Hi:

I teach 8th grade english in an urban new england community. We're doing scary stories this month and I was looking for some advice from Bradbury devotees.

What would you say is his scariest story?

"The Crowd" gets under one's skin a little bit. It's about a group of "bystanders" who secretly murder car accident victims.

The "October Country" short story collection would probably be your best bet for finding a scary short story you could use.

The Small Assassin, The Black Ferris, The Jar and Zero Hour perhaps.

My mom called "The Whole Town's Sleeping" (the Lavinia Nebbs section of Dandelion Wine) "a masterpiece of scariness."

And The Whole Town's Sleeping.

"Skeleton"!

And "Gotcha!", although I think that's probably more scary for adults than kids, because of the subject matter/theme.

At this time of year, how can anyone not have mentioned "The October Game", originally published in WEIRD TALES and currently found in Knopf's edition of THE STORIES OF RAY BRADBURY? It's one of Ray's darkest, creepiest short stories.

"The Next in Line."

I agree with Dandy! "The Next In Line" is one of those stories that is so disturbing that, when I read it again, I sort of always hope for a different ending. I'm sure some of us have had that experience with a movie or book.

Another that really gave me the most exhilarating creeps is "The Emissary".

The Emissary! Besides, it has a dead teacher as the central theme.

The scariest Bradbury story, for me, is the sublimely suggestive "Gotcha!". But Phil is right - it may scare adults more than kids. "Gotcha!" is also the last Bradbury story (first published 1978) that's really scary.

"The October Game" and "The Small Assassin" would be the others in my top three. Which is not to say "The Jar", "The Smiling People", "The Whole Town's Sleeping", "The Wind", and others, aren't scary!

Also, don't forget "The Burning Man". It's also a fairly understated story, but that last line makes me shiver every time I read it.

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
I agree with Dandy! "The Next In Line" is one of those stories that is so disturbing that, when I read it again, I sort of always hope for a different ending. I'm sure some of us have had that experience with a movie or book.

Not really scary in the same sense, but the Bradbury story I always wish had a different ending is "Season of Disbelief," the story of old Mrs. Bentley in "Dandelion Wine."

quote:

Originally posted by douglasSP:
The scariest Bradbury story, for me, is the sublimely suggestive "Gotcha!"...

Hey, douglasSP, where have you been? Haven't seen you here for a few years!

Hi, Phil, it's good to be back, and flattering to be remembered. I have been relatively active on the Asimov's message boards (look for me there as dolphintornsea), and if I had to say why I became inactive on this board, it's partly because the software threw me at first, but also because there was a spell when I was a bit disappointed with the low level of activity here, especially in topics of interest to me. Plus other things - computer problems, and so on. But I'll try to pick it up again, very slowly at first.

I guess the immediate stimulus was that I read Now and Forever recently, also I heard from dandy, and that brought all things Bradbury to the fore again. I also visited your website, and a fine thing it is.

Good to have you back. The level of activity on here fluctuates. Regrettably, most of the activity of late has been in the religion and politics threads, with little of any relevance to Bradbury (despite being grouped under "Ray's Legacy").

However, thanks to Doug Spaulding, jkt, Nard and a few others, we have a lot more current info on Ray's activities nowadays, and a lot more photos and videos.

What did you tihnk of Now and Forever, by the way. (You may wish to answer this question in a new thread, as N&F hardly qualifies as "scariest story"!)