Bloody Mary and Other Tales for a Dark Night

by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz

Urban legends like these are the stuff of nightmares. Bloody Mary and Other Tales for a Dark Night is a connoisseur's collection of thirty-five creepy contemporary tall tales. Drawing on our eeriest modern myths, Stefan Dziemianowicz crafts horror stories that will leave even skeptical readers listening for footsteps behind them and fearful of walking into darkened rooms.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies

223 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Born in 1957, Stefan Dziemianowicz works for the publisher Barnes & Noble as an editor.

Reviews

[Unsolved ☕︎ Mystery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each tale is based on Urban Legends.
Full of cheese (some more than others)
Full of fun (They were all fun to read)
Some I've heard, some were new to me

I have rated each story; even had some 5 stars in the bunch!

Tall Tales For the Campfire
Campfire Story - 4 stars
Initiation Into Terror - 5 stars
Funhouse of Fear - 4 stars
Body Snatched - 2 stars
Summer of Cropsey - 4 stars

Tales For After Dinner
Doom of the House of Gaskell - 4 stars
Secret Ingredient - 5 stars
Just Desserts - 5 stars

Urban Legends
Brainy Type - 3 stars
Cocoon - 3 stars
Mule - 3 stars
Coat Carrier - 4 stars
Giving Kind - 4 stars
Crazy Sally - 4 stars

Slumber Party Terrors
Don't Turn On the Light! - 3 stars
Final Call - 3 stars
Why the Doctor Went Mad - 5 stars
Ginger Snaps - 3 stars

Short Shivers for Long Car Rides
Stay Away From Wilson Drive! - 4 stars
Backseat Driver - 5 stars
One More - 5 stars
Death Takes Its Toll - 5 stars
Roadside Stop - 5 stars
Hook Ending - 4 stars

Frights For the Christmas Fireside
He Sees You When You're Sleeping - 4 stars
Yule Love Him - 2 stars
O' Christmas Tree - 3 stars
.....In Small Packages - 4 stars
Hearth of Horror - 3 stars

Halloween Horrors
Tricks & Treats - 5 stars
Masquerade - 4 stars
Scarecrow - 5 stars
Sweets To the Sweet - 4 stars
Bloody Mary - 3 stars

This book would have benefitted with better editing.
Regardless, it was a lot of fun to read.
I'd most definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good fright before bed.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Registered on Bookcrossing - https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/...

Really enjoyed these spooky stories.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by how well written these stories were. Each story is based on an urban legend that is summarized at the beginning or end of the story. Some of the stories are very well known and others were stories that I have never heard. I found each story enjoyable because they were told in a unique way with a few twists that I didn't expect. A great read for October and definitely recommended.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Dziemianowicz has found every ghostly tale every told at summer camp and backyard sleepovers! Sounds really weird but it brought back fond memories of those childhood times!

[Scooter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good little read for a rainy night!

[Autumn Greer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories are pretty boring and lack any type of spookiness or scariness. Some of the urban legends in the book are the more popular ones that I feel were better done in tv shows or other stories. Some of the legends I had never heard of but were lackluster in their presentation.
I give it 2 stars because I enjoyed a few of the more well-written stories. Although, I genuinely wonder if this book was proofread because that is the scariest thing about this book. In "The Summer of Cropsey" story, the name of the camp goes from Beechside to Beechwood in the span of one paragraph. In "He Sees You When You're Sleeping" who is Linda? The main character is named Elizabeth except for one paragraph where her name changes and becomes Linda. In "Sweets to the Sweet" who is Ellen? The main character is named Esther.
In the story "... In Small Packages" you are greeted by this delightful line "a hank of hair and black shriveled thing depending from it." That makes no sense. This leads me to the next point about the very outdated language of the book. Some of the stories are full of words that no one uses anymore, making the story seem like it's taking place in a different period while also using modern technology (well modern for a 20+-year-old book).
Who is the narrator for the majority of the stories? Most of the stories lack a defined narrator which makes it very strange to read especially when the story has the addition of narration points or things the characters wouldn't know. A defined narrator would have made some of the stories actually well done.
There is also blatant misinformation or half-truth statements made in the introduction sections denoting a new grouping of stories. A perfect example would be the Halloween introduction. The author goes into the origin of Halloween saying the holiday was 'supposedly piggybacked on a pagan day of celebration, the day we call Halloween was formally known as All Hallows' Eve...' The pagan holiday was known as Sowhain and it was a celebration of the fall harvest and a time to remember lost loved ones. All Hallows' Eve was the Christan faith's attempt at converting the pagan people to Christan beliefs. The introduction for the Christmas section talks quite a bit about the rules to follow to not have bad things happen to you but read any Christmas tradition book and none of those things are mentioned. I know the book is fiction but making claims based on truth would be helpful to have some type of source for that claim.

