Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark: All References And What They Looked Like In The Books

9. The Big Toe

Though the "toeless corpse" made for one of the most memorable and terrifying figures in the film, the corpse woman that freaked out millions in the film was not, in fact, associated with the Big Toe short story that was being referenced (more on her later).

The actual story had tamer art than the nightmare-inducing figures of other tales, but it still had that off, wispy quality that made Stephen Gammell's works so memorable. There's something distorted and off-putting about the child in the illustration, and the toe itself is enormous and misshapen, and about as disgusting as you'd expect from a single unearthed human toe.

More disturbing is what happens in the story. Instead of having the normal human reaction of being terrified, shocked, and disturbed by a mutilated body part, the boy brings it back to his family and his mother is proud of him for finding it, and they cut it into pieces to eat it.

Like the events of the film, this disgusting supper is followed by the angry creature/ghost/corpse coming to take its toe back. It ends, as most of the scary stories do, with a fun little storyteller jumpscare.