5. ‘ An Elephant Never Forgets’
This is one of the first episodes I watched after reading the book, it basically looks at the rich and how parents who don’t care about teaching their children responsibility and humbleness could affect their children in really bad ways. The story revolves around a rich family, the parents, who were away on a holiday to Africa bring back the leg of a baby elephant. The two children Percy and Belinda quickly find that the leg is magic and can grant any wish. How ever the children become quickly bored with the making wishes and it goes a step too far. ‘An Elephant Never Forgets’ is a pretty standard story that scared me as a kid, it basically has the ‘be careful what you wish for’ tag posted on it.
4. ‘Grandmother’s Footsteps’
I love this story, I read the book and watched the TV series and it did it so much justice. There is an awesome ending and it is down right scary. This is one of those ‘ wait until the last few seconds to reveal the scare’ kind of thing that Grizzly Tales always does. Nigel Planer’s voice over is just amazing in this story. It’s so chilling, so horrifying that this is another one I gave me nightmares and you would probably never see it coming. I feel like I’ve told you too much already. The story is about a little boy, who is scared and his grandmother basically just tells him a story to help him to go to sleep. I love this story, it’s so simple, but it works perfectly, this shows Jamie Rix’s talent for writing.
3. ‘Bunny Boy’
This is another one that gave me nightmares as a kid and is the reason I hate the song ‘Combine Harvester’ It has another classic Grizzly Tales scary imaginary that compliments the animation team. The story is that a boy name Bill does not like to eat his greens, no matter what his mother tries to get him to eat his greens it never works. He forms an alliance with a rabbit named Tubbs, who is a pest to Bill’s mother always destroying her vegetable garden. One day Bill’s mother successfully keeps Tubbs out of her garden and in the morning there is a nice green lettuce on the table. Bill decides to take the lettuce to Tubbs, through a wheat field, unfortunately its harvesting season. This story is scary.. It also has a, not death, but cringe worthy moment that make you feel a bit uneasy. I think this one and ‘Cat Eye’s’ from the new series have the same cringe worthy gruesome imagines, that aren’t shown on television. They are implied so your imagination fills in what happens and that is what make it so great. ‘Bunny Boy’ , how ever, goes one step further with its ending.
2. ‘The Spaghetti Man’
I still feel a little uneasy watching this episode or reading the book, it is also one with creepy imaginary, Uncanny Valley and all. If you thought Bugaboo broke it, this guy burnt the corpse of the Uncanny Valley.This along with ‘ The Pie Man’ I am ashamed say, is what I use to keep my nieces quiet and behaved when ever I go out on the street with them. The story of The Spaghetti Man, surrounds young Timothy King, who refuses to eat anything that put in front him, His mother tries her best to get him to eat but he decides to misbehave instead. This behavior summons the one and only Spaghetti Man. This is story along with number one is an example of one of the core focuses of Grizzly Tales which is ultimately getting children to listen to their parents. Grizzly Tales is littered with stories about kids who don’t listen to warnings from their parents and if they don’t listen them then something bad going to happen to them and this is one of them. I find it funny that Spaghetti man has an Italian accent.
1. ‘Mr Peeler’s Butterflies’
This is the final one I had nightmares about when I was kid, I still think about the poem, I still try my best to go to bed on time. Mr Peeler’s Butterflies, is THE scariest story from Grizzly Tales for Gruesome kids, Mr Peeler got me to sleep on time when I was kid, he now gets my nieces and nephews to bed on time without a fuss at night, he will get my children, to bed on time with out a fuss. All You have to say is ‘Sleep, Sleep, close your eyes, don’t fish for Mr Peeler, for if you lay awake at night you’ll summon the sleep stealer’. The story focuses on Alexander, he will not go to bed. His parents try everything to get him to and he tries everything not to. They warn him if he doesn’t, Mr Peeler will pay him a visit. Of course Alexander doesn’t take their warning seriously. This is also an listen to your parents story. As terrifying as it is. I don’t know why it’s so scary to me, but its just horrifying, maybe it is the idea of a fat man in a suit stealing my sleep. Maybe it is never going to sleep ever again. What I like about this story is that, there isn’t any creepy imaginary, it is just old fashion story telling. This is the story you’d tell around a camp fire or at a sleep over. It is the story you grew up with when you were child. Still to this day, I still can’t figure out why I find it so scary.
That is my Top 10 Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, if you are interested in checking out the books. They are currently available on Amazon. You can catch the TV series on Nickelodeon.