Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings (2021) edited by Gaby Triana with John Polisano
That night when death cannot be gamed
Readers who are unfamiliar with Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings may wish to read my notes below after reading the anthology.
Literally Dead: Tales of Halloween Hauntings (2021), edited by Gaby Triana with John Polisano, is an anthology of unusually poignant and powerfully written short stories. Many have to do with family members and lovers coming to realize where they are in the lands of the living and the dead. And how far away their beloveds really are.
Some stories are banal and others are sharply heartbreaking.
Reward yourself as a reader with the experience.
”The Curiosity at the Back of the Fridge” by Catherine Cavendish
Plot: A boy who has befriended an old man is introduced to the man's other friend, a strange creature that lives in the fridge.
Setting: An old cottage, Halloween, present-day.
Character: A young boy named Brian, an old man named Bobby Clem, and a strange fridge creature named Curiosity.
Location: A small village.
Themes: Feast, friendship, mystery, the supernatural.
Style: A calm, matter-of-fact style that makes the bizarre seem normal.
Point of view: First-person.
Halloween seen as: A time to give thanks. Heh heh…
“A Bookstore Made of Skulls—Salem, Mass” by Maureen Mancini Amaturo
Plot: A woman enters a strange bookstore and finds that she cannot escape.
Setting: A bookstore in Salem, Massachusetts, Halloween.
Character: The main character is a woman who loves Halloween and skulls.
Location: Salem, Massachusetts.
Themes: Fear, isolation, confusion, mystery, the supernatural.
Style: A fast-paced, chaotic, and confusing style that nicely mirrors the main character's confusion and fear.
Point of view: First-person.
Halloween seen as: A time of deadly fun and deathly excitement.
“Postcards From Evelyn” by Scott Cole
Plot: A man is sent a series of increasingly menacing postcard invitations from a little girl who wants him to come to her Halloween party. All are postmarked a hundred years before. A brilliantly executed plot.
Setting: Halloween, present-day
Character: The main character is named Andy; Evelyn is a ghost.
Themes: Family secrets, the power of the past, the supernatural.
Style: A matter-of-fact style
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when the barrier between the living and the dead is thin.
“The Crawlers in the Corn” by David Surface
The red light blinking outside caught his eye again. He looked through the window at the cornfield across the street. He thought again of all the stories he and Carl used to make up about the crawlers in the corn. It was a childhood game, and that was all it would have been, if Danny hadn’t seen what he saw one night.
He’d been about eight or nine years old when it happened. It was Halloween, and he was spending the night at Carl’s house. They’d been trick-or-treating since sundown, running from house to house under the full autumn moon. Carl was ready to call it quits and go in, but Danny didn’t want to stop. It wasn’t really the candy that he wanted. He never ate more than half of what he brought home anyway. What he wanted was more of this night, more running through the dark with the full moon seeming to race over their heads, the feeling in his veins that he could fly if he wanted to. He didn’t want it to stop. Carl went inside, but Danny stood alone in the front yard, just breathing in the cool October air, watching low flying clouds passing over the face of the moon above, imagining he was one of them.
A cool wind rose from the far side of the field and passed over the corn, setting it into motion. A loud rustling and rattling washed over Danny like the rush of waves in the ocean. Stalks and tassels waved and nodded like rows of people bowing down and waving their hands. All except one. One dark shape stood tall and still among all the others. A cloud passed over the moon, throwing the cornfield into darkness. Danny strained his eyes to see the dark thing that was standing there, not moving. A feeling came over him that he didn’t like, a feeling that the thing was watching him. Then he saw it take a step forward.
The rest of that night was a blur to him now. He remembered trying to explain to Carl what he’d seen, and then to Carl’s parents. Their impatient, uncomprehending faces. He remembered waking up screaming in the middle of the night, the feeling of shame and the long drive home in the dark when his dad had to come to take him away.
Crybaby. Chicken. Had Carl really called him those things? Or had he just imagined it, like other people told him he’d imagined the whole thing?
Plot: Two teenage boys spend Halloween night drinking and trying to forget their childhood fears, but the fears come back to haunt them.
Setting: A haunted cornfield, Halloween, present-day.
Character: Two teenage boys, Danny and Carl.
Themes: Fear, confronting the past, the supernatural.
Style: A suspenseful, atmospheric style.
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when the barrier between the living and the dead is thin.
“When They Fall” by Steve Rasnic Tem
Plot: A man is haunted by the ghosts of his past on Halloween night.
Character: The main character is an unnamed man haunted by the ghosts of his wife and son.
Themes: Grief, loss, regret, the supernatural.
Style: A slow, atmospheric style that creates a sense of unease.
Point of view: Third person
“Always October” by Jeremy Megargee
Plot: Brilliant tale about a self-described ghost hunter who spends Halloween night collecting ghosts of people who have died tragically.
