In Halloween Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make! – Bram Stoker Dracula, Chapter 2. Count Dracula says this to Jonathan Harker, referring to wolves which surround the castle howling at the moon. Jonathan is quite frightened by this.
‘Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood. And do such bitter business as the day Would quake to look on. – William Shakespeare Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2. Hamlet says it is now nighttime, when dark deeds are typically committed and evil prowls the world, and he can now murder Claudius to revenge his father’s murder.
Round about the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights hast thirty-one Sweltered venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. – William Shakespeare Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1. Spoken by the Witches.
Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog. Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. – William Shakespeare Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1. Spoken by the Witches.
The moon has awoken with the sleep of the sun Light has been broken and the spell has begun. – Tairrie B Carpe Noctem, from album Vintage Curses.
It’s said that All Hallow’s Eve is one of the nights when the veil between the worlds is thin – and whether you believe in such things or not, those roaming spirits probably believe in you, or at least acknowledge your existence, considering that it used to be their own. Even the air feels different on Halloween, autumn-crisp and bright. – Erin Morgenstern
I heard one cry in the night, and I heard one laugh afterwards. If I cannot forget that, I shall not be able to sleep again. – M. R. James Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
But I love Halloween, and I love that feeling: the cold air, the spooky dangers lurking around the corner. – Evan Peters
The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn’t real. I know that, and I also know that if I’m careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle. – Stephen King Night Shift
In our town, Halloween was terrifying and thrilling, and there was a whiff of homicide. We’d travel by foot in the dark for miles, collecting candy, watching out for adults who seemed too eager to give us treats. – Rosecrans Baldwin
There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery. – Joseph Conrad Lord Jim, Chapter 24.
It was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and one a moorland farmer, who all tell the same story of this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell-hound of the legend. I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district, and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night. – Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles
In Halloween From ghoulies and ghosties And long-leggedy beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us! – Scottish Saying
In Halloween When witches go riding, And black cats are seen, The moon laughs and whispers, ‘Tis near Halloween. – Unknown
What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path, amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night! With what wistful look did he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from some distant window! How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with snow, which, like a sheeted spectre, beset his very path! How often did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his feet; and dread to look over his shoulder, lest he should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind him! and how often was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling among the trees, in the idea that it was the Galloping Hessian on one of his nightly scourings! – Washington Irving The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Shadows of a thousand years Rise again unseen, Voices whisper in the trees ‘Tonight is Halloween!’ – Dexter Kozen
Bring forth the raisins and the nuts- Tonight All-Hallows’ Spectre struts Along the moonlit way. – John Kendrick Bangs Halloween
‘Tis the night – the night Of the grave’s delight, And the warlocks are at their play; Ye think that without The wild winds shout, But no, it is they – it is they. – Arthur Cleveland Coxe Halloween, a Romaunt.
Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. – Edgar Allan Poe The Raven
In Halloween The witches fly Across the sky, The owls go, ‘Who? Who? Who?’ The black cats yowl And green ghosts howl, ‘Scary Halloween to you!’ – Nina Willis Walter
A thousand fearful images and dire suggestions glance along the mind when it is moody and discontented with itself. Command them to stand and show themselves, and you presently assert the power of reason over imagination. – Walter Scott
For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true. – Titus Lucretius Carus De Rerum Natura
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. – Francis Bacon Essays, Of Death.
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin, more even than death. – Bertrand Russell
