2Area communiti es have announced their Halloween trick-or-treati ng hours. The informati on re ects the dates and ti mes provided by press ti me. All communiti es are holding trick-or-treati ng on Oct. 31.

The following is a list of Halloween events scheduled in area communiti es. The list re ects only events submitt ed to the Olean Times Herald by press ti me.

Allegany: 6 to 8 p.m.Belmont: 6 to 8 p.m. Bradford, Pa.: 6 to 7:30 p.m.Bradford Township, Pa.: 6 to 7:30 p.m.Catt araugus: 6 to 8 p.m.Cuba: 6 to 8 p.m.Duke Center, Pa.: 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Eldred, Pa.: 5:30 to 7 p.m.Ellicott ville: 6 to 9 p.m.Foster Township, Pa.: 6 to 7:30 p.m.Franklinville: 6 to 8 p.m. Friendship: 5 to 7 p.m.Hinsdale: 6 to 8 p.m. Lafayett e Township, Pa.: 6 to 8 p.m.

Lewis Run, Pa.: 6 to 7 p.m.Limestone: 6 to 7 p.m.Litt le Valley: 6 to 8 p.m.Olean: 6 to 8 p.m. Randolph: 6 to 7:30 p.m.Salamanca: 5 to 7 p.m.Wellsville: 6 to 8 p.m.

AUSTIN, Pa. The Austi n Area School PBL Group will host its second-annual

haunted hayride from 7:30 to 10:30 pm. Oct. 23 and 24 at the Austi n Dam

Memorial Park. The tractor-drawn hayride will take parti cipants on a scary

ride through a vortex tunnel and along the dams haunted path, which

includes live, scary scenes. There will also be games for kids and a 50/50

ra e. The cost is $4 for students and $6 for adults. Food and beverages will

be available for a fee.

DUKE CENTER, Pa. There will be a Trunk or Treat event from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 31 in Ott o Park at Duke Center.

ELDRED, Pa. Children in sixth grade and under are invited to parti cipate in a

Halloween party and costume judging starti ng at 7 p.m. at the Eldred Borough

Fire Hall. A pumpkin-carving contest will be held at the party, organizers said.

There will also be a haunted house following trick- or treat in the ambulance

building, sponsored by the Revitalize Eldred Committ ee. Eldred borough will

also hold an Eldread house decorati ng contest from from now through Oct.

31. The entry fee is $5. To enter, call 225- 4777. The winner will be awarded a

cup at the re hall party.

KANE, Pa. The Kane Community Halloween Parade will be held Oct. 31. The

parade will begin lining up at 2 p.m. on Wetmore Avenue and travel at 3 p.m.

to Chestnut Street, where it will disband.

This will be a community event, and families and groups are invited to

parti cipate. Awards will be given for best costumes. Some of the categories

that may be awarded are: Best Animal, Best Cartoon Character, Best Face

Painti ng, Best Royal, Best Rock Star, Best Sport Themed, Best Superhero,

Best Villain, Best Food Themed, Most Eco- Friendly, Most Technologically

Advanced, Best Book Themed, Best School Spirit themed, Best family/group.

Meanwhile, Kane Community Hospital will o er X- ray services to parents

who would like to have their childrens trick- or- treat bags checked. Anyone

who is interested in volunteering to help organize the parade can stop in at

the Kane Area Community Center.

LEWIS RUN, Pa. Lewis Run will hold a Halloween party immediately

following trick-or-treati ng, which ends at 7 p.m., in the re hall.

OLEAN Christ United Methodist Church invites the children of Olean to the

eighth-annual Trunk or Treat Celebrati on. Parents and guardians may bring

children up to grade ve to the church parking lot from 6 to 7 p.m. Oct. 25 to

trick-or-treat from the car trunks of parishioners. Free cider and donuts will

be provided.

OLEAN The Christopher Columbus Lodge will host a Halloween event

starti ng at 9 p.m. Oct. 31 at 540 N. Union St.

The event will end at 1 a.m. Prizes will be available for the best costumes.

