Things That Go Bump in the Night
This spirit is said to haunt a location, often appearing as an apparition or causing unexplained disturbances.
What is a ghost?
This word describes a spoken formula believed to have magical power.
What is an incantation?
This author wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which a portrait reflects its subject’s moral corruption.
Who is Oscar Wilde?
This element, famous in historical murder mysteries, has the chemical symbol As.
What is arsenic?
This October tradition involves carving a face into a hollowed-out pumpkin.
What is jack-o'-lantern carving?
This German term describes a supposed haunting involving unexplained noises, moving objects, and other physical disturbances.
What is a poltergeist?
In Macbeth, the three witches chant this famous phrase about something being morally or perceptually deceptive.
What is “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”?
In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this English solicitor travels to Transylvania to meet the count.
Who is Jonathan Harker?
This poisonous element, with the symbol Hg, was once used in some medical treatments and felt hats.
What is mercury?
This notorious American hotel inspired Stephen King’s The Shining after he stayed there during the off-season.
What is the Stanley Hotel?
In folklore, this creature is said to assume another person's appearance, sometimes by wearing their skin.
What is a skinwalker?
This term describes a charm or object believed to protect its owner from evil or harm.
What is an amulet?
In Shirley Jackson's famous 1948 short story, residents of an ordinary village conduct an annual ritual that ends in a shocking act of collective violence.
What is "The Lottery?"
Agatha Christie frequently used this toxic compound in her mysteries; it is also known as a deadly gas with a bitter-almond association that not everyone can smell.
What is cyanide?
This real-world location in Paris contains the remains of millions of people in underground ossuaries.
What are the Catacombs of Paris?
This legendary phantom ship is said to sail the seas forever, often as an omen of disaster.
What is the Flying Dutchman?
This term refers to a magical symbol, word, or design believed to embody a specific intention.
What is a sigil?
First published in 1902, the author W. W. Jacobs wrote a short story in which a magical object grants wishes with horrifying consequences.
What is “The Monkey's Paw?”
Socrates was sentenced to death in ancient Athens by drinking a preparation containing this poisonous plant.
What is hemlock?
In folklore, this kind of mirror is sometimes covered after a death to prevent the soul from becoming trapped or the living from seeing a spirit.
What is a looking glass?
In Irish folklore, this female spirit’s wail is said to foretell a death in a family.
What is a banshee?
This term describes the act of divination by interpreting patterns in a crystal, mirror, or other reflective surface.
What is scrying?
The author Robert W. Chambers wrote this collection of strange tales about a fictional play that drives readers mad named the King in _____.
What is "The King in Yellow?"
This plant-derived toxin inhibits protein synthesis and is found in castor beans.
What is ricin?
This medieval manuscript, sometimes called the “Devil's Bible,” is famous for its enormous illustration of the Devil.
What is the Codex Gigas?