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What are your favorite books to read for Halloween season?

What are your favorite books to read for Halloween season?

Jaime #questionnaire

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364 Answers

Jessica

Coraline. It’s fantastic and creepy.

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Allegra

The Mist!

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Barbara

Nothing is better than Victorian Ghost stories.

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Jeanne-Marie

The Witching Hour by Ann Rice

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Jill

Totally agree???

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Lisa

Anything creepy. Shirley Jackson in particular.

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Jackie

Love her

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Eliza

Oh yaaaaah….for sure

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Amy

Bunnicula, a kid’s book about a pet rabbit that is believed to be a vampire. It’s hilarious!

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Alaina

The Halloween Tree!

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Leah

Practical magic

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Vivian

Frankenstein

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Judith

Twilight Series!

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Cindy

Something Wicked This Way Comes, or The Halloween Tree, both by Ray Bradbury

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Jackie

The exorcist, something wicked this way comes, the omen and Stephen king short stories

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Kelly

Anything by Susan Hill

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Vicki

The Historian

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Kerri

The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/515GI7lt-FL._SL300_.jpg

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Gwen

Love that book so much! Two little girls draw together and it’s partly about the characters they draw. Sophisticated narrative in many ways and unlike anything else I’ve read that captures children and imagination.

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Angie

Loved that book when I was a kid!

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Catherine

Don’t usually do spooky but this year I have The Turn
of the Screw on my list.

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Eliza

I haven’t read this yet but intend to soon. The Innocents is one if my top two haunted house movies of all time.

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Jackie

I liked this one!

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Jackie

I liked this one!

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Theri

Harry Potter, of course!

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Mary

Something Wicked this Way Comes.

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April

I reread the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning

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Peggy

The Gashleycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey

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Rae

Frankenstein and Dracula

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Matthew

I prefer the bible and fall books.

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Amanda

This is the time of year I pull out the haunted history type books, along with a basket of fall/Halloween books for my son.

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Marcie

Anything written or illustrated by Edward Gorey!

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Abbie

I read a new spooky novel every October. My favorite is probably Dracula.

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Rae

Have you ever read it how Stoker meant it to be read?

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Laurie

how did he mean it to be read?

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Rae

@Laurie I always gathered he meant it to be read on a dark and stormy night by candle or fire light, as electric lights were still relatively new and not in every house…It adds to the aura of it.

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Laurie

@Rae that sounds so creepy and fun!!! I’m going to do that ??

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Rae

@Laurie I love to do that with Dracula and Frankenstein. It brings out the true horror of both! Let me know what you think when you do so! ?

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Laurie

I will let you know!!!

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Abbie

Ha! Sounds fun but it might strain my eyes too much!

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Maria

Bunnicula with my kids!

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Susan

The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson ❤️

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Natalia

I love We Have AlwaysLived in the Castle. For some reason I just don’t get The Haunting of Hill House. What am I missing?

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Susan

I don’t know. I love it! I’m planning to try it on audio this year. It’s available through my library via Hoopla.

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Eliza

For lovers of Castle I must recommend Paul Tremblay’s Headful of Ghosts. Really. Take my word for it. He sits on the committee that gives out the Shirley Jackson award and is a Shirley Jackson scholar.

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Natalia

@Eliza it took me a while to get into it, but it turned out to be terrific. His newest one is The Cabin at the End of the World and it is hair raising.

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Eliza

Natalia Aponte but is cabin supernatural?

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Eliza

The scary thing about hill house, besides the perfect writing by a master, is the blend of mental emotional problems with the haunting so you are never sure what the true genesis of the haunting is. This has been copied many times now but when Jackson did it, it was a new concept. We have a deeply disturbed woman -is she being preyed upon or is she preying on everyone else?

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Natalia

@Eliza there is a very faint suggestion that one of the characters might have seen something supernatural— but the reader can’t be sure

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Natalia

@Eliza I see. I’m going to have to read it more carefully. Stephen King has said that it’s one of the best horror novels of the 20th century.

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Eliza

@Natalia does cabin have supernatural elements?

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JaimeQuestion author

@Eliza I heard about that one on Bookstagram. I meant to get it at my last Barnes and Noble trip and forgot.

