We dared you to scare, and you...

We dared you to scare, and you did.

Your story about the killer clown scared our pants off. (We still can’t find them.) Your tale about the killer Zamboni scared us stiff. (We still can’t sit down.) And your shocking yarn about James Carville and Ken Starr scared the bejesus out of us. (We’re fresh out of bejesus around here.)

Needless to say, we kicked and scratched our way through 5,023 versions of the blood, gore and guts of your imagination and managed to select the winners--four adults and four children in the writing category, and two winners in the drawing category: one younger than 11, one older. These deserving 10 each win four tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood.

But first, a sampling of those that weren’t as hair-raising but still worthy of mention and applause:

* A Young Girl’s Dream, a Mother’s Nightmare Award: “The minute Hayley tried [the magic costume] on she turned into an evil little devil. She went around the house breaking things and throwing them out the window.” The next day, “Hayley went downstairs for breakfast, and her mom tried not to make her mad.”

* Every Dad’s Nightmare Award: “Every Sunday, there was a man who stood in the window with a green face.” Later on we learn, “It was my dad throwing up my mom’s meatloaf!”

* Watch Out--You Could Put Someone’s Eye Out Award: “On the third bullet, Janis was successful in hitting the man in one eye, which caused him immense pain and he could not see well.”

* The Next Stephen King Award: “In the leaves, there were the Spice Girls. I tried to say, ‘Hi,’ but I could not talk. It was like I was in a room filled with snakes.”

* The Healing Power of Laughter Award: “I laughed until my sides ached, even though my hair was on fire. I was still laughing when my flesh started to bubble and char.”

And now the winners . . .

More Scary Stories and artwork, E6-E7