Old Scratch

"Mr. Scratch" redirects here. For the film, see The Devil and Daniel Webster (film).

Look up old scratch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Old Scratch or Mr. Scratch is a nickname or pseudonym for the Devil. The name likely comes from Middle English scrat, the name of a demon or goblin, derived from Old Norse skratte.^[1]

Mentions

Examples of usage of the name "Old Scratch" are found in:

Literature

• "The Devil and Tom Walker" (1824) by Washington Irving
• A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens
• The Three Clerks (1857) by Anthony Trollope
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by Mark Twain
• The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo (1900) by Rudyard Kipling
• "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) by Stephen Vincent Benét
• "Prologue to an Adventure" (1938) by Dylan Thomas
• "The Fair to Middling (1959) by Arthur Calder-Marshall
• "The Last Rung on the Ladder" (1978) by Stephen King
• Miracle Monday (1981) by Elliot S. Maggin
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) by Susanna Clarke
• The Barn at the End of Our Term (2007) by Karen Russell
• Homestuck (2009) by Andrew Hussie
• I, Ripper (2015) by Stephen Hunter
• Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #6 (2016) by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
• Scratchman (2019) by Tom Baker
• Windswept House (1996, pg 402) by Fr. Malachi Martin
• "Disappearance At Devil's Rock" (2016) by Paul Tremblay

Film

• The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
• The Story of Mankind (1957)
• Crossroads (1986)
• Prince of Darkness (1987)
• The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
• Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare (1987)
• Crazy as Hell (2002)
• Mud (2012)
• 5ive Girls (2006)

Television

• Constantine
• American Dad! (Episode: "Permanent Record Wrecker")
• Lucifer (Episode: "Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil.")
• Quantum Leap (Episode: "The Boogieman")
• The Messengers (Episode: "Death Becomes Her")
• Billions (Episode: "The Wrong Maria Gonzalez")(2018)
• American Horror Story (Episode: "Sojourn")
• Criminal Minds
• Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Netflix TV Series (2018) by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
• Being Human
• Hap and Leonard (TV series) (Season 3, Episode 1)
• The Cuphead Show (season 1, episode 1, Carn-Evil)
• A Christmas Carol (FX, 2019)
• Lawmen: Bass Reeves (Episode 7)
• Agatha All Along Disney TV Series (2024)

Music

• "Beelz" song written by Stephen Lynch
• "Three Men Hanging" song by Murder by Death
• "Tight Like That" by Clutch
• "Un-Reborn Again" by Queens of the Stone Age
• "Bewitched" by Beat Happening
• ”The Devil Lives in a Mason Jar” by John Driskell Hopkins
• "Oldscratch" by The Distillers
• "Old Scratch Blues" by Jack White

Video games

• Alan Wake
• Alan Wake's American Nightmare
• Alan Wake 2
• Descent 3
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Pirate101
• The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Miscellaneous

• Episode 12 of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale
• Parts 31-38 of the Malevolent podcast
• A proposed Doctor Who feature film developed by Tom Baker and Ian Marter was given the working title Doctor Who Meets Scratchman.

References

1. "Old Scratch", The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2011