Freaky Stories (Found 1997-2000 Animated/Live-Action TV Series)

Freaky Stories is a Canadian animated/live-action horror TV series for kids, produced by Decode Entertainment (now known as DHX Media) and developed by creator Steve Schnier and executive producer John A. Delmage, that ran from 1997 to 2000, with its pilot episode premiering on YTV's 1995 "Dark Night 3" Halloween block.

The show's 35 episodes each consist of 4 animated shorts (of varying artistic styles), based around various urban legends, with each short running roughly 5 minutes and opening with the show's trademark phrase, "This is a true story, it happened to a friend of a friend of mine." The shorts are interspersed with live-action segments hosted by two animatronic puppets, Larry de Bug and Maurice the maggot, although, notably, when aired in some countries, said segments were withheld from broadcast.

Schnier first pitched the idea of an urban legends based kids show to YTV in 1991; in 1994, he teamed up with Delmage and produced the aforementioned 1995 pilot, resulting in the full series being put into production 2 years later.

Of the show's 140 shorts, roughly 50 of them have surfaced online (along with a handful of the aforementioned live-action segues), with the majority remaining unaccounted for. As of this writing, the show is seldom aired any more. Both English and French dubs of the show are known to exist (the latter which went under the alternate title Frissons - the word 'frisson' being the French equivalent of 'shiver') as well as a Spanish dub; the bulk of the found episodes have been sourced from the English dubbed version, with one or two only being currently available in other languages.

Episodes

In 2013 ten "Freaky Stories" episodes were uploaded on youtube, with the different segments from different episodes mashed together to make a full length episode base on title of episode.

Episode 1

"The Big Queasy"" contains 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves foods.

1. A Criminal, who lost alot of weight because he refuse to eat the jail's food, escape and hide in bio-tech building and accidentally consumes all of the refrigerator's contents.
2. A women and her party guests believe they have been poisoned when they learn that the fish they ate was bitten by the woman's cat, who later died; she later learns that her elderly neighbor had run her cat over with her car.
3. A family who loves to eat a brand of hotdogs (Minus the Daughter who wanted to eat healthier) go to a themed amusement park created by the hotdog company only to discover what make the hotdogs.
4.A Grocery stock boys employee is asked to carry an elderly women's bag to her house and was given permission to have something to eat and after eating a jar of nuts, the boy discover that the nuts wasn't always plain nuts.

Episode 2

"Goys & Ghouls" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves both the opposite sex and their actives.

1. A female computer geek is getting ready for her first date, but after having consume a bowl of bad chilli, she learn she feel queasy afterwards. As soon as she enters her date's car, she opens a window and passes gas, unaware that there were passengers in the back seat.
2.A Shy nervous 14 year old boy who get tongue-tied when he sees a girl encountered an older women who help him conquer his shyness. But when he goes to her house, he discover that the girl actually died 10 years ago and would return to the place she die every year to help those who needed help.
3.A Nerdy Geek Boy is force on a blind-date by two bullies, one of who related to an unattractive girl; the couple later fall in love once they see each other's faces.
4.In a futuristic setting, a door-to-door sells men stop at a diner, where he encountered a policeman and a waitress. When he was able to leave, the waitress pointed at the salesman and the police began to chase him through the street and the salesman pulled over, the police revealed that a criminal had been hiding in his car the whole time.

Episode 3

"Animal Maggotism" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves human and animals interaction.

1. A teenage girl who wanted to get her own phone got a job as a babysitter and saw that the family dog is eating the family rabbit, only to learn that the rabbit died a week ago and buried in the backyard.
2.In a future setting, a family and their dog go to a space restaurant where they don't allow dogs but the Maître D' agreed to have the staff look after the dog while the family eat. While having dinner they found their dog's collar in the stew and believed the staff have just cooked and fed their dogs but as the family ran out. However it turns that the dog is alive and the "Secret Ingredient" to the stew is leather.
3. A Big Gamer hunter, who is afraid of spiders and Insects, learn that a female beetle has crawl up his ear and into his brain lay it egg on it.
4. a woman's life changes when she adopts an abandoned kitten she finds on the street; but when the kitten gets stuck in a tree, it is accidentally catapulted to another woman's lawn, who also decides to take it in.

