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? I read it in an environment where I wished I was at Disney World seeing animals and mini countries. (I’m going there soon!)
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? I remember how it started because it was so visual!
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? If I were stranded in a storm, I would probably go to an empty house. However, if I heard a murderer upstairs, I would take my chances with the storm and peace out.
Which were your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite and least favorite “character” is the author of this story and the production of Scary Stories because this one probably gave me nightmares. Could you imagine a children’s book today describing blood dripping from the ceiling into a pool?
What did you think of the storytelling style? This one is the most gruesome in the book so far. It was gross. I loved it!
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it?It was kind of boring, except for the bloody blood.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ This is definitely the scariest story in terms of physical events, though I personally find creepiness scarier than gruesomeness.