EvCC Reads!: Halloween Reads

These are my favorite ghost stories, and my favorite short stories. Every Autumn, I pull my copy off of the shelf, and start reading them again. I'm scared in new ways every time. Kirk wrote 22 ghost stories; 19 of them are in this volume. He is the American master of the ghostly tale. Be warned--these morbid, creepy, deeply theological tales seep into your soul, and never leave you. Kirk's ghosts haunt me constantly, to my benefit, as these stories are moral tales.

James wrote ghost stories for various reasons. He first began writing them to be read aloud to his friends at King's College, Cambridge; Christmas Eve was a popular time for this activity. His stories were subsequently published. My favorite story by James, "Wailing Well," was written for a troop of Boy Scouts, to whom he read the tale aloud on one of their camping trips. All of his stories are in the public domain, and many are available online. James's stories are often subtle, sometimes humorous, and always terrifying.

The Elliotts are not your normal Illinois family. Father and Mother sleep in coffins all day. Sister Cecy spends her time practicing astral projection and possessing the bodies of others. Uncle Einar has green wings. In the attic, the mummified Egyptian founders of the family, a pharaoh and his queen, speak in quiet whispers that sound like the rustling of leaves. Timmy, the adopted mortal son, is the only human family member.

I read this story every October. Ichabod Crane, the arrogant but kindly Yankee school master, is an intergral part of a small country community in New York in 1790. Given to superstitious beliefs and the reading of spooky books, it's no wonder he's nervous when he has to make his way home after dark through Sleepy Hollow, where the Headless Horseman has recently been sighted. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is the quintessential American ghost story.

Most Decembers, this book comes off of the shelf, and I reacquaint myself with Dickens's ghosts. One of the greatest tales of moral transformation, this story has the best literary description of hell outside of the Bible that I've ever read. There are several great film versions of this book, but read the book first!

This is one of my favorite stories from childhood, and, like two of my other childhood favorites, Brooks's "Miss Emmeline Takes Off," and Oscar Wilde's "The Selfish Giant," I tend to think about it often. I can still easily conjure images of this story that I created years ago in my mind, and the idea of taking vanishing lessons from a real ghost never loses its excitement for me.

Schwartz's three collections of ghastly stories, poems, and songs are gathered here in one volume. This tome is perfect for reading aloud at Hallowe'en parties...or alone in the dark! You can use them to very effectively terrify small children, which is one of my favorite pastimes, in and out of season.

"Don't you ever laugh as the hearse goes by, For you may be the next one to die..." Indeed.

"Saki" was the pen name of Hector Hugh (H.H.) Munro. This is one of the most fun ghost stories ever written. If you click on the link above, you can read this story online, right now.

Jacobs does so much with this short story: he creates an unsettling backdrop, explores the anxieties of the working poor, unnerves every loving parent, and creates one of the most memorable revenants in all of literature. He also scares us out of our wits, while making us think about the wisdom of wishing, or, at least, the wisdom of what we wish for, and why we want it.

Wharton's ghostly tales leave you with a sense of loss more than a sense of fear, but isn't loss the scariest thing of all? These tales are quite unsettling. Some of Wharton's ghost stories are so subtle that I've never figured out what is going on; in this sense, her stories remind me of some of Robert Aickman's ghostly fictions. Aickman, though, is a darker, grittier, more postmodern storyteller. If you want to read Aickman, start with his masterpiece, "The Same Dog."

"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea."

Poe is one of the greatest, and most underrated writers in all of American literature. Enough said.

The literature of Halloween began in a time when poets, playwrights, and storytellers told tales inspired by fear of fate, the unknown, and the inexplicable--stories about dead souls and otherworldly creatures who drifted through the dark only on Halloween, when the spirit world seemed close enough to touch. This sourcebook of Halloween lore spans British, Irish, Scottish, French, Canadian, and American literature from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, from Robert Burns, W.B. Yeats, and James Joyce to Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Wharton, and H.P. Lovecraft. Each of the poems, stories, and plays in this anthology provides a link to Halloween celebrations of the past.

Offers an in-depth study of one of America's most popular and complex holidays, tracing its history back to Celtic lore and legend, explaining how it has evolved into its current form, and exploring its various traditions.

This book examines the origins and history of Halloween and explores in depth its current global popularity. The author reveals how holidays like the Celtic Samhain and Catholic All Souls' Day have blended to produce the modern Halloween, and she shows how the holiday has been reborn in America, where costumes and trick-or-treat rituals are new customs. She takes into account the influence of related but independent holidays, especially Mexico's Day of the Dead, as well as the explosion in popularity of haunted attractions and the impact of events such as 9/11 and the global economic recession.

Works on the history of Halloween, from pre-Christian Celtic myths to early 20th century articles, entries include poems, short stories, sections from 19th and 20th century folklore books, a one-act play, Irish and Scottish folk tales, and the first book on Halloween ever published. Annotations make the original source materials more palatable for modern readers.

Why do we celebrate Halloween? No one gets the day off, and unlike all other major holidays it has no religious or governmental affiliation. A survivor of our pre-Christian, agrarian roots, it has become one of the most popular and widely celebrated festivals on the contemporary American calendar.
Jack Santino has put together the first collection of essays to examine the evolution of Halloween from its Celtic origins through its adaptation into modern culture.

Discusses the origins of some of the customs and traditions connected with Halloween and describes various ways to celebrate this holiday.

Published in 2003, The Halloween Encyclopedia was the first encyclopedic reference on the cultural phenomenon known as Halloween. The book also deals with related holidays. Updated to 2010, this second edition includes more than 50 new entries. Many existing entries have been expanded and revised. Also featured are more than a dozen new illustrations, and an expanded bibliography.