Bobby Norfolk has long enjoyed navigating storytelling for children. As the host of the Emmy Award-winning television children’s show “Gator Tails,” he learned how to craft the perfect cliffhanger. He weaves in comic relief when telling spooky stories for his “Spine Tinglers and Spine Ticklers” program.
But this Friday, he wants parents to keep their young kids at home for his “Terrifying Tales” storytelling festival at the Chapel. The event will also include scary stories by Sherry Norfolk and Ken Wolfe; emcee Beverly Brennan will cut the eerie tension with some Halloween comedy.
Norfolk joined host Sarah Fenske on Tuesday to talk about his haunted storytelling techniques, how he navigated his craft during the pandemic and more.
He also left St. Louis on the Air listeners hanging with a two-minute teaser of a spooky story he'll tell this Friday.
The standup comedian and storyteller said he’s drawn to ghost stories because they tend to “transcend all of the different aspects of human imagination,” just like the craft of storytelling.
“The history of storytelling transcends race, ethnicity and national borders actually,” Norfolk said. “And as the story unfolds ... all of these archetypes that [psychiatrist] Carl Jung talked about, those things that reside in our unconscious mind, all of a sudden, these caricatures are reflected.
“People start seeing witches and demons and ogres and they start seeing the hero, they start seeing dragons — and so the imagination just runs wild; story transcends technology.”
Related Event
What: Terrifying Tales Halloween Storytelling Festival
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: The Chapel (6238 Alexander Drive, St. Louis, MO 63105)
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Alex Heuer, Emily Woodbury, Evie Hemphill and Lara Hamdan. Jane Mather-Glass is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