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Jamie

Absolute favorite, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Also, “The Woman in Black” and this year hoping to add the new “Dracul” by Dacre Stoked as a regular spooky season read, as it will be released early in October.

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JaimeQuestion author

We read Legend of Sleepy Hollow in my literature class in high school and loved it! Still my top favorite. Thanks to Mr. Hawkins I change my books to the season. LOL

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Catherine

Stephen King!! or Harry Potter!

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Miranda

I once bought a book in the Indianapolis airport called “Haunted America” (this was in 1993). I re-read that each Fall for about 5 years.
I haven’t had a “Fall reading list” since then.
I’m excited to get some ideas here!

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JaimeQuestion author

You would like Troy Taylor. He has written a story for that book. He has put out several historical ghost stories over the years. My favorite is Season of the Witch based on the Bell Witch of Tennessee. He has several of Illinois (he is also an IL native), Chicago, and St. Louis. You might check him out.

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Miranda

@Jaime thank you! I will definitely check these out.

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Susie

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ann Rice’s Interview with a Vampire

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Gwen

Just learned that there is a “new” edition

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Michael

So many, but I tend to return to Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Works of Poe, and the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz if you can find editions with the insanely horrifying and terrific illustrations by Stephen Gammel, (a lifetime’s worth of nightmare fuel to be had there).

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Bill

Wait for Halloween. It’s only September 1.

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Melissa

But so many Halloween books ?

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Andi

Close enough!

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Mysti

Something Wicked this Way Comes.

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Ceili

The Halloween tree

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Rachel

Tangled Webs, by Anne Bishop

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Ada

Lovecraft and Poe stories!

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Gayle

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

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Laura

My 3 year old was obsessed with this book for months. She has finally calmed down about it thankfully! lol

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Genie

The art of the deal

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Ashley

This comment wins the internet today ?

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Shelly

THAT IS a horror story!

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Eliza

Boom!

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Lanelle

I can not “like” this enough! ?

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Janice

Dracula, Frankenstein of course, also “The Raven”, spooky folk tales, ghost stories.

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Mariah

Halloween Tree

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Julie

The Shining

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Shelly

MISTS OF AVALON. I celebrate Samhain, not Halloween.

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Shelly

…but I will start reading, and watching scary stuff now. I can’t start too early.

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Andi

Me too!

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Steve-Kristen

Dracula

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Jen

I read the Haunting of Hill House 2 years ago for Halloween and that book still gives me nightmares. I also just saw they’re making it into a Netflix series.

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Ronda

the 1963 film version is terrifying!

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Chris

@Ronda I think I need to look this up, so many people mentioned it. Have you read it?

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Eliza

Whaaaat? There was a superb, perfect movie made in 1963. I wish they would leave perfection alone.

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Eliza

@Chris it is the single finest haunted house novel of all time.

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Ronda

@Chris I have not read it, I’m still traumatized from seeing the movie when I was 13 or so!!

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Mary

Bunnicula

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Leeann

13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey by Kathryn Tucker Windham

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Kristen

Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic

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Charlotte

THe lIttle Stranger

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Sandra

The Haunting of Hill @House

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Becky

It’s always Halloween if you read any of the Nocture Falls books by Kristen Painter

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Dori

The Hallo-weiner by Dav Pilkey

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Amanda

Following

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Amanda

Almost any Stephen King story

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Beth

Frankenstein by Mary @Shelley

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Jennie

Trying out “Robert the Devil” now. So far so good

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Brie

It’s a children’s book but I love Jennifer,Hecate,Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E.L. Koningsburg

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Gwen

Loved that!

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Karen

Something Wicked This Way Comes

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Betsy

Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree.

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Debbie

Years ago wherever we were on our family vacation, we’d visit a bookstore or state park gift shop where we could always find a book of local ghost stories to read around the campfire. My son and nephew loved this tradition.

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Erin

The Haunting of Hill House.

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Vicki

That terrified me when I was 13. It was also a movie back then — so scary. A remake of the movie came out years ago featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was terrible — not even scary. The effects were really cheesy.

