Strangest Children's Books Tales You Won't Believe Are Real

Summary

This video explores the darkest and most unsettling children's stories, from classics like *Goosebumps* and *Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark* to older tales like *The Tomboy Who Changed into a Real Boy* and *Outside Over There*. It highlights eerie, disturbing narratives where characters face terrifying fates, often through supernatural or horrific circumstances. The stories blend absurdity with moral lessons, leaving a lasting, sometimes unsettling impression. The video delves into these stories' ability to instill fear and offer insights into darker aspects of childhood folklore.

Takeaways

• 😀 The original versions of children's stories were often much darker than the sanitized versions we know today, featuring gruesome endings and unsettling themes.
• 😀 Classic fairy tales like 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Cinderella' had much harsher outcomes, including immense suffering and violence that is absent from modern adaptations.
• 😀 'The Little Mermaid' by Hans Christian Andersen involves painful transformations and a tragic conclusion, unlike the happier Disney version.
• 😀 'Struwwelpeter' by Heinrich Hoffmann is a collection of disturbing moral tales where children face gruesome punishments for their misdeeds, such as amputations and drownings.
• 😀 'The Tomboy Who Changed into a Real Boy' tells the story of a girl transformed into a boy as punishment for not behaving ladylike, showcasing a strange and unsettling moral.
• 😀 Many of the tales from classic children's literature, like 'The Match Girl' and 'The Haunted House,' involve death or grave consequences, making them far more somber than modern retellings.
• 😀 'Goosebumps' and 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' made an impact on children in the '90s with disturbing illustrations and narratives that were more frightening than those of traditional fairy tales.
• 😀 Some stories, like 'Harold' in 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,' involve supernatural retribution and gory outcomes, making them deeply unsettling for younger readers.
• 😀 'Rebecca, Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably' is a tale of a girl who faces an absurdly violent death after repeatedly slamming doors, highlighting the bizarre extremes of these tales.
• 😀 The 'Goosebumps' series is remembered for its creepy scenarios, like talking rabbits and haunted military toilets, reflecting how horror was incorporated into children's entertainment in the '90s.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the video transcript?

The main theme of the transcript is to highlight dark, disturbing, and bizarre elements in classic children's stories that are often overlooked in their modern adaptations, especially focusing on the original versions of fairy tales, cautionary tales, and other works that carry unsettling messages or gruesome outcomes.

Why was the story 'The Tomboy Who Changed into a Real Boy' considered disturbing?

This story is disturbing because it punishes a young girl for not conforming to traditional gender roles. The protagonist transforms into a boy as punishment for engaging in 'boyish' activities, and ultimately is sent to sea, never to be seen again, which portrays a harsh and bizarre response to her behavior.

How does 'Outside Over There' by Maurice Sendak differ from his other works like 'Where the Wild Things Are'?

While Maurice Sendak's other works are known for their dreamlike quality, 'Outside Over There' stands out as a darker and more unsettling tale. It involves a young girl whose baby sister is stolen by goblins and replaced with an icy faceless child, leading to a nightmarish journey of rescue and loss.

What is the main message of 'Rebecca, Who Slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably'?

The story is a morbid cautionary tale about the dangers of bad behavior, specifically slamming doors. Rebecca's actions cause a marble bust to fall on her head, leading to her tragic death, and the story suggests that such consequences could be a lesson for children on proper behavior.

What gruesome details were omitted in Disney’s version of 'The Little Mermaid' compared to Hans Christian Andersen's original story?

In Andersen's original version, the mermaid experiences extreme physical pain when she trades her voice for legs, and the prince ultimately marries another woman, leaving the mermaid heartbroken. In a desperate attempt to break the spell, she is told to kill the prince, but she cannot, leading to her tragic death as sea foam. These dark elements are omitted in Disney's more lighthearted adaptation.

What makes 'The Little Match Girl' by Hans Christian Andersen such a tragic story?

The story centers on a poor, destitute girl who dies of hypothermia on a cold winter night, while hallucinating warm visions of her deceased grandmother and a festive Christmas dinner. The tragic end, with the girl's smile after death, adds to its emotional weight and underscores themes of poverty and neglect.

Why are the Brothers Grimm's versions of fairy tales like 'Cinderella' and 'The Strange Feast' so much darker than their modern adaptations?

The Brothers Grimm's fairy tales often feature gruesome or violent elements to convey moral lessons, in stark contrast to the sanitized, feel-good versions popular today. For example, in their version of 'Cinderella,' the stepsisters mutilate their feet to fit the glass slipper, and in 'The Strange Feast,' two sausages engage in cannibalism, which are unsettling elements not present in modern renditions.

How does Heinrich Hoffman's 'Struwwelpeter' stand out as a children's book?

'Struwwelpeter' is infamous for its dark moral lessons, where children suffer extreme punishments for minor misbehaviors. Stories like 'Little Suck-a-Thumb' and 'The Cry Baby' depict exaggerated, frightening consequences, such as thumb amputation and blindess, which were designed to scare children into good behavior but are considered disturbing by modern standards.

What is the horrifying outcome of the story 'The Green Ribbon'?

In 'The Green Ribbon,' the protagonist, Jenny, wears a green ribbon around her neck and never reveals why. After years of marriage, she tells her husband that he can untie the ribbon, at which point her head falls off, revealing that she has been a headless corpse all along. The story plays on themes of mystery and horror, with a shocking twist at the end.

What is the central premise of Neil Gaiman's 'Coraline' and why is it considered a dark children's story?

In 'Coraline,' the protagonist, a young girl named Coraline, discovers a parallel universe where everyone has button eyes. Although the world initially appears better than her own, she soon realizes the horrifying price she must pay to stay there—having her own eyes replaced with buttons. The story involves themes of child abduction, body horror, and the grotesque, making it a chilling tale for younger readers.

How do the 'Goosebumps' series by R.L. Stine compare to the other dark children's stories mentioned in the transcript?

The 'Goosebumps' series, though still aimed at children, often incorporates more modern horror tropes and creepy scenarios, such as possessed dummies and grotesque transformations. While it maintains an element of horror suitable for young readers, its themes, such as those in 'Night of the Living Dummy' and 'Beware the Purple Peanut Butter,' blend terror with dark humor and absurdity, creating a unique type of disturbing children's literature.