The painting "Ichabod Crane" by William J. Wilgus (1819–53), chromolithograph, c. 1856.
Ichabod Crane, Respectfully Dedicated to Washington Irving. Artist: William J. Wilgus (1819–53), chromolithograph, c. 1856. Source: http://www.hudsonvalley.org

Still casting about for a Halloween costume? How about paying homage to something you read that sent shivers up your spine? A few suggestions:

  • Shakespeare is always a great source. Banquo’s ghost, the weird sisters, Lady Macbeth after the murder, Hamlet’s father, the drowned Ophelia–all are classics. If you need visual inspiration, search these characters in ARTstor to see how artists have represented them.
  • Charles Dickens wrote some of the coolest ghosts. Check out Arthur Rackham’s drawings of Marley and the Christmas spirits in the Internet Archives’ digitized A Christmas Carol.

 

Novels that evolved into popular films and TV series

Film poster for the 1932 film The Mummy, Universal Pictures, attributed to Karoly Grosz.n Source: Los Angeles Public Library
Film poster for the 1932 film The Mummy, Universal Pictures, attributed to Karoly Grosz. Source; Los Angeles Public Library
Actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula; anonymous photograph, Universal Studios, 1931.
Actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula; anonymous photograph, Universal Studios, 1931.

 

Of course, it wouldn’t be Halloween without a proper Frankenstein or Dracula costume.

  • Bram Stoker is the legendary Irish author who composed the famous epistolatory novel Dracula (1897).
  • The legacy of Bram Stoker‘s works have continued in the recently published books by his great-grand nephew Dacre Stoker.
  • This costume may take a bit of work, but it’s worth taking the time to put together. A screenplay based on a novel, Nosferatu (a 1922 German silent horror film) was an unsanctioned spin off of Stoker’s Dracula.

If you take the literary path this Halloween, send us a picture and we’ll feature it in a future blog!

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Other horror novels by Bram Stoker:  The Lady of the Shroud (1909) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911)