Eighties Flashback

I was perusing Ms. Whatsit's blog recently, and I saw a meme that she posted concerning early reading and favorite books. It got me thinking of my favorite books, and the first books I read. I will post my own version later, but there was one specific series of books that came to mind right off the bat: In a Dark, Dark Room, and Bony-Legs. These books used to scare the living daylights out of me when I was 8 and 9. In a Dark, Dark Room contained many stories, but the one that sticks out to this day involved a young couple. The young girl, from birth, had a ribbon tied around her neck. Her husband begged and begged for her to tell him why she wore this ribbon and never removed it. Her answer was always, "When the time is right". The couple grew older, and on her deathbed, she finally tells her husband that the time is right. He finally removes the ribbon, and dun....dun....dun....her HEAD falls off! There was an actual image of her severed head! This was really traumatic as an 8 year-old, but it was almost like a bad accident--you had to look at it. I can remember gathering around during recess and reading this story, everytime the page was about to turn to the climax, I got shivers! Bony-Legs is Hansel and Gretel on crack. See, Bony is this old witch with steel teeth that likes to eat children. I feel like I remember something about screaming children in a pot...I'll spare the details, but in the end, a buttery gate saves the day!I must say that these books are more than likely part of the root cause of some of my craziness today (coupled with a very, very bizzare episode of Unsolved Mysteries that still has an effect on the way I sleep)!