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Erin

There is one movie version that’s REALLY good – not the one with Vincent Price, which was also very cheesy, but another black and white version from the 60s. I think it’s called the House on Haunted Hill maybe?

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Vicki

I just looked them up on Wikipedia. The Haunting is the black and white movie I saw when I was 12 or 13 in Indiana– it was really frightening. Strong cast. That’s the one you are referring to. That movie and the 1999 remake with Zeta-Jones House are based on the Shirley Jackson story. House on Haunted Hill was the Vincent Price movie that came out around 1959. At this moment, I am glad it’s daylight outside…

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Erin

@Vicki I think the one that terrified you is the one I was referring to as being really good – scariest movie I’ve ever seen and followed the book really well, even quoting that terrifying first paragraph: “and whatever walked there walked alone.” ?

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Vicki

??????

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Carol

The Shadow of the Wind ,Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Melissa

A Night in the Lonesome October

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Sharon

“The Halloween Tree” by Ray Bradbury is suitable for adolescents. Good read…

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Melissa

I did this for my adult book club a few years ago. A couple thought it was inappropriate for children. I didn’t think it was any more macabre than Roald Dahl which I devoured as a kid

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Sharon

I thought of it as a story about friendship, learning about other cultures.

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Suzan

Good ghost story. Middle grade or YA novel.

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Melissa

I loved Avi as a kid ?

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Suzan

Picture book I frequently read with my children, and a good one for Halloween.

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Janice

I read The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff thinking it was a scary story. It’s not scary, it’s an odd story line, and a good read, I really enjoyed it, even if I didn’t feel scared.

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Laura

Pet Semetary

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Chris

That book freaked me out for years. I’m tempted to try again, and see how it feels now.

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Marilyn

Scariest book ever!

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Teresa

Anything by Edgar Allen Poe.

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Billie

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, Miss Pereguine’s Home for Peculiar Children (series) and Coraline by Neil Gaiman

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Kristin

The Hound of the Baskervilles

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Connie

I was just thinking of a good Halloween to-Read list. I’m thinking:
Interview with a Vampire
Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers
And Salem’s Lot

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Susan

Edgar Allen Poe ?

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Allyson

Her Fearful Symmetry

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Susan

For the little ones: The Spooky Old Tree by Berenstain

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Michele

The Haunting of Hill House

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Eliza

Oh yeah…

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Joel

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie
Hound of the Baskervilles
Miss Peregrine series by Ransom Riggs

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JaimeQuestion author

Halloween party is to be read soon pile.

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Karen

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker

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Julia

Neil Gaiman.

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Sherrie

Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

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Janice

I couldn’t even finish this book

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Vicki

That was such a well written, evocative and suspenseful story.

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Janice

I agree with you, but at the time, I found the suspense too much for me.

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Cindy

SO scary.

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Katie

??? Agreed. Harvest Home was chilling

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Michelle

The House On Haunted Hill !

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Eliza

You mean The Haunting of Hill House? Superb!

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Vicki

Shirley Jackson sure knew how to write. So scary!

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Michelle

Or I should say… The Haunting of Hill House

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Chris

This is mentioned many times in this string. I’m going to have to look it up.

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Natalia

The movie is coming soon.

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Eliza

Natalia Aponte what movie? There was a superb movie in 1963 and a horrible crappy one in 1999.

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Eliza

Chris Hammond this is the single best haunted house book ever written

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Natalia

@Eliza I think it’s Netflix. Should be coming out soon.

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Natalia

@Eliza https://ew.com/tv/2018/08/27/the-haunting-of-hill-house-premiere-date-first-look/. Apparently it’s coming out next week!

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Eliza

Natalia Aponte I wish people would leave perfection alone. The 1963 movie is fantastic.

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Natalia

@Eliza I’ll have to check it out – I haven’t seen it. You know, I liked the book ok, but not the way most people do. I’ll have to read it again.

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Eliza

@Natalia the movie makes a few changes to the book with the scientists wife. The changes make the movie scarier.

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Vicki

@Eliza I saw the original back then when I was 13. Scared the bejabbers out of me. Great cast.

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Eliza

@Vicki me too. Scared me crazy at a young age. As did the film The Innocents.

