"Coffin on Wheels" and Other Scary Stories Kids Tell
Children’s camps have their own special atmosphere, especially at night.
The generation of 40-year-olds surely remembers the children’s magazine «Pioner», which printed scary stories: Eduard Uspensky’s «The Red Hand, the Black Sheet, and the Green Fingers» was wildly popular. We loved these horror stories, telling them to each other at camp before bed and during sleepovers with friends. And this tradition hasn’t disappeared: the younger generation still entertains themselves this way. NGS.RU collected mystical stories that made our hearts skip a beat, and psychologist Anastasia Karachurina explained why children love them so much.
There are several variations of the coffin on little wheels story, but they don’t differ much from each other.
Timeless Classics
The story seems like a reference to the villains from the TV series «Doctor Who» — the Weeping Angels, who send people into the past.
One of the most common stories was recalled by NGS.RU reader Anna: the tale of the coffin on little wheels — note the diminutive form, not just wheels.
Photo of a pioneer statue at a children’s camp, taken in 2006.
«Mom, when leaving for work, told the girl:
The Queen of Spades is one of the most popular creepy characters at children’s camps.
— Don’t open the door to anyone!
Scary stories help children cope with feelings of fear.
After a while, the phone rang. The girl picked up the receiver and heard:
— Little girl, little girl, the coffin on little wheels is looking for you. It has already found your city.
The girl got scared and hung up.
After a while, the phone rang again:
— Little girl, little girl, the coffin on little wheels is already driving down your street and looking for your house.
The girl got scared and hid in the closet.
The phone rang again, but the girl didn’t answer. Then the radio came on and said:
— Little girl, little girl, the coffin on little wheels has already found your house and is looking for your apartment.
Just then, the doorbell rang. The girl climbed out of the closet and looked through the peephole, but didn’t see anyone and opened the door.
The coffin on little wheels rolled into the apartment, opened up, pulled the girl inside, and left…»
Online, you can find other variations of this story. In one, the girl is warned about the coffin on little wheels through the radio; in another, the coffin drives into the apartment straight out of the television.
The Angel Outside the Window
You have likely also heard this story, which was told at children’s camps in the 2000s.
«A couple decided to leave their son and daughter with their grandmother and go to a restaurant. When the husband and wife left, the grandmother fed the children dinner and put them to bed, then went to watch TV in another room.
When the grandmother went to close the window with the curtain, she saw a huge angel statue on the street that hadn’t been in the yard before. So she called her daughter.
— How long has there been such a large angel statue near your house? the grandmother asked.
— But there is no statue in our yard. Quickly gather the children and run from there, we will call the police! the daughter shouted into the phone.
When the parents returned, neither the children nor the grandmother were home. They were never found.»
Sinister Pioneers
Here are two more stories that kids used to scare each other with until they were scared stiff.
In 2006, schoolchildren told each other a story about a statue of pioneers that would come to life at night and start roaming the grounds. Those who, for some reason, left the building at night later claimed that the animated pioneers chased them.
There was another similar legend told at a children’s camp in Altai Krai. On the grounds stood a pioneer statue — a boy and a girl reading a book on a bench. According to an NGS.RU reader, around them, within a radius of about a meter, the grass was yellow and dry even in summer. According to the legend, there used to be only a statue of a pioneer boy, but one day a girl who was staying at the camp went outside at night and walked to the sculpture. She saw that the grass around it seemed scorched, but that didn’t frighten her. The girl approached the stone boy, and at that moment he came to life, grabbed her hand, and the schoolgirl herself turned to stone.
The Swearing Gnome, the Queen of Spades, and All the Rest
Besides stories, there were also certain rituals performed to get a thrill.
Perhaps the most famous of them is summoning the Queen of Spades. One had to enter the bathroom, under no circumstances turning on the light. Then light a candle, draw 13 steps on the mirror and the door with lipstick. Hold another mirror opposite so that the staircase is reflected, and say the phrase three times: «Queen of Spades, come.» It was believed that she would then appear in the reflection. At that moment, one had to quickly blow out the candle and run out of the bathroom.
A similar character is Bloody Mary. Just like the Queen of Spades, she was summoned in the bathroom with a candle in front of a mirror. They whispered: «Bloody Mary, come» and turned around three times. After that, Mary was supposed to appear in the mirror behind the summoner. It was believed that if you met her gaze, Mary would scratch out your eyes, so you had to blow out the candle and run away quickly. If Mary didn’t appear, it meant she had put the summoner on her bloody list and would soon come for them.
Another character that children summoned was the Swearing Gnome. However, they didn’t want to see the character but to hear him. For this, one had to take a thread, tie as many knots on it as possible, and tie it between two supports, such as chair legs. Candies or wrappers were placed at both ends nearby. After the classic «Swearing Gnome, come» (in another version, after saying 20 swear words in a row), the children were supposed to hear the rustling of wrappers, followed by the gnome’s curses as he walked along the thread and tripped over the knots.
Preparation for Life’s Challenges
From a psychological point of view, children’s attraction to scary stories is quite understandable. As psychologist Anastasia Karachurina explained, teenagers tell such stories to understand what to do with the feeling of fear and how to overcome it.
According to the expert, horror stories serve as a kind of training simulator for increasing stress resilience. A child learns to separate reality from fiction, to explore the boundaries of their own bravery in a safe zone. They also gain the skill of not panicking when surprises occur during plot twists or resolutions. The specialist notes that horror stories also teach forecasting, because the narrative can move nonlinearly. As a result, overcoming fear in a safe environment provides a feeling of pleasure.
«Listening to scary stories is an illusion of control over chaos. A child is weak and dependent. In the world of horror stories, he knows where the main character will go, — explains Anastasia Karachurina. — Horror stories are a game. And in a game, it is so pleasant and useful to feel like the main character, the one who listens and copes, or even knows in advance that at the end the narrator will shout: „Give up your heart!“»
Moreover, horror stories at children’s camp are an important way of social interaction. As a result, a hierarchy begins to form in the group.
«The reaction to the feeling of fear manifests itself with an eye on other children. I would call this social competence among peers. Fear experienced together strengthens group cohesion, — continues the psychologist. — Telling horror stories around the campfire is a ritual. Rituals are necessary to separate one’s own from an outsider: we listened to scary stories together, we overcame fear together, we are both great together.»
The main thing in such a ritual is that the child gets a mechanism for coping with real difficulties. If you manage to conquer your fear, if in the horror story the monster is defeated by the main character or everyone who heard it, then you will be able to cope with problems later in life.
«The monster in stories is an allusion to life’s difficulties, which are easier to overcome when you already have the skill of dealing with your own fear,» the specialist concludes.
