The Thing at the Foot of the Bed and Other Scary Tales

The Thing at the Foot of the Bed and Other Scary Tales was originally published in 1959. It is a short collection of folk tales involving ghosts and a few witch stories. I was especially fond of Sweet William’s Ghost. All stories are brief—perfect for short attention spans. I had read this book as a child and found it frightening, as an adult I find it quaint. Some of these stories I had heard during childhood sleepovers and scouting campfires. The illustrations are simplistic and suit the book quite well. I believe that this would make a good starter book for children who are interested in such stories, because most are straight forward, they aren’t overly scary, and there was no gore.

This collection of tales was reminiscent to the Scary Tales to tell in the Dark, and just as creepy. The pen and ink sketches gave me a bit of a chill, because you have images that often aren't very clear, but because of the descriptive writing, the reader could frightened by the stories alone.

***This book was reviewed for Netgalley***

Leach’s The Thing at the Foot of the Bed is an amusing collection of ghost stories and urban legends perfect for telling around campfires and at sleepovers. Who doesn't love a good scary story? This is a reprint of a 1959 book, and the language is colloquial, and oft culture specific. The nuances of different dialects, folk speech, and subculture slang were particular interests of the author. This book was written with children in mind as the audience, and the writing reflects that. I love to read to my cubs, and the tone change can be quite a relief, fun and enjoyable.

There are several sections. The first has funny stories, like 'The Thing at the Foot of the Bed’, where a man is terrified of his own feet. Next up are scary stories, such as 'No Head', where a farmer meets a headless spirit. Part Three are real ghost stories and here you’ll find a variation of the urban legend of the ghostly hitchhiker. After that is a series of odd 'ghostly games’, followed by a few witchy stories. The last section contains some amusing and interesting do's and don’t’s about interacting with ghosts

This is a precursor to Schwartz’s popular Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which recounts many of the same tales collected here. I loved the cover! I even recognised the story before I opened the book. It’s a scene from 'Wait Til Martin Comes’, one of my favourite stories as a child.

I read this to my cubs, who love scary stuff. Who doesn't, right? They enjoyed them all, especially the ones Jonas read with the surprise startle element like the story 'The Thing at the Foot of the Bed', which dissolved them into giggles afterwards.

🎻🎻🎻🎻 Recommended for younger kids who love scary stories, and for parents, scout leaders, and camp counselors who enjoy storytelling, especially around a blazing campfire.

Fans of SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK will find this book very entertaining. Nice collection of ghost, witch, and things that go bump in the night. Definitely recommend.

Both my daughter and myself enjoyed reading this, the illustrations added to the text and although it was scary tales we also laughed in some places.

The stories in this book are all about things that go bump in the night and the creepy things that can sneak up on you - ghosts, witches, and more. They are written in an easy to read manner making it accessible for both children and adults. The black and white drawings that go along with the stories add to the creep factor.

This book was originally published in the late 1950s. It could be considered a precursor to the Scary Stories books that Alvin Schwartz has written. The stories are enjoyable as they are written or embellished for oral performance. Some of them do seem to beg for embellishment.

In addition, adults who are into folklore will enjoy the information at the end of the book which briefly tells of the origins for the stories. Altogether this is an enjoyably creepy collection of tales. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This review also appears in full or in part on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/review/R1I80Q74TXC3LC/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01GT3QU00

and Goodreads.com https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1695142351

Well I really wanted to love this but I had to come to terms with the fact that this is a book that is simply not for adults...so I outsourced my review to my seven year old...so here are his words about this book. "Well some stories are creepy and some are funny and some just are weird but I like it a lot. My favorite story was Wait till Martin Comes."
After listening to my son, I'd have to say that this is a good book but for younger kids under ten or so any older than that and the magic of these short stories are just gone.

'The Thing at the Foot of the Bed and Other Scary Tales' by Maria Leach with illustrations by Kurt Werth reminded me of camping and telling ghost stories around the fire. Do people still do that?

Here is a book from the middle of the last century. There are quite a few ghost stories organized by type. There are funny ones, scary ones, "real" ones, ghost games, witch stories, and do's and don't's about ghosts. None of the stories is particularly scary, and most are quaint and somewhat funny. There are lone hitchhikers who disappear and talking cats and people who mistakenly shoot their foot thinking it's a ghost. All of the stories are quite short.

I don't know if kids today would even care about a collection like this. I read lots of Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock collections and loved the Universal monsters. I remember being scared of the hook-handed man and the girl with the ribbon tied around her neck. These are more like folklore. The footnotes tell where the stories are told, and this was of more interest to me. The illustrations break up the stories and are a bit on the rough side, but I liked them. There is a bibliography for further reading. I enjoyed this not so scary collection of ghost stories.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.