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Jennifer

I’m saving Dracula for the first time this fall, Halloween. I first read Frankenstein last year in October and it is one of my all-time favorites.

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Bernadette

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving.

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Vicki

I was just going to suggest that. Read it to my students.

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Laura

Dracula, Legend of Sleepy Hollow

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Marie

Something Wicked This Way Comes- Ray @Bradbury

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Kay

Yes.

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Jennifer

So creepy….

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Lori

Dracula. I’ve never read The Exorcist, so I’ll be doing that this year.

A few short stories I enjoy around Halloween: Young Goodman Brown, Sop Doll, The Monkey’s Paw, and The Black Cat.

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Laura

I can’t believe I forgot about Poe!

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Terry

I read “The Exorcist” when I was 12. Not a good idea.

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Lori

@Terry I love the movie. I’m betting the book is better. I love horror. I like being scared.

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Bonnie

@Lori a good short story for fall is the Damned Thing by Ambrose Bierce

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Lori

@Bonnie Thank you!

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Andrea

Something Wicked this way comes. Classic Ray Bradbury.

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Dalia

The Legend of Sleeping Hollow and Dracula ?‍♂️

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Teresa

Dracula or The Winter People.

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Cynthia

The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything
By Linda Williams

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Lori

It’s Halloween by Jack Prelutsky. Scholastic Books. Copyright 1977.

Swiped as a child from my mom’s First Grade classroom. There are 12 short poems in it. I’m 44, but still read it every year.

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Pam

I used to read “Bunnicula” to my students

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Melissa

My boys loved this series.

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Judy

Something Wicked This way Comes

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Elizabeth

I’m reading The Little Leftover Witch to my daughter. It was one of my favorites when I was young.

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Gwen

Omg I mentioned that below. LOVE.

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Gwen

@Elizabeth omg yes it’s quite amazing. I mean rationally you know you’re not the only person to read the book but.. to MEET one? Wow!

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Lori

“The Green Ribbon”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_3PIkV2anqk#

Anyone remember this from “In a Dark, dark room”? ???

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Sandra

One of my ghost story hits. I was walking outdoors near the library one day when a kid lowered himself from a tree, said, “And her head fell off”, and sauntered away.

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Leigh

The Graveyard Book

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Stephanie

I’m planning on reading Dracula this October! ?‍♂️

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Barbara

Something Wicked this Way Comes

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Sandra

The uninvited by Dorothy Macardle published in 1941, made into a terrific movie, 1944

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Eliza

Loved this!

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Sandra

Read it in the 70’s after watching the film, Spent a small fortune to buy a copy about 20 years ago, & snapped up the criterion film when it was issued.

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Lori

I never knew it was a book. Thanks for mentioning it!

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Lori

I have it on DVD. Someone made me a copy from an old VHS tape.

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Kay

The shining

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Keri

PenPal

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Prudence

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Frankenstein.

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Char

The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

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Kathy

Teaching Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle. My favorite kids’ book is The Witch’s Broom.

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Eliza

If you like Castle then I recommend Paul Tremblay’s Headful of Ghosts. He is on the Jackson award committee and did a perfect little tribute.

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Susan

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

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Melissa

Last year I read the Winter People by Jennifer McMahon, it was excellent. My favorite to read to my kids was One Halloween Night by Mark Teague.

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Stephanie

Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree!

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Megan

A Discovery of Witches!

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Sheryl

The Halloween Tree by Bradbury, and Kings The Dark Half.

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Peggy

Room on the Broom for my preschool class.

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Bonnie

Ambrose Bierce, H P Lovecraft

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Jim

The Potter books. And some Poe.

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Pamela

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is creeptastic!

Coraline by Neil Gaiman is wonderful….so is his The Graveyard Book…..

Anything by Edgar Allen Poe…

Anything by Stephen King….

And I TOTALLY AGREE with ANYTHING ILLUSTRATED BY EDWARD GOREY…..

Yessssssss……..

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Andi

I read House of Leaves last October, absolutely loved it!

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Michelle

Yes! House of Leaves!

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Leeann

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and ANYTHING by Mary Downing Hahn.

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Laurel

The Graveyard Book was good.

