Childrens Rhymes

Childrens Rhymes and songs are often used to scary effect in horror movies. Below, you will find the creepiest nursey rhymes that appeared in scary movies and books. If you know any more creepy little rhymes or songs for children, leave them in a comment and I will add them.

From A Nightmare On Elm Street

(Based on 1, 2, buckle my shoe.)

One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.
Three, four, better lock your door.
Five, six, get a crucifix.
Seven, eight, better stay up late.
Nine, ten, never sleep again!

From The Woman in Black

During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air,
a bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed,
but the house in the marsh was by far the worst.
What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back,
the spectre of darkness, the woman in black.

From Dead Silence

Beware the stare of Mary Shaw.
She had no children, only her dolls.
If you see her in your dreams,
be sure you never, ever scream
or she’ll rip your tongue out at the seam

Samara’s Song From The Ring

Round we go, the world is spinning
When it stops it’s just beginning
Sun comes up, we laugh and we cry
Sun goes down and then we all die

From Fritz Lang’s M

The man in black will soon be here.
With his cleaver’s blade so true.
Just you wait, it won’t be long.
He’ll make mincemeat out of YOU!

From Night of the Hunter

Hing, hang, hung.
See what the hangman done.
Hung, hang, hing.
See the robber swing.

From Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte

Chop chop, Sweet Charlotte
Chop chop, till he’s dead
Chop chop, Sweet Charlotte
Chop off his hand and head.

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Can’t even shout. Can’t even cry.
The Gentlemen are coming by.
Looking in windows, knocking on doors…
They need to take seven and they might take yours…
Can’t call to mom. Can’t say a word.
You’re gonna die screaming but you won’t be heard.

From Dr. Giggles

(Suggested by a member named “Huntress of the North”)

This town has a doctor and his name is Rendell
Stay away from his house ’cause he’s the doctor from Hell.
He killed all his patients, every last one,
And cut out their hearts… purely for fun.
So if you’re from Moorehigh and you get sick
Fall on your knees and pray you die quick.

A Child’s Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Should I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

A Child’s Lullaby

If you die before you wake,
Do not cry and do not ache.
Nothing’s ever yours to keep.
So close your eyes and go to sleep.

A Mother’s Rhyme

Here’s the little piggy, see his snout.
Slit him open, and the guts fall out.

From Oranges and Lemons

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chip chop, chip chop, the last man’s dead.

Lizzie Borden

(Lizzie Borden was a woman who was suspected of killing her parents in 1892.)

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her father forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her mother forty-one.

Mary Ann Cotton

(Mary Ann Cotton was an English woman who is believed to have murdered 21 people in the late 1800s by arsenic poisoning)

Mary Ann Cotton
She’s dead and she’s rotten
Lying in bed with her eyes wide open
Sing? Sing? What song should I sing?
Mary Anne Cotton is tied up in string.
Where? where? She’s up in the air
And now they’re selling puddings for a penny a pair.

Doctor Ruxton

(Buck Ruxton was a doctor in England who killed his wife and his maid in 1935.)

Red stains on the carpet, red stains on your knife
Oh Doctor Ruxton, you murdered your wife.
The nursemaid she saw you and threatened to tell.
Oh Doctor Ruxton, you killed her as well.

Fritz Haarmann

(Fritz Haarmann murdered 27 boys and young men in the 1920s in Germany)

Just you wait ’til it’s your time,
Haarmann will come after you,
And with his chopper, oh so fine,
He’ll make mincemeat out of you.

Belle Gunness

(Belle Gunness was a woman who murdered over 40 men in America in the 1880s.)

Belle Gunness was a lady fair, in Indiana State.
She weighed about three hundred pounds and that is quite some weight.
That she was stronger than a man, her neighbors all did own;
She butchered hogs right easily and did it all alone.
But hogs were just a sideline she indulged in now and then;
Her favorite occupation was the butchering of men.

Miss Mary Mack

Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
She’s dressed in black black black
she has a knife knife knife
Stuck in her back back back
She cannot breathe breathe breathe
She cannot cry cry cry
That’s why she begs begs begs
She begs to die die die

From Bluebeard

At last the girl could not refrain,
and turned the little key,
And looked within, and fainted straight
the horrid sight to see.

For there upon the floor was blood,
and on the walls were wives,
For Bluebeard first had married them,
then cut their throats with knives.

From We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea?
“Oh no,” said Merricat, “you’ll poison me.”
Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep?
Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!

Dead Men

Dead men, dead men, swinging in a tree
How many dead men do you see?
Tongue turned blue and face gone grey
Watch them as they twist and sway.

The first one killed the butcher man
Then cooked him in a frying pan
Served him to his hungry guests
And gave them seconds on request

The next one with his smile and sweets
Stole poor children off the streets
To men who dressed unsavory
He sold them into slavery

Dead men, dead men, swinging in a tree
How many dead men do you see?
Six feet long and six men wide
Around their necks the noose is tied.

Three Children on the Ice

Three children sliding on the ice
Upon a summer’s day,
As it fell out, they all fell in,
The rest they ran away.

If these children had been at school,
Or sliding on dry ground,
I’d bet you all a pretty penny
They would not have drowned.

Parents who have children dear,
And others who have none,
If you want to keep them safe and sound
Please keep them safe at home.

The Hanging Tree From The Hunger Games

Are you, are you, coming to the tree
where they strung up a man they say murdered three.
Strange things have happened here, no stranger would it be,
if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Are you, are you, coming to the tree
where the dead man called out for his love to flee.
Strange things have happened here no stranger would it be,
if we me up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Are you, are you, coming to the tree
where I told you to run so we would both be free.
Strange things have happened here no stranger would it be
if we met up at midnight in the haning tree.

Are you, are you, coming to the tree
wear your necklace of rope and hang side by side with me.
Strange things have happened here no stranger would it be
if we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Three Sons

There was an old woman who had three sons,
Called Jerry and James and John,
Jerry was hanged and James was drowned,
John was lost at sea and never found;
And that was an end of her three sons,
Called Jerry and James and John.

Two Dead Boys

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
And if you don’t believe it’s true,
go ask the blind man, he saw it too.

O’Leary and O’Reilly

O’Leary is dead and O’Reilly don’t know it.
O’Reilly is dead and O’Leary don’t know it.
They both are dead in the very same bed,
And neither one knows that the other is dead.

The Desert

Out on the windswept desert, that desolate stretch of land,
One man spied another, lying in the sand
Said one man to the other, “What makes you lie that way?”
But the other did not answer for he’d been dead since May.

Willy

Willy was a helpful boy but quite near-sighted,
He built a fire in the fireplace and self-ignited;
Now, the wind is blowing cold and the room is getting chilly,
And not one of us wants to put out poor Willy.

The Song That Never Ends

This is the song that never ends
And it goes on and on my friends
Some people started singing it
not knowing what it was
And they’ll just keep on singing it
forever just because
This is the song that never ends