Halloween Haunts: Tamlane and Alison Gross: Halloween Ballads by Lisa Morton

Halloween Haunts: Tamlane and Alison Gross: Halloween Ballads by Lisa Morton

Although magazines and books like to tell us that Halloween is an ancient festival with pagan roots, the truth is the holiday as we know it is really only a few centuries old, especially in terms of being a night that incorporates dark enchantments and spooky tales. Combining the Celtic Samhain with the Christian All Saints Day and All Souls Day (the latter wasn’t instituted in the Catholic Church until 998 A.D.), references to the holiday are basically nonexistent prior to the 16th century, and those few scarce mentions hardly sound at all like the holiday we love. For example,…
The Manufacturer of Sorrow by Michelle Scalise

In November: “Michelle Scalise and The Manufacturer of Sorrow”

☢ Michelle Scalise's poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines. She was nominated for the 2010 Spectrum Award which honors outstanding works of fantasy and horror that include positive gay characters and the 2000 Rhysling Award for poetry. Her fiction has received honorable mention in Years Best Fantasy and Horror and her first collection, Intervals of Horrible Insanity, was listed as one of the top ten books of 2003 by SFSite. Her fiction collection, Collective Suicide, was published by Crossroad Press in 2012. Eldritch Press has just published a collection of her poetry, The Manufacturer of Sorrow, and Michelle was gracious enough…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

Halloween Haunts: Halloween in Rockhampton by Greg Chapman

Halloween is spreading like the branches of an ancient bay tree across my hometown of Rockhampton, Australia. Last year was the first time I decided to put up a Halloween display outside my house, because, much to my amazement, the fun of the season was finally starting to rear its (decapitated) head. People really came to my house – in costume! It was truly something I never thought possible in Australia. As my friend Lisa Morton will tell you, Australia is the only English-speaking nation that hasn’t completely embraced Halloween traditions. Well, Lisa, I’m happy to report that the times,…

Halloween Haunts: Trick-or-Treating of the Dead, A True Account by T. Fox Dunham

Few of you know that I am a real zombie. It’s true. I hide it. Now, I don’t eat brains or human flesh though. I generally dress well, though my suit jacket is a bit tattered and ruined; my Allison plans to fix all that. I do stumble when I walk at times without my cane, and I still get a glazed look in my eye now and again, mostly from medications or Long Islands. Oh. And I’ve been legally dead a few times and come back, not in a messiah-way but more in a—my-heart-didn’t-know-when-to-quit-to-kind-of-way. I feel nothing as a…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

Halloween Haunts: Halloween – Derivations and Diversions by David Sakmyster

I have fond memories of my formative years playing Dungeons and Dragons and romping through some spooky forest only to come across that dreaded Will-o'-the-wisp—whatever that was. The Dungeon Master would go into the description of a bobbing spectral light, sometimes in which you could see a man’s face. Apart from these nasty critters being resistant to normal weapons and damn hard to kill, it just didn’t sound all that glamorous to say you leveled up by slaughtering some Will-o-something. But I went with it. We all did, little realizing that not only does the Will-o’-the-wisp have its origins rooted…
Halloween Haunts: It Takes A Writer: The Legacy of CJ Henderson by Patrick Thomas

Halloween Haunts: It Takes A Writer: The Legacy of CJ Henderson by Patrick Thomas

Halloween is a holiday steeped in tradition. The HWA is an organization with many traditions of its own. Arguably one of the most important is that writers should help other writers and that those with more experience should be able to help mentor writers who are just starting out or even those who are simply starting to aspire to one day be writers. No writer is born knowing everything about their craft. Each of us has to learn through trial and error what works, what doesn’t and most importantly – at least in order to continue writing – how to…
Halloween Haunts: The Betamax Horror by Tom Calen

