HALLOWEEN

Halloween is just around the corner, so I thought it would be fun to list some popular horror films as well as books to help you get in the spooky mood of Halloween.

Halloween falls on October 31st every year, but depending on where you live you may celebrate on that day, the weekend before, or the weekend after.  Or, if Halloween is your favorite holiday, then you may celebrate all month long!

Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition.  It is believed to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain in which people would light bonfires and wear costumes in order to protect themselves against ghosts.  In the 8th century Pope Gregory III named November 1st as All Saints' Day.  The night before was called All Hallow's Eve which has become Halloween.  Over time, Halloween has turned into a secular event in which children go trick-or-treating and dress up in costumes.  Halloween is a great time to get together with friends and celebrate the fall season.

To learn more about Halloween visit the following links:

http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history
http://www.history.com/topics/pumpkin-facts
http://www.history.com/topics/historical-ghost-stories
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween-around-the-world

Looking for some scary reading suggestions?  Check out the books below!

Children's Books:

Hailey's Halloween by Lisa Bullard
Halloween Night by Marjorie Dennis Murray
The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson
Bunnicula by Deborah Howe
Vampire Breath by R.L. Stine
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Charles M. Schultz

Fiction:

Carrie by Stephen King
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Cujo by Stephen King
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
It by Stephen King
Hannibal by Thomas Harris
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
World War Z by Max Brooks
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Watchers by Dean Koontz
Secrets in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
The Ruins by Scott Smith
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Nonfiction:

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson
Haunt Your House for Halloween by Cindy Fuller
Halloween Through Twenty Centuries by Ralph Linton

Want to spice up your Halloween night by watching scary movies?  Check out some of the titles listed here:

Halloween
The Shining
Shutter Island
Dracula
The Woman in Black
Sleepy Hollow
The Exorcist: the Beginning
American Horror Story
The Orphanage
The Sixth Sense
Poltergeist
The Descent
The Blair Witch Project
Frankenstein
The Birds
Alien

Children's Movies:

Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
Goosebumps. Scary House
Casper Meets Wendy
Monster House
The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Picture from http://rockcat.als.lib.wi.us/search/?searchtype=X&SORT=D&searcharg=dont+turn+around&searchscope=29