The Little Leftover Witch by Florence Laughlin was always a favorite with my classes and my own kiddos. Holy mackeral-I just looked it up to verify the author spelling and there are copies of this going for $89.00! I need to find mine ASAP.

If you found that on Amazon, it means its out of print and they probably don't have it. Just so you don't get your hopes up or look too hard :)

I remember being terrified by a book called Night at the Fair, had a big evil looking jester on the cover. A friend and I read the short stories at a sleep over and we didn't do much sleeping that night.

Hitchcock is always good for Halloween reading. Certain mysteries as well - Patrick McGraths books are very creepy in a Hitchcock way, as some of Barbara Vines.

I found "The Woman in Black" by Susan Hill very scary reading. Also, some short stories by D. DuMaurier. Last, but not least, Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw."

H.P. Lovecraft. Yep, perfect for Halloween. Maybe that's why I don't read him any more. ;-)

Oh, and Edgar Allan Poe! How can I have missed that?!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!. Yes... I grew up on Peanuts comic strip (it was one of the few I ever read on a regular basis, and as an adult, I regret that I no longer have all those Peanut books I had as a kid).

Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

ps...I do have all those Peanuts books. Xerox the best strips for display in the office. Wasn't it Linus who used to wait in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin?

Dracula by Bram Stoker. I finally convinced our book club to read this for October so am psyched about that. Waiting for my copy to be delivered from amazon...

Also, Frankenstein is another favorite for this time of year... Not too scary. (I am a bit of a woose about these sort of things.)

Short story - The Yellow Wallpaper

Poe never scared me - perhaps because my first introduction to him was when my brother's HS choir sang several of the poems - Tell Tale Heart, the Bells and Annabelle Lee are the ones I remember the most. But I always found the stories fun to read aloud

In Jr Hi we read many O Henry and Saki stories. Some of those were down right creepy.

And Halloween isn't Halloween for me unless I watch The Great Pumpkin, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Young Frankenstien and/or Love at First Bite. Hilarious, all of them.

How about Kostova's "The Historian." (Vlad the Impaler one of its themes).

My son has just reached the age where he likes some of John Bellairs' books. He particularly likes the Johnny Dixon stories. These are perfect for Halloween, they are much better than the Goosebumps series.

I don't know if anyone bothers to read Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby anymore. I read it one year right before Halloween, and it absolutely terrified me.

Often as a special Halloween treat, I will read the M. R. James story "Oh, Whistle and I'll come for you my lad" every Halloween night, timing my reading so that I finish right before midnight. Never fails to spook me out.

Susan Hill's The Lady in Black is also a good scare. I bought it on the recommendation of RPers, and it did not fail to give me goosebumps.

A book which I think is really scary is J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas, though it does not strictly qualify as paranormal.

Wow - someone mentioned Ray Bradbury and that reminded me of a book perfect for this discussion. It's called The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury and fascinated and scared me when I was younger.

So long since I posted on here.....But what a great subject! I agree with a bunch of you. Lovecraft is one of the best pulp horror writers. Bradbury, yes he is a must for this time of year. The Halloween Tree was also made into a delightful cartoon which I can't find....
Poe has taken me this month. I've just finished The Black Cat and am amazed at the beauty of his writing.
Peace,