SOLVED. short story -- children make up a monster, their belief makes it real [s]

[Cathy]

My title says it all. I read this story in a horror anthology checked out from the library when I was a kid. The library shelved lots of horror stories in the kids' section, even when they were intended for adults, so it might not have been a children's book.

Three childhood friends scare themselves by inventing a terrifying monster with, I think, a mouth in its throat, and tell each other stories about how it lives in the woods near their small town and kills people. Eventually they grow up and move away. As an adult, one of the friends (who I'm pretty sure narrates) realizes that mysterious killings are happening in that hometown, and that by investing their childhood creation with so much fear and emotion, they caused it to become real. The story ends with his decision to go back (with the friends?) to confront and kill the thing, or die trying, because they are responsible for its existence.

This make a BIG impact on me, and I'd love to read it again! Does it ring a bell for anyone else?

[Kris]

It sounds like a Stephen King short story. I would suggest looking in Night Shift.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

[Cathy]

It's definitely not King -- I read it in the late '70s, and I've reread Night Shift recently.

[Kris]

Aww sorry. It definitely sounds familiar though, I'll poke around in some of my stuff and see if I can locate the story i am thinking about.

[Cathy]

Oh, if it turns up I'll be so thrilled! Thanks for looking.

[Kris]

Zenna Henderson wrote stories on that same theme.

Anything Box and Holding Wonder are her two non The People collections. I will pull them and goo thru them after Sunday. (Holiday weekend here in Utah)

[HeavyReader]

Just wanted to bump this one to the top of the list because it sounds pretty cool.

[Dung Beetle]

This is not the story you are looking for, but you might enjoy the short story The Believers, by Robert Arthur. It sure scared the crap out of me! (The first time I read it, it was a slightly edited version in Robert Arthur’s collection Ghosts and More Ghosts).

[Cathy]

Oh, thanks for the bump! I'll look for The Believers (which certainly would be a good title for the story I remember).

[Kate]

It sounds a lot like the Stephen King novel It...

[Cathy]

Nope, defnitely not IT.

[Cathy]

Bumping, to see if anyone can identify this bump-in-the-nigh story ...

[Kate]

Someone already mentioned Zenna Henderson. It is true that she has some stories that deal with the intensity of children's beliefs, and in a couple of them, the children do create monsters just by believing in them. However, I don't recall any where the children realize as adults that the creation lives on. Henderson is definitely a worthy author to read. Her anthologies are The Anything Box and Holding Wonder. The People books are The People: No Different Flesh and Pilgrimage: The Book of the People

[Cathy]

I found it! I found it! It's the short story "The Lonesome Place" by August Derleth. And I thnk I even found the anthology where I originally read it, although it's not on Good Reads for some reason: Hauntings, by Henry Mazzeo.

OMG, this has been bugging me for years. I had some of the details wrong: there's just one killing, and the ending is not what I thought it was, although I was right about the guilt. But it's the right story and whole sentences of it came back to me when I reread it.

[Kris]

Well no wonder it was familiar... I have that anthology!

[Cathy]

I think I might have to buy a copy myself -- it has a gorgeous Gorey cover, too.

[Kris]

It does and a lot of wonderful stories inside.

[Kate]

Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural by Henry Mazzeo

[Goge (BARRONS) le Moning Maniac,]

Thank you Kate! It sounded like something I'd read too. Now I can read it:) (Couldn't find it on GR.. but yay thanks!)

[Kate]

It actually is on GR, but you have to use the keywords "hauntings tales supernatural" to get it to come up. Mazzeo just didn't work yesterday.

[Cathy]

Oh, weird! Thanks, Kate. And my copy is winging its way to me even as I type, even though I have about half the stories in other anthologies. I just couldn't resist!