SOLVED. Just a collection of scary stories I read sometime in 2019. Examples: Wendigo, man freezes to death, mutant fly. [s]

[willa]

So, I found this book in a library sometime last year. I don't remember many of the stories, (all of them were scary) but one that sticks out very vividly is "The Wendigo." There was also one about a man who froze to death and one about some mutant fly. I think the cover may have had a sign on it reading the title, and for some reason I think it may have had something to do with telling them around campfires?

ALSO: This is not "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark".

[Risse]

The Empty House and Other Ghost StoriesThe Willows, The Wendigo, and Other Horrors: The Best Weird Fiction and Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood: Annotated and Illustrated Tales of Murder, Mystery, Horror, and Hauntings

sounded really interesting so I started searching :)

[willa]

Hi, thanks for your help! Sadly neither of these is it, but I'll keep looking.

[willa]

Oh yeah, and all of the stories were by different authors.

[Becca]

Was it a collection aimed at children / teens, like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark? If so, it might be on this list - Children's Ghost Story Collections

[Scott]

Do you have any idea when it was published?

[willa]

Becca- I think it was more of a children's book, but some of the stories seemed more for adults too. So, I would go with teen book.
Scott- I don't remember, but it seemed like something that might be published around 2010. That's just a guess though.

[Kris]

Emma, I added more plot details to the topic header. This will help searchers and moderators. Feel free to update it by clicking the small "edit" link after the header. This only works on the full Desktop website - not the Mobile website or app.

If I've added a spoiler to the header, let us know and we'll remove it from the header.

[Pixiegirl105]

Can you describe the Wendigo story? I read an anthology in the last couple of years that had one.

[willa]

Alrighty, so there is a man who wants to go hunting in a remote part of the woods but can't find a guide to go with him. Eventually he finds an Indian man named Defago (pronounced Da-fay-go) who goes with him because he needs money. That night the man swears he can hear the wind calling Defago's name. Defago grows more and more restless and eventually runs off into the woods. The man can hear him screaming stuff about his feet burning. The next day, he looks for Defago but can't find him anywhere. Someone suggests that the Wendigo got him, a spirit who shouts his name in the wind and then drags them along through the snow into the sky, causing their feet to get set on fire, and then drops them. A few years later the man finds an Indian man who seems familiar. He lifts his hat and all he sees is a pile of ashes.
That's basically what I remember, wow this comment was so long.

[Pixiegirl105]

Emma wrote: "Alrighty, so there is a man who wants to go hunting in a remote part of the woods but can't find a guide to go with him. Eventually he finds an Indian man named Defago (pronounced Da-fay-go) who go..."

Nope not the one that I read. The one I read brought up an interesting thing that psychology has determined, that if you know of Wendigos, you always have the possibility of becoming one yourself. (it's an actual study that was done.)

[Kris]

Following up on rockbilly's comment, here is Wikipedia's synopsis (with Spoilers) of the novella The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood. One of the characters is French Canadian Joseph Défago:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wen...

[willa]

I looked at the link, and it's not the one by Algernon Blackwood. I specifically remember it being just the man who wanted to go hunting and Defago. (That might help a little.)

[Irene]

It's crazy because your description of the story is exactly, word-for-word like "The Wendigo" from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, see the link below for the summary:
https://halloween.fandom.com/wiki/Sca...

I know you said that that's NOT the right book and that all the stories had different authors, but I'm wondering if this exact version was included in a larger anthology since this adaptation by Alvin Schwartz (and all the details with the hunter and stuff) is rather unique.

Could it be The Scary Story Reader: Forty One Of The Scariest Stories For Sleepovers, Campfires, Car And Bus Trips Even For First Dates!? It mentions campfires and has a ton of stories.

Do you remember if there were any illustrations at all? Or if it was just pure words?

[willa]

Hi, I read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark right after this one, and the Wendigo story was exactly the same. There were no illustrations. Sadly your book was not it. I think there were somewhere around 15 or 10 stories? Thanks for your help though

[Nóinín]

An Anthology of Fifty Horror Stories contains both "The Wendigo" and "Cold Ghost", a story about a trapper freezing to death. I don't think I'm familiar with all of the remaining 48 stories in this anthology; one of them may well be about a mutant fly.

[willa]

This is not it, seeing as there was no story about a mutant fly. The one about a mutant fly was literally titled "The Fly." Thank you for looking though.

[Irene]

Emma wrote: "Hi, I read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark right after this one, and the Wendigo story was exactly the same. There were no illustrations. Sadly your book was not it. I think there were somewhere ..."

Is this the right story?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fly...

It'll help to narrow down the collection if we know the author of the story, so if it's this, that could be really helpful. I see two other stories called "The Fly" by Dulcie Gray and Arthur Porges as well. If it's none of these authors, at least we'll know it's a lesser-known story/author.

[willa]

It's been a little while since I read this, but the story by Arthur Porges does sound like the one that I read! I'm not completely sure, but it definitely has some of the same events that the one I read had. Maybe the story was slightly adapted over time?

[Irene]

Emma wrote: "It's been a little while since I read this, but the story by Arthur Porges does sound like the one that I read! I'm not completely sure, but it definitely has some of the same events that the one I..."

I found it!!! Spooky Campfire Stories: Outdoor Myths and Tales for All Ages or Spooky Campfire Stories by Amy Kelley Hoitsma!

There are a few different editions with different covers, but it's about 11 stories, including Alvin Schwartz's The Wendigo and Arthur Porges' The Fly!

Please tell me I'm right!! I've been way too invested in this search hahaha



(Edit: these books only have 15 and 44 ratings on Goodreads, which would explain how obscure they are. I only found them on an Australian library catalog. And the publisher is a very small, independent press.)

[willa]

Yes omg that is it!!! Thank you so much!!!

[Irene]

Emma wrote: "Yes omg that is it!!! Thank you so much!!!"

Hooray! I'm glad; I added it to my TBR shelf as well :)