Some dark nursery stories include 'Rumpelstiltskin'. The little man is very menacing and will take the queen's child if she can't guess his name. 'Beauty and the Beast' in its original form has darker aspects, like the Beast being more of a terrifying figure at first. And 'The Girl Without Hands' which tells the story of a girl who has her hands cut off by her father because of a deal with the devil.
Another is 'Jack and Jill'. Some interpretations suggest that Jack and Jill represent Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Their beheading during the French Revolution could be symbolized by 'Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after'. It gives a rather dark view of historical events through the guise of a simple nursery rhyme.
The 'Babayaga' is also a scary nursery story. Babayaga is a witch who lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs. She is often depicted as flying around in a mortar, using the pestle to steer. If children misbehave, the threat of Babayaga coming to get them can be quite terrifying.
The rhyme 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep' also has some potentially darker interpretations. While on the surface it's about a sheep with black wool, some think it was a comment on the medieval wool tax. The three bags of wool could symbolize the amount that had to be given to different parties - one for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lived down the lane. It shows a sense of unfairness and economic hardship in a veiled way.
One example is 'Ring Around the Rosie'. It is often associated with the Black Death. 'Ring around the Rosie' was thought to represent the red rash that was a symptom. 'Pocket full of posies' might refer to the flowers people carried to try to ward off the disease's stench. 'Ashes, ashes' could be about the cremation of the dead bodies.
Many of these rhymes originated from historical events. For example, as I mentioned before, 'Ring Around the Rosie' likely came from the time of the Black Death. People used these rhymes to remember and sometimes in a veiled way talk about the tragedies they were experiencing. It was a form of cultural memory.
Yes. For instance, in 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep', some think it has roots in the medieval wool tax. The three bags of wool could represent the different portions that had to be given to different parties - one for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lived down the lane. It shows how the common people were exploited.
They're popular because they teach lessons in a memorable way. For example, in 'Hansel and Gretel', kids learn not to trust strangers too easily. The darkness makes the moral more impactful.
One example is 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. It was based on a true incident where a girl named Mary Sawyer had a lamb that followed her to school one day. Another is 'Ring Around the Rosie' which has been associated with the Great Plague in London, though the exact connection is debated.
I'm not sure if there are extremely well - known 'nursery rhyme visual novel' examples off the top of my head. However, some indie developers might create such works. It's possible that there could be some that are popular within niche communities that are interested in both nursery rhymes and visual novels.
One example could be a story about a haunted house where a family moves in and strange, terrifying things start to happen at night. They hear unexplained noises, see shadowy figures, and slowly start to lose their sanity.