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Laurel

Every year my husband and I listen to a book together during October. Frankenstein and Dracula were both great!
Last year our son joined us for Lovecraft stories. Creeeepy.
I think this year we are going to listen to Edith Wharton ghost stories!

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Vicki

I read HP Lovecraft as a teenager. Really creepy. The paperback book covers were extra creepy.

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Sarah

Dracula!

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Adelle

Edgar Alan Poe

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Patti

Harry Potter

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Trish

Frankenstein

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Linda

Practical Magic

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Jennifer

Dracula

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Cindy

I also really like Updike’s The Witches of Eastwick.

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Regena

All of Poe (and I like to see productions of his works, too). Neil Gaiman’s Coraline….

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Jeanette

Ray bradbury’s Halloween Tree – be sure to get the edition with the woodcut illustrations!

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Erica

Frankenstein, Dracula, and anything by Poe.

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Chip-Lori

Wendy Webb—she is masterful at creating atmosphere!

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Dawn

The October Country. I love Ray Bradbury.

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Kimberly

Dawn, question. I just read Something Wicked This Way Comes, my first Bradbury novel. Although I enjoyed the storyline idea, I found the book slow and hard to get into. I didn’t care for the writing style and thought it would work more for poetry than a novel.
My question is, are his other books written in a similar style as Something Wicked… or are they different and therefore I should give another one a try. Thanks. ?

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Dawn

They’re short stories so they’re written in that style. Give it a try. It’s dated but still good.

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Murray

Something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury.

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Judy

Reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Would make a great read for Halloween or any time!

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Jane

Still love Harry Potter, The Sorcerer’s Stone.

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Gracie

War of the Worlds, and the accompanying DVD from Mercury Theatre.

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Anne

Edgar of course ?

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Shakuntala

Any collection of ghost stories by M.R.James.

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Denise

I love those old classic ghost stories too.

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Shakuntala

Yes! They lend the kind of spookiness that only James can provide, right? 🙂

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Denise

@Shakuntala Yes, the atmosphere is definitely spooky. And the hauntings are subtly chilling.

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Andi

Sleepy Hollow

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Karina

Not a book… but a poem. The Cremation of Sam McGee. Several lines I love.
Talk of your cold, through the parkas fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
(Talking about a corpse) at times I’d sing to the hateful thing and it harkened with a grin.
And then I took a hike for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so.
I guess he’s cooked and its time I looked…

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Bonnie

And the dogs were fed and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel to toe …. I love Service

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Jamie

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King.

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Vicki

I’ve read both of those. Really good.

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Eliza

If you like Castle then you should read Paul Tremblay’s Head Full of Ghosts. His tribute to Jackson and that one in particular.

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Katie

I just finished Head Full of Ghosts ?

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Eliza

@Katie really good no?

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Katie

@Eliza so good. Disturbing in a “under your skin” kind of way. I had to make myself stop thinking about it!

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Jamie

Looking forward to putting this on my October TBR! Thanks for the suggestion!

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Mags

I read a different classic horror story (published at least 50 years previously) every October. This year it will be Something Wicked This Way Comes (Bradbury). As for my favorite, it’s a tie: Dracula (Stoker) and Frankenstein (Shelley).

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Jessica

Following

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Regina

Ray Bradbury “Something Wicked This Way Comes”

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Jess

I usually pick a Stephen King I haven’t read yet.

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Frances

The Headless Horseman.

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Lisa

Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde

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Abbie

Great one, and short too.

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Gwen

Books from childhood: spook, about a witch’s camiliar that is a dog that fell off a broom , by Jane Little; the little leftover witch, about a girl witch that falls off a broom and is taken in by a family (only when reading as an adult did I see the allegory to adoption and cried); suddenly… a witch, about a girl who has a cold and can’t go to a Halloween party until her cat Magicks her a broom and an invisibility spell.

https://www.amazon.com/Spook-Jane-Little/dp/0689714173

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Kerri

I think you and I had the same reading list? Also, Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett and The 13th is Magic by Joan Howard.

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Gwen

@Kerri yes little witch! But I don’t know the other! Putting on TBR list!

