Movies & Shows
The Addams Family is an iconic cartoon series that has been adapted into several films and television shows. What are the first names of Mr. and Mrs. Addams and their two children?
Gomez and Morticia and Wednesday and Pugsley.
In the late 1900s, a quirky ghost-themed movie was released with an iconic song featuring the lyrics:
"If you see something strange in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?"
What is the name of the movie?
Ghostbusters
What is the name of the horror novel written by Mary Shelley? Bonus points if you can remember the full title!
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a short story written by Washington Irving in the 1800s, about a phantom known as the Headless Horseman who rides a jet-black horse and wears a Jack O'Lantern head with two burning red eyes. What is the name of the school teacher who is tormented by the Headless Horseman?
Ichabod Crane
In "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," a Halloween-themed cartoon featuring the beloved Peanuts comic strip characters, Linus believes that the Great Pumpkin will appear in "the most sincere" pumpkin patch on Halloween night and ...
A) Give presents to children
B) Predict the future
C) Turn into a pumpkin carriage
A - Linus believes the Great Pumpkin will appear with a bag full of presents to give to children. Unfortunately, the Great Pumpkin never appears, and Linus stays up all night in the pumpkin patch waiting for him. Regardless, Linus has full faith the Great Pumpkin will make an appearance next Halloween.
In the 1944 horror comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, Cary Grant's character, Mortimer Brewster, informs his long-absent brother, Jonathan Brewster, "You look like Boris Karloff!" Boris Karloff originated the role of Jonathan Brewster in the Broadway play that the Cary Grant film was based off. Boris Karloff is famous for playing what "monster" on television?
Frankenstein's "monster"
Which artist released the pop song 'vampire' in the year 2023?
A) Dua Lipa
B) Olivia Rodrigo
C) Taylor Swift
B - Olivia Rodrigo released 'vampire' as the first single in her sophomore album GUTS
In her novel Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen writes about Catherine Moorland, a teenage girl who visits Northanger Abbey, the house of her prospective love interest, Henry Tilney. Catherine is obsessed with Gothic novels, and convinces herself that the abbey is haunted. Then she persuades herself that Henry Tilney's father, General Tilney, has got his allegedly deceased wife trapped in his attic. In what Gothic novel, published almost 30 years after Northanger Abbey, does a character actually have his wife locked in his attic?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Vampires are undead ghouls with a passion for red liquid. There have been many famous vampires--Count Dracula, Mavis from Hotel Transylvania, and real-life Vlad the Impaler, who was a vampire according to legend. But all vampires have one thing in common: they can be defeated by one odoriferous vegetable. Which vegetable is it?
Garlic! According to lore, wearing a wreath of Garlic around your neck will protect you from vampire bites.
True or false: Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde, both Gothic writers, not only knew each other, but were actually good friends all their lives! They grew up together, went to the same school, and stayed friends until Wilde's early death in 1900. Bram Stoker actually married Oscar Wilde's childhood sweetheart - but not even this put a rift in their friendship.
It is true! Wilde and Stoker, both born and raised in Ireland, were very close friends. Bram Stoker was one of very few people who visited Wilde in Reading Gaol after Wilde was imprisoned for being bisexual. And yes, Stoker really did marry Wilde's childhood crush, Florence Balcombe.
Eleven is an angsty adolescent girl with the power of telekinesis played by Millie Bobby Brown on the popular Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things. What is Eleven's real first name?
Jane
Which iconic Halloween song has the lyrics:
"Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring/ Seems he was troubled by just one thing/ He opened the lid and shook his fist/ He said/ "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?"
Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt Kickers
To which famous Gothic horror novel does this quote belong: "You said I killed you - haunt me, then!"
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte! (Heathcliff says this line in a dramatic scene with his true love, Catherine Earnshaw.)
True or False: After the death of her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley kept his heart in a wooden box until her own death almost 30 years later. After Mary's death, the box containing the heart was given to their son Percy Florence Shelley, who, at his own death, was buried with it.
