The Story of the Snatchers

Parents of children or teenagers who are threatening on running away are told the story of The Snatchers'. The story says that if they run away, they will get kidnapped by them.

The Motivation for the Story

Unbeknownst to the children or teenagers, The Snatchers' are not just a story and actually exist. The parents are using their real story to scare their children into safety, as with their care they can hopefully be protected from being kidnapped. Unfortunately, the parents, don’t know that everyone is a target as they don’t just target the children. Indeed, The Snatchers' also kidnap the homeless.

The Story Itself

The Story differs depending on the gender and age of the child.

Boys

Younger Boys

For younger boys, they are told stories, that are similar to fairytales or fables but with some startling changes. Indeed, in those stories, the male protagonist doesn’t have a happy ending. The Snatchers' variants of the stories are: the boy will be fattened up and eaten (Hansel and Gretel^[1]), he will be fed alive to wild animals (The Boy Who Cried Wolf ^[2]), he will be blinded (Rapunzel ^[3]) or starved (Jack and the Beanstalk ^[4]). There are some obvious changes to the stories so as to not be so obvious to the child it is being told to. For example, in The Snatcher’s variant of Hansel and Gretel, the boy runs away from home alone, after two days of not being able to support himself. He is found by The Snatchers' who offer to feed him for the night. Upon accepting their offer, he is overfed. Even with polite suggestions that he is full. The Snatchers', continue to feed him. After his last bite, he is so tired that he becomes comatose. Since the boy is now fat and too tired to fight back they cook the boy and eat him.

Teenagers

For teenagers, instead of the stories being changed versions of fairy tales or fables, they are tailor-made to fit the person himself. Most boys at this age aspire to get a girlfriend, who may later become a wife, and start a family of their own. Thus, the parents use the threat that if he runs away and is caught by The Snatchers, he will be castrated, rendering him unable to have children of his own. This may be a popular version as The Snatchers' themselves kidnap more boys than girls. It is the girls who are returned safely, which lead the stories to have elements of castration, as boys aren’t seen again and so their family never see them grow up and become men. Some realism is added to these stories as the teenager will not believe the fairytale nature of the child versions of the stories.

Girls

The younger girls’ versions are not as gruesome compared to the boys’ versions, but they are also intended to scare them into staying at home. These variants are they will be forced to work (Cinderella ^[5], The Red Shoes ^[6] and Hansel and Gretel ^[1]) and being fed alive to wild animals (Red riding hood). Teenage variants are much the same and reflect the idea that the teenage girl will not be able to accomplish something.

Reactions Of The Children

Both of the children are normally frightened when they are of a young age and normally conform to the expected reaction. As they get older, they may need more persuasion to stay in the care of the parents, but that’s where the greater use of realism comes in.

What Is the Children’s Reaction, When They Grow Up?

Once they grow up they may come to realise, as they do with their belief in Santa, that the stories aren’t real but were there to keep them safe. They may as time passes also notice that everyone is potential targets, not just runaways.

The Lies In The Stories

In truth, the boys once they are kidnapped are beaten horribly and forced to work. It is in fact the girls, who are treated better than their story equivalents and are not forced as hard to work.