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Shirley

The Witches, then I watch the movie, Angelica Huston is the best as the witch!?‍♀️

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Gwen
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Gwen
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Gwen
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Kerri

I loved this little book❤️

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Gwen

@Kerri I bought it as a teen and still have my copy. Among other things nostalgic for days when children went out and trick or treated at night by themselves!

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Gwen

And let’s just say G-d Bless eBay and Amazon used books! It’s all there!

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Gwen

Also The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

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Amanda

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. By. John Berenot. Any mystery novel by. Agatha Christie, or poems by. Edgar Allen Poe. ???

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Vista-Kay

Shirley Jackson! Love her work. I always go back to Poe.

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Velma

Salems Lot.

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Renee

I think I’m going to finally finish Harry Potter and start again at the beginning. ❤️

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Susan

The Shining

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Molly

Deadbeat by Jim Butcher. One of my favorite books of the Dresden Files.

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Kristy

Dracula, Frankenstein, and Edgar Allen Poe’s writings.

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Elaine

Porkenstein

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Bethie

Coraline, it’s a little bit scary and so much fun!

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Amy

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Poe short stories.

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Nina

Anything by Edgar Allan Poe

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Margaret

A lot of Stephen King..and, of course, Edgar Allan Poe!!

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Melanie

The Turn of the Screw.

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Lori

Loved this book in Elementary school. ?

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Lori

I still have this one. It was a Weekly Reader book.

4
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Angie

I have this one too (inherited it from a great-aunt when she passed).

1
Lori

Loved all the Georgie books. Author is Robert Bright. Old fashioned, but maybe certain types of kids today will enjoy it.

5
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Angie

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde; both The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving; anything by Ruth Chew makes me nostalgic for childhood halloween.

2
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Toni

In the Haunted House, by Eve Bunting

3
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Toni

And for grownups, a new one, Melmoth, by Sarah Perry.

0
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Katie

I saw someone mentioned Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon– very chilling– also The Other by the same author. Whew!

2
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Toni

The Other was very creepy.

1
Vicki

Both really creepy, atmospheric, and fantastic.

1
Denise

I like Halloween themed short stories. A good place to start is the anthology Halloween, editor Paula Guran. ? Also, Guran edits The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror. I think there are nine volumes so far.?

2
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Ryan

Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

3
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Cristina

Faulkner is a pretty creepy fellow. I also enjoy King and Joe Hill.

0
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Nancy

Seasons don’t affect my reading choices, whatever I happen to be reading! Movies is where I watch seasonal!!!

1
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Joel

In that case, for Halloween I recommend the Audrey Hepburn thriller Wait Until Dark

1
Nancy

@Joel seen it a million times!!

1
Theresa

The Tell-Tale Heart

8
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Ashley

Oh I remember listening to the audiobook of that in eighth grade, and it gave me the creeps! Poe will always be a master of horror!

0
LauraEddy

I always read Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked this Way Comes.

3
Reply
Hunter

Robert McCammon’s USHER’S PASSING and other McCammon books.

0
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Cynthia

Witches

2
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Teresa

The Halloween Tree.

3
Reply
Rhonda

Bram Stoker’s Dracula ?‍♂️

3
Reply
Amy

Everything John Saul

1
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Linda

Don’t read anything special for Halloween.

0
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Chester

The outsider

3
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Susan

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving . Also “The House of Seven Gables” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

6
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May

.

0
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LauraEddy

Ghost Story by Peter Straub

2
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Lolita

In a Dark Dark Room. Silence of the Lambs. Misery.

2
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Toni

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned here, but someone just recommended it on another thread: Ghost Story by Peter Straub.

2
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Jewel

I try to read one classic horror book (that I haven’t read) every October. I’ve only done it for 4 years, but I’ve read Frankenstein, Dracula, The Shining, and The Haunting of Hill House. I’ll probably read some Lovecraft this year.

4
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Abbie

I do the same thing! I also recommend The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

1
Sheree

Not much of a horror reader but I love children ‘ stories, Room on the Broom is a favorite, not necessarily Halloween, but it has a witch.