Halloween Haunts: The Betamax Horror by Tom Calen

I got my first real taste of fear when I was four or five years old. It was the early 1980s in Brooklyn, New York, and the night, quite fittingly, was Halloween. My family had joined with three others for the annual door-to-door plea for candy, otherwise known as Trick-or-Treating[*]. All combined, there were eight children in our pack: a quartet of ten year-olds, a trio aged eight, and me--the youngest by four years and the only boy. I don’t remember much about the trick-or-treating itself, which likely means I ended the route with a healthy bag of soon-to-be cavities…
Halloween Haunts: Homemade Halloween By Doug Murano

Halloween Haunts: Homemade Halloween By Doug Murano

I always feel a mix of giddy excitement and sadness when grocery stores and department stores switch over their wares for the Halloween season. Rows of rubbery fright masks. Aisles of candy branded to sell the latest movies and toy lines. Mass-produced orange banners and black fuzzy spiders stuck to windows with Scotch tape and suction cups. Today’s rampant commercialization of Halloween (every holiday, really) was already underway by the time the mid-80’s rolled around. But I still remember the real goodies—the ones I think back upon most fondly from my childhood. Those things were always homemade. In the lead-up…
Halloween Haunts: Blood and Coffee by Alp Beck

Halloween Haunts: Blood and Coffee by Alp Beck

The dimness of the cave made it hard for the old man to see the thing’s details.  The small gelatinous mass was of indeterminate color and shape.  He squinted and poked it lightly with his cane.  Nothing happened.  He poked it again, a bit more vigorously.  Unexpectedly, the mass sprung up the length of the cane and wrapped itself around his hand, sealing it completely within its bulk as the man fell back and screamed. If that scene seems oddly familiar, it’s because it’s from the film, The Blob, the 1958 cult classic starring a teenage, Steve McQueen in his…
Halloween Haunts: What Your Costume Choices Say About You by Jennifer Brinkmeyer

Halloween Haunts: What Your Costume Choices Say About You by Jennifer Brinkmeyer

I don't know how many adults have a costume chest, but I have two. When spring cleaning rolls around, no clothes leave my house that have the potential to make a great costume someday. This is the only area in which I am a complete pack rat. Today I'll wave my freak flag, and analyze some typical costume choices through my past looks. 1. Traditional I have been a witch at least four times--for Halloween, that is (ha ha!). Choices like witch, skeleton, or vampire are traditional for a reason. What would Halloween in America be without these archetypes? People…
Halloween Haunts: Warm Regards from the Meatgrinder by Mark Onspaugh

Halloween Haunts: Warm Regards from the Meatgrinder by Mark Onspaugh

All good ghost storytellers know that, if you want to make your story truly effective, turn down the lights. But if you really want to crank up the gooseflesh, tell it by candlelight... or, better yet, firelight. When I was a kid, our Boy Scout troop would spend a week to ten days in the mountains at summer camp. The camp was in the woods, on the shores of a lake. It wasn't Crystal Lake, mind you, but I'll bet Jason Voorhees first stirred in the terror of a kid at summer camp. Halloween is one of those festivals or…
Halloween Haunts: Where Horror Lies by Loren Rhoads

Halloween Haunts: Where Horror Lies by Loren Rhoads

This time of year, when the veil is thin, is a great time to make a pilgrimage to thank our forefathers in horror. Ray Bradbury, Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California Seeing Stars says, “If you had to choose only one Hollywood cemetery to visit, Westwood Village Memorial Park would be your best bet.” In addition to all the movie stars, Westwood has its share of writers. Author of In Cold Blood  Truman Capote’s ashes are in a niche facing the cemetery entrance. The ashes of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, are in the Room of Prayer columbarium beyond Marilyn Monroe. Billy Wilder,…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween Memories by K.R. Morrison

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Memories by K.R. Morrison

I’ve just come in from pulling the cornstalks and hanging them to dry. And next week, the high school will have its annual Homecoming Parade down our street. What, you ask, does this have to do with Halloween? These two activities signal, to me, the end of summer and the start of autumn. And they are the two branches of my mindset for this time of year. I have a friend who is a Halloween nut. A couple of years ago, I told him I had cornstalks for the taking, and ever since then, it’s been a tradition for him…
Halloween Haunts: Horror Writers Association Goes to the Library