Episode 4

"Take This Job and Love It!" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves the main character having jobs.

1. Pizza Guy - A teenage who became a pizza delivery boy to earn money for his car discover that costumer, who ordered pizza before closing time, plans to slice and eat him, as she did with the others.
2.a carpenter hired by an elderly woman accidentally traps her pet bird beneath the newly carpeted floor, and had also pounded the bird flat, mistaking it for an air pocket.
3.a journalist sneaks into a room on Area 51 and begins to take various pictures, believing he had found a hidden UFO; after the photos were revealed to be duds, he loses his job and later finds the real UFO and alien at a local museum.
4.a businessman, tired from a long drive, pulls into a motel to rest. He sleeps on a bed with an automatic massage setting, calling it the best sleep he's ever had. The businessman sees a small hole in the mattress and hopes to get a peek at the bed's mechanism; he's horrified to discover the mattress is filled with thousands of bugs.

Episode 5

"Designer Tales" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves Fashion and Appearances.

1. a woman buys a new mysterious diet pill in preparation for a beauty contest, on the condition that she must not drink water for the duration of the diet. The diet pill was actually filled with several tiny sponges, and when she breaks and drinks gallons of water, they cause her to bloat uncontrollably.
2.a teenage girl, who has a beehive hairdo due to the fact she never washed her hair but, instead put chemicals on it, starts to get a massive headache, and is sent to the hospital so the doctors can surgically cut open the beehive and she has tons of spiders living in her hair. (This is one of 4 'Freaky Stories' segments where the narrator make an appearance )
3.A college girl bring her hippie boyfriend to her home for a holiday weekend with her snobby parents, who didn't like the way he dress and act. So she and her boyfriend decide to change him appearance to please her parents.
4. Two teenage rival girls, who are better known as the most fashionable girls in school, tried to outdo the other in a fashion off but after an incident involving two unfinished dresses, the girls are now force to wear overall for the rest of the school years.

Episode 6

"Boo!" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves the main character encounters a scary situation.

1. Snached - taking place in 1975, a sophomore (who failed 10th grade for the fourth year) is abducted by a lovely female alien who wanted him to teach her how to disco.
2. Graveyard Wager - A shy new kid who just moved away, who was invited to join a group but must pass a test; go to the cemetery at midnight where he must dig up a dead body and strike it with a blade
3.Puddle and the Glow Monster - During a camp out, a scout (who seem to have a pants wetting problem) Got scared when his scoutmaster told him a scary story, causing the scout to wet himself. However The Scoutmaster got his comeuppings when the scouts scared him, making him wet his pants.
4. The Vampire - A boy believed that a waiter, who lived in a scary house, is a vampire. The boy found out that the waiter really was a vampire when he did not see him in one of the photos.

Episode 7

"When you Gotta Go" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves different transportation

1.A veteran pilot is locked from the cockpit as the plane (in auto control) is about to crash into a mountain, and only a safe cracker and a nerd who can help them.
2. taking place in 1967, a teenager who dreamed of owning a Porsche get his wish come true when a women place an add for a perfectly good Porsche for only $50, which confuse him as he wondered what the catch. (This is one of 4 'Freaky Stories' segments where the narrator make an appearance )
3. A security system designer, who found his dream car on vacation, created the most impenetrable security system ever to keep anyone from stealing his car, however when he came to check on it, he found that car facing in the other direction with a note saying "when we want it, we'll take it"
4. A jealous husband believed his wife is seeing someone when a another man arrive to his house with a new car. Seeing that the husband decide to get revenge by dumping cement into the car, only to discover that the man was actually a car dealer and the car was a birthday gift from his wife.

