# Do you remember the Hitchcock compilations of short stories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969 "2008-06-15T01:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/1 "2008-06-15T01:22:32Z")
Anyone remember those Hitchcock collections of short stories? They alway had a cool name. Stories that even kept me awake. ---
**Author:** ![drpepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@drpepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drpepper)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/2 "2008-06-15T01:25:15Z")
Yes, I have one here somewhere (I think) called ‘Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV’. Wasn’t there also an ‘Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’ or somesuch, with short stories submitted from various authors? I remember having several old copies laying around our home as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Lily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Lily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lily)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/3 "2008-06-15T01:32:35Z")
Yeah, I pick them up whenever I see them at the used bookstores. They do have great titles - stuff like: Happiness is a Warm Corpse Boys and Ghouls Together Coffin Break Anti-Social Register Let it All Bleed Out Murders on the Half-Shell They’re getting harder and harder to find lately. ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/4 "2008-06-15T01:38:45Z")
One of my favorite book series when I was a child. I liked that I could read a story or two every night. I used to have one of the hardback books, but I don’t know what happened to it. I swear I read every story in that book a dozen times when I was a kid! ---
**Author:** ![jonesj2205](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/5 "2008-06-15T01:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=Hakuna Matata] I used to have one of the hardback books, but I don’t know what happened to it. I swear I read every story in that book a dozen times when I was a kid! [/QUOTE] Ditto for me. But I only remember one story for sure. A bet for a finger vs. a car (or something expensive) over whether a lighter would light 10 times in a row. I have a vague idea there was a deadliest game type story too, but I might be wrong about that. You’d think for the number of times I read them I’d be able to remember more. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/6 "2008-06-15T02:30:05Z")
[QUOTE=jonesj2205] Ditto for me. But I only remember one story for sure. A bet for a finger vs. a car (or something expensive) over whether a lighter would light 10 times in a row. I have a vague idea there was a deadliest game type story too, but I might be wrong about that. You’d think for the number of times I read them I’d be able to remember more. [/QUOTE] The one with the finger and the lighter is by Roald Dahl. I think it’s called “The Man from the South” but I wouldn’t swear to it. I don’t specifically remember reading any of the Hitchcock collections, but I probably did. I was into horror stories in a BIG way starting when I was about 9 until I was…well, now. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/7 "2008-06-15T02:44:34Z")
Oh I loved those! I had a whole bunch that used to belong to my dad that I read over and over when I was younger. Wasn’t there one story about a body that was found in a locked room, or something like that? And a couple who drive through an empty town but cannot get out again? Anyone remember the name of that compilation? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/8 "2008-06-15T16:52:28Z")
[QUOTE=drpepper] Wasn’t there also an ‘Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’ or somesuch, with short stories submitted from various authors? [/QUOTE] [There still is.](http://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Hitchcock-Mystery-Magazine/dp/B000066SZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=magazines&qid=1213548435&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/9 "2008-06-15T19:00:10Z")
I’ve got a nice collection here called “Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense”, with stories from the magazine starting in 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/10 "2008-06-15T19:27:18Z")
I used to read these all the time as a kid; I think I read the local library system out of them in one summer, so I just had to keep reading them over and over, to the point that when I run across one of these stories in some author’s compendium like Patricia Highsmith or Robert Bloch I can often recall the entire plot of the story from the first couple of lines. I started trying to write short stories because of these. A few years ago Barnes & Noble published a few compendiums–kind of a “Best Of” series–of stories from the original Hitchcock books. Good stuff. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![drpepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@drpepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drpepper)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/11 "2008-06-15T20:56:26Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] [There still is.](http://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Hitchcock-Mystery-Magazine/dp/B000066SZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=magazines&qid=1213548435&sr=1-1) [/QUOTE] Well I’ll be. Glad the genre is alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/12 "2008-06-16T00:13:05Z")
