The Hairy Toe
excerpted from Spooky Maryland
retold by S.E. Schlosser
Once there was an old woman who went out in the woods to dig up some roots to cook for dinner. She spotted something funny sticking out of the leaves and dug around until she uncovered a great big hairy toe. There was some good meat on that toe which would make a real tasty dinner, so the old woman put it in her basket and took it home.
When she got back to her cottage, the old woman boiled up a kettle-full of hairy toe soup, which she ate for dinner that night. It was the best meal she'd had in weeks! The old woman went to bed that night with a full stomach and a big smile.
Along about midnight, a cold wind started blowing in the tops of the trees around the old woman's house. A large black cloud crept over the moon and from the woods a hollow voice rumbled: "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!" Inside the house, the old woman stirred uneasily in her bed and nervously pulled the covers up over her ears.
From the woods there came a stomp-stomp-stomping noise as the wind whistled and jerked at the treetops. In the clearing at the edge of the forest, a hollow voice said: "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!" Inside the house, the old woman shuddered and turned over in her sleep.
A stomp, stomp, stomping sound came from the garden path outside the cottage. The night creatures shivered in their burrows as a hollow voice howled: "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!" Inside the house, the old woman snapped awake. Her whole body shook with fright as she listened to the angry howling in her garden. Jumping out of bed, she ran to the door and barred it. Once the cottage was secure, she lay back down to sleep.
Suddenly, the front door of the cottage burst open with a bang, snapping the bar in two and sending it flying into the corners of the room. There came the stomp, stomp, stomping noise of giant feet walking up the stairs. Peeping out from under the covers, the old woman saw a massive figure filling her doorway. It said: "Hairy toe! Hairy toe! I want my hairy toe!"
The old woman sat bolt upright in terror and shouted: "I ATE your hairy toe!"
"Yes, you did," the giant figure said very gently as it advanced into the room.
No one living in the region ever saw the old woman again. The only clue to her disappearance was a giant footprint a neighbor found pressed deep into the loose soil of the meadow beside the house. The footprint was missing the left big toe.
You can read more Maryland folktales and ghost stories in Spooky Maryland by S.E. Schlosser.
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Comments
hahaa... thats funny not scary a hairy toe is hilarious not scary :l
Posted by: casey stanford | October 30, 2009 08:33 PM
haha hairy toe:P i like this story
Posted by: Anonymous | October 31, 2009 04:15 PM
i heard this before, not scary at all.
Posted by: boonie | October 31, 2009 07:08 PM
this story is sick. yeah i have two hairy big toes but my left one went missing have you seen it anywhere?
Posted by: Amy | October 31, 2009 07:31 PM
LOL FUNNIEST THING EVER!!!! A old woman,eatin a toe!!! and it's hairy!!!
Posted by: Sk8er Gurl | October 31, 2009 07:57 PM
Hilarious! I loved it! I wonder where my hairy toe went.
Posted by: sexychic | October 31, 2009 09:41 PM
Who would eat a toe anyway?Ugh!And with hair!Gross!
Posted by: Actrise | November 7, 2009 09:26 PM
I love this story so much
Posted by: taaylor schreurs | November 8, 2009 10:00 PM
iv heard this story before LAME :C
Posted by: irene | November 8, 2009 10:28 PM
this story is not scary at all
Posted by: sian | December 6, 2009 06:45 AM
So ugly....
who would eat one anyway?
Posted by: Anonymous | December 18, 2009 06:05 PM
Yuck
Posted by: Brynn | December 18, 2009 07:44 PM
haha ill but funny i liked it keep it upp :DDDD
Posted by: billie_bonkers99 | December 27, 2009 09:30 PM
this story isn funny.:/
Posted by: saul | January 8, 2010 07:35 PM
its nasty not funny.
Posted by: saul | January 8, 2010 07:38 PM
woooow. amaze me better. this is lame!