Halloween Haunts: Horror Writers Association Goes to the Library

This year, for the first time, the Horror Writers Association invited libraries to get involved with Halloween Haunts and help promote the event to their patrons. Libraries were asked to post HH announcements to their online sites, in their libraries, or to involve HH in their teen reads and literacy programs--and then submit photos of screenshots of their efforts. All libraries that participate are entered in a raffle to win one of the following prizes: Grand Prize: $100 for an in-library Halloween party or event or to support in-library literacy or creative writing programs First Prize: $50 for an in-library…
Halloween Haunts: Mass Grave by Colum Sanson-Regan

Halloween Haunts: Mass Grave by Colum Sanson-Regan

The Irish countryside is alive with spirits. On Halloween, the Celtic New Year, the thin veil between this world and the next slips. For the Celts, the year was divided in two, the bright half and the dark half. Halloween marks the beginning of that half of the year when the spirits hold dominion. The fruits of the last summer harvest were offered to the spirits so they would treat the living well during the coming dark months. In recent history, the weight has shifted and the ranks of unquiet and malign spirits has grown. The Great Famine is barely…
Halloween Haunts: The House of Hallows Eve by Anthony Crowley

Halloween Haunts: The House of Hallows Eve by Anthony Crowley

The month of October has always made me feel comforted, I recall during my childhood years the local residents of Warley County in the West Midlands would prepare and speak of exciting travelling funfairs as the Halloween season approached. Fond memories of freshly made cakes and toffee apples became a pastime which is still popular today. The change of season felt like a special homecoming. The leaves would fall and mysterious looking trees would wither with the skyline turning grey, it was a Gothic inspiration to visualise. One of the earliest memories I have about Halloween was visiting my Grandfather’s…
Halloween Haunts: Halloween Lost by Kenneth W.Cain

Halloween Haunts: Halloween Lost by Kenneth W.Cain

My daughter told me she no longer wishes to go out on Halloween night. This worried me, the thought that our children would never know Halloween night the way prior generations have. For me, Halloween was a day of empowerment. A day when you could be any superhero you wanted. When you could scare the girls by donning a wolf mask or some fangs and fake blood, and not end up getting scolded by your mother. It was a night you could run around the neighborhood unbridled, ransacking candy buckets and playing tricks without worry. Alas, times have changed. And…
Halloween Haunts: I Don’t Get Zombies by Kristina Stancil

Halloween Haunts: I Don’t Get Zombies by Kristina Stancil

Zombies. I don’t get the fascination. Aside from George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, a few scenes of Shaun of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and a handful of children’s movies where zombies play a role I have not had much interest in zombies. It is certainly has a wide fan base….especially in AMC’s The Walking Dead. Even though at least two of my friends (including my bff who is the whole reason I watched an ep) are diehard fans and after one won tickets to go to the season premier party and was extremely upset at not being able…
Halloween Haunts: The Enduring Popularity of Vampires by Michael J. McCann

Halloween Haunts: The Enduring Popularity of Vampires by Michael J. McCann

There's an ongoing fascination with vampires and the Undead, especially at Halloween. You can probably name a dozen novels and films/television series with vampire themes. Bram Stoker's Dracula set forth all of the conventions that were copied—for better or worse—by subsequent generations of writers and film-makers. The legacy of this novel has been immense. The vampire has become synonymous with horror in the popular imagination, and the concept of the “Undead” (which was the original title of the novel), an evil entity that cannot be destroyed but rises up again and again, is central to the horror genre. There have…
Halloween Haunts: Heady Ritual, Deviant Day by L. Andrew Cooper

Halloween Haunts: Heady Ritual, Deviant Day by L. Andrew Cooper

Not yet at the time of this writing, but on October 31, 2014—barring unforeseen circumstances, such as stepping into an open hole in the sidewalk and being impaled on the metalwork below—I will spend much of the day writing a short story. This year is the 22nd in a row for which my big Halloween plans are to be completely antisocial until I have produced a draft of something horrific, which I will then share with my partner and a close circle of friends and family. Not only is the voting-age status of this ritual an undeniable trump card for…