Door prizes will also be available. There will also be live music. There will be

no cover charge.

3Many people do not need a reason to throw a party. Although theyre commonly held to mark momentous events, like birthdays, parti es can be entertaining ways to get a group of people together just for the sake of being social.

Entertaining a diverse groups of friends or even family members may challenge party hosts to nd methods that encourage their guests to mingle. One of the most e ecti ve ways to break the ice is to give a party its very own theme.

Themed parti es have a built-in conversati on starter: the theme itself. Socializing can increase when other games or themed compo-nents are included in the festi viti es. Here are some ways to make a theme work for you.

Introduce the theme with the invitati ons. Let guests know that there will be a party theme by menti oning it on the invitati ons. The invitati ons also may ti e into the theme. For example, palm tree invitati ons can indicate a Hawaiian barbecue. If costumes or speci c clothing is suggested, be sure to indicate that on the invitati ons so guests can plan accordingly and decide whether or not to parti ci-pate.

Coordinate the music. Guests will feel more comfortable if you have a steady amount of music playing in the background. Find music that ts with your theme, such as music from the 1970s for a disco party. Keep the volume moderate while guests are arriving and getti ng to know one another. Later on the volume can be turned up for dancing.

Arrange seats for conversati on. Avoid lining up a bunch of

seats along a wall or in a straight line. Instead, group a few chairs around a snack table facing one another so that guests are encour-aged to chat instead of spending the night as wall owers.

Lead by example. If you want others to get involved and have fun with the party theme, you should lead the way. Be sure you are dressed for the occasion and parti cipate in any games or acti viti es that you have planned. If you want guests to get up for a round of karaoke, be the rst person to belt out a tune.

Decorate the home or venue. Ensure guests know there is a speci c theme by decking out the party space with the right acces-sories. The decor can add to the fun factor and give guests even more opportuniti es to converse over clever knickknacks, signs or elaborate backdrops.

Dont forget the food. Tie your food choices into the party theme, o ering foods that are theme-speci c or renaming foods so they coordinate with the theme. Cheese-and-crackers platt ers can get fun makeovers if you use cookie cutt ers to cut the cheese into shapes. Plan cuisine that ts with the theme, such as pretzels and beer for an Oktoberfest party or milkshakes and French fries for a 50s Drive-In party. By thinking creati vely, you can nd even more clever ways to keep guests smiling and sati ated.

Theme parti es make it easy to ti e various elements together and break the ice when guests are invited to mingle.

How to throw a theme party and help break the ice

4Fascinati on with an allegedly haunted house in Hinsdale hasnt died down apparently.

Every Friday and Saturday through the rest of this month and into the next, the Paranormal Investi gati on Tour (P.I.T.) Society is giving tours of the Hinsdale Haunted House, located at 3830 McMahon Road.

The tours have already sold out, said Dave Kl-aes, vice president of the tour group. We actually had to have more ti mes for tours and even o er special tours because the interest is so great.

Klaes purchased the property about four months ago.

The last owner was actually planning to burn it down and then just sell the property. I wanted to save it, he said. There are a lot of people who are sti ll curious about this place. Whenever Ive been up there since I bought it, people stop by because they want to see the place and walk around the property a bit.

Since buying the house, Klaes has had its roof replaced and a substanti al honeybee hive inside the buildings walls removed.

During the upcoming tours, Klaes and members of the P.I.T. Soci-ety will take att endees through the house and around the property, telling tales of ghosts and paranormal encounters that reportedly happened there.

We really want to give people who are interested in the house the chance to come inside, have a look around and hear the stories about what happened here, Klaes said. Were also hoping to share stories that people might not know about. There are just so many di erent stories about this house.

Well also have ghost hunters here during the tours. It should be a fun experience.

The house and its alleged haunti ng have been the subject of several books, documentaries and paranormal investi gati ons.

The bulk of the unexplained was experienced by the Dandy family, who resided at the two-story, three bedroom home located

at the end of a dead end street for ve years in the early 1970s. The family eventually left the house, as brushes with the otherworldly reportedly became all too frequent and an apparent exorcism by Father Alphonsus Trabold, an ordained exorcist and friar as St. Bo-naventure University, did litt le to quell the paranormal.

