every day is halloween

a big part of the allure of the scary season is the telling of frightening tales. whether it be in movies, books or song we love that thrilling sensation of gooseflesh as we terrorize ourselves with our imaginations. sometimes these scary stories are presented as allegories. often they are only just pieces of whimsy. but sometimes the stories we scare the hell out of ourselves are cautionary tales.

the collection of children's tales titled shock-headed peter [der struwwelpeter] written by heinrich hoffman and published in 1845 is a book of the damnedest stories ever read to kids to get them to behave. the book was reprinted all the way into the 20th century. my copy dates to 1954. i hope parents don't use these stories as cautionary tales for children because they will scar the tots for life!

for example there is a story titled the story of the thumb-sucker. the kid in the tale is warned by his parents that if he doesn't stop sucking his thumb a tailor will sneak into his room and cut off his thumbs. guess what happens next! that's right. the kid's thumbs are cut off with large shears, all bloodily illustrated, because he can't stop himself from sucking his digits.

yikes. oh the world was different a 100 plus years ago. we don't scare are kids straight anymore do we? no need to answer. every age has their boogeymen, and women. however, this book is for the adult who might have a macabre sense of humor.

there are a few of us around. even the neo-cabaret trio the tiger lilies adapted shock-headed peter into a suite of songs. below is the band performing the dreadful story of harriet and the matches.

boo