It’s creepy and it’s kooky, mysterious and spooky, it’s altogether ooky, it’s All Hallows Eve. It’s that time of year when coffins creak open, spirits begin to awaken and the undead rise again to roam to streets. So let your spine tingle, your blood curdle, and your bones rattle, as we take a look at the A-Z of Halloween. BOO!
A is for All Saints Day. Not just the name of a clothing brand, All Saints is a day of feast celebrated on November 1st and in honour of all Saints known and unknown to man.
Special mention: apple bobbing, alien, The Addams Family, abracadabra, arachnid, Amityville Horror, American Horror Story
B is for Boo!The sound that all ghosts make/affectionate term to call a loved one.
Special mention: bats, black cats, Beelzebub, BeetleJuice, Buffy, Behemoth, broomstick, bogeyman, blood, bones, bride of Frankenstein, brimstone, book of spells.
C is for Candy corn. The orange, white and yellow triangular shaped sweets long associated with Halloween and probably responsible for half of America’s tooth rot.
Special mention: cauldrons, cadaver, cemetery, cape, costume, cobweb, coffin, corpse, cackle, creak, creep, crypt, curse, clown, Carrie, The Conjuring, Claire’s Accessories, Claire Dane’s crying face.
D is for Devil.Any excuse to wear red latex and horns – See Britney c. 2000.
Special mention: death, demon, dark, disguise, dungeon, Dia de Muertos, Dracula.
E is for Exorcism. That thing that you do when someone is possessed by a demon, usually performed by a priest.
Special mention: eyeballs, enchantment, evil, Ebola.
F is for Frankenstein.An arrogant young chap who famously shouted “it’s alive!” upon seeing his monstrous creation move for the first time.
Special mention: flesh eating zombie, fangs, fog, Fright Night, face paint, fake blood, freakshow, furry things.
G is for Ghost. Someone who goes around wearing a bed sheet and making spine tingling sounds. Sometimes friendly, sometimes not. (See B is for Boo!)
Special mention: Ghoul, Goosebumps, ghost story, Grim Reaper, graveyard, gore, grisly, Gareth Pugh.
H is for Haunted House.A dark and creepy house where things go bump in the night!
Special mention: Hell, Happy Halloween, hair raising, hobgoblin, Hocus Pocus.
I is for Incantation.Spells that all witches use when they’re up to no good.
Special mention: icy, invisible, insane.
J is for Jack Skellington.The Pumpkin King of Halloween Town who kidnaps Santa Claus in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Special mention: Jabberwocky, Judderman, Jack O’ Lantern.
K is for The Killing.A very scary TV series about murder detectives.
Special mention: Kill, killer, King Kong, Kardashians.
L is for Living Dead.The stars of 60s horror flick Night of the Living Dead. (See also U is for Undead).
Special mention: Lucifer, lightning, leviathan.
M is for Mummy. A deceased human or animal whose skin and organs have been embalmed so that they may be preserved for hundreds of thousands of years – an effect meticulously recreated by wrapping loo roll round oneself.
Special mention: Monster, Mykki Blanko.
N is for Nightmare on Elm Street. A film about a group of teenagers from Ohio who are being terrorised in their dreams by the terrible Freddie Krueger. Remember if you die in your dreams, you die in real life too.
Special mention: Nosferatu, noise, nuts.
O is for Ogre. Particularly unattractive, ogres are large manlike monsters who feast off women and babies/what most people are like in the morning.
Special mention: October, owls, orange, Ouija board.
P is for Pumpkin. A round, orange vegetable that grows in patches, and is often carved into and lit up with candles. Also the flavour of a spiced latte from Starbucks.
Special mention: possessed, potion, Paranormal Activity, phantom, petrified, party, poltergeist, psycho.
Q is for Quivering. What your body does when you feel a chill down the back of your spine…
Special mention: Queen of the Damned.
R is for RIP. The phrase written on gravestones/a song by Rita Ora,
Special mention: rattling bones, rituals, rotting, Rosemary’s Baby, The Rocky Horror Show, The Ring, Rick Owens.
S is for Skull. The thing that sits atop a skeleton/a motif used on scarves by Alexander McQueen.
Special mention: skeleton, spirits, Scary Movie 1-1000, spells, slime, souls, spooky, Scream, supernatural, scared, spider, spine tingling, Sarcophagus, Simon Cowell, slutty nurse/maid/devil (delete as appropriate).
T is for Trick or Treat. The phrase you say when you knock on someone’s door on All Hallow’s Eve, wishing for treats but always getting tricked.
Special mention: Tombstone, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, terrifying, Thriller.
U is for the Undead. Highly unsociable lot that aren’t quite dead but not entirely living either.
Special mention: the Underworld.
V is for Vampire. Fanged creatures who sleep in coffins, drink blood, and can never go out in the sun. Use garlic cloves, crosses, and holy water to ward them off, and threaten them with wooden stakes.
Special mention: Voodoo.
W is for Werewolf. Also known as a lycanthrope, a werewolf is a mysteical beast, part man part wolf, he shapeshifts under the light of a full moon.
Special mention: witch, wizard, web, warlock, wand.
X is for Xenophobe. A fear of all things foreign e.g ghosts, ghouls and otherworldly creatures.
Special mention: Xena Warrior Princess.
Y is for You. As in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Special mention: Yolo (the rest of the time you’re undead)
Z is for Zombie. An animated corpse, raised from the dead through magical means. Also the name for a particularly lethal drink.
Special mention: Zoolander, zookeeper.
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock
Photography Isabel Asha Penzlien
Styling Beth Houfek
[From The Horror Issue, i-D No. 267, June/July 2006]