‘It was the strangest thing that had ever happened in her young life.’ (The Sword by Rachel Swete’ Macnamara, 1917)
It’s safe to say that these days Halloween is a big deal, both in terms of its impact on general daily life at a certain time of year, and the myth and legend that surrounds it. As a child of the seventies, raised in a suitably atmospheric peak district town, I can still remember the absolute thrill of dimly lit rooms, dressing up as a witch in a home made costume crafted from a black bin bag, and carving turnips (not a pumpkin in sight in those days, other than those seen on the Charlie Brown film) into spooky faced lanterns, then lighting these with a tiny birthday cake candle. Now it’s all much bigger, but the underlying thrill of the spooky season remains the same, and needs some good ghostly tales to accompany it.
Halloweird marks itself out immediately as being a book for lovers of folklore, myth and legend with its reference to the ‘Season of Samhain’ in the title. Samhain is a festival, believed to have Pagan origins, which marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. In its early days it was associated with feasting, bonfire and sacrifices.
The book collects together stories and a few poems, mostly pre-twentieth century, which pay homage to the season and/or celebrate the strange and spooky. There’s little point in naming most of the authors because for the most part (with a few exceptions such as Edith Wharton) it’s safe to say this will be new territory for most of us. And that is the charm: literally every tale is a new discovery and the only way to get an inkling of where it will take you is to sit and read it. Editor Johnny Mains has done a cracking job of gathering together the weird and wonderful. There’s also an explanatory page about each author before the story or poem, which I appreciated, especially the most obscure ones. Most of these stories are returning to print for the first time since their original publication.
The British Library’s book design is top notch (as usual), with an Autumnal deep russet orange serving as a background to some seriously spooky silver pumpkins. This one’s for life, not just for Samhain.
You can order Halloweird for the reduced price of £16.14, along with almost any other book currently in print, via our Bopcap Books page at Bookshop.org by clicking here (there’s free shipping if you spend £25 or more) and support our bookshop directly.
Other spooky recommendations from the British Library include (please click each book title to purchase via uk.bookshop.org and support us directly):
Celtic Weird: Tales of Wicked Folklore and Dark Mythology (ed. Johnny Mains)
Scotland the Strange: Weird Tales from Storied Lands (ed. Johnny Mains)
Weird Woods: Tales from the Haunted Forests of Britain (ed. John Miller)
The Weird Tales of Dorothy K Haynes
Deadly Dolls (ed. Elizabeth Dearnley)
Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen (ed. Ed Parnell, author of Ghostland)