Posted by: saul soto | January 8, 2010 07:42 PM
what did it do
Posted by: Anonymous | January 13, 2010 05:17 PM
This story is a funny kind of scary one. And i'm only six yrs.old keep up the good work, hope to hear another one soon. thank you,Destiny
Posted by: destiny | January 13, 2010 06:43 PM
It's a great story for a sleepover weirdly funny boo
Posted by: Anonymous | January 15, 2010 10:34 PM
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Posted by: Anonymous | January 17, 2010 10:34 AM
NOT SCARY AT ALL
Posted by: caitlin diblasi | January 19, 2010 04:57 PM
This was wierd a hairy toe!! =D
It was meant to be SCARY lol
Posted by: Laura Sumitly | January 20, 2010 12:12 PM
i read this to my mom and she got scared and i laughed the whole time. she said that she was sleep.LOL
Posted by: maya | January 20, 2010 06:02 PM
HAIRY TOE HAIRY TOE I WANT MY HAIRY TOE!!!!!!lol i can just hear that mad missing toe voice in my head :)
Posted by: Anonymous | January 21, 2010 04:13 PM
my friends said they came on here before and said hairy toe is scary really i just read it its SO funny
Posted by: alexys | January 21, 2010 07:54 PM
i think its like the story tailypo..they just changed it to hairytoe..
Posted by: axel | January 23, 2010 07:25 AM
i think im gunna puke
Posted by: Anonymous | January 25, 2010 11:49 AM
its sooooooo boring big time
Posted by: nafisa | January 26, 2010 08:46 AM
...O_O WTF!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | January 27, 2010 11:39 AM
lol thats sort of scary but thatz really werid
Posted by: Anonymous | January 28, 2010 12:23 AM
THIS STORY IS DUMB HOW CAN SHE EAT A HAIRY TOE?
Posted by: michelle | January 28, 2010 09:10 PM
So gross!! She doesn't even know who's toe it is!!!!
Posted by: Alise | January 30, 2010 01:42 PM
I feel sad that I'm never getting that minute of my life back :(
Posted by: mike powell | January 30, 2010 05:38 PM
someone ate my toe too. i cut it off accidentally after mowing the lawn...we couldnt find it after getting back from the emergency room.....but the old man down the road died of toe jam disease
Posted by: shanda nosak | January 30, 2010 11:02 PM
eww
Posted by: saul | February 1, 2010 05:51 PM
good story.
Posted by: saul | February 1, 2010 10:05 PM
toeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
Posted by: vincent griffin | February 2, 2010 02:01 PM
wow MOST scary ever! hahaha that was funny i felt sorry 4 the lady!
Posted by: Anonymous | February 9, 2010 02:07 PM
YOU ARE SUCH A FREAK IT IS NOT SCARY
A LITTLE BABY COULD LISEN TO IT AND THEY WILL GO ASLEEP WITH IT!!!!
Posted by: abigail | February 11, 2010 03:05 PM
wOW THAT was weird. mmmm now im craving some hairy toe.
Posted by: Summer | February 11, 2010 05:08 PM
well that was a huge waste of 2 minutes of my life that i will never get back
Posted by: Anonymous | February 11, 2010 07:15 PM
This isnt scary. Its dumb. Who would pick up a rotten toe off the ground and EAT IT??? Why, us wolves eat flesh meat alright, but not toes!
Posted by: White Wolf | February 12, 2010 04:29 PM
That's disturbing...
Posted by: Atalia | February 13, 2010 11:08 PM
This is stupid not scary. OMG nobody saw her again how many times have we heard that before
Posted by: Annonamous | February 17, 2010 05:53 PM
i love that lol... thats hilarious
Posted by: Anonymous | February 18, 2010 02:40 PM
that was borinnnnnnnnnnnn
Posted by: kacey griffin | February 19, 2010 11:53 AM
hey are u makin fun of. Me.....GEORGE CAN'T HELP IT IF HE HAS HAIR
Posted by: Anonymous | February 19, 2010 11:07 PM
What the heck. I keep getting ripped off on minutes for all these not scary stories. I'm only 9, and these don't scare me!
Posted by: Anonymous | February 21, 2010 08:09 PM
i love hairy toes i ate all 10 of mine
u should try roasting yours
8-) mmm i wish i had more
Posted by: georgia rose mallory | February 22, 2010 03:26 PM
boo!!! my hairy toe lol it is gross not funny i would never eat a big hairy toe and i am not going to
Posted by: Anonymous | February 22, 2010 05:53 PM
u really had me goin there but it waz funny what r u peeps tlkn bout it is not boo! it is so funy lol
Posted by: Makenna | March 1, 2010 07:02 PM
lol i heard this in different version
Posted by: Anonymous | March 3, 2010 05:53 AM
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Posted by: kate hudson | March 3, 2010 06:53 AM
halarios
Posted by: Anonymous | March 3, 2010 09:09 PM
i totally agree with that annonymous guy who roasted his/her toes. try sucking yours.
Posted by: georgia rose mallory | March 4, 2010 07:58 AM
that was one of the funniest stories iv ever heard=)))
Posted by: meemers | March 5, 2010 04:40 PM