HALLOWEEN HAUNTS: INTERVIEW WITH A HORROR-LOVING CHILD by Eric J. Guignard and Devin Guignard   I sat down to write this blog post, and—as I do before any writing—I read a bit on the subject matter, what others before me have written about. I wanted to put out something different that hadn’t been covered by other HWA members, and so as I skimmed through the blog posts I noted similar themes, many looking back at Halloween myths and family traditions and sweet memories. Man, I’ve got a lot of those too, and reading of others’ past experiences brought a number … The post HALLOWEEN HAUNTS: I ..read more

Halloween Haunts: On Being a Halloween Expert by Lisa Morton   “How did you become a Halloween expert?” At this point in my life, I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve answered that question; I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve done it over the last few months. We might as well get it out of the way here: I never planned to be a Halloween expert, and really fell into it almost by accident. Back around 2001, I’d just finished a film book for the publisher McFarland & Co., Inc. and because we’d had … The post Halloween Haunts: On Being a Halloween Expert by Lisa Morton app ..read more

Halloween Haunts: The Wolf Girl of Portsmouth, Rhode Island by L. E. Daniels   “‘Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!’” That’s Dad, performing Bram Stoker in a well-oiled accent. Howls rolled slowly across the walls and I felt each one weave up the legs of my chair and along the rungs of my ribs. Secretly, I levitated at the kitchen table. Every Halloween through the seventies and eighties, Dad propped speakers against the windows and the needle crackled with The Language and Music of the Wolves. One side is narrated by Robert Redford…but … The post Halloween H ..read more

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Reading by Kevin Wetmore My non-horror friends always get a little excited that they can relate to me better for a few weeks. “We’re watching some scary movies this week,” I am told. Or, “I’m going to read a horror novel.” And I am genuinely happy that they are willing to embrace the dark even for this brief period. I am happy to give recommendations and congratulate them for watching a scary movie in October or picking up a horror novel around Halloween. But, my friends, we are the Halloween People. We read scary stuff all year … The post Halloween Haunts: Hallowee ..read more

Halloween Haunts: The Last Trick or Treat by Alison Armstrong The last time I went trick or treating was the moment I realized my childhood was fading. Every year I looked forward to the magic of Halloween, a time when monsters (Dracula, the Wolfman, and their ilk) emerged from their protective lairs and roamed the neighborhood streets in childlike form. Often nearby cousins would join me in the celebration. Afterwards, as we gathered at my house and compared our sugary loot from the evening, we would start planning our next year’s costume. Much more than the candy I collected, however, … The ..read more

Halloween Haunts: How to be Safe in the Cemetery by Loren Rhoads   One foggy summer day, I explored the historic cemeteries a mile outside of Pescadero, California. The grass was ankle-high on the Protestant side, but over my knees on the Catholic side. Holes the size of juice glasses riddled the ground, but I never saw a mouse or gopher poke his head out. Where there is prey, there will be predators. I kept an eye out for snakes. When I could, I walked on the graves’ copings. I’d nearly finished my exploration and was headed cross-country down the … The post Halloween Haunts: How to be S ..read more

Halloween Haunts: Our Love Story as Told by Halloween by Jessica Hobbs   As my husband and I approach our anniversary of seventeen years together – an unusually long time for a pair of artists still in their 30s – I can’t help but look back on all we’ve been through, from touring gigs to Hollywood dreams to a broken marriage healed through tenacity and witchcraft, and notice how Halloween tells the story of the people we’ve become.   There are no seasons in Los Angeles. For some, the mild climate is the point of living here, but for me, a … The post Halloween Haunts: Our Love Story a ..read more

Halloween Haunts: The Ghost with the Ruby, Ruby Lips by Naching T. Kassa   A few years ago, during Halloween Haunts, I shared one of my most favorite scary stories with you. It was, “The Ghost with One Bloody Finger.” https://horror.org/halloween-haunts-the-ghost-with-one-bloody-finger-by-naching-t-kassa/). In that post, I talked about my love of scary stories and how the kids in my small, rural elementary school loved it. I also mentioned two other stories. The first was an oldie but a goodie, “The Man with the Golden Arm,” and the other was today’s story, “The Ghost with the Ruby, Ruby ..read more

Halloween Haunts: A Halloween Poem by Maxwell I Gold     The Castle Ephialtes By: Maxwell I. Gold   A stronghold built at the peak of my contemptuous thoughts; haunted delusions fused together like steel rods composed that most ancient structure built when man’s waning primordia waxed soft under a dim moonlight. Always the keep loomed tall and great, swaying ever so gently in the black muted night, teasing me to approach its haughty gates. Walls climbed treacherously high, bristled tops of cracked stone and chipped marble stacked over one another like forgotten corpses trampled ..read more

Halloween Haunts: Thing That Make You Go “Hmmm…” by L. Marie Wood We speak of the dead in past tense and positives. We dress for them in ceremony and as protection. We offer them food, plant trees in their honor, name celestial clusters after them. We ameliorate, machinate, gyrate, lie prostrate in the hopes that we can appease them, calm their souls so they favor us, smile on us… do any and all so they don’t haunt us. But what do they think? Do the dead balk when considering Samhain?  Do they smile at our ignorance to think that we … The post Halloween Haunts: Thing That Make You Go “Hmm ..read more