Setting: Halloween, present-day.
Location: A haunted house.
Themes: Redemption, the power of the past, the supernatural.
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when recovery from trauma and the reconstitution of personality is finally possible.
“How To Unmake a Ghost” by Sara Tantlinger
Plot: A woman who has summoned the ghost of her dead lover must now unmake the ghost before it destroys her.
Setting: A graveyard, Halloween, present-day.
Character: The main character is an unnamed woman who is haunted by the ghost of her dead lover.
Themes: Love, loss, grief, the supernatural.
Style: A dark, atmospheric style.
Point of view: Second-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when the barrier between the living and the dead is thin enough for communication and warnings about the threat of not letting go.
“A Halloween Visit” by Dana Hammer
According to her podiatrist, a woman of eighty-seven had no business walking around in high heels. But her podiatrist was a grim, dour woman with a gray-streaked ponytail, despite the fact that she couldn’t have been more than forty. The woman wore dowdy, sensible shoes, with plain white sports socks peeking out, and she never, ever wore lipstick. Overall, it was a look that said, “I dislike sex,” and Gabriella did not take fashion advice from such people.
Plot: This story is a clever comedy about the turnabouts and reverses incident when an old woman is visited by a very knowing Grim Reaper.
Setting: Halloween, present-day.
Character: The main character is an old woman named Gabriella Morrison; the Grim Reaper is named Emma.
Location: Gabriella's place
Themes: Death, the supernatural.
Style: A darkly comic style.
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when the reaper does their work of collecting, but also has her own motives.
“Bootsy's House” by Dennis K. Crosby
It was a brown leather mail bag. He moved toward it as if called to it. Standing over it, he reached out, hesitant at first, then excited as he caught a glimpse of greenish white paper sticking out of the edge. Flipping back the top, he stared inside at the treasure he’d been seeking. On the other side of the desk were four more bags.
“Holy—”
Damon’s dread turned to a huge smile then back again, as the door burst open. In the doorway stood Justus—at least, it was his body. Every fiber of Damon’s being knew the truth. It was the eyes that gave it away. The same eyes he saw in the black-and-white photo. Justus was gone.
That was Bootsy Robinson standing there.
Damon ran to the window and tried to open it, hoping to crawl to the roof and jump to safety. But it was locked. Outside he saw dozens of kids with their parents, trick-or-treating. He banged on the glass and screamed, hoping to break it. He prayed that, at the very least, the sound might carry to the street. But in a city like Chicago, in a neighborhood like this, a block from Lake Shore Drive, on a cool Halloween night…no one could hear his screams as the dark shadow came at him from behind.
Plot: Two friends break into a reputedly haunted house on Halloween night in search of a hidden fortune.
Setting: A haunted house, Halloween, present-day.
Character: Two friends, Justus and Damon.
Location: A haunted house.
Themes: Greed, the supernatural.
Style: A suspenseful, atmospheric style.
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when the barrier between the living and the dead is thin.
“Soul Cakes” by Catherine McCarthy
Plot: A young woman visits her grandmother on Halloween night, and together they make soul cakes, a traditional Welsh treat.
Setting: A farmhouse, Halloween, present-day.
Character: The main character is a young woman named Bethan; her grandmother is named Nan.
Themes: Family, tradition, the supernatural.
Style: A gentle, atmospheric style.
Point of view: First-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when the barrier between the living and the dead is thin.
“Ghosts of Candies Past” by Jeff Strand
Plot: A man's family is killed by a monster made of older candy on Halloween night.
Setting: Halloween, present-day.
Character: The main character is an unnamed man; his family is also unnamed.
Themes: Nostalgia, the supernatural.
Style: A darkly comic style.
Point of view: First-person.
Halloween seen as: The night when old-fashioned Halloween candies are returned to consumers, with explosive results.
“Halloween at the Babylon” by Lisa Morton
Plot: A group of ghost hunters investigate a haunted theater on Halloween night. They interact with a Jazz Age starlet.
Setting: A haunted theater, Halloween, present-day.
Character: The main character is a ghost named Katie MacPherson; the ghost hunters are Britt, Josh, Rosa, and Ramón.
Location: A haunted theater.
Themes: The equipment is all TV Ghost Hunter chic, but there are a few poignant touches.
Style: A suspenseful, atmospheric style.
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: A time when revelations and unrealized insights can embolden the dead to “move on,” as the cable tv euphemisms say.
“Ghosts of Enerhodar” by Henry Herz
Plot: A group of Russian soldiers are killed by the folk ghosts of Ukrainian civilians on Halloween night.
Character: The main characters are Russian soldiers Nikitin and Kuznetsov.
Location: A forest and river.
Themes: War, the supernatural.
Style: A realistic, suspenseful style.
Point of view: Third-person.
Halloween seen as: War calls up unexpected allies.
