# Favorite scary, bloodcurdling quotes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2004, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169 "2004-10-02T08:35:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/121 "2004-10-06T07:10:07Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > “This is the way the world ends > This is the way the world ends > This is the way the world ends > Not with a bang but a whimper.” > > –T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men” I’ve got to recommend that one. It’s a very famous quote, so I was stunned that in the context of the poem, it actually retains its shock value. It really works. **Doc Cathode** is right about the Hanson lyrics, I could see it the first time. Probably a lot of those “I’ll never leave you” type songs can be read to have that creepy side, but that one works well. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/122 "2004-10-06T08:00:37Z")
George Orwell’s _Animal Farm_: > [@](#): > > The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. and, from the 1961 Roger Corman / Vincent Price movie of Poe’s _Pit and the Pendulum_: > [@](#): > > No one will ever enter this room again. [SPOILER]Much of the plot of the movie revolves around the fear of someone being buried alive. After the hero has been rescued from the title Pit with its horrifying Pendulum, the heroine says the quoted line to the hero as they leave the Pit and its gruesome machines of torture. They are unaware that the evil Elizabeth, who is responsible for most of the bad stuff that happens in the movie, has become trapped in an Iron Maiden in the torture chamber. The final shot shows Elizabeth’s reaction to the quoted line, as she realizes that she is about to be walled up alive, with no hope of rescue since everyone else thinks that she died some time before. Poetic justice at its finest![/SPOILER] The original Poe short story has none of this side-plot, IIRC, and the 1961 movie is much the better for fleshing it out, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/123 "2004-10-06T09:14:19Z")
In the midst of the war, He offered us peace, And he came like a lover, From out of the east, With the face of an angel and the heart of a beast, His intentions were six-sixty-six. He walked up to the temple, With gold in his hands, And he bought off the priests and propositioned the land, And the world was his harlot, and laid in the sand, While the band played six-sixty-six We served at his table, and we slept on the floor, But he starved us and beat us, and nailed us to the door Well, I’m ready to die, I can’t take any more And I’m sick of his lies and his tricks He told us he loved us, But that was a lie, There was blood in his pockets And death in his eyes Well, my number is up, And I’m willing to die If the band will play six-sixty-six :eek: :eek: :eek: - “666” by Larry Norman (& I’m not even religious!) ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/124 "2004-10-06T09:29:14Z")
“That’s my _last_duchess painted on the wall Looking as if she were alive…” –Robert Browning Even though I know the poem’s actually about a portrait, the opening lines always give me the creeps. And I can’t believe no one’s posted this one yet: “Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.” – John Donne. “Forth, Eorlingas!” --some guy on a horse. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/125 "2004-10-06T10:30:02Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > “Overhead, one by one, the stars were going out.” I thought it was “Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/126 "2004-10-06T10:31:02Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > It’s generally quoted as “apres _moi_ le deluge”, and attributed to Louis XV himself, soon before his death, and linked to the soon-to-come revolution (but of course, quotes are always attributed to famous people). From [here:](http://www3.telus.net/jennybr/lasto.html) > [@](#): > > The popularity of the phrase stems from its use by Madame de Pompadour, celebrated beauty and intimate of King Louis XV of France. The French Court at the time was famed for its lavish and wasteful extravagances. When Pompadour, whose philosophy was “Live for the minute - who cares what happens when we’re gone?” was reproved for these excesses, she replied, “Apres nous le deluge.” You seem to have the right king, but the wrong speaker. I’ve also encountered the “moi” version, but the “nous” seems to be more common. The quote is so chilling because it’s so light-hearted; the speaker is saying, in effect, “because of the way we live things are going to go to hell after we’re gone, _and I don’t care_.” ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/127 "2004-10-06T13:34:48Z")
Pvt Joker: How can you shoot women and children? Helicopter Door Gunner: Easy. You don’t lead them so much. from _Full Metal Jacket_ ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/128 "2004-10-06T13:44:55Z")
> [@chorpler](#): > > I thought it was “Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.” You may be right. It’s been awhile since I last read it… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/129 "2004-10-06T13:47:38Z")
Got another one for y’all, by Ogden Nash: “And silent as stone he rode down alone From the floor of the double-damned.” If you’ve never read [“A Tale of the Thirteenth Floor,”](http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6637&poem=48739) you may be surprised. Ogden Nash wasn’t all cute little couplets about termites and such. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/130 "2004-10-06T14:58:20Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Many sources say they went as far as poisoning the fertile fields around the city with salt, so Cartage would never rise again. It never did. About a century later, a new Carthage was built on the site, but of course it was a Roman city, with little continuity to the previous population. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/131 "2004-10-06T15:58:26Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > “That’s my _last_duchess painted on the wall > Looking as if she were alive…” > > –Robert Browning > > Even though I know the poem’s actually about a portrait, the opening lines always give me the creeps. Marlitharn: …the implication in the poem is that he _murdered_ his ‘last’ duchess! Good quotes! ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/132 "2004-10-06T15:59:07Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > **Doc Cathode** is right about the Hanson lyrics, I could see it the first time. Probably a lot of those “I’ll never leave you” type songs can be read to have that creepy side, but that one works well. That’s what I’ve been saying about Clay Aiken’s “Invincible” since I first heard it: “If I was invisible Then I could just watch you in your room If I was invincible I’d make you mine tonight” \ Here’s two goodies from David Lynch. This exchange from **Lost Highway** : Mystery Man : We’ve met before, haven’t we. Fred Madison : I don’t think so. Where was it you think we met? Mystery Man : At your house. Don’t you remember? Fred Madison : No. No, I don’t. Are you sure? Mystery Man : Of course. As a matter of fact, I’m there right now. Fred Madison : What do you mean? You’re where right now? Mystery Man : At your house. Fred Madison : That’s fucking crazy, man. Mystery Man : Call me. Dial your number. Go ahead. [Fred dials the number and the Mystery Man answers] Mystery Man : [over the phone] I told you I was here. Fred Madison : [amused] How’d you do that? Mystery Man : Ask me. [Fred remembers the anonymous video tapes] Fred Madison : [angrily into the phone] How did you get inside my house? Mystery Man : You invited me. It is not my custom to go where I am not wanted. Fred Madison : [into the phone] Who are you? [Both Mystery Men laugh mechanically] Mystery Man : Give me back my phone. [Fred gives the phone back] Mystery Man : It’s been a pleasure talking to you. and from **Mullholland Dive** Now, you will see me one more time if you do good. You’ll see me two more times if you do bad. Goodnight. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/133 "2004-10-06T17:15:10Z")