(This is one of 4 'Freaky Stories' segments where the narrator make an appearance)

Episode 8

"Law & Disorder" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves the main character(s) and the consequence of the law

1. A spy name "JOE", who has a mission involving an ambassador. When he entered his room and got all the bugs from his room, he found bolt on the floor and unscrew it, only to be told that the screw was holding a chandler in the room below him
2. A brother and sister pair, who lost their pet rat, prepared to go to the pet cemetery to give their pet a proper funeral, however a theft stole the box, thinking it to be valuable and opened it to see the rat and passed out
3. A Moocher with a beat-up car, who always steal gas from other cars, found a R.V. park in the middle of nowhere and plan to take the gas for the car, then as he stole the gas, the gas he take tasted nasty. Then when the driver of the R.V came up, the Moocher said if he could get some gas since his car is out of, which the guy allowed him to use. But when the moocher go to the same tank, the guy revealed that gas tank was actually next to the toilet
4.In a musical version of the myth of 'The Hook' a pair of love stuck teens heard on the radio about a killer who has escape from prison and is remember to have a left hook. After their date was over the boy and girl discover that a hook was found in the door of the car.

(This is one of a few 'Freaky Stories' segments where there are more then just one voice actor, beside the narrator)

Episode 109

"Not the Waltons"has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves the main character(s) and their families (or their interaction with other people family members)

1. An Amateur Tennis Player is invited to have dinner with this girl he meet during a tennis game with her family (As her big Brother forcefully suggest) and accidentally ate cleaning fluid that was meant for the brother's carburetor.
2. A newly wed married couple moved into a big house, which is believed to be haunted by the ghost of the last owner,and find a hidden wine cellar and began drinking the whole barrel, only to discover what inside the barrel.
3.An Widow Elderly Women, who needed to use the restroom badly, went into a funeral home, pretending to be a family member for the recently decease and went she was done she went to pay her respect. A few days later she got a letter revealing that the decease was a billionaire and the will stated anyone who write their names in the guest book will get split of the inheritance and because the decease was rude to his family members, they never showed up and the Elder women got the money to herself.
4. Two Cousins, who came from the old county to America, to see their successful uncle, who loan them money to start their own business, During their time both guys fall in love with a women and wanted to marry her, with both of them having their legs broken.

Episode 10

"Oops!" has 4 'Freaky Stories' episodes that involves the main character(s) and their accidental situation.

1. A women who wanted to join a flower club brought back a rare dancing cactus from vacation to impress the members of the club, only to discover what cause it to dance.
2.A doctor and his wife, who attend a play at night, discover a strange horrible smell that cause the play to be cancelled. It was later revealed that the when the doctor was getting ready for the play, he discover he accidentally brought a smelly item from work.
3. A High Schooler, who is known to get the attention of all the girl in school, falls in love with a new girl who seem to be immune to his looks but when she saw him training her down, she fell for him when she invited him for a drink of lemonade, he is bother by her dog, who is leaping on his lap until discover the ball was next to him and the boy accidentally threw the ball out the window, causing the dog to follow the ball and jump out of it too.
4. a rich elderly man, who missed his family from his old home of Oshek, sends gifts to all his family members, including a big jar of brown powders and which the family found it tasty, and began using it for their foods and sharing to the small village. It wasn't until they used up all the powder. The next day the family got a package, thinking it to be another jar of the brown powder, only to discover that it actually a golden urn and inside of it was a note, revealing that the jar of powder that was sent was actually the ashes of the elderly man.

School Daze

A full Length episode of "Freaky Stories" about the the Main Character(s) and their action in school, including a three warparounds where Larry tried to help Maurice be smart.

1. An English professor pairs two of his students together for an assignment in order to get them together. He instructs them to write a story, with each partner taking a certain amount of time to write their part (The guy writing a love story and the girl a monster story).
2. A College boy who sneaks into the female dorms in college must hide under the bed when girls enter; he mistakenly drinks a glass containing a girl's contact lenses.
3. A high Schooler, who had to clean up the Biologiy lab, take the remains of the dead frogs and threw them in a metal bin near the janitor's closet, later during lunch he sees the students eating chili but he recognize the metal bin and discover that he dropped the frog remains in to the chili but instead of telling the truth, he kept his mouth shout.

Dycaite Videos

On September 12, 2015, lostmediawiki.com creator/admin Dycaite released eight episodes he found on a VHS entitled Freaky Stories: Pickled Brains for Found Media Week. They can be downloaded here.

Lost Media Archive