# Stories You Don't Remember **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351 "2014-07-04T15:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [September 29, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/41 "2015-09-29T18:08:24Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > ^^Thanks! Glad to help. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/42 "2015-09-29T21:11:16Z")
This isn’t Sci Fi, but I read a short story once about a family who moves into a house haunted by a ghost who unsuccessfully tries to scare them off. There was a part about the ghost making a blood stain appear on the carpet, but the family just shrugged and kept cleaning it up. In the end, the ghost reluctantly accepted that the family was there to stay. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/43 "2015-09-29T21:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Inna Minnit] 1. The main character is some kind of alien (?) and is trying to get accustomed to his human host body. He is puzzled by hunger. He doesn’t know about the need to refuel, and hunger goes from discomfort to pain before he figures out what to do about it. He is terrified of sleep. He thinks he is dying as he loses consciousness. [/QUOTE] That sounds like [No Word From Gurb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Word_from_Gurb). Which is hilarious and can’t be recommended enough, even if it isn’t right. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/44 "2015-09-29T21:34:39Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > This isn’t Sci Fi, but I read a short story once about a family who moves into a house haunted by a ghost who unsuccessfully tries to scare them off. There was a part about the ghost making a blood stain appear on the carpet, but the family just shrugged and kept cleaning it up. In the end, the ghost reluctantly accepted that the family was there to stay. Probably [The Canterville Ghost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterville_Ghost) by Oscar Wilde. ---
**Author:** ![McDoogins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@McDoogins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDoogins)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/45 "2015-09-29T21:38:02Z")
I can’t remember what it was called but it was part of a series of short movies. It was about an artist to had a demon break into his house and promise never to tell anyone about it. He goes on to get married and have kids, then one night he tells his wife about the demon. Then the wife says “YOU PROMISED NOT TO TELL!!!” She turns into a gargoyle-esque demon along with the kids and they leave. The End. Might have induced some paranoia in me, as well as the book 1984. haha. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/46 "2015-09-29T22:12:33Z")
“Lover’s Vow” in _Tales from the Darkside: The Movie_ > **[Tales from the Darkside: The Movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Darkside:_The_Movie)** > > Tales from the Darkside: The Movie is a 1990 American comedy horror anthology film directed by John Harrison, serving as a spin-off of the anthology television series Tales from the Darkside. The film depicts the frame story of a kidnapped paperboy who tells three stories of horror to the suburban witch who is preparing to eat him. > Betty, an affluent suburban housewife and modern-day witch, plans a dinner party for her fellow witches. The main dish is to be Timmy, a young boy whom she has captur... > [@](#): > > Lover’s Vow[edit] > The third and final segment is written by Michael McDowell and based on the Yuki-onna, a spirit or yōkai in Japanese folklore or more specifically Lafcadio Hearn’s version in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. A despondent artist named Preston (James Remar) witnesses a gruesome murder committed by a gargoyle-like monster. The monster agrees to spare Preston’s life as long as he swears never to speak of what he saw and heard or describe the monster’s appearance to anyone. The monster vanishes, leaving Preston traumatized and confused, but bound by his oath never to talk about the incident. > > After that night, Preston’s life takes many turns for the better. He meets a beautiful woman named Carola (Rae Dawn Chong), and they fall in love, marry, and have two children. Preston’s struggling art career becomes wildly successful, and life seems promising, but he is tormented by memories of his encounter with the monster, and his vow of silence weighs on him. One night he breaks down and tells Carola about the monster, even showing her a statue he sculpted of it. She appears upset; at first Preston assumes she thinks he is lying, but then she lets out a heartbroken screech and reveals herself to be the very same creature he met that night. > > With Preston’s promise broken she can no longer remain human, and their children transform to monstrous forms as well. She kills Preston (though she says that she loved him), gathers the children and flies away. The final scene shows that the gargoyle and children have turned to stone upon a building ledge, staring down at Preston’s body with sorrowful expressions. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/47 "2015-09-29T22:14:50Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Probably [The Canterville Ghost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterville_Ghost) by Oscar Wilde. Thanks! > [@McDoogins](#): > > I can’t remember what it was called but it was part of a series of short movies. It was about an artist to had a demon break into his house and promise never to tell anyone about it. > > He goes on to get married and have kids, then one night he tells his wife about the demon. > > Then the wife says “YOU PROMISED NOT TO TELL!!!” She turns into a gargoyle-esque demon along with the kids and they leave. The End. > > Might have induced some paranoia in me, as well as the book 1984. haha. That’s Tales from the Dark Side. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/48 "2015-09-29T22:20:24Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Probably [The Canterville Ghost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterville_Ghost) by Oscar Wilde. Yeah. The blood stain bit is quite memorable (the ghost eventually tries to make a green blood stain). I remember seeing the 1975 TV version when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![McDoogins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@McDoogins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDoogins)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/49 "2015-09-29T23:09:58Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > Thanks! > > That’s Tales from the Dark Side. Thanks man, I appreciate the info.😃 Apparently it’s called You Broke Your Vow. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/50 "2015-09-29T23:12:36Z")
