A few years ago, the Downton Abbey Christmas special featured a ouija board which communicated a message from a dead character. American reviewers were extremely puzzled by this incursion of the supernatural…
La Llorona Durmiente, oil on canvas, 2012
Hector Garza
For more than 500 years, she has wandered, weeping and searching without rest. A ghostly woman in white who is said to have murdered her children, she is doomed to roam the earth, searching for their lost…
Halloween these days calls pumpkins to mind, cackling witches, teenagers pulling pranks and scream masks. You probably know that all this derives from All Hallows’ Eve, the night before the Christian feast…
On to profiting from Mexican traditions.
PinkPueblo/Shutterstock
Halloween is boring. I used to think this quite often when I was young. Not because I didn’t enjoy wearing costumes or collecting candy or even being chased by random neighbourhood dogs while trick or…
Children and adults alike are digging out those spooky costumes ready for a celebration. We’ve reached that time of year again: Halloween. October 31 is dedicated to remembering the dead. We’ve all experienced…
Go with the group on trick or treat this Halloween.
Sean Locke Photography
Halloween is upon us tonight and it’s all just a bit of harmless fun, right? Or is there truly a dark side to Halloween? What should we make of kids getting together in groups, wearing costumes that hide…
A surgeon performing a lithotomy on a patient, c. 1747.
Wellcome Library
You don’t have to be a horror fan to be well acquainted with some of the 20th century’s classic slasher movie music. Even if you’ve never sat through Psycho, you could probably immediately recognise the…
Zombies are undergoing a revival. Our screens have been filled with films such as “Zombieland”, “World War Z” and “Resident Evil”. Many home-made zombie will be knocking at our doors this week for Halloween…
Customes allow their wearers to subvert ordinary social expectations.
NoPro2009
As October inevitably prompts grizzling about the premature appearance of mince pies and plum puddings on supermarket shelves, so too does it draw laments about American cultural imperialism and consumerism…