Whether you’re looking for something spooky to read at home, or a book to keep you occupied between trick-or-treaters tonight, here are a few creepy titles that you can access right now on Hoopla! Hoopla offers instant checkout and thanks to its loaning model, there’s no waiting! Get yourself into the Halloween spirit with some of these great chillers right now!
Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
The story’s unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry’s mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.
The Bram Stoker Megapack
It’s Halloween time and you have to read Bram Stoker! But, if you’re already read Dracula and are looking for something new…where do you turn? Try one of these books, perhaps! This chilling ebook collection is composed of 22 of Stoker’s classic stories, including (of course) Dracula. But, you’ll also find other terrifying treasures in here, including Burial of the Rats, Dracula’s Guest, The Lair of the White Worm, and The Lady of the Shroud. Whether you pick this collection up for one story or end up reading all the way until the end, there are surely some titles here that you’re bound to enjoy! Just don’t blame me if you look up from your book and realize too late that you should have been in your coffin hours ago….
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)
Nothing every happens in the sleepy village of Tarrytown. In fact, the most exciting story to come out of the area is the story of The Headless Horseman, a Revolutionary War story about a Hessian solider who was decapitated by a cannonball. No one really believes the story…not really, but that doesn’t really stop the superstitious townsfolk from getting a little nervous during late night travels. The only other excitement in town is the arrival of Ichabod Crane, a new schoolmaster who has set his eyes, heart, and stomach on marrying the beautiful (and rich) Katrina Van Tassel and gorging himself on her fortune. But, Katrina already has a sweetheart, Abraham Von Brunt, aka “Brom Bones” who is not at all happy with his girlfriend’s sudden interest in the gawky teacher. In an attempt to get back at his rival, Brom regales Ichabod (and the assembled guests at Van Tassel’s Halloween party) with a tale of the headless Hessian…
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (Alvin Schwartz)
Easily my favorite title on this list. I love, love, LOVE Alvin Schwartz (all of his books) and love to pick this one up every year around this time! Collecting terrifying tales from across folklore, Alvin Schwartz has assembled a bounty of tales designed to chill you to the bone. This collection is the first of three books, wonderfully illustrated by Stephen Gammell, whose nightmarish ink drawings left children sleeping with the lights on for decades. If you’re looking for some good, classic ghost stories and are prepared for a scare, then you’ll absolutely love this book!
Don’t Turn Out the Lights (ed. Jonathan Maberry)
In this tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (see previous listing), Jonathan Maberry has assembled a gaggle of terrifying tales for readers to enjoy! Featuring stories from R.L. Stine and Madeleine Roux, this middle grade horror anthology, curated by New York Times bestselling author and master of macabre Jonathan Maberry, is a chilling tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Flesh-hungry ogres? Brains full of spiders? Haunted houses you can’t escape? This collection of 35 terrifying stories from the Horror Writers Association has it all, including ghastly illustrations from Iris Compiet that will absolutely chill readers to the bone. So turn off your lamps, click on your flashlights, and prepare-if you dare-to be utterly spooked!
