What do you come for? is a story from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It tells the story of a corpse who comes down a chimney. Inspired by the 19th century Scottish folktale "The Strange Visitor."
Plot
There was an old woman who lived all by herself, and she was very lonely. Sitting in the kitchen one night, she said, “Oh, I wish I had some company.”
No sooner had she spoken than down the chimney tumbled two feet from which the flesh had rotted. The old woman’s eyes bulged with terror.
Then two legs dropped to the hearth and attached themselves to the feet.
Then a body tumbled down, then two arms, and a man’s head.
As the old woman watched, the parts came together into a great, gangling man. The man danced around and around the room. Faster and faster he went. Then he stopped, and he looked into her eyes.
“What do you come for?” she asked in a small voice that shivered and shook.
“What do I come for?” he said. “I come—FOR YOU!”
(As you shout the last words, stamp your foot and jump at someone nearby.)
References in other Media
The Jangly Man appears in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark film.