Action · Campaign Chapter 1
The Vanishing Carriage
Ride a haunted road, protect lost souls, and decide the carriage’s fate.
Play this storyInspired by Halloweens Past · Read by candlelight
Haunts Halloween — Vintage Folklore & Tales
A candle-lit magazine of hauntings, urban legends and old country folklore — with vintage pictures, recipes and games for the season.
This Month’s Tale · Local Hauntings
The House on Weaver Hill
Every autumn, the lights return to the old Weaver place — even though the power was cut forty years ago.
Read by candlelightA playable Hollowmere mystery
The Box of Lost Things
Six haunted chapters. Eighteen lost things. One stolen minute.
Step aboard a phantom carriage. Uncover lost names, gather clues, and choose how the souls of Hollowmere find their way home.
Logic · Hollowmere side story
The Spirit Telegraph
Work the brass key and recover Clara’s last unsent message from a dead wire.
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Timing & Investigation · Side story
The Darkroom at Hollowmere
Develop glass photographs, then search for the details nobody remembers.
Play this storyRead
Read a Story
Ghost stories, Victorian tales and old country folklore, from five-minute frights to a long fireside read.
Browse the tales →Explore
Explore Vintage Halloween
Postcards, Beistle cutouts, blow molds and the picture room — how Halloween used to look.
Start with the guides →Make
Make Halloween Special
Party recipes, decorating ideas and gentle games for little ghouls.
Find a recipe →Six Tales to Start With
A quick fright, a long winter read, and a few in between — all original fiction.
Urban Legends1 min read · Original fiction
The Hitchhiker of Route 9
She asks for a ride to the old cemetery. By morning, the seat beside you is empty — but your car is not.
Read the tale
Ghost Stories1 min read · Original fiction
The Librarian of Ravenwood
In the oldest wing of Ravenwood Library, a reader is never truly alone.
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Supernatural Creatures1 min read · Original fiction
The Beast of Black Pine
Hunters in Black Pine Forest speak of a creature that walks on two legs and leaves no tracks.
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Ghost Stories9 min read · Original fiction
The Lantern Keeper of Hollowmere
A drowned village, a light that answers from beneath the water, and a keeper who has been counting the dead for sixty years. Our longest tale — settle in.
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Urban Legends10 min read · Original fiction
The Second Feature at the Alcazar
The Alcazar picture house burned in 1961 with the projector running. Everyone who has snuck into the ruin since agrees on what is showing.
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Local Hauntings10 min read · Original fiction
The Lock-Keeper of Shipley Flight
The canal has been dry since 1889. The lock at Shipley still fills at four in the morning, and something still walks the beam.
Read the taleCollections to Read Aloud
The Gaslight Shelf
Victorian Ghost Stories
Read classic Victorian ghost stories online — original gaslight-era tales of lamplighters, governesses and polite letters from the dead, plus what made 19th-century supernatural fiction unforgettable.
The Empty Rooms
Haunted House Stories
Scary haunted house stories to read online — original short tales of inherited farmhouses, rented duplexes and hotels that won't let go, plus why a haunted house is never really about the house.
The Old Anthology
Classic Ghost Stories
Classic ghost stories to read online — timeless original tales of roadside coats, drowned bells and letters from the dead, written in the old spoken tradition and perfect for Halloween night.
The Picture Room
Vintage Halloween Pictures
Black cats, glamorous witches, trick-or-treaters and carved lanterns, printed on aged paper.
