Halloween Haunts: Truth or Scare
by AJ Danna
“Every year, on one special night, people all over the world find fun… in fear. For most of us, Halloween is the night for fright, complete with costumes, trick-or-treating, and more candy than you can ever eat. But, did you ever wonder where all of these different traditions come from?”
These are just a few of the tantalizing words that drew my elementary-aged self closer to my family’s 13-inch TV, clinging to the host’s mysterious tone. Though I was an avid viewer who tuned in weekly to learn about new curious subjects, the Halloween special was bound to be particularly poignant. For a rare moment, I stopped poring through a seasonal Oriental Trading catalog brimming with Halloween decorations, the voice from the screen successfully holding my undivided attention. That ominous host was a teenaged Michelle Trachtenberg… and the show was Truth or Scare.
In February of 2025, the world shockingly lost Trachtenberg at the age of 39. When the news reached social media, her legacy among mourning genre fans generally celebrated her appearance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The select few who remember her time as the host of Truth or Scare, however, will remember her timelessly stoic delivery of the show’s edutainment-focused horror stories. In spite of its limited single-season run on the Discovery Kids network, Truth or Scare left an undeniable impact on me, while its young host left a Daytime Emmy Award–winning introduction to the genre for young fans everywhere. Upon Trachtenberg’s tragic passing, I revisited Truth or Scare as an adult, and took time to reflect on the role that early 2000s media played in shaping my voice as a horror storyteller.
I was fortunate to be raised in a spiritual household, where my single mother’s tarot cards and books on paranormal phenomena seemed as normal as an everyday household essential. I was equally fortunate that she allowed me to join her for late night viewings of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? before Truth or Scare, the stylistically similar derivative intended for younger audiences, had even premiered. Both shows offered a mysterious glimpse into fascinating and fear-inducing topics apt to tickle any young mind: hauntings, witchcraft, unsolved mysteries, and… of course… the mythic traditions of Halloween. It was not unusual to encounter these subjects in mainstream media over the course of a few pre-Halloween weeks in October; it was, however, highly unusual to encounter them throughout the year.
This is, I believe, one major reason that Halloween captures the imagination of children: for many, it’s the only time of year that they are provided a socially acceptable path to explore parts of a larger global culture that aren’t typically explored on a day-to-day basis. Even if you, yourself, were an avid Goosebumps or Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark reader, I’d venture a guess that the majority of your classmates were more inclined to pick up The Saddle Club series at the Scholastic Book Fair. Heck, even if you were once the Saddle Club kid, you wouldn’t be reading this page now if you hadn’t been corrupted somewhere along the road!
To put it another way, your presence here today indicates that you eventually grew curious to peek at the dark things you now embrace year-round in your adult life and career. Perhaps the pink covers just didn’t sit with you after 3rd grade; perhaps the grungy, greyscale illustrations from Scary Stories were the ones that remained behind your eyelids as you attempted to sleep beneath the glowing plastic stars stuck to your popcorn ceiling. Similar to their fluorescent green glow synonymous with the 1990s, how else do young minds have a chance to expand if they aren’t given a gentle light to explore the dark? Truth or Scare helped light that path for me.
The early 2000s also produced Encyclopedia Horrifica, a shadowy tome reminiscent of the DK Eyewitness Books frequently cited as
exemplary edutainment from a bygone era. In fact, both Truth or Scare and Encyclopedia Horrifica may classify as belonging to the nostalgic “Utopian Scholastic” aesthetic, described by the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute as “depicting the most basic and identifiable depictions of forms and concepts for quick comprehension.” Like Encyclopedia Horrifica, Trachtenberg’s tone across Truth or Scare was menacing, yet enticing; it was edgy, yet educated. It is reasonable to say that my voice as a writer was shaped by the voices I heard depicting these chilling concepts before me.
Through my work as a creative contractor for Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, the world’s largest Halloween entertainment company, I am consistently granted access to famous (and infamous) sandboxes to build stories in. One such assignment involved summarizing decades of ghost stories from the world’s most haunted ship; it’s surreal to say that my writing now appears in displays on board The Queen Mary, in her Spirits of Dark Harbor museum and lounge… decades after Truth or Scare showcased the ship’s early 2000s Halloween festivities. Another recent highlight was spinning an immersive twist on the true account of Harry Houdini visiting the Winchester Mystery House, two days before Halloween in 1924, retold exclusively for a new seasonal event held at the legendary estate. As the script writer for “Harry Houdini Presents: Do Spirits Return?” at Festival Fright Nights, my exciting task was to fill in the gaps of history with enough horror fiction to leave even the most hardened skeptics questioning what is truth and what is scare.
Of course, my frightful fiction has a place to live on its own, too; my Utopian Scholastic–inspired horror short, “Unnatural Wonders,” recently appeared in Doors of Darkness III: The Mall from Terrorcore Publishing. Combining the collective nostalgia for edutainment with a youthful curiosity to seek out subjects that lurk in the shadows of traditional classrooms remains one of my strongest passions as a storyteller. It’s a true honor and a privilege to think that a young explorer may be learning about The Queen Mary’s haunted history, or Harry Houdini’s fascination with the Winchester Mystery House, by way of my writing. Who might these stories inspire? How many dozens of others will be telling them long after I do? Though my voice is just one of many, I remain grateful that I’m given opportunities to contribute to the larger horror edutainment narrative for the next generation, during spooky season and beyond. I also couldn’t have done it without Truth or Scare. Thanks, Michelle. Happy Halloween.
AJ Danna is a member of the Horror Writers Association who works as a show writer for theme parks and haunted attractions, including Elvira’s Trick or Treat Mayhem at Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, Festival Fright Nights at Winchester Mystery House, and The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor. AJ’s literary work encompasses both writing and narrating audiobooks for Terrorcore Publishing. As an actor, AJ’s projects have included interactive experiences for brands like Stranger Things, Dungeons & Dragons, Batman, and Trick ‘r Treat. Outside of writing and acting, AJ enjoys collecting LEGO minifigures and playing pinball. ajdanna.com