Scary but true. [Not what you think]

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Hey there,

Well, many years ago as a child, I came across a book from at least the 60's entitled "Scary but True", a terrifying experience to me that was a compilation of supposedly true encounters with the supernatural complete with woodcut images et al.

One involved a man driving on a dark freeway out of town who was then attacked by a 7 or 8 foot tall flying creature with glowing red eyes, that maintained pace with the driver in his car who only escaped death because he hit the brakes, reversed course, and as he got close to town the 'mothman-like' creature retreated.

Another was strikingly like the Marilyn Monroe episode of the Twilight Zone that even included the quote "There's room for one more!", but involved a man, a twisted midget carrying a coffin, and a snapped elevator cable instead.

My reason for posting is to see if anyone on ATS has heard of this book, and knows where to find it. I have frequently attempted to find it to no avail via the internet, but maybe one of you out there know how to secure a copy or know of a digital version that can be obtained.

What's ironic is that for a few years when I had the book, I constantly tried to get rid of it as it terrified me, and then it would reappear in my bedroom in odd places. Obviously a scared child can make up all sorts of scary reasons for its happening, my mother could have very well fished it out of the trash and put it back.

Yet, I would have been beaten had she known that I threw a book out (she was very mentally ill), or she at least would have screamed about it, rather than stick it under my bed when she could find a reason to freak out. I used to think it was alive, then it disappeared, and I have never found it again. Now, I can't find it at all, and that in and of itself is disturbing to me.

Please let me know.

Thanks!




[edit on 23-10-2009 by GideonHM]

Have definitly heard of the book. Probably had a copy, but I don't recall having trouble getting rid of it or being that scared by the stories. Looking back, I think they were mostly Fortean stories, anomalies in the fabric of reality.

I've used an online book search business before. I don't seem to exactly remember the one that I used, probably Dave's Olde Book Shop at www.davesoldebookshop.com . I just found another called BookSearch Inc. at www.booksearch.com... So you might get quotes from them.

They'll charge you a finder's fee, but for the 2 out-of-print books that I wanted (and both were found, by the way), it was well worth it.

reply to post by kettlebellysmith

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I grew up in a fantasy world and I often cannot believe the bizarre ideas I used to come up with in my youth (I never showed anti-social tendencies, thank goodness). Rather, I was originally terrified, but couldn't put the book down, and I had very animist tendencies for living in a Christian household.

Thank you, at least you know of it, and I feel less crazy already! I honestly don't think the book was anything other than scary, but I am glad to remember. I really was out there, and reading that book never helped.

That is until I saw the Mothman Prophecies and saw the original Twilight Zone episodes (although I watched Tales from the Darkside, and the 80's T.Z. constantly), then I noticed a correlation.

Room for one more is far too similar to be coincidence, Rod Serling had to get his ideas from somewhere, and at his initial rate of producing episodes, he was far too productive to just cough them up. Terror at 40,000 ft is another.

reply to post by willow1d

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Thank you very much!

In case I can't stand it anymore, I will certainly shill the moolah to check it out. Yet, my patience hasn't completely been shot yet, we'll see!

This just triggered a flashback. We used to have these books in our elementry school library. Im pretty sure it was a series.

reply to post by Dark Passenger

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I got it from my library as well. I completely forgot at the time what book the library was calling for, then the book showed up!

I do vaguely remember it being a series, were they different colored covers?