Bess

Bess is a story about a man and his beloved horse sharing the same fate. The story appears in Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill your Bones. A retelling of a legend associated with Oleg the Wise, collected by Max Luthi.

The Story

John Nicholas raised horses. He had many horses of all kinds. But his favorite was Bess, a gentle old mare he had grown up with. He no longer rode her, for all she could now was just amble along. Bess spent her days grazing peacefully in the meadow.

That summer, for the fun of it, John Nicholas went into a fortune teller's booth. The fortune teller studied her cards. "I see danger ahead for you," she said. "Your favorite horse will cause you to die. I don't know when, but it will happen. It is in the cards." John Nicholas laughed. The idea that Bess would cause his death was nonsense. She was as dangerous as a bowl of soup. Yet from then on, whenever he saw her, he remembered the fortune teller's warning.

That fall a farmer from the other end of the county asked if he could have Bess. He had been thinking that the old horse will be perfect for his children to ride. "That's a good idea," John said. "It will be fun for them and it will give Bess something to do."

Later John told his wife about it. "Now Bess won't kill me," he said, and they both laughed. A few months later he saw the farmer who had taken her. "How's my Bess?" he asked. "Oh, she was fine for a while," the farmer said. "The children loved her. Then she got sick. I had to shoot her to put her out of her misery. It was a shame."

Despite himself, John breathed a sigh of relief. He wondered as if some crazy way, through some strange accident, Bess would kill him. Now, of course, she could not. "I’d like to see her," said John, "just to say good-bye. She was my favorite."

The bones of the dead horse were in a far corner of the man's farm. John kneeled down and patted Bess' sun-bleached skull. Just then a rattlesnake, which had made its home inside the skull, sank its fangs into John Nicholas's arm, and killed him.

Stories
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark	Strange and Scary Things • The Big Toe • The Walk • What Do You Come For? • Me Tie Dough-ty Walker! • A Man Who Lived In Leeds • Old Woman All Skin and Bone • The Thing • Cold As Clay • The White Wolf • The Haunted House • The Guests • The Hearse Song • The Girl Who Stood on a Grave • A New Horse • Alligators • Room for One More • The Wendigo • The Dead Man's Brains • May I Carry Your Basket? • The Hook • The White Gown • High Beams • The Babysitter • The Viper • The Attic • The Slithery-Dee • Aaron Kelly's Bones • Wait Till Martin Comes • The Ghost with the Bloody Fingers
More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark	Hoo-Ha's • Something Was Wrong • The Wreck • One Sunday Morning • Sounds • A Weird Blue Light • Somebody Fell From Aloft • The Little Black Dog • Clinkity-Clink • The Bride • Rings On Her Fingers • The Drum • The Window • Wonderful Sausage • The Cat's Paw • The Voice • "Oh, Susannah!" • The Man In The Middle • The Cat in a Shopping Bag • The Bed by the Window • The Dead Man's Hand • A Ghost in the Mirror • The Curse • The Church • The Bad News • Cemetery Soup • The Brown Suit • Ba-Rooom! • Thumpity-Thump
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill your Bones	Boo Men • The Appointment • The Bus Stop • Faster And Faster • Just Delicious • Hello, Kate! • The Black Dog • Footsteps • Like Cats' Eyes • Bess • Harold • The Dead Hand • Such Things Happen • The Wolf Girl • The Dream • Sam's New Pet • Maybe You Will Remember • The Red Spot • No, Thanks • The Trouble • Strangers • The Hog • Is Something Wrong? • It's Him! • T-H-U-P-P-P-P-P-P-P! • You May Be The Next...