Sara K Joiner: Horror Historicals

Are you more likely to see a ghost in October?

photo by Sara K Joiner

October is the time of year when we want to be scared. The weather turns cooler, the trees begin losing their leaves, and we want to sit around a fire (either indoors or out) and give ourselves nightmares with tales of ghosts and devils, murder and mayhem.

Sit back. Relax. And enjoy some of these frightening treats that are all set in the past.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Orphaned Irish siblings travel to England and find work as servants in a creepy house. An enormous tree is growing into the house, and the family the siblings work for seems to be growing paler and weaker with each passing day. Will the siblings be able to save their employers from the evil creeping into the house? Or will they only have time to save themselves?

The Shadows That Rush Past: A Collection of Frightening Inuit Folktales by Rachel A. Qitsualik, illustrated by Emily Fiegenschuh and Larry MacDougall
Four stories passed down through generations of Inuit storytellers describe a horrible child-stealing ogress, a monster that is half man and half grizzly bear, an ice-covered polar bear that is ten times the size of a normal bear, and a creature who surprises unsuspecting people by tickling them to death. The illustrations can be horrific and heroic as men and women, children and adults are depicted fighting monsters and suffering their fates.

Wee Winnie Witch's Skinny: An Original African American Scare Tale by Virginia Hamilton, illustrated by Barry Moser
A boy and his uncle become victims of Wee Winnie, a witch who hangs her skin on a hook by the door and flies around on people. Only the boy's grandmother can save them, but how do you trick a witch, especially one as gruesome as Wee Winnie? The illustrations are wood engravings which up the creep factor even more and will haunt readers.

Forbidden by Eve Bunting
A teenage orphan girl is sent to live with an aunt and uncle she has never met on the stormy coast of Scotland. She finds herself surrounded by people, including her relatives, who are threatening and mysterious. Suspicious and determined to learn the truth about her new home, she finds answers that are more horrifying than anything she could have imagined.

Sara K Joiner is the author of After the Ashes. She is also a public librarian.