Creepypasta Of The Week: “If You Find A Book Called ‘The Tale Of Roly Poly’…”

Previously: “World’s Best School Psychologist.”

Originally a NoSleep invention, the creepypasta “If You Find A Book Called ‘The Tale Of Roly Poly,’ Don’t Open It, Don’t Read It!” appears to have been abandoned by its creator: Redditor u/Clarimonde has deleted their account. What we do know about the tale is this: It was uploaded to r/NoSleep on Jan. 15, 2017; deleted from Reddit along with u/Clarimonde’s account sometime after Dec. 29, 2017; then subsequently uploaded to the Creepypasta Wikia by user Zauedius on Jan. 5, 2018, almost a year after its initial publication. (It’s since been removed from the Creepypasta Wikia.) Beyond that, though, it’s a bit of a mystery.

It’s a shame, really; it’s a terrific story. It’s hard to get rhyming schemes right, especially when they’re meant to come from a children’s book. It’s one of the things that The Babadook nailed — and, I would argue, the same is true of “If You Find A Book Called ‘The Tale Of Roly Poly.'”

[Like what you read? Check out Dangerous Games To Play In The Dark, available from Chronicle Books now!]

And, seriously — if you do find this book, don’t open it.

And definitely don’t let any small children you love or care about read it.

The book doesn’t look particularly creepy. There are no ominous images on the cover. No words of foreboding. There is only a plain red canvas with gold letters that read: “The Tale of Roly Poly.”

I never saw the book until Ginny pulled it from her collection on the shelf. It may have been left by the previous owners. We had only moved to this neighborhood a month ago.

Ginny was already snuggled under the covers when I opened the book. At six, she was starting to read and never needed to be coaxed to bed if I promised her a story. Well, almost never. Princesses were her new obsession and we’d covered most of the classics like “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella.” “The Tale of Roly Poly” was a departure from the usual set list.

“Are you sure you want this one, pumpkin?”

Ginny yawned:

“Yes Daddy.”

I shrugged and began to read:

Keep reading…

***

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[Photo via jarmoluk/Pixabay]