[Jason Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super quick read- one that I read to make sure that it was appropriate for my 10 year old. I don’t really think that it is. When Dziemianowicz introduces the book, he describes these as tales to be told around a fire, and that is exactly what they are. Many classic urban legends, a few that I hadn’t heard, but written in a pretty engaging fashion. What set it apart for me from similarly themed books is the way the author chooses to write several of them from different points of view. One is told in second person, one is told in the first person, and as a teacher, just those stories paired with just about any of the other stories told in the classic 3rd person would lend themselves to story structure and choices. I also liked that there was just a bit more edge to these versions than I usually see.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've heard or read books on urban legends before this collection won't really have anything you haven't heard before and frankly, most of those included here are very basic stories with no different take (as advertised in the introduction) and while the writing style is competent it isn't compelling in any way. There are some serious errors including mis-naming the sleep away camp.

Also, I think it would have been better to have the inspiration for the story at the end instead of the beginning but frankly most of the inspirations were unnecessary as you could pretty clearly determine the legend.

I think this collection would be better suited to a young adult reader.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of tales most of us heard gossiped about at slumber parties, or heard as a rumor in school, or bold brave things we were told by a sibling, or the typical campfire tale.

However, because of that, there's a short bit about the legend itself, occasionally before, or occasionally after and a short story of the writers creation inspired by said tale or legend and it gets repetitive for reading in a single session. Reading it, one tale a day, is slower but makes it a little less repetitive because they are chaptered by similarities.

Overall, not bad, not great, probably great for a kid off to be a camp counselor though!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in fifth grade, and was up until 3AM, terrified, after crafting a decoy sleeping body of pillows under my blanket to take the first stan from a murderer. So glad I found it! Two or three are particularly well done-- the first one with the rest-stop dinner and the cave exploration ones stick out.

[Keri Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love horror anthologies, they are beneficial to readers like myself who get bored easily. This horror anthology was good, not the best I've read and not the worst. It's basically a collection of urban legends and old ghost stories you would hear in junior high, some with a gory twist. There were a few stories in the collection of 35 that I hadn't heard before and that made the whole book worth the read. I don't scare easily, but after finishing this book last night I did find myself less than excited to turn the lights off. I would recommend this collection to anyone who likes classic scares or urban legends or as something to read around Halloween.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always on the lookout for a really creepy story, but unfortunately, I think I'm just incapable of being scared! That said, I don't think this book of short stories would really be scary to anyone, except for maybe younger readers. All the stories are taken from common urban legends, and there isn't much more to them than what we've all already heard time and again. However, I suppose if you read them on a dark and stormy night while you're home all alone, or around a campfire deep in the dark woods, they might succeed in giving you the chills.

[GracieKat · Rating 1 out of 5]

You would be better off reading a collection of urban legends because that is really all that this is. And they're not very well written out as stories because they're just the legends with hardly any surrounding detail or changes to make them interesting as a fictional short story.

[Brett]

Horror

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aside from "Bloody Mary," the other spine-tingling tales included in this excellent 'campfire tales' collection are: "Cocoon," Don't Turn On The Light," "Scarecrow," and " Roadside Stop."

[Jacqueline Selecky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really terrifying actually, but great stories that make you believe they could happen. Great book.