We love Halloween for many reasons. From the over-the-top, elaborate costumes and surplus of sweets to the spirited decorations and autumn-some activities like picking your perfect pumpkin. But the real Hallows Eve treat? Scary stories. We rounded up 10 Halloween-themed reads, for both kids and adults, full of adventure, fright and supernatural beings for the ultimate reading list of Halloween books to get you in the mood. After all, why wait for the October moon when you can enjoy it’s magic all year long with torrific tingling tales that ignite the Halloween spirit.
The Last Night of October (By Greg Chapman)
Gerald Forsyth dreads Halloween. Each October 31st, a lone child has knocked on his door—a nightmarish reminder of a tragedy from his past. As each Halloween came and went, Gerald has been able to keep his door locked and the monstrous memory at bay, but the ravages of emphysema have left him a disgruntled and feeble-minded old man. However, when a new hospice nurse named Kelli arrives unexpectedly to replace his regular nurse on Halloween night, Gerald is caught unaware and before he can warn her, Kelli invites the threat into his home. The horrors that unfold will be no trick and the only treat the child will accept is the old man’s soul. Before the night ends, Gerald will have no choice but to bring his dark secret into the light.
Devil’s Night (By Curtis Lawson)
It’s the night before Halloween, and all through the streets of Detroit is a burning celebration of arson and vandalism.
Devil’s Night is a unique collection of interconnected urban horror stories taking you back to October 30th, 1987. Drawing inspiration from Michigan legends such as the Nain Rouge and the Hobo Pig Lady, Lawson weaves a rich and haunting tapestry of terror and tragedy. Inside these chapters, you will find cursed vinyl records, inner-city druids, diabolical priests, and slim slivers of hope.
Greetings from Moon Hill (By Anthony Rapino)
Greetings from Moon Hill is a collection of darkly bizarre horror stories, which takes place somewhere in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Nestled between the forests and foothills of the Poconos, you’ll find the forgotten town of Moon Hill. It’s a surreal place of arcane magic and natural wonder, where a hint of autumn lingers in the air, the leaves are always turning, and the shadows grow long no matter the time of day. You might say Moon Hill is special, an eerie pocket of Americana frozen in time, filled with eccentric characters and deathly secrets that transcend reality. And like most small towns, it also has a dark side. This book is a roadmap to the lost town’s terrifying mysteries.
Doorbells at Dusk is a treasury of Halloween short story tales from both modern masters and rising stars of dark fiction, horror, and suspense. This powerhouse book delivers the thrills you crave, packed into a collection that is pure Halloween.
A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts (By J.W. Ocker)
This non-fiction gem (and only non-fiction book recommended) is a must have, and our favorite book on this list.
Salem, Massachusetts may be the coolest Halloween city on the planet. It took a single event in its 400 years of history―the Salem Witch Trials of 1692―to transform it into the Capital of Creepy in America. Every October, this small city of 40,000 boasts more than a quarter million visitors from across the globe who descend on Essex Street and surrounding areas to revel in Salem’s magical imagery.
For this reason, Edgar Award-winning writer J.W. Ocker moved his family to downtown Salem to experience firsthand A Season with the Witch, visiting all its historical sites and macabre attractions. In between, he interviews its leaders and citizens, its entrepreneurs and visitors, its street performers and Wiccans, psychics, to create a big picture of this unique place and the people who revel in its witchery.
Hell Night in Hopewell (By Wofford Lee Jones)
The Hopewell Sanatorium has plenty of history for a group of local actors to explore on their night off the stage. Once a nationally recognized tuberculosis hospital and then an asylum for the mentally unstable, Old Hopewell has long been a source of urban legends, and its spooky, abandoned hallways are perfect for the theatre group to get some Halloween thrills.
But seven friends ready for some Halloween fun go looking for a paranormal experience in the creepy Hopewell Sanitarium, they instead stumble upon something worse than anything they could have ever imagined. What these seven friends don’t know is that they’ve just encroached on someone else’s sinister territory.
The Halloween Store (By Ronald Kelly)
Seven horrific tales and two nostalgic essays… hand-picked for your Trick-or-Treat bag.
When you first enter The Halloween Store, things seem normal. Fun and frightful decorations, ghastly costumes and masks of the season, and bags of candy galore. Then, as you travel farther into its shadowy depths, things begin to change. The air smells of damp autumn leaves and candle-scorched pumpkin. The shelves of All Hallows’ Eve fare grow darker and more disturbing. Strange and unsettling things of Halloweens past and present lurk amid the cobwebs and dust.
Four trick-or-treaters purchase vintage costumes from a strip-mall shop, only to discover that they must sign a mysterious disclaimer; After a man’s missing daughter is found–near death and physically altered–he must once again face a horrifying monster from his own childhood; A teenage girl hitches a ride after a Halloween rock & roll concert, only to learn that her favorite singing idol has made a pact with the Devil himself; Three kids receive unusual treats during a Halloween stop at their favorite teacher’s house; During a random visit to his hometown, a businessman treats a young boy to the joy and excitement of a Halloween festival, only to find that things are not what they first appeared to be; A rash of ghoulish jack-o’-lanterns leads a small-town sheriff to the doorstep of one of the most notorious serial killers of all time; An advertisement in the back of an old comic book prompts two friends to place an order that they soon come to regret.
Monster Street (By J.H. Reynolds)
We highly recommend the Monster Street book series. However, book 2 of the Monster Street book series is a real “treat,” and a great book for kids and young adults.
Halloween isn’t just Fisher’s favorite holiday—it’s his obsession. So, when he’s invited to join the Halloweeners, he couldn’t be more thrilled. While trying to help them win the town’s annual trick-or-treating competition, the Halloweeners stumble upon a mysterious cauldron at an old, haunted house. After eating the irresistible candy inside it, Fisher’s new friends are all transformed into the monsters of their costumes! Now it’s up to Fisher to help return his friends to their human forms by sunrise or else they’ll be doomed to remain monsters…forever.
Hocus Pocus – The All-New Sequel (By Matt Griffen)
Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.
Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don’t quite go as planned, it’s a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches’ latest vile scheme.
The Mayor of Halloween is Missing! (By Emily S. Sullivan)
The Mayor of Halloween is Missing! is an illustrated story book for children ages 6-9 from debut author Emily S. Sullivan. It’s the story of three children who go on a quest on Halloween Night to find their missing mayor and save trick-or-treating.
Mayor Fatz has been gone for days and there are few clues to his whereabouts. He holds the missing key to the Holiday Room at Village Hall, where he is tasked with initiating the night’s festivities. Friends Charlotte, Jackson, and Charlie must follow the clues scattered throughout their small town and overcome their fears if they want to find Mayor Fatz and preserve their Halloween traditions.
There are many books you can read to make your Halloween season outstanding. But you cannot go wrong with either of these literary gems, which are guaranteed to ignite the Halloween spirit in you each October, and all year long.
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