I have two. The first is about a boy that has fallen through some ice and just as he can’t hold on anymore his dog arrives. The other is about some aliens waiting on Earth scientist to make contact using a nuclear missile (just go with it). The aliens are about a thousand yards from where the missile is to land. The missile misses its mark and the Earthers are congratulating themselves on only missing by a thousand yards. The aliens are never heard from again. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/51 "2015-09-30T00:16:32Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > I have two. > > The first is about a boy that has fallen through some ice and just as he can’t hold on anymore his dog arrives. > > The other is about some aliens waiting on Earth scientist to make contact using a nuclear missile (just go with it). The aliens are about a thousand yards from where the missile is to land. The missile misses its mark and the Earthers are congratulating themselves on only missing by a thousand yards. The aliens are never heard from again. The second one sounds familiar - I remember a story in which Martians are waiting in their last enclave for a probe from Earth (which they telepathically are expecting) which they hope to welcome for the benefit of both earth and Mars - but the probe lands a bit off, destroying the last Martians without Earth ever knowing. I want to say it’s by Niven, but I’m not quite sure. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/52 "2015-09-30T03:08:04Z")
The one about the Martians is a Fredric Brown story – “[Earthmen Bearing Gifts](http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0013-earthmen-bearing-gifts-fredric-brown.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:** [September 30, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/53 "2015-09-30T03:14:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The one about the Martians is a Fredric Brown story – “[Earthmen Bearing Gifts](http://www.flashfictiononline.com/fpublic0013-earthmen-bearing-gifts-fredric-brown.html)” Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/54 "2015-09-30T14:59:27Z")
I ask this here every few years. This was published in one of those crap late-70s anthology titles. Most of the stories in it were “social awareness” type stories. IIRC there was one about a kid who learns that “THEY” are hiding a cancer cure from us because…overpopulation! and is tossed in a prison/gulag as a result (I’m not 100% that this story was in the anthology in question, but it’s the same flavor) The story in question has a school therapist talking to mommy. LOTS of expository dialogue spews from the shrink as they have a ham-handed “ECOLOGY IS TEH IMPORTANT” discussion. The shrink keeps talking about how we’ve extincted so many animals that the ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM IS NEAR DOOM!!! And her kid murdered an animal. And even though he’s just a little kid (under 10?), he’s got to PAY for his CRIMES! So now he’s going to be lobotomized/reeducated/have his hands chopped off/put in a gulag/executed. As the shrink leaves, mommy wails “But he only stepped on a butterfly” (or something glurgy like that). I really want to reread the story to see if it’s as bad as my 30+ year old memory of it is. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/55 "2015-09-30T15:40:28Z")
The story of a bet between human and alien scientists/ engineers. The humans are challenged to duplicate three pieces of alien technology, and vice versa. The humans are first given alien shaving cream - put it on your face, and your beard dissolves, painlessly and with no damage to your skin. (I’d really love some of that stuff.) I don’t remember the second. The third was a perpetual motion machine. The humans manage to build their own physics-defying machine. Then they are told that the alien machine was a fake, drawing power from a concealed battery. They had been tricked into designing the impossible machine. And the kicker: the Earth government had pulled a similar trick on the alien scientists. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/56 "2015-09-30T15:44:10Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The story of a bet between human and alien scientists/ engineers. The humans are challenged to duplicate three pieces of alien technology, and vice versa. The humans are first given alien shaving cream - put it on your face, and your beard dissolves, painlessly and with no damage to your skin. (I’d really love some of that stuff.) I don’t remember the second. The third was a perpetual motion machine. The humans manage to build their own physics-defying machine. Then they are told that the alien machine was a fake, drawing power from a concealed battery. They had been tricked into designing the impossible machine. And the kicker: the Earth government had pulled a similar trick on the alien scientists. “Double Dare” by Bob Silverberg [http://www.majipoor.com/work.php?id=251](http://www.majipoor.com/work.php?id=251) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/57 "2015-09-30T16:05:05Z")
Wow, that was quick. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/58 "2015-09-30T17:40:20Z")
A group of guys and one or two women in a bar teasing a guy who claims to have written a novel. They get him to tell it by promising to buy him a bottle of booze. It is about a guy who has built a computer (1950s huge computer) to stop a nuclear war that is on the verge of happening. time is almost up. It’s finally finished being programmed with just minutes to spare and he types in the question on how to stop the war…It prints it out and he reads it. "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Honor thy father and mother that…and each patron in the bar takes a commandment until all 10 are said. Then a man says, “Hey, those are just the Ten Commandments,” and the author walks out of the bar shaking his head. I read this in the late '50s so it’s rather vague and simplistic, but this is pretty much the plot. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/59 "2015-09-30T17:53:22Z")
OK, I read this one in an English sf magazine in the 1970s. A time travel machine is built in the distant future with tyrants. He has determined that the security is so good on all of the tyrants except the first one, he will have to kill him. He goes back and kills the tyrant (who it turns out is Lincoln). It is written in a journal form by the killer while waiting to be hunted down. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351/60 "2015-09-30T22:35:19Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Wow, that was quick. Thanks. I knew I’d heard of that plot, and searche on rec.arts.sf.written to find it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-you-dont-remember/692351.md?page=4)