Happy Halloween: Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice! There is something magical about autumn; the leaves begin to fall and the days roll by easily, they are shorter and cooler. There is a new-found crispness to the morning air, a coldness to the night air and that long, sweltering summer is a faded memory.
Autumn is the season of transition, it follows summer and foreshadows winter. A season of preparation for the colder, darker days ahead. Throughout human history, people have tried to gauge what happens to an individual when they die. All cultures, in one form or other, have their own rituals or folktales about the fate of the spirit and where it goes.
And it’s not a coincidence that we celebrate halloween in autumn. The spooky festival has its roots in the Celtic celebration of Samhain, a transition festival that signified the end of harvest season and marked the beginnings of a new year. And it was also believed that as the world transitioned from sweltering summer to icy winter, the boundary between our world and the other became blurred, and this meant that people had the opportunity to connect with loved ones who had crossed over. This included some ritualistic traditions to connect with the spirits, disguises, and costumes.
Over time, these traditions have altered and Halloween today is a highly commercialised and somewhat distorted version of its precursor. But one thing that has not changed? Spooky stories!
There is nothing more thrilling than curling up on a couch with a scary story as the weather slowly turns and night falls.
Here is a list of seven classic stories that are perfect for that autumn scare.
1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein is difficult to categorise. On its surface, it is science fiction; the miracles and horrors of science, but it has elements of tragedy, romance, murder, mystery and horror. Frankenstein was written during the first industrial revolution; people were obsessed with knowledge and were just beginning to discover science. And that’s the premise of Mary Shelley’s story. Victor Frankenstein is a genius; he wants to control nature and after the death of a close family member, he becomes obsessed with the idea of life and death. In an experiment, he ends up giving life to a non living being; a hideous eight feet tall monster. Appalled by his creation, Victor soon abandons him and the monster, alone and unable to find his place in a society that is quick to spurn him, resorts to revenge. And as the story progresses, we follow Frankenstein and his creation, as they hurt and hunt each other.
As the story goes, Mary Shelley was vacationing with her partner, the poet, PB Shelley, when she came up with the idea of the book. Lord Byron, a fellow romantic poet, suggested that they each write a ghost story, and the rest is history. One of the earliest books of science fiction, Frankenstein is a tragedy of misuse of science and technology, of little thought-of actions and their consequences and it raises some very ethical questions. Man playing the role of God, the concept of a monster, loneliness, messing with nature and being accountable for our actions. All these questions that we are still grappling with.
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2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891)
The only published novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray was condemned for its immortality and undertones of homosexuality. It was only later, years after the death of its creator, that the novel was appreciated for its genius and became a classic. A trancelike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal beauty and youth, the basic premise is of an amoral individual who is granted eternal youth; he remains young while his portrait, the one he keeps hidden, ages and becomes ghastly. Dorian Gray did not start as a morally degraded character — definitely callous, but not a bad person. It is only after he is given the boon (curse) of eternal youth that he becomes increasingly cruel and heartless, until the book reaches its climax or moral corruption.
While not “horror” in the most basic meaning of the word, Dorian Gray is a cautionary tale of vanity and decadence. It derives its horror from the slow descent into madness and immorality of its titular character. A sharp commentary on the society of Wilde’s time, his masterpiece is an entertaining fable and especially reimagines itself as a horror story in our society; a world that denounces aging.
3. Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)
The book that launched a thousand adaptations! One of the most famous texts in the English language, Dracula by Bram Stoker is an epistolary novel — narrated in letters, diary entries and newspaper articles. Responsible for creating an industry and interest around vampire culture, Dracula is a classic plot of good vs evil and the story follows Count Dracula as he moves to England and creates havoc on the general public. It’s also a tale of a group of heroic individuals and their leader, Van Helsing, in their attempt to stop and kill him. What follows is a mighty battle between the two forces and a satisfying conclusion.
On a deeper level, Dracula examines the Victorian ideas of sexuality and gender and has over the years gained a cult following. While Stoker was not the first to flirt with vampire mythology, he is more or less responsible for creating the rules and troupe of the vampire story. And a lot of those rules are still followed by the writers. Dracula is a book that inspired countless adaptations, both as films and on TV. Whether it’s your first time, or you are in the mood to reread it, it is the perfect Halloween story.
4. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)
And Then There Were None is Christie’s masterpiece, her magnum opus, a terrific novel with a baffling and almost impossible plot. Ten strangers, each very different from the rest, are invited to an isolated island. Each of them has a murky past; a secret of sorts that they are desperate to protect. And one by one, they are killed off. But if there is none else on the island, then one among them must be the killer. Which one? And who will be the next to die?
Copies of ‘Ten Little Soldier Boys’, an ominous poem hangs in each room and the murders mimic their fates. This book made Agatha Christie a best selling author, and its idea has been adapted many, many times since Christie made use of it. A gothic murder, horror mystery, And Then There Were None, is the world’s best-selling mystery, one that took the world by storm. A novel that keeps you in its clutches, And Then There Were None deals with sins of the past and guilt. And with its intense atmosphere, sense of isolation and truly scary moments, it is a perfect novel to read for that halloween night.
5. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury (1962)
A coming of age story of two boys, Will and Jim, with two very contrasting personalities and how their lives are impacted and changed when a sinister and a strange carnival arrives in the town overnight. Mr Dark, the carnival’s leader, seemingly has the power to give the individuals what they desire the most. But what is the price you pay for your heart’s secret desire?
A story set just a week before Halloween (that is why a perfect pick), Something Wicked This Way Comes explores darkness and humanity while blending elements of horror and fantasy and analysing the battle of good vs evil that exists within us all. There is a sense of mounting and creeping horror that keeps you turning the pages of the book that builds to the climax.
6. The Shining by Stephen King (1977)
In late September of the year 1974, Stephen King stayed in The Stanley Hotel in Colorado. He and his wife were the only two guests staying at the “Grand old hotel”. It was supposed to be closed for winter from the next day, and in the night, after waking up from a bad dream, King found the story and decided on the “bones of the book”.
The Shining tells the story of Jack Torrance, his wife and his five year old son, a boy with a “gift of shining”. It’s a flawed family, haunted by the ghosts of the past and Torrance’s violent temper and his latent drinking habit. When he finds a position as a caretaker of the majestic Overlook Hotel, Torrence shifts his young family to the isolated place, completely cut off from the rest of the world, in the dead of winter. His hope is to heal his fractured family and work on his abandoned play. But as the sense of isolation increases and the weather worsens, Jack Torrence starts experiencing hallucinations and gradually becomes more and more unhinged. Evil forces at the hotel play at his fears, using his troubled past against him, all the while tormenting Danny with his psychic abilities till the book boils to an explosive climax.
King has often stated how The Shining has strong autobiographical undercurrents. He himself was struggling badly with alcoholism and drug addiction while writing the book. On its surface, The Shining is a cultural icon of horror and a thriller about the threatening Overlook Hotel and a family struggling to escape it. But that’s the thing about King. Despite writing about supernatural beings, you remember Jack Torrence’s struggles with his alcoholism and anger the most. A monster, he realises pretty late, is too strong for him to win from.
7. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (1983)
A classic ghost story.
On a Christmas Eve, Arthur Kipps sits by a fire, surrounded by his second wife and her children. All seems content, quiet but then everyone starts narrating ghost stories. Arthur Kipps is stirred. Nobody knows that he has encountered and lived a ghost tale, nobody knows that he is haunted, and that story is ingrained in the very fibre of his being.
What follows is Arthur Kipps narrating the tale of his life. He writes of the past, a time many years ago, when he was a young man, eager to make his way in the world. As a young solicitor, he is tasked to handle the affairs of a recently deceased widow, Alice Drablow, in a small farming town. But something doesn’t seem right, from the moment he reaches the town, he finds people evasive and fearful. But despite repeated warnings, Kipps is resolved to do his job and his job takes him to the desolate and barren Eel Marsh House, and he encounters a woman dressed in black, an embodiment of pure evil. And Arthur knows, life will never be the same again.
A perfect, spine chilling, traditional horror story, The Woman in Black is a little less than 200 pages long but it is personification personified. The building of atmosphere, the desolation, the grief, the gothic elements and Susan Hill’s elegant and elegiac writing, all build to that climax. And when it comes, you are not prepared. This book will haunt you long after you have put it down, long after halloween and through those dark, wintery nights.
The author is an Assistant Professor (English) at JC Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA.
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