I’m looking for a book from my childhood that I can’t remember the name of. It would have been 2000’s most likely 2001-2004. It was a compilation of scary stories that were actually scary. It’s a book for older kids. It is NOT scary stories to tell in the dark, or any of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series.
The cover had a skeleton on it and he was sitting in a rocking chair and it looked like he was maybe in an old attic. I think there were books and candles around him. Maybe a cat or a spider, or both. The cover was a blue - grey color.
Each story had an illustration that went with it in black and white. I remember there being a story about a dog being under a girls bed licking her hand.
I can’t be certain, but the book may have come from a scholastic book fair.
I know what book you’re talking about! I can see it in my head, it may have been in scholastic, but I think my family picked it up. The cover is mostly grey scale but the flame of the candle is lit yellow? It’s true stories?
I will have to search to see if we still have it, but thought maybe the extra info might help.
Yes!! I can’t remember if they were true stories or not. Some of them were actually pretty scary.
I’ve been searching for this book forever! It’s cemented in my kind but can’t remember the darn name. Huge reason I’m a prolific horror fan as an adult.
Is it Strangely Enough? Or one of the other books by C Colby? Not every story has an illustration, but they’re definitely scary/creepy.
The dog-licking story is likely this urban legend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Licked_Hand. I remember as a kid reading a book of supposedly “true” scary stories that was not Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, but very similar. Sadly, I can’t remember the name.
Maybe Strangely Enough by C. Colby? Or possibly one of his other similar titles.