Campfire Tales: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggety Beasties

by William W. Forgey, Paul G. Hoffman (Illustrator)

A crackling fire, the smell of s’mores, an eerie howl in the distance. Refresh your childhood memories with some good old-fashioned horror stories that you can share with your kids. Former scout leader William Forgey compiled this collection of tales as a valuable resource for storytelling. With memorable plots and characters, each tale can be told around the campfire rather than read.

 

Campfire Tales includes seventeen original and classic tales bursting at the seams with ghosts, graveyards, and things that go bump in the night. A handy outline after each story assists in telling tales by firelight, and the book also includes ten tips that can make anyone a great storyteller.

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1989

Reviews

[Joseph R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology is written by a Scout leader who has told many tales around campfires. The introduction provides some general guidance for selecting and delivering such tales. The advice is taken from a previous book, Campfire Stories, by the same author. Some of the stories in this collection have a short paragraph at the beginning about adapting the story for campfire telling. All of the stories at the end have an outline of the major story beats to aid memorizing (because one does not want to read a story out loud but tell the story from memory).

The stories run the gamut from tales crafted by the author or author's friends, stories adapted by the author from other authors, and stories by other authors, including famous ones like Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, and Algernon Blackwood. They have varying ranges of supernatural elements and creepiness. I found most of the stories are more appropriate for the Troop level of scouts (sixth- to twelfth-graders) since they get a bit gruesome and involve things like suicide and cannibalism that I would not feel comfortable telling to elementary-school kids.

Mildly recommended--this is better as a primer for a storyteller than for general reading enjoyment.

[Josephine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It was ok.

I like the idea of an anthology of short stories that could make good campfire stories, but the stories he picked were just ok.

The bad guy in over half of them was Native Americans. The protagonist in all but one was a man. The one who was a woman was killed by an ex lover. That’s not a horror story, that’s the news.

It gave of very Boy Scouts vibes. I need someone to do the same thing but for girl scouts. More female characters. Fewer big bad scary “savages.” Gross.

[Ray Savarda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this thinking it might give some good stories to tell my early teenage sons while camping (this was years ago). After reading some of the stories, I decided against it.
They are just a bit gruesome to me. And mostly not all that interesting. But I will note I'm not a big horror fan, I don't go to the slasher / horror movies (generally) at the theatre either.
I have read a fair amount of Hitchcock and HP Lovecraft, and I found those interesting.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have a 2011 printing with illustrations by Paul G. Hoffman. A few interesting classics, but most are just silly and a few have blatant racial stereotypes. The outlines are helpful if you want to retell these stories in your own style.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, it took me almost a year to finish this book, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I love good scary stories, and there were some interesting stories in this book.

[Lyndon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good resource, actually, for understanding how to tell spooky stories to scout troops or your kids on long car rides.