Q&A with Cody Meirick, Scary Stories: a Documentary Producer

Q&A with Cody Meirick, Scary Stories: a Documentary Producer

As many of those know who know me, I love everything creepy.   Ghosts, goblins, things that go bump in the night. Have always has a knack for the creepy and unknown.

When I was young, I was extremely intrigued by a book series called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Little did I know that over 20 years later, I would be getting a tattoo inspired by the book series.

The footprints of the Wendigo, who carries Defago away, on the back of my shoulder.

Needless to say, it was an honor and privilege when Cody Meririck, the producer and director of the highly anticipated upcoming Scary Stories Documentary titled Scary Stories: A Documentary, approached me about being featured on Mysterious Ramblings. Of course, you know I jumped at the chance.

Trailer for the Documentary:

Little bit about Cody Meirick:

“After five years managing a nonprofit initiative aimed towards improving early education at Erikson Institute, Cody has gained a unique perspective on childhood development. He has years of experience developing web content, video, and media in the pursuit of understanding young children and how to best educate them. With Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English Literature and a 4-year-old son who likes to play monster games, it was a foregone conclusion that his first documentary would revolve around a subject so fitting as the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series. Previous experiences involve event management for an art gallery and telling ghost stories as a counselor at Camp Miniwanca.”

After chatting with Cody via email a bit, I drafted up some questions for him, and he was kind enough to answer them.

Me: What about the series Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark has intrigued you enough to do a documentary about it?

Cody: I wanted to do a documentary about the importance and impact of children’s literature. I came to this book series because I saw both the impact it has had on generations of kids along with the fact that it is one of the most banned children’s books of modern times. You put those together and you have an interesting story to tell in documentary form. And I think you have a positive message about the importance of literacy and art at a young age.

Me: How old were you when the first book came out?

Cody: I was one years old in 1981. The books were published between 1981-1991 and really got a huge following particularly in the 1990s when I was a teenager. So although there are bound to be people older than me who are big fans, and I’ve definitely seen how even kids and teenagers today are fans, I feel like my generation now in our mid-30s are kind of right in the middle of the main generation who really came to love the books growing up. It’s become a big nostalgic title for a lot of us. And I’ve even seen it in all the followers that have been attracted since making this documentary public. A ton of 90s kids.

Me: What is your favorite story from the series?

Cody: I often say one of my favorites is the first one, The Big Toe. Maybe it’s partially because it is the first and has a classic set up. I also like that it is one of them that involves a child, so it kind of epitomizes what a scary story is to a child.

Me: What do you do for a living?

Cody: I work for Erikson Institute, where I produce all kinds of media and content involving childhood development and children’s literature.

Me: If you could become the main character in one of the stories, which one and why?

Cody: One of the ones that survives!

Me: Do you believe in ghosts? What about the monster that lives under the bed? Aliens?

Cody: I don’t really believe in ghosts, monsters, and aliens that have visited Earth. They are great literary devices though.

Me: Rumor has it the stories in the Five Nightmares chapter in the third book really happened. Do you believe that the events in those stories really took place?

Cody: I think some of the stories have grains of truth, like a lot of urban legends. But I think 95% of them are meant as cautionary tales. So perhaps something much more mild happened to someone once, which made the news, and then it gives ammunition for tons of parents and older siblings to exaggerate and scare the bejeezus out of kids.

Me: There is an actual film adaptation of Scary Stories that has been announced. Which stories would you like to see be profiled in it and why?

Cody: I really don’t know how they are going to do the fictional film. It’s really hard to say which direction they will take it. But I’m intrigued. We haven’t had a lot of really great anthology movies in a while (Trick r Treat is one of the few in the last 15-20 years) so I would be on board for seeing them try something like that. As for which ones, I guess I would be interested in some of the stories that I hear people mention the most. Harold, The Big Toe, High Beams. I would also be interested to see if they kept it all focused on stories involving children. Plenty don’t focus on children, but those ones are the ones that interest me the most.

Me: If the illustrations were not as intense and as creepy as they are, do you think the Scary Stories series would still have the cult following it does?

Cody: I think the illustrations have a big part of the allure. Definitely. But I think it is a mixture of things. Like many things that take on a life of their own in our memories, it’s a mixture of the story they tell, how they are delivered, and certainly just about the audience it happens to find and the time it was released. Why did Jason take off and become a horror icon when there were a ton of other slasher movies being put out around that time? It’s a mixture of things. I give a ton of credit to the artist and the author for capturing something. But I find the reason a particular book series became wildly popular is almost as interesting as the books themselves. I think it says something about ourselves and our culture.

Me: Why do you think the Scary Stories series has been banned from so many libraries and has become such a taboo series?

Cody: I think the books have been banned partially because they were so popular. Nowadays Harry Potter is often banned, even though there are a lot of children’s books with wizards and magic. These books had content that was maybe not appropriate for young ages, but there is a difference between a rationale discussion of age appropriateness and outright banning books. These books became very popular in the 80s and 90s and even into the 21st Century, so they were put in front of a lot of parent’s eyes. So the parents that would normally ban books would point to and choose these books.

Me: When you were younger, did the Scary Stories series creep you out like it did other children?

Cody: I really liked these books and I don’t remember being overly scared or creeped out by them. I remember liking them in the same way I still like a Stephen King book or a good horror movie. Why that is, perhaps an expert could tell me. But I was attracted to a good scary story when I was young the same way I am now.

To learn more about the documentary, read about the other productions team members, or to contribute to help fund this wonderful project, please check out the official website here. Special thank you to Cody and the rest of the Scary Stories Documentary crew for keeping the spirit of this series alive for generations to come!