Most modern parents have at least once been to a pioneer camp in childhood - and what camp is without "scary, terrifying" stories, from which after the lights out the frost ran over the skin? The "Mail. Ru Children" project has figured out why these works of children's folklore have been passed on by word of mouth for decades, and found out which of them were the most popular.
People love to invent monsters
Horror, horror is a popular genre in cinema and literature. But in the USSR it was not that it was under a direct ban, it simply did not officially exist. But he was given a place of honor in oral folk art: from adult jokes with dark humor to the famous pioneer horror stories.
Such stories did not even occur to anyone to write down and publish. They were simply passed on by word of mouth. This continued until the very beginning of the 90s of the last century. It was then that the famous children's writer Eduard Uspensky, in the program "Pioneer Dawn", appealed to all the teenagers of the Soviet Union and asked them to send him the scary stories that are common in pioneer camps.
In response, Ouspensky received a huge number of letters, which eventually turned into a unique book for its time, "Eerie Children's Folklore." Moreover, the writer managed to convey both children's voices and their "goosebumps" from these terrible stories. These stories show how, with the help of fear and overcoming it, children gain knowledge about life and death, and undergo a kind of initiation, without which growing up is impossible.
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Top 5 most popular horror stories of the USSR era
1. A coffin on wheels
Once upon a time there was a girl. And then somehow my mother went to work, and forbade her to turn on the radio. But she did not obey, and turned it on.
And suddenly the radio said: “Girl, girl, a coffin on wheels has left the cemetery, looking for your street. Hide, run away. " But the girl decided that it was being conveyed some kind of terrible fairy tale…. And they again say to her: "Girl, girl, a coffin on wheels found your street, already looking for your house." And they call her address.
It was then that she got scared, began to lock the door, but did not run away from the house. And the radio again broadcasts: “Girl, girl, the coffin on wheels has found your home. Moves into the apartment!"
Mom returned from work - and there the daughter is not alive. Only a little wheel is lying nearby.
2. Black piano
Once upon a time there lived a mom and dad, a girl and their grandmother. The girl wanted to play the piano, and her parents decided to buy it for her. Then the grandmother told them not to buy black in any case. But the store only had a black piano, and Mom and Dad bought it.
The next day the adults went to work, and the girl sat down at the piano. And as soon as she pressed a key, a skeleton came out of the piano and demanded blood from her. The girl got scared, gave him blood, the skeleton drank it, and climbed back into the piano.
This went on for three whole days, and on the fourth the girl became very ill. No one could help her, because every day a skeleton appeared and drank her blood. Then my grandmother said that the black piano should be broken. Dad took an ax and chopped up the piano. The skeleton was gone, and the girl immediately recovered.
3. The Queen of Spades
Once, two pioneers in a quiet hour decided to call the Queen of Spades. They painted a house and steps on the mirror with soap, and read a spell. There and then a black spot appeared, which climbed the steps to the house….
The girls were scared, but it was too late - after a quiet hour they were found unconscious. And each of the girls was holding a card - the queen of spades. Then one counselor said that all that was needed was to wipe the house from the mirror. Then the queen of spades would not harm anyone.
4. Drummer statue
When the pioneer camp was just built, two stone sculptures were placed at the central gate - a drummer and a bugler. And then one night lightning struck the bugler and he crumbled to dust.
The drummer began to yearn for her bugler, and since then she walks around the camp after lights out - looking for a similar boy. And if he finds one, he will turn him into stone and put him next to him to guard the entrance. And if the wrong boy is caught, she will catch him and rip out his heart.
5. White woman
Previously, there was a castle on the site of the pioneer camp. A rich and wicked master lived there. He had a maid. One day he ordered her to wash her white shirt. She washed, but when she hung up to dry, she accidentally dropped it. The master got terribly angry, chopped off the head of the servant, and buried it under a tree.
After that, the maid became a ghost, she walks around the camp after midnight: if she sees some sleepy pioneer in a white shirt, she will definitely strangle him.
Pioneer "horror" as a code of civilization
Of course, in our childhood there were other horror stories: about a blue / red curtain, about red gloves, about a terrible picture, about green eyes, about bloody numbers …
They were united by one thing: the main character, most often a child, was prohibited from something, but he violated this taboo - and terrible things happened. Or it never happened if the hero (as a rule, with the help of adults - father, grandmother, counselor or policeman) defeated the insidious dark forces.
And always for the development of the plot in such stories, fear is required, because it is one of the strongest human emotions. It is through fear that children learn about the world, its laws and learn to interact with them. This is why pioneer horror stories were so popular.
What scary stories do your children tell each other?
