Article by Sydney Loder
Halloween traditions range from getting to wear a costume, go trick or treating or to the movies to watch thrillers/horror movies, and getting read your favorite horror stories. Individuals have become well equipped with scary tales and novels through reading short stories and books, but where have they heard them from? Teachers of course! Another Halloween tradition is for English teachers to host one class where they read students tales of horror ranging from Edgar Allen Poe to Shirley Jackson. Some of students favorite Halloween tales include:
The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
In the famous short story, The Tell Tale Heart, an unreliable narrator details the circumstances that led him to killing an old man. He explains how his actions were measured and necessary rather than being maniacal and psychotic. The old man that he kills is said to have an "evil eye" because of its paleness in color and the fear it evokes. The narrator puts the man in the floorboards, and when the police come to ask questions, he welcomes them in, and even sits to talk with them at the crime scene. He soon starts to hear a thumping, and believes it to be the heart of the old man he killed. As the thumping gets louder, the narrator begins to panic more. Soon he believes that the police can also hear this thumping and through his panic, he confesses to his crimes.
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Every year on June 27 in a small town, the yearly lottery takes place. This lottery includes an old shabby box and slips of paper, which every family receives when their name is called to the stage. On one of the slips of paper there is a single black dot, if your family receives this dot they must regroup on the stage where the papers will be redistributed. In the case of Tessie Hutchinson, whose family received the black dot, and then who again received the black dot after the slips were redistributed, there was little excitement. The lottery in itself is not a joy to win, rather it entails being killed, specifically by stones thrown from all the other individuals in the village.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
When main character, Louis Creed, steps on his new property for the first time, pain immediately begins to follow him. This is due to one of his children falling and scraping their knee while the other gets stung by a bee. This pattern of violence continues with Louis when a university student he was hosting dies by being hit by a car. Louis then dreams that this student takes him to the pet cemetery but gives him a warning. This warning was to not go beyond the wooden deadfall behind the cemetery, the Micmac burial ground. This burial ground brings living beings back from the dead, but they are different, as if being possessed. In Kings novel, Louis battles back and forth with bringing people back from the dead, which instead begins to create more violence than good.
In the Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill
The inseparable siblings Cal and Becky Demuth decide that they must go live with their aunt and uncle due to the fact that Becky is pregnant. While driving to the house, they hear a young boy crying for help in a field of tall grass. They decide to pull the car over and go to check on him to make sure everything is okay. As they step into the tall grass it is seen that they become disoriented and split off from one another while venturing deeper into the grass. The further they get into the grass the more panicked and desperate the boys screams become. However, the siblings soon discover that there is something darker lurking within the grass, something evil. As the novel continues, so does the suspense, and the mystery becomes whether they will escape or not.
Happy Halloween, Charlie Brown! by Charles M. Schulz
Halloween begins to make its way and the excitement is coming to a boil for Charlie Brown. He gets to go trick or treating, to his friends Halloween party, and gets to dress up in costume. He learns that at the party there is going to be a costume contest and has his eyes on the prize, but what should he be? His costume must be show stopping, something that has never been seen before. As Charlie Brown begins to panic over what he should dress up as, Snoopy comes to the rescue and helps him figure everything out. Check out Charles M. Schulz famous children's book Happy Halloween, Charlie Brown! to learn what his costume was.
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