Spooky ghost stories

by Joan

I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of Halloween. Always loved trick-or-treating on chilly Maryland nights, pillowcase growing heavier as we traipsed long blocks and avoided creepy houses. I especially enjoyed spilling my haul on the avocado green carpet, trading and sorting and savoring (but not so much the next day stomachaches). 

For years we hosted an annual spook fest, complete with eerie decorations, scary yummy treats and friends who took costuming seriously.

I’m also a big fan of cemeteries. This morning on a long walk in perfect 70-degree weather, we found ourselves on Cemetery Hill Road. I can see how the name might put the slightest bit of decoration pressure on its residents.

Here were a few of our favorites:

And what Halloween post would be complete without a few reminders of some classic scary stories such as Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, Stephen King’s The Shining, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting at Hill House, Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger and Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale, and a nod to the fun new short story, The Stone Wife, by writing pal Bethany Snyder.

What are your favorite spooky tales or locales, real or fiction?