Ooooo...scary

Kids like scary stuff, especially at Halloween. Caitlynn and Miles like to watch Ghost Trackers on HBO but I put a stop to it when they both ended up in bed with me one night because they were both scared of ghosts.

But that won't stop me from talking about scary stuff here. I've compiled a list of scary (and not-so-scary) cartoons, shows, and books/stories.

Goosebumps. This is for slightly older kids but Miles likes watching the shows on TV nonetheless.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This is a classic urban legend that originates out of upstate New York. Disney made a cartoon of the story (see clip below) and Johnny Depp stared in the movie version, Sleepy Hollow. I like Johnny Depp much better than Disney.



Edgar Allen Poe. His stories are relatively short and creepy. Read these three: The Tell Tale Heart, The Premature Burial, and The Pit and Pendulum.

Steven King. Carrie, Needful Things, Cujo, Misery, etc. Need I say more?

Franz Kafka. So The Metamorphosis isn't exactly frightening but it is a wee-bit creepy. Say you wake up one day metamorphosed into a giant bug. What would you do? Well, Gregor, the main character in the story worries how he'll get to work. I'm sure that's what I would worry about, too.

Now for movies that are actually freaky and scary. I'm not putting any of the Halloween movies on the list. I like movies that get inside your head and screw around with the wiring. I love scary movies but I can't watch them too often or else I won't sleep and if I do, my dreams end up being about the horrors of eating too much spaghetti (thanks, Seven) or being stuck in a hotel with Jack (The Shining).

• The Shining
• The Exorcist
• Silence of the Lambs
• Psycho
• Alien and Aliens
• The Ring
• The Others
• Mothman Prophesies
• Seven
• Saw (the first one; not the sequels)
• 28 Days Later

Happy Halloween!!

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