[QUOTE=drpepper] Yes, I have one here somewhere (I think) called ‘Stories They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV’. Wasn’t there also an ‘Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine’ or somesuch, with short stories submitted from various authors? I remember having several old copies laying around our home as a child. [/QUOTE] It still exists - hubby submits to them on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/13 "2008-06-16T00:36:01Z")
Hey, I remember one of those books! I’m pretty sure it was called “Stories Not For The Nervous.” I know I was still in grade school when I read it. Scared the bejeebers outta me, it did. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/14 "2008-06-16T00:53:01Z")
[QUOTE=Fiveroptic] Hey, I remember one of those books! I’m pretty sure it was called “Stories Not For The Nervous.” I know I was still in grade school when I read it. Scared the bejeebers outta me, it did. [/QUOTE] That’s a great one! It contains one of my favorite stories, “Dune Roller” by Julian May. Also, I believe, “River of Riches”…the one about gambling for gold in the Amazon with a nut that looks like a human brain. But the all-time creepiest stories are in this little one I have (from back when paperbacks were only 6" high) called **12 Stories for Late at Night**. The best is “The Cocoon,” by John B.L. Goodwin, about a weird little kid who collects butterflies and gets more than he bargained for with one specimen. Almost as good are “The Ash Tree” by M.R. James (about a haunted tree) and “Side Bet” by Will F. Jenkins (about a castaway vying for survival with an elusive rat). Great collection. Surrealistic cover pic of Alfie with two heads, one with two faces, and neither of them on his neck. My wrinkled and brown-paged copy has seen a lot of use over the years. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/15 "2008-06-16T01:36:35Z")
I just scored one of these [hardback with paper flyleaf, with not _too_ much of a musty smell or staining] from a local garage sale a few weeks ago, for the grand total of fifty cents. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Stay Awake By [1971]. Interestingly, far more of the 35 stories are reprinted from \*Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine \* than any other source, including Hitch’s own mag. So far I’ve read only a few of the stories, and they’ve been pretty hit-or-miss. But what I like about all of them is that they’re fresh to me. Much of my short horror fiction reading since I was a kid was of “best of” compilations, and they tend to recycle the same chestnuts over and over. [“Leningen and the Ants,” anyone?] FWIW, and to jog some disquieted memories, the book lists the AH book series thusly [as of 1971]: For Adults: **Alfred Hitchcock Presents** A Month of Therapy Stories That Scared Even Me Stories Not for the Nervous Stories My Mother Never Told Me Stories for Late at Night My Favorites in Suspense and, for juveniles: **Alfred Hitchcock’s** Daring Detectives Spellbinders in Suspense Sinister Spies Monster Museum Solve Them Yourself Mysteries Ghostly Gallery Haunted Houseful ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/16 "2008-06-16T02:02:04Z")
I still have the Sinister Spies collection. I found one of the other ones in a used bookstore last year and bought it for MilliCal – Haunted Houseful, I think. I used to take that one out of the library. My friend used to have Solve Them Yourself Mysteries. It wasn’y unusual for TV figures to have such collections. Rod Srerling had a collection, and so did the horror host Zacherley. I suspect none of them lent anything to the collectionbut their names (Serling might have, though – he was a literary type). Heck, even comic books did this – Gold Key used to have Boris Karloff’s Tales of Mystery (Probably influenced by a TV show of a different name that he hosted). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/17 "2008-06-16T13:11:24Z")
[QUOTE=jonesj2205] Ditto for me. But I only remember one story for sure. A bet for a finger vs. a car (or something expensive) over whether a lighter would light 10 times in a row. [/QUOTE] That story was adapted for the TV series and was remade when the series was revived a couple of decades ago. I remember checking these out of the library too as a kid. Got a bunch of them one summer for a three-week RV trip we took out West. Gotta agree that they were pretty hit-and-miss storywise. I don’t recall the details of any of the stories, with one exception, about an attack dog who was trained to be affectionate at the command “kill!” and to kill at the command “kiss!” ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/18 "2008-06-16T17:52:01Z")
[QUOTE=Marlitharn] The one with the finger and the lighter is by Roald Dahl. I think it’s called “The Man from the South” but I wouldn’t swear to it. [/QUOTE] You’re right. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/19 "2008-06-16T18:54:13Z")
I have one called “No Harm Undone”, read it many times in my teen years. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969/20 "2008-06-16T19:15:05Z")
I own one called _Don’t Look a Gift Shark in the Mouth_. It contains two of my favorite kinds of shorts - those with the punch line in the very last line. One is rather hokily named - _Island of Terror_ - but the last line is genuinely chilling in context. And, even though he knew he mustn’t, he turned, slowly. And looked.The other is named _Treasure Trove_. And the last line, in context, is even more chilling."Thirty pieces of silver. Thirty pieces of silver."And another called _Getting Rid of George_ that makes you want to laugh and throw up at the same time. Regards, Shodan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-hitchcock-compilations-of-short-stories/452969.md?page=2)