This is along similar lines of the Jack the Ripper quote already mentioned above. Albert Fish, another cannibalistic serial killer, wrote a letter to the mother of one of his victims, ten-year-old Grace Budd. Here is a portion of the letter, in which Fish details what he’s done with her body. I think it’s one of the most horrific things I’ve ever read. > [@](#): > > On Sunday June the 3 --1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese – strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. > > On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off. I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. > > When all was ready I went to the window and Called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down the stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma. > > First I stripped her naked. How she did kick – bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms. Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could of had I wished. She died a virgin. ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/134 "2004-10-06T19:48:04Z")
i was worried for a minute there that someone had beat me to it, but no… again, from The Cask of Amontillado: \*Nemo me impune lacessit \* i think for shear cold deadliness, that pretty much says it all. ---
**Author:** ![Winterwren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Winterwren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winterwren)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/136 "2004-10-07T11:04:59Z")
Possibly because of context, but the line from _Barton Fink_ always chills me: “I’ll show _you_ the life of the mind!” ---
**Author:** ![Badge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Badge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badge)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/137 "2004-10-07T11:11:09Z")
Robert Shaw as Quint in _Jaws_: The thing about a shark, it’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When it comes at you it doesn’t seem to be livin’… until he bites you, and those black eyes roll over white. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/138 "2004-10-07T11:34:02Z")
_The old man walked to the sliprail, and peered up the dark’ning track,_ _And looked and longed for the rider that would never more come back_ “Lost” by A. B. “Banjo” Paterson ---
**Author:** ![Sevo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sevo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/139 "2004-10-07T14:54:36Z")
Okay…forgive me in advance for quoting from _The Attack of the Clones_, but this one still creeps me out…maybe the one line he delivered well: “I killed them. All of them.” \*Moving closer… \* “And not just the men.” _Closer…_ “The women. And the children. I slaughtered them like animals.” Creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/140 "2004-10-07T15:22:22Z")
> [@Badge](#): > > Robert Shaw as Quint in _Jaws_: The thing about a shark, it’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When it comes at you it doesn’t seem to be livin’… until he bites you, and those black eyes roll over white. That whole speech, about the USS Indianapolis, is chilling. Or the end of the scene in [Treasure Island](http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/46/88.frameset.html), by R. L. Stevenson, where Long John Silver has failed to frighten the loyalists into surrender: > [@](#): > > Your ship’s in irons, Master Silver; you’re on a lee shore, and so you’ll find. I stand here and tell you so; and they’re the last good words you’ll get from me; for, in the name of heaven, I’ll put a bullet in your back when next I meet you. Tramp, my lad. Bundle out of this, please, hand over hand, and double quick.’ > > Silver’s face was a picture; his eyes started in his head with wrath. He shook the fire out of his pipe. > > `Give me a hand up!’ he cried. > > `Not I,’ returned the captain. > > `Who’ll give me a hand up?’ he roared. > > Not a man among us moved. Growling the foulest imprecations, he crawled along the sand till he got hold of the porch and could hoist himself again upon his crutch. Then he spat into the spring. > > `There!' he cried, `that’s what I think of ye. Before an hour’s out, I’ll stove in your old block-house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh! Before an hour’s out, ye’ll laugh upon the other side. **Them that die’ll be the lucky ones.'** Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169/141 "2004-10-07T18:01:09Z")
I hate that I have to say this because I’d think it would be obvious, but… Not everyone on the boards is fluent in Latin/French/German/whatever. If you’re posting a quote in another language, please give an English translation. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I don’t want to have to Google every other quote posted. Now, for my quote, lame though it may be (and longer than I remembered): "Here are some people who have written books, telling what they did and why they did those things: John Dean. Henry Kissinger. Adolph Hitler. Caryl Chessman. Jeb Magruder. Napoleon. Talleyrand. Disraeli. Robert Zimmerman, also known as Bob Dylan. Locke. Charlton Heston. Errol Flynn. The Ayatollah Khomeini. Gandhi. Charles Olson. Charles Colson. A Victorian Gentleman. Dr. X. Most people also believe that God has written a Book, or Books, telling what He did and why—at least to a degree—He did those things, and since most of those people also believe that humans were made in the image of God, then He may also be regarded as a person . . . or, more properly, as a Person. Here are some people who have not written books, telling what they did . . . and what they saw: The man who buried Hitler. The man who performed the autopsy on John Wilkes Booth. The man who embalmed Elvis Presley. The man who embalmed—badly, most undertakers say—Pope John XXIII. The twoscore undertakers who cleaned up Jonestown, carrying body bags, spearing paper cups with those spikes custodians carry in city parks, waving away the flies. The man who cremated Willam Holden. The man who encased the body of Alexander the Great in gold so it would not rot. The men who mummified the Pharaohs. Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret." —Stephen King, _Pet Sematary_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-scary-bloodcurdling-quotes/267169.md?page=8)