You're kind of getting to experience the scare. You're then experiencing the, oh, wait, it's okay of it all. And then that actually gives you like a rush of dopamine. And that's what makes the scary story so exciting now. Kind of like that you've like survived the scary story.

Liz Gatako, also known as Cosbarian, is a public librarian, storyteller, and performer, known for her comedic series, Fed Up Fairy Tales, which retells fairy tales and folklore

with a healthy dose of wit and wisdom. For this episode, Liz tells me the history of the

landmark children's horror book series, scary stories to tell in the, that was a staple of elementary schools in the

80s and 90s, and probably the earliest influence on American hysteria. We discussed the writing

and genuinely terrifying illustrations, the way it repurposed older folklore stories as well as modern urban

legends, how the series became a rite of passage for kids all over the country, and the reason

these freaky little volumes became some of the most challenged library books of all time. I'm your host, Chelsea Weber Smith, and this is

American Hysteria. I am so excited to talk about this topic today with our new friend, Liz.

So thank you so much for being here and for bringing this fantastic idea to me.

I'm so excited.

I'm thrilled to talk about it.

It's such an iconic series, like both for me as a librarian and a little bit growing up,

even though I was a little bit of a wuss when I was a kid, this book still had a huge impact. Awesome. Well, we're going to, I'm going to ask you a little bit more about that in a second, but I think together we decided that we would start with a dramatic reading to get people back into the scary stories to tell in the dark feeling that so many of us shared in the, I mean, specifically,

I'd say the 90s. So I'm going to start with your suggestion for a story to read. This story

just happens to also be one of my very favorites. And of course, when we're talking about scary

stories to tell in the dark, if anyone out there doesn't know what that is, I would recommend pausing this episode and going and looking at the art for this book series.

And we're going to be talking about the art, certainly, but specifically, and we'll put this up on social media, but specifically the image of this story, the haunted house,

because it's very much one of the most iconic drawings in this series, I would say.

And if you read these books, when you see this image, it's going to rocket your back.

And it's going to feel, you're going to feel fear.

It's the scariest one for sure. I think it is. I think it is too. Okay. So this is the haunted house. One time a preacher went to see if he could put a haunt to rest at a house in his settlement. The house had been haunted for about 10 years. Several people had tried to stay there all night, but they always would

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