# Help ID a short story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606 "2013-07-04T01:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/1 "2013-07-04T01:50:20Z")
I read this short story in an anthology perhaps ten years ago. No memory of the title or author. It’s told in the form of a series of letters and emails. A boy at camp, obviously an obnoxious brat, it telling his parents about his camp stay. At first he hates it, but then finds it fun when the robot counselors let the kids do anything they want. But then, one by one, the kids begin to disappear, in a series of accidents. One kid saw another drawn into the pond by a tentacle, and there are reports of a T-Rex. The kid goes from enjoying himself to getting more and more scared, and begs his parents to bring him home. His last message is cut off mid-sentence. Later his parents recieve a message from the camp, congratulating them on their son’s successful camp trip, and they mention that next year they are opening a girl’s camp as well. I remember all of the above, but not the book, author or title.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/2 "2013-07-04T08:12:02Z")
That’s _Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh: The True Story_. Allan Sherman failed to mention the real reason that the kid suddenly changed his story at the end of his letter to his parents. > **[Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Muddah,_Hello_Fadduh)** > > "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" is a novelty song recorded by Allan Sherman. The melody is taken from the ballet Dance of the Hours from the opera La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli, while the lyrics were written by Sherman and Lou Busch. > Allan based the lyrics on letters of complaint which he received from his son Robert who was attending Camp Champlain, a summer camp in Westport, New York. > In 2020, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the Unit... It’s not that things suddenly got better just before he finished his letter home. It’s because he went down to the lake just before completing it. A tentacle reached out and grabbed him and pulled him in. He was then replaced with a pod person version of him. The pod person went back and finished the letter so that his parents wouldn’t know what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/3 "2013-07-04T11:15:11Z")
I’m sorry I don’t know what it is but here’s a warning: do NOT Google “Camp Story Tentacle”. Our world is very disturbing sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/4 "2013-07-04T12:01:13Z")
Was it Goosebump’s Welcome to Camp Nightmare? It’s not a point for point match (and the ending is definitely different), but it’s pretty close in concept. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/5 "2013-07-04T14:26:36Z")
**Wendell Wagner** , it wasn’t a song, sorry. And **Jragon** , it wasn’t a Goosebumps book, it was a short story in some anthology I read. This is driving me nuts. How can I remember so much, but not the title or where I read it? Off to search some more. Thanks for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/6 "2013-07-04T18:42:42Z")
I was joking. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/7 "2013-07-04T18:44:10Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I was joking. And it was a mighty fine joke. The story sounds like something Bradbury would have done. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/8 "2013-07-06T16:13:42Z")
I’m going to give this the one bump. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Kobalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/41988e/32.png) [@Kobalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobalt)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/9 "2013-07-06T16:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > This is driving me nuts. How can I remember so much, but not the title or where I read it? Happens to me all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/10 "2013-07-06T18:08:56Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I read this short story in an anthology perhaps ten years ago. No memory of the title or author. > > It’s told in the form of a series of letters and emails. A boy at camp, obviously an obnoxious brat, it telling his parents about his camp stay. At first he hates it, but then finds it fun when the robot counselors let the kids do anything they want. > > But then, one by one, the kids begin to disappear, in a series of accidents. One kid saw another drawn into the pond by a tentacle, and there are reports of a T-Rex. The kid goes from enjoying himself to getting more and more scared, and begs his parents to bring him home. His last message is cut off mid-sentence. > > Later his parents recieve a message from the camp, congratulating them on their son’s successful camp trip, and they mention that next year they are opening a girl’s camp as well. > > I remember all of the above, but not the book, author or title.☹ Did the anthology have a theme, like “stories about camp” “stories about brats” etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/11 "2013-07-07T00:11:07Z")
I don’t remember other such stories, so I don’t think it was themed. I love seeing “brats” get their comeuppance, so if there were more I’m hoping I’d have remembered them too. ---
**Author:** ![Kobalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/41988e/32.png) [@Kobalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobalt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/12 "2013-07-07T02:21:23Z")
Is this it? [Letters from Camp](http://www.rulit.net/books/halloween-and-other-seasons-short-stories-read-259421-9.html) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/13 "2013-07-07T02:43:45Z")
> [@Kobalt](#): > > Is this it? > > [Letters from Camp](http://www.rulit.net/books/halloween-and-other-seasons-short-stories-read-259421-9.html) I bet that’s it. Here’s a list of anthologies it’s been in [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?93675](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?93675) - I should have guessed it’d be in Space Mail II (a collection of stories told through letters). ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/14 "2013-07-07T05:15:14Z")
_Letters From Camp_ it is! I knew I could count on Dopers! The only thing that isn’t there, in the last message to the parents, is telling them about how they will be opening a girl’s camp as well next year. Maybe it got snipped somehow, but I’m going to keep the author’s name and search for other stuff by him. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-short-story/662606/15 "2013-07-07T05:23:34Z")
Baker, I too thought the story was over, but it does continue to the next page and reads: May we take this opportunity to inform you that, due to the success of our first camp, we are planning to open a new facility for girls next summer. We hope we might be of service to you in the future.