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10 Psychological Reasons 'The Velvet Ribbon' Is More Horrifying Than You Thought

Lyra Radford
Updated April 16, 2020 177.7K views 10 items

Many remember reading a story called “The Green Ribbon” as a kid. It was in a collection of children's horror stories titled In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories. Featuring the characters of "Jenny and Alfred," it was written by Alvin Schwartz, the same mastermind behind the classic collection Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. His version of the tale, however, was just that, a version. Like most of the scariest urban legends, the story of the velvet ribbon is an old one that’s been modified and handed down for ages. Sometimes, it has been a green ribbon; other times, it’s been black; it’s even been a red ribbon in a version or two. Regardless, it’s always been maddening to the man who marries its wearer.  

There are so many reasons why the velvet ribbon is scary, not least of which is that - like the creepy nursery rhymes that sometimes get told - this story is intended for children. In this eerie, memorable tale, a woman with a velvet ribbon around her neck will never take it off and is very mysterious about why. In the end, it’s revealed that the ribbon is the only thing keeping her head attached to her body. When the ribbon is removed, her head comes flopping off, and sometimes, it's still talking from the floor in the moonlight. The tale is also incredibly spooky because of how consumed with removing the ribbon the husband becomes. It's a story of mania as well as the sometimes horrific consequences of the truth one seeks.

  • It May Be A Cautionary Tale About Marrying Sex Workers

    It May Be A Cautionary Tale About Marrying Sex Workers

    Historically, there is quite a bit of symbolism that goes along with chokers. They represented various things and were popular with upper-class women in the 18th century. After the French Revolution, red chokers took on a more macabre symbolism, worn as a symbol of remembrance of and solidarity with those who lost their heads to the guillotine. In the mid to late 19th century, a black choker made of ribbon, however, had ties to sex work.

    In some versions of “The Velvet Ribbon,” the ribbon is red or black, and it always represents a secret the woman is keeping from her husband. The story ends with a mortified man uncovering a shocking secret about his wife that has loomed over their marriage the entire time. As a result, two related and not-so-far-fetched interpretations of this fairly overt symbolism are that: 1) a woman with secrets and a woman paid for sex are related entities; and 2) marrying a secretive woman or a sex woker won't end well. 

  • It Displays Just How Haunting A Woman's Past Can Be To The Male Ego

    It Displays Just How Haunting A Woman's Past Can Be To The Male Ego

    The ribbon clearly symbolizes a mysterious part of the woman's past and her husband’s inability to cope with not knowing about it. He lets this representation of her past (and his fantasies and fears of all it could symbolize) overshadow the present. In all the older versions (pre-Alfred and Jenny), the husband is extremely angry about this. He can’t even look at her in some cases, and it’s all because he doesn't know the story behind something of hers.  

    It shouldn't really matter why she wears it. He knew about the ribbon before he married her; he fell in love with her anyway. When there is no patience or acceptance left in him, the ribbon is his own "tell-tale heart," hounding him, driving him to go against her wishes and untie the ribbon anyway. 

  • Jenny Basically Traumatizes Her Husband And Ends Her Life In Front Of Him

    Jenny Basically Traumatizes Her Husband And Ends Her Life In Front Of Him

    In the case of Alfred and Jenny’s version of the tale, “The Green Ribbon,” Jenny waits until she gets sick to not just tell Alfred what’s going on but also to actually show him. Because she knows what’s going to happen, she waits until she is old and sick to take off the ribbon for a reason. Not only does Jenny basically take her life in front of her husband who loves her - even though she’s a weirdo who showers with a choker on - but she also makes him take it off her, effectively ending her life at the moment of the big reveal.

    Would it maybe not have been a slightly gentler blow to tell Alfred what he was getting into before you enlist him? Except can Jenny really perish given that her head isn't attached to her body in the first place?

  • There Is Some Pretty Intense Male Aggression In Most Of The Early Versions

    There Is Some Pretty Intense Male Aggression In Most Of The Early Versions

    In several of the other versions, the husband doesn't wait for his wife to be ready to remove the ribbon. Instead, he cuts it off while she’s sleeping - fully without consent. Her head rolls off and onto the floor - in a pretty sweet and vindictive move - bellowing “I told you, you’d be sorry.”

    In those versions, the husband violates her trust in a super creepy way. That’s pretty disturbing, and it makes you question whether you should even be sharing a bed with someone, ever. It also makes you seriously think about the latent sexual assault symbolism we allow children to be exposed to.

  • It Diminishes One’s Ability To Trust Those Closest To Them

    It Diminishes One’s Ability To Trust Those Closest To Them

    Perhaps the most insidious lesson in this children's story isn't even that being curious is bad; it's that your most curious suspicions are totally justified, which means you probably should never trust anyone. Think about it: there’s poor, dopy Alfred over here, madly in love with a secretly headless Jenny for years. They are "til death do us part," and he has a fairly straightforward question about her aesthetic choices. Turns out, he has a zombie wife with her head strapped to her neck by a flimsy piece of fabric the whole time he's curious about it.

    But there are also trust issues for Jenny. Why couldn't she tell him? Why did she feel the need to harbor such a terrible secret? Why would any girl (even an undead zombie) be okay with spending her existence committed to someone she can’t fully trust? Clearly, Jenny didn't trust Alfred with the truth, and Alfred’s entire marriage was a lie.

  • It Warns Against Curiosity

    It Warns Against Curiosity

    This story really drills home the old adage about curiosity killing the cat. In other versions of this story, the man is so curious that he becomes borderline obsessive when it comes to the ribbon. He even becomes aggressive in some versions, taking a “if you don’t take it off, I’ll do it for you” stance, with his wife warning him that “you’ll be sorry if you do.”

    As the end of the story always proves no matter what version you read, her head falls off when the ribbon is removed. And her ever-curious husband regrets ever wanting her to remove the ribbon. Hey kids, some things in life are just better left unexplored?