Profs & Pints Philadelphia: Tales Told to Scare Children

[Profs and Pints Philadelphia](https://www.profsandpints.com/philadelphia) presents: **“Tales Told to Scare Children,”** on centuries of stories describing frightening consequences for bad behavior, with Melissa Jensen, award-winning lecturer in English literature at the University of Pennsylvania and scholar of children's literature, the Gothic, and adolescence in media and society. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus processing fees. Available at [https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profs-and-pints-black-squirrel/philadelphia-tales-to-scare-children](https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profs-and-pints-black-squirrel/philadelphia-tales-to-scare-children) .] There’s no rest for the wicked when it comes to bedtime stories. For centuries parents have left their children staring wide-eyed at bedroom ceilings by describing to them how the naughty and disobedient ended up in uncomfortable places such as burlap sacks or the bellies of wolves. What’s up with this long tradition of telling tales that scare the wits out of kids? Gather round children’s literature scholar Melissa Jensen at Fishtown’s Black Squirrel Club to get full story on how and why we deliberately use narratives to frighten children and on the impact of doing so. She’ll harken all the way back to prehistoric cave paintings of humanoid figures that surely frightened young viewers.