Art is Scary

When I was in elementary school, I remember borrowing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from the library. There were three books, all written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. Can we just stop for a moment and recognize how TERRIFYING these illustrations are? No wonder I'm not afraid of crappy horror movies. I'm pretty much immune. I was probably about seven-years-old when I read these things. And yes, I eventually bought them.

This illustration was from a story about a bride who hid in a trunk during her wedding (some sort of hide-and-seek game). Nobody found her, she got trapped, and then she died... jeez. Not only freaky, but really depressing.

And this... this was from a story about somebody who found what they thought was a weird looking dog. It ended up being a mutant rat or something. Talk about nightmares. Anyway... I just thought I should share. I'm sure plenty of people my age can reminisce about these books. Goosebumps books were scary, but none of them stand out in my mind quite like Scary Stories books do.

By the way -- my love of creepy art doesn't stop at childrens' books. Here are some of my favorite, freaky pieces of fine art. Sure beats paintings of fruit and flowers.

Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953) by Francis Bacon

Untitled, known as Saturn Devouring His Son, Devoration or
Saturn Eats His Child (1819–1823) by Francisco Goya

Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) (1936) by Salvador Dalí