Halloween Stories of Old

Have you ever walked through a place that is supposed to be familiar to you, but then something feels different, like you're not supposed to be where you are anymore? It's unpleasant to feel, but thankfully, Halloween stories can help us understand why this might happen to someone from time to time. Here are some stories from (and inspired by) older folklore that may be unlike what we're used to. When read, these tales can aid us in facing, and hopefully conquering, the demons and monsters in our lives.

In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories, Ichabod Crane, a confident professor sure of himself in the world, stumbles in the town of Sleepy Hollow, by way of the town's ghost, the headless horseman. In awe of the 18th century Dutch village in America, Ichabod dreams of being a part of its community through work, nature, and society. One night, after eating and drinking late at a local celebration, he meets his foe on the road back to his quarters. After his disappearance, we're left to wonder what becomes of him. 

In this interpretation of Washington Irving's legend, Ichabod Crane uses science to investigate the crimes of the headless horseman. While working, he learns about Sleepy Hollow's history of estate and property, and the believability of the headless horseman begins to terrify him. Crane's own memories come back and wake him up to his present reality, where history, nature, and magic - without one overtaking the other - become more sensible.

Brought to the woods of Spain during the Civil War, Ofelia falls into her imagination while living under Fascism in El laberinto del fauno. But her imagination is no less brutal to her than the horror of rampant murder she is barely able to believe. Unable to recognize a world of her own, she meets Pan, an ancient mythological creature from the woodlands, who she finds in a deep, abandoned labyrinth made of rock. Pan's voice of authority is the only one she begins to trust. By listening to Pan's guidance, Ofelia learns to use the magical tools given her. In another realm that promises to free her from the hell of political warfare, she is granted the possibility of her own choice. 

Stories about haunted asylums for the mentally insane are not in short supply. In Shutter Island, which recalls suspicious events from the Boston Harbor Islands during the late 19th to early 20th century, a U.S. Marshall named Teddy Daniels is sent to research a missing woman at Shutter Island's Ashecliffe Hospital. During his stay, he becomes increasingly paranoid about his own identity while questioning the motives of others. His experiences at the hospital trigger visions and nightmares that make him remember his past life as a husband and soldier. Are these memories enough to save his sanity from accusations that he is, in fact, not who he thinks he is but is instead a sociopath that killed his own wife? Against criminalization, Daniels's sanity proves to be worth the challenge. 

For those who dare to trespass, A Different Darkness and Other Abominations, a collection of Italian folk horror by Luigi Musolino, describes how turning back home isn't a return to what we once knew, but a way to begin living with an awareness of the unfathomable. Each character is impelled towards the comfort of a landscape, of family, a recognizable occasion, or the constancy of a job, but all undergo a passage from another dimension of consciousness that alters their knowledge. What was expected as a destination is now an amalgamation of the physical, what was expected as safety becomes a house of strangers, what was meant to be celebratory changes to competition, and opposition to evil forces bends towards sympathy. Being called to act differently, because of forces of nature beyond our control, means to save our souls, or else...