Happy October, y’all!

Spooky Szn is my absolutely favorite time of the year! Halloween (besides being my birthday) kicks off the holiday season, so there’s always so much to look forward to – October brings in months of great food, lots of family time, delightful weather, and the coziest fall style. How can you not love it??

I’ve done a lot of October Obsessions in the past (check out my 2021 post here), but feel this year needed an updated compilation of a few of my favorite things to do, watch, and listen to during this month to get in the spooky season mood!

Shows:

(For my previous list of spooky shows, check out my 2019 post!)

• The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell (Netflix)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu)
• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix)
• Sabrina The Teenage Witch (Hulu)
• Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
• Charmed (Peacock)
• First Kill (Netflix)
• The Sandman (Netflix)
• Lost Girl (The CW)
• Wednesday (Netflix) – coming out November 23
• iZombie (Netflix)
• The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix)
• Halloween Wars (Netflix)
• The Vampire Diaries (HBO Max)
• Supernatural (Netflix)
• Sleepy Hollow (Prime)

Songs:

(And no, I didn’t go with the classic Halloween jams – here are a few of my favorite non-traditional spooky season songs! If you’re looking for the childhood classics, head to my 2018 Halloween Party Music Playlist.)

• Dracula’s Wedding – Outkast
• Brujas – Princess Nokia
• Monster – Kanye West, JAY-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver
• Demons – Hayley Kiyoko
• Disturbia – Rihanna
• Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
• Sour Candy – Lady Gaga & BLACKPINK
• Karma is a Witch – Alice Longyu Gao
• Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
• Freakshow – Britney Spears
• Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
• Haunted – Evanescence
• Hex Girl – Chi Chi
• My Family – Migos, KAROL G, Snoop Dogg, & Rock Mafia
• Savage – Megan Thee Stallion
• Pretty Girl Magic – Moonlight Scorpio
• Black Magic – Little Mix
• Madness – Muse
• The Zombie Song (Netflix First Kill Theme Version) – Stephanie Mabey
• Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolf
• Skeleton Sam – LVCRFT

Movies:

(If you want recommendations for every night of October, head to my 31 Nights of Halloween (Movies) post – but be warned it’s from 2017 so it’s a *little* aesthetically dated ahaha.)

• The Halloweentown Series (1-4) (Disney Plus)
• Hocus Pocus (1&2) (Disney Plus)
• The Witches (Netflix)
• Beetlejuice (HBO Max)
• The Munsters (Netflix)
• Corpse Bride (Disney Plus)
• The Craft (Prime)
• Ghostbusters (Hulu)
• Witches of Eastwick (Amazon)
• Practical Magic (Amazon)
• The Addams Family (Amazon)
• The Little Vampire (Amazon)
• Nightmare Before Christmas (Disney Plus)
• Dark Shadows (Hulu)
• Edward Scissorhands (Disney Plus)

Books:

You can check out my previous list of Hauntingly Good Book recommendations from 2020 too!

• Payback’s A Witch (and sequel) by Lana Harper – a fun, queer romantic comedy filled with magic, ancient rituals, and burned exes!
• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson – a young girl reopens a closed murder case in her hometown and discovers the killer may not have been the person arrested…
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas – I absolutely loved this novel that follows a trans teen who must deal with the consequences when he summons the ghost of his school’s resident bad boy, all while solving unexplained mysteries happening around his extended family.
• Fangs by Sarah Andersen – A very sweet graphic novel showing the evolving love story between a vampire and werewolf.
• The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling – what happens when a witch has to be paired up with her ex (whom she cursed) to save their hometown?
• The Drowning Summer by Christine Lynne Herman – a beautiful, eerie mystery about a young medium struggling to find her gift when strange occurrences happen in her hometown – she’s paired with the girl who’s father was thought to be a notorious killer.
• Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda – This retelling of vampirism through a lens of colonialism and sexism is so interesting as a young artist struggles to hold in her natural thirst for blood.
• Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey – I think of this book as a grown up Harry Potter set in a much darker world. Two identical twins lead very different lives – one, a human, struggles as a private investigator with a drinking problem while her sister, a witch gifted with magical abilities, excels teaching at a private school for witches and warlocks. However, when a fellow teacher is found murdered, their two worlds collide in the most unlikely of ways!
• The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix – This one kept getting recommended to me and seems like a fun read! Basically if Buffy met Desperate Housewives – I can’t wait to dive in!
• HorrorStor by Grady Hendrix
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – fans of suspense, gothic dramas, and historic homes with secrets will be enthralled with this novel. A wealthy socialite receives a disturbing letter from her beloved cousin claiming her life is in danger, but when she visits to check on her, the whole strange family acts as though she’s gone mad! For fans of classics like Rebecca, this is a must-read.
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – This classic novel is one of my favorites! The tale of a young newlywed wife living in the shadow of her predecessor’s home, mansion, and eerily loyal staff. This is always a page-turner, no matter how many times I read it!

And of course you can never go wrong with reading classic series like The Twilight Saga, The Mortal Instruments series, and The Harry Potter series.

I hope all these recommendations help you get into a wickedly spooky mood! Happy haunting!

XOXO
Parisa