| |
| Name | Silas Scratch |
|---|---|
| Age | Unknown |
| Gender | Male |
| Actor | None |
| Film Appearance? | No |
| Online Appearance? | No |
| Book Appearance? | Yes |
Silas Scratch is a character who appears in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School as the main antagonist. He was assumed to be a crazed farmer, until Frank reveals that Silas Scratch is a hoax he made in order to keep people out of a bathroom with electricity.
Description
Silas Scratch was a farmer who worked at Hardscrabble farms until the county kicked him off his land. There it was said that he lived in the forest and survived by eating slugs and berries. Then it was said that he went crazy and grew his fingernails long. It is possible that he is dead.
Origin
Silas Scratch was an urban legend created by Frankie, or Frank when he went to Hardscrabble Farms. When Frank went to Hardscrabble Farms, the bathroom situation was even worse than when Greg was at the farm. There was only one outhouse the whole camp shared, and you would bathe in the river in lieu of a shower. When Frank was in the woods collecting firewood, he found an empty maintenance shed that had a nice toilet and shower and electricity, which the farm banned. He wanted to keep the shed to himself, so he made up the story of Silas Scratch to other kids to keep kids away from the shed—-which is now largely boarded up and covered in graffiti. Even though this happened roughly twenty years before Greg’s time, the legend has held up and has gotten even more intense for campers.
Trivia
- Silas Scratch is mentioned in a Diary of a Wimpy Kid segment in the August 2012 issue of Boy's Life magazine, albeit with a different appearance and backstory. Silas Scratch was made up in a ghost story by Greg and Rowley when they go camping in the woods next to their house to prove they can survive in the woods for a week to Greg’s dad, Frank.
- His name "Silas" is Latin, meaning "forest" or "woods". "Scratch" is believed to have been derived from his long fingernails.
- In the Portuguese release of the book, his name is changed to 'Adão Arranhão' to adapt to the language.
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