Spooky Halloween Words

Need to add some Gothic flair to your vocabulary? Let us rephrase: you need to add some Gothic flair to your vocabulary. It's fun to get scary. Explore more than 150 spooky Halloween words to help you out with a monstrous message or word game.

Some of the most spooky Halloween related words are associated with hauntings and other paranormal experiences.

• apparition
• enchanted
• ghost
• ghostly
• ghoulish
• goblin
• haunted house
• haunting
• hobgoblin
• levitation
• medium
• occult
• orbs
• paranormal
• phantasm
• phantom
• poltergeist
• possessed
• possession
• seance
• specter
• spirit
• unearthly
• wraith

Horror words and phrases take on special meaning relative to Halloween.

• bloodcurdling
• bloodsucker
• bloody
• bones
• carved
• chainsaw
• decapitated
• demon
• evil
• exorcism
• fangs
• gory
• grim
• gruesome
• knife
• lurking
• macabre
• mummified
• pitchfork
• reanimated
• ritualistic
• satanic
• spine-chilling
• spine-tingling
• spree killer

Halloween is filled with legends and lore about spooky things happening around creepy places or things.

• bat
• cadaver
• casket
• cemetery
• cobweb
• coffin
• corpse
• crematorium
• crypt
• cursed
• decomposing
• eerie
• epitaph
• full moon
• gravestone
• graveyard
• howling
• magic
• mausoleum
• morbid
• owl
• shadow
• skull
• spider
• tomb

No Halloween word list is complete without a selection of terms related to witches and what they do.

• black cat
• black dress
• broomstick
• cackle
• cape
• cauldron
• conical hat
• crone
• eye of newt
• hag
• hex
• hocus pocus
• incantation
• magic
• magic potion
• necromancy
• pointy shoes
• sorcery
• spell
• superstition
• toad
• wand
• warlock
• Wiccan
• witchcraft

Witches aren’t the only scary creatures that get special attention on Halloween.

• boogeyman
• grim reaper
• living dead
• monsters
• mummy
• shadowy figure
• skeleton
• troll
• undead
• vampire
• werewolf
• wizard
• zombie

Half the fun of spooky Halloween activities is to see how people react to all the things of the season.

• afraid
• begging
• creeped out
• crying
• fearful
• frightened
• frozen with fear
• heart-pounding
• horrified
• horror-stricken
• palpitations
• panicked
• panicky
• petrified
• scared
• screaming
• shaking
• spooked
• terrified
• terror
• terrorized
• trembling
• unnerved
• weeping

Not every Halloween term falls neatly into a descriptive category.

• candy
• costume party
• costumes
• dark
• devilish
• disguise
• face paint
• ghost story
• jack-o-lantern
• masks
• scary story
• treats
• trick or treat
• tricks
• trunk or treat

Nothing surpasses the masters of menace when it comes to spooking stuff up. Creep out friends and family with the following quotes.

• "When witches go riding, and black cats are seen. The moon laughs and whispers, 'tis near Halloween." - A Witch’s Journal

• "At first cock-crow the ghosts must go. Back to their quiet graves below." - Theodosia Garrison

• "Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble." - Macbeth, William Shakespeare

• "Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish, I wish he'd go away." - "Antigonish," Hughes Mearns

• "My candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open…" - Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

• "She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?" - Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

• "His corpse shall not be to the ground, I shall be against him as a crocodile on the water, as a serpent on earth, and as an enemy in the necropolis." - Curse carved on the stele of Sarenput I

• "Listen to them - children of the night. What music they make!" - Dracula, Bram Stoker

• "That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die." - The Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft

• "Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen. Voices whisper in the trees, Tonight is Halloween!" - Dexter Kozen

Quotes and word lists not enough for your horrific appetites? Need the whole thing? There are many frightening books, stories and movies perfect for the Halloween season, but some are better suited to teens and adults. Whether you’re planning a spooky party or just want to crawl under the blankets with a flashlight and creep yourself out, these titles are sure to please older crowds.

• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca is the classic ghost story of a young wife haunted by the shadow of her predecessor.
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - With family, ghosts, and doors that swing sensibly shut, this just may be the perfect haunted house story.
• The Shining by Stephen King - This masterpiece just may actually be the perfect haunted house story.
• The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman - Long before the TV show, Rick and company fought walkers in this classic graphic novel series.
• Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Sorry, Rick. The original work of zombie horror is still the best, scariest one to date.

• Alien (1979) - Science fiction or not, Alien may be the greatest work of hunted-by-a-monster horror ever.
• Halloween (1978) - The original masked slasher offers the best soundtrack, script and cast the genre has ever had.
• The Witch (2015) - The slow-burn psychological terror manages to make the viewer sympathize with everyone involved, even as the world burns down around them.

A touch of the spooky makes every day better, especially when it comes with candy and friends. Use this creepy collection of worrisome words and quivery quotes to keep the Samhain spirit alive until All Hallows Eve rolls around again! After all that spookiness, you might also want to check out these funny Halloween sayings to enjoy the sillier side of the day.