That is true! At his cremation, Percy Bysshe Shelley's heart remained intact, and his friend Leigh Hunt pulled it from the ashes and gave it to Mary. Though, there is some dispute over whether it was actually Percy's heart, or if it was some other organ.
What is the name of the middle-grade fiction series, written by Deborah and James Howe, narrated by a dog and starring a vampire rabbit?
Bunnicula
Alfred Hitchcock was an American director of horror films and thrillers. Some of his most famous titles include Rear Window, North by Northwest, and Psycho. Daphne du Maurier was a legendary British Gothic writer most famous for her novel Rebecca. What is the name of the Daphne du Maurier short story Alfred Hitchcock adapted into a film? (Hint: it's about birds.)
The Birds
Which singer has a song titled 'Waking the Witch?'
A) Kate Bush
B) Lana Del Ray
C) Taylor Swift
A - Kate Bush has a song titled 'Waking the Witch' on her album 'Hounds of Love.'
In 1816, during a stormy summer, the poet Lord Byron challenged his friends Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later known as Mary Shelley), Mary's step-sister Claire, and Byron's physician John William Pollidori to a writing contest while they were all staying in a villa on Lake Geneva. Mary came up with Frankenstein, Byron wrote an unfinished horror story, and Pollidori wrote The Vampyre. The Vampyre became inspiration for a later horror novel, published in 1897. What was the title of this novel, and who was its author?
Dracula by Bram Stoker
True or False: During the pagan festival Samhain, from which our modern-day Halloween was derived, it was tradition to carve small designs into acorns, then throw the acorns into the fire as a way to send messages to the spirit world.
False! As far as I know, this did not occur. But people would carve turnips, potatoes, and beets, hollow them out, and place a candle inside, as we do nowadays with pumpkins.
Which is the most popular Halloween costume?
A) Ghost
B) Witch
C) Vampire
B- according to various censuses, witch costumes are the most popular Halloween costumes!
Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a sitcom series that ran from 1996 - 2003, starring the character Sabrina Spellman, who discovers she is a witch on her 16th birthday. In 2018, Netflix released a horror series called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which also centered on teen witch Sabrina Spellman. What are the names of the two actresses who portrayed Sabrina in these two shows? (HINT: 1996 actress's initials are MJH, 2018 actress's initials are KS.)
Melissa Joan Hart portrayed Sabrina in the 1996 show, and Kiernan Shipka portrayed her in the 2018 version.
Which of these famous singers does NOT have a Halloween-themed song?
A) Taylor Swift
B) Lana Del Rey
C) Ed Sheeran
C - Ed Sheeran does not have a Halloween song, although he DOES dress as a vampire in his music video for "Bad Habits." Taylor Swift has a Halloween song called "Haunted," and Lana Del Rey has "Season of the Witch."
Oscar Wilde was a famous playwright, known primarily for his play The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde only wrote one novel - but what a novel! His chilling, psychological book was about a handsome young man whose soul becomes trapped in his newly commissioned portrait. Without his soul, the young man becomes spiteful, immoral, and eventually evil. What is the title of Oscar Wilde's novel?
The Picture of Dorian Grey
True or False: Shortly before his death, Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote to a friend that he intended to put a curse on his gravesite: if his grave was disturbed in any way, those who disturbed it would somehow be punished. Poe was buried in an unmarked grave. Years after his death, his remains were exhumed so that he might be moved to a more prestigious gravesite. Reports of the "curse" were not taken seriously, but one week after his coffin was moved, the man who dug up Poe's remains found a dozen ravens nesting in the rafters of his barn.
False! There is no record of Poe having cursed his gravesite. His remains were exhumed, but nobody involved in the project was tormented by ravens. However, Poe actually did put a curse on a pub called Deer Park Tavern ("All who enter it shall have to return!"), and, apparently, he also put a curse on the entire state of Delaware … ("May all who are born here, die here, and may all who come here never leave.")
R.L. Stine is an American writer who writes horror books for kids. His books have been sold worldwide and adapted into several television shows and movies. What is the name of his most popular and famous horror book series?
Goosebumps