The Almanac
Halloween How-To Guides
Beistle Halloween Cutouts
Beistle Halloween cutouts are printed, shaped paper or cardboard decorations, often embossed, depicting cats, witches, skeletons a…
Vintage Halloween Blow Molds
A Halloween blow mold is a hollow molded-plastic figure lit from inside. Our collectibles guide covers examples from the 1960s thr…
Pumpkin Carving Techniques
Cut the lid at an angle from the back, scrape the carving wall down to about one inch, transfer your design with a pin-poked stenc…
Halloween Cookie & Cupcake Decorating
Make royal icing with 4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons meringue powder and about 6 tablespoons warm water. Keep some stiff for…
Halloween Party Tips & Tricks
Start four weeks out with the guest list and invitations, two weeks out with the menu and games, and the last week with decorating…
Vintage Halloween Costumes
The most authentic vintage Halloween costumes are the homemade ones: a crepe-paper witch, a bedsheet ghost with cut eyeholes, a ca…
Halloween Traditions & Their Origins
Halloween traditions descend from the Gaelic festival of Samhain (31 October to 1 November), which marked the end of harvest and a…
Are Ghosts Real? Classic Ghost Myths Explained
There is no scientific evidence that ghosts exist. No study has produced a repeatable, verifiable observation of the dead, and the…
Halloween Cats: Black Cats, Orange Cats & Their History
Cats became Halloween symbols because medieval and early-modern Europe tied them to witchcraft — a cat was believed to be a witch'…
Scarecrows: History, Meaning & Halloween
Scarecrows began as practical bird-scarers in ancient Egypt, Greece and Japan, spread through medieval European farming as human '…
Crows & Ravens: Folklore, Omens & Halloween
Crows and ravens became Halloween birds through a long chain of associations: Celtic war goddesses like the Morrígan took crow for…
Halloween Candy: The Countdown, the Classics & Why Candy at All
Candy is at Halloween because of a chain of substitutions: medieval souling and guising traded prayers or a performance for food, …
90s Halloween Decorations: A Retro Decorating Guide
The essentials of a 90s Halloween are a glowing blow-mold pumpkin or black cat on the porch, honeycomb paper centerpieces and hang…
Vintage Halloween Collectibles: Beistle, Blow Molds & Antique Finds
The most collected vintage Halloween items are Beistle die-cut cardboard decorations (1920s-1960s), German composition and pulp ja…
Retro Halloween Party: Playlist, Snacks, Invites & Photo Booth
A retro Halloween party needs five things: warm low lighting with candles and orange string lights, a playlist of 1950s and 60s no…
Vintage Halloween Recipes: Old-Fashioned Treats, 1920s-1960s
Classic vintage Halloween treats are popcorn balls, molasses taffy, caramel or candy apples, molasses and ginger cookies, doughnut…
Why Vintage Halloween Costumes Look So Scary
Vintage Halloween costumes look scary because they were homemade from cloth, sacking and papier-mache with crude, asymmetrical fea…
Halloween Through the Decades: 1940s to the 2000s
American Halloween changed shape roughly every decade. The 1940s were quiet and rationed, with wartime sugar limits and homemade d…
Halloween Superstitions and Their Origins
Most Halloween superstitions trace back to Samhain, the Celtic new-year festival marking the border between the living and the dea…
The Most Haunted Places in America
The most frequently cited haunted places in America include the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, the Winchester Mystery Hou…
Vintage Halloween Postcards: A Collector's Guide
The golden age of Halloween postcards ran from about 1905 to 1920, driven by cheap color lithography, the rural free delivery of m…
Recipe
Witch's Brew Punch
A bubbling green punch that smokes and sparkles — perfect for greeting little goblins at the door.
Get the recipeFor Little Ghouls
Spooky Games
Keep the younger monsters entertained with memory match, a ghost clicker, and a pumpkin maze. No real frights — just fun.
- 1Memory Match with spooky icons
- 2Catch the Ghost clicker game
- 3Pumpkin Maze puzzle
A Note from the Editor
Haunts Halloween is a love letter to the Halloweens of old — paper cutouts in the window, stories told with the lights off, punch that fizzes over the bowl. The tales here are invented, the history is checked, and the artwork is new work made in an old style.
If you have ever seen something you couldn't explain, I'd like to hear about it.
Share your encounter →— A.J., editor