Old Scratch

Last updated July 28, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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