“The Ghost Lake Mermaid” by Alethea Kontis
Amy stares through Jinna. “If you left, then why are you here?”
“Because payback is hell.” Jinna flips the hair already floating softly around her head. “I wanted every sad sack in this town to see my face in the headlines, above the fold. I wanted to haunt their children and their children’s children for three generations, at least.”
Plot: A mermaid and a ghost watch as a young woman is murdered and thrown into their lake on Halloween night.
Setting: A lake, Halloween, present-day.
Character: The main characters are a mermaid named Mer and a ghost named Jinna; the victim is named Amy.
Location: A lake near Buckle Springs
Themes: Love, loss, grief, the supernatural.
Style: A whimsical, atmospheric style.
Point of view: first person
“Pink Lace and Death Gods” by Eva Roslin
Plot: Bianca buys a pink dress from a mysterious costume shop. She soon discovers that the dress involves her in a time-slip..
Setting: Halloween night, in a costume shop and at a party
Characters: Bianca, Eloise (the ghost in the pink dress), Baron Samedi (the vodou death god)
Location: New Orleans
Themes: Identity, betrayal, revenge
Style: Horror
Point of view: Third person (limited)
“The Ghost Cricket” by Lee Murray
Plot: Li Wen, a disgraced prince, is haunted by the ghost of his father's pet cricket. He is accused of arson and must plead his case before Magistrate Yun.
Setting: Ancient China
Characters: Li Wen (a disgraced prince), Magistrate Yun, The ghost cricket
Location: A small village in ancient China
Themes: Justice, guilt, redemption
Style: Magical realism
Point of view: First person (Li Wen)
Halloween seen as: Not mentioned
“No One Sings in the City of the Dead” by Tim Waggoner
Plot: A woman mourns the death of her husband, Keith. She makes a deal with a mysterious woman to bring him back from the dead, but at a terrible cost.
Setting: Halloween night, in a cemetery
Characters: Keith (the husband), The narrator (Keith's wife), The Clown Lady (the guardian of the gate between worlds)
Location: A cemetery
Themes: Grief, loss, the cost of love, marriage
Point of view: First person (the wife)
Halloween seen as: A time when the veil between the worlds is thin and the dead can return.
“A Scavenger Hunt When the Veil is Thin” by Gwendolyn Kiste
You sit back, watching the flicker of firelight. It’s nice to rest for a moment. You’ve been wandering a long time. Too long to count, shuffling in and out of dead-end jobs. The years bleed together after a while. That’s the joke of getting older. How it feels at once like a hundred years yet not even a day.
Sometimes it feels like not even a day has passed in this town either. You come back, and everything and everyone is the same. Even the scavenger hunt. That’s why this piece of paper in your hand is so withered—it’s the same one you’ve all been using for decades, this whole town like a specter of itself.
Nobody’s sure how the scavenger hunt got started. It’s one of those urban legends, the sort of thing you hear about from a friend of a friend. If the rumors are to be believed, they say it began the year after she died, that woman in the portrait. On Halloween, no less, and in this very house. Naturally, right? Why else would you be visiting tonight? The official cause of death was listed as Accident, but there’s nothing accidental about what this town did to her. The way they crept inside after dark. The way they made her pay for just being herself. After all, the world needs somebody to blame, and she was such an easy target: a woman who wouldn’t do what they wanted.
But even once they buried her body, they couldn’t stop her for good. She would still dance and sing and smile from the attic window. Even death couldn’t tame her—if anything, it only seemed to make her more defiant. That’s how the scavenger hunt began: as a way to appease her. To keep her wanton manners at bay.
That’s, of course, if you believe the rumors.
Plot: A group of friends go on a Halloween scavenger hunt in an old abandoned house. They soon discover that the house is haunted by the ghost of a woman who was murdered there.
Setting: Halloween night, in an old abandoned house
Characters: The narrator, The ghost of the murdered woman, The narrator's friends
Location: An old abandoned Victorian house
Themes: Guilt, redemption, the power of friendship
Style: Gothic horror
Point of view: Second person
Halloween seen as: That flash of cold night air when ghosts interact with the living, and blush.
“When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead Across Your Dreams in Pale Battalions Go” by Jonathan Maberry
Here is a story that shocked me each of the two times I read it today. Maberry moves through the his plot, at each turn reassuring us that we are reading a different type of tale than we think we are. It's a masterly, shattering performance.
Plot: Two brothers, Alex and Joey, are estranged after Alex returns from the Vietnam War. They meet again on Halloween, and Alex tells Joey about his experiences in the war and how they have haunted him.
Setting: Halloween night, on Joey's porch
Characters: Alex, Joey
Location:
Los Angeles, Philadelphia
Themes: War, guilt, redemption, homecoming
Style: Magical realism
Point of view: First person (Joey)
Halloween seen as: A night when death cannot be gamed.
Jay
7 October 2024
