5 terrifying children's books that will scare even adults

It's no secret that some of the most beloved fairy tales come from a rather horrible collection of Brothers Grimm's fables. While many classics like Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella were eventually attenuated for the kids, some authors refused to give up their scary approach. Here are five children's books with really terrifying stories:

5. Struwwelpeter

Launched in 1845, the German collection of "cautionary tales" went down in history with the most fearsome children's books. In addition to the scary stories, the illustrations depict violent acts, such as one child losing his finger and another on fire.

The book describes what is supposed to happen to a misbehaving child:

“So she was burned, with all her clothes,
and arms and hands and eyes and nose
Until she had nothing left to lose
Except for their scarlet slippers;
And nothing more, but these were found
Between your ashes on the floor. ”

4. Coraline

Neil Gaiman is known for his dark fantasies, and "Coraline" is among them. The wonderfully disturbing story begins in a rather innocent way: a young girl moves to a new city and feels alone, ignored by her parents and friends. One day, little Coraline discovers a door in her house that transports her to a parallel universe - which at first glance seems perfect, but soon she finds that not everything is as it seems.

During her travels to the “other world, ” the once wonderful things start to get frightening: her other mother insists that she must sew buttons in place of her eyes so that the young woman stays there forever. Horrified, she tries to escape, but her fake mother, who is actually a witch, has done this to several other children before and manages to arrest her.

Things don't get better after that; involving a giant spider, a severed hand, ghost children and a trip to an old well in a dark forest, the story still promises many tense moments.

Of course the book has a moral: be careful what you want!

The work is from 2002 and, in 2009, a film version was released.

3. Angry Mr. Buckingham

This work tells the story of a man addicted to danger. His name was "Buckingham" and he liked to put his foot next to a chainsaw to "tickle" until the day he severed the limb. Subsequently, a fish ate his other foot and he still lost his arms violently when hit by a truck.

Buckingham shrugs every time, simply by saying, "It didn't hurt." Maybe he is insensitive to pain - or maybe the book says losing body parts without crying makes you brave.

Finally, Buckingham is just a head in a traditional American headdress. However, there is still a happy ending (or not):

“And that was the last terrible accident that brave Mr. Buckingham ever had. After that he lived happily, happily ever after, and whenever he was hungry, his dear granddaughter would help him eat a large plate full of beautiful red strawberries, because strawberries were Brave Mr. Buckingham's favorite thing. And he was so used to saying things didn't hurt that as soon as he ate the last strawberry, he smiled and said 'it didn't hurt'. ”

2. Scary stories to tell in the dark

Forget the Terror of Goosebumps - Many children from the 1990s have certainly hidden under their covers reading this collection that has topped the Library of America's most contested list of books over the past 20 years.

The scary stories were written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell and involve much of urban folklore and legends. Even though the tales are unsettling, what most impressed readers was the drawings - black and white sketches, with eyesless faces and dismembered feet falling from a chimney (meaning the rest of the body could still be trapped there).

According to Sandy Vanderburg, teacher and father, “If these books were movies, they would be censored for their graphic violence. Besides, there is no moral in the tales, since the bad guys always win. ” Sandy also tells that in one of the stories, “Just Delicious, ” a woman goes to a morgue and steals another woman's liver to feed her husband.

One of the book's most remembered tales, “Farol Alto”, is inspired by an urban legend about a girl who was driving alone on the road at night. Then she notices a car behind her, flashing its high headlights. Startled, she stops in the car to find out what's going on as the driver gets out of the vehicle with a gun and approaches.

He then goes to the backseat of the woman's car, where a killer is hiding. Eventually, the reader understands that each time the killer got up to kill the girl, the driver flashed his headlights to hide again. The legend arose in the 1960s, when it was common for bandits to hide in the back seat of the car to take the driver hostage.

On the 30th anniversary of the series, the books were reprinted with less frightening illustrations - which caused a stir in readers who loved the originals.

1. The Call of the Monster

Siobhan Dowd came up with the idea for this tale when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. In the book, she tells the story of Conor, a 13-year-old boy who is trying to get used to his mother's cancer diagnosis. He has recurring nightmares in which he is awakened by screams. One night, a monster appears in his window with some branches in his hand and makes a deal with Conor: he will tell the young man three stories if, in the end, Conor shares his own story.

The monster reappears every night at exactly 12:07. At first, the narrative seems harmless, but eventually Conor starts acting weird, breaking objects and getting into fights at school. Everything happens while he is in possession of the monster.

After the creature tells its stories, it is Conor's turn: he confesses his fear about his mother's death and how he tries to come to terms with his emotions. The monster explains that this has been its purpose: to comfort him. Once the boy experiences this sensation, his mother dies. Exactly at 00:07.

* Posted on 2/29/2016