3
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Regina

Also, Georgie and Georgie’s Halloween

1
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Laurie

Harry Potter

0
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Regina

The Ghost of Nicholas Greebe

1
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Grace

Following

0
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Rachael

The frankly massive short story collection, The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Over 1000 pages and more than 100 short stories from authors like Lovecraft, Bradbury, George R.R. Martin, Octavia E. Bulter, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, and many, many others. I haven’t started it, but I hope to read one story every night of October.

4
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Cynthia

Old school “Goosebumps”

4
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Ashley

Carrie by Stephen King! It’s my favorite of his books!

3
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Alexa

Anything by Stephen King

3
Reply
Michelle

.

0
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Dulcie

The Halloweiner.

1
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Sheri

bunnicula

1
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Kate

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and anything Poe.

2
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Andi

A great collection for $1!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B016CFGT60/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

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Toni

There’s another thread on this topic in here, some of the suggestions are the same but there are probably different ones as well.

0
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Jane

Just read Mr. Mercedes. It’s first in a trilogy. O Boy!

2
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Toni

A very odd one that I read a couple of years ago is Horrorstör, by Grady Hendrix. It is a satire based on an Ikea catalog, and it looks like – and starts out feeling like – it might be classified as humor, but it’s one of the creepiest books I’ve ever read.

2
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Jennifer

I plan on reading “House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski. I’ve heard it’s awesome and quite scary.

2
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Andi

It’s brilliant!

1
Margaret

Jumanji!!!

1
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Beth

Libby Bray’s The Diviners is quite good.

0
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Elaine

Patricia High Smith’s Mr. Ridley books are entertaining and absolutely hair-raising, especially Ripley Under Ground and Ripley Underwater.

3
Reply
Rosari

Bunnicila! Always my class read-aloud!

9
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Diane

The celery stalks at midnight!

2
Pat

Edgar Allen Poe

4
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Arpie

I do a live storyteller version of “Telltale Heart” at the local historical house tour every other year or so!

1
Angela

Drood by Dan @Simmons

1
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Carol

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

4
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Arpie

Washington Irving is fun.

2
Arpie

A Night in the Lonesome October (novella) by Roger Zelazny

2
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Melissa

My favorite ?

1
Alisa

I read Skeleton Creek to my 6th graders. It’s billed as, “Blair Witch Meets the X-Files’….scares the crap out of ’em and they love it!

2
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Sherri

My fifth graders loved Skeleton Creek.

1
Carla

Christine by S. King

1
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Jillian

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray @Bradbury

6
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Fran

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. A YA book, but I love it!

4
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Laura

It steven king

1
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Laura

I love Halloween.. Ghost stories. I love short stories anyway and many celebrated writers have written a good ghost story. As far as novels,, Salems Lot by Stephen King and Ghost Story by Peter Straub. I liked Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

1
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Laurie

Laura Barton- are there any short Ghost stories you would recommend?

0
Eliza

I can recommend Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts colleciton

2
Laura

@Laurie most are from short story collections. I read one that Truman capote wrote that was really spooky. But if you are looking for one book that has all creepy stories. Id say “Cold Hand in Mine” by Robert Aickman and “the haunted looking glass” ghost stories collected by Edward Gorey

2
Cindy

I read a lot to my Grandkids..Little Critter, Room on the Broom, The Little Old Woman who wasn’t afraid of Anything…

3
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Elizabeth

Love Room on the Broom!

0
Cindy

@Elizabeth have you read Piggie Pie? It’s the companion book to Room on the Broom.

0
Elizabeth

@Cindy, no, I’ll look for it, thanks!

0
Judy

My children loved a little book called The Leftover Witch

4
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Rebecca

The Shining by Stephen King

3
Reply
Lisa

Harry Potter series!

2
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Roz

Also his other book, The Other. Scary.

3
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Misty

I plan on reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in celebration of its 200th Anniversary!

5
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Andi

One of my favorites!

1
Sandra

Mine too!

1
Susan

Big, big pumpkin

2
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Linda

Following as I need a book set on Halloween for my 2018 Pop Sugar challenge.

2
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Stephanie

Telltale heart, The fall of the house of usher, Legend of sleepy hollow, Interview with a vampire.

2
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Anne

Casting the Runes and Other Ghost Stories by M. R. James

1
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