Clara Miller, the matriarch of the Dandy family who changed her last name aft er her divorce in 1980, returned to her former resi-dence for the rst ti me in April 2012.

During an interview with the Times Herald aft er her visit, Miller recounted several paranormal encounters she and her family had while living at the house. Experiences with specters ranged from bumps in the night and items being inexplicably moved to hearing what sounded like Gregorian chants coming from a nearby forest and the appearances of full-bodied appariti ons.

By Christopher MichelSpecial to Halloween Spooktacular

...conti nued on page 6

Christopher Michel/Olean Times HeraldIts that ti me of year when the home at 3830 McMahon Road in Hinsdale att racts att enti on from paranormal visitors.

5

6Aft er the Dandys left , ownership of the house changed several ti mes unti l 1986, when Florence and Joseph Misnik bought the property. They lived at the house well into their 80s. The couple died within two months of each other in 2010. The house has sat vacant since then.

The house sti ll seems to be a haven for ghosts and other spirits despite not having had a living resident in ve years, Klaes said.

With P.I.T. Society, Klaes has conducted paranormal investi ga-ti ons.

I was just there on (Tuesday) and I had an (electronic voice phe-nomenon) response that said, Im dead, he said. I also had some of our di erent meters that measure electricity respond, and theres no electricity to the house right now.

Klaes said hes even had contact with Florence Misnik. Im prett y sure she sti ll comes to the house, he said. When I

was there, I asked for Flo, and my meter started going o . I asked her to follow me upstairs, and the meter stayed lit up.

Its those experiences that convince Klaes purchasing the house was a solid investment. In fact, he hopes to open a paranormal research center in it.

The house is a piece of history, he said. Its de nitely worth saving.

...conti nued from page 4

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7Editors Note: In October 1991, Jim Eckstrom, now executi ve editor of the Olean Times Herald and Bradford Publishing Co., was a reporter and copy ed-itor at The Bradford Era. He wrote this story for the Halloween editi on of The Era that year, aft er visiti ng the dungeon in the basement of the former McK-ean County Jail in Smethport, Pa. The story involves the fate of Ralph Crossmire, convicted of murdering his mother and executed in the 1890s.

...And they hung him right here in front of his cell, someone in the morning tour group was saying. I guess they used a 240-pound weight and dropped it so it jerked him up o the oor. Snapped the neck like a sti ck.

As I looked around at the dank sandstone walls, glistening with moisture, and the mold-covered dirt oor, I could hardly accept that prisoners were once held in the basement cells the dungeon of the old McKean County Jail.

I stepped into the cell where Ralph Crossmire, hanged in 1983 for the killing of his mother in Farm-ers Valley, reportedly was held. The ti ght cell had a musty stench and, when I thought of the convicts held there in the early years of the jail, I could almost feel a pall of gloom and despair hanging in the heavy air.

What could Crossmire have been thinking as he sat in the dark while, just outside his cell door, an A-frame gallows was hammered together for his executi on?

According to county legend, the cell was supposed to be haunted. By Crossmire himself? Prisoners, aft er the hanging, had complained they couldnt live near the cell because a ghostly spirit disturbed the area.

Recalling a story Id read, Crossmires sentence of death was commuted to life in prison by the governor a year aft er the hanging. Also, he never admitt ed to the horrible crime of beati ng and stran-gling his mother, whose bleeding body was found swinging from a

barn raft er aft er the killer att empted to make the death look like a suicide.

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, Crossmire said before he was jerked from the oor to dangle in death. I forgive all who have sinned against me.

I forgive all who have sinned against me, I thought. Sti ll, a shud-

By Jim EckstromSpecial to Halloween Spooktacular

...conti nued on page 8

The Bradford Era covered the hanging of convicted murderer Ralph Crossmire on Dec. 14, 1893. Crossmire, professing his innocence to the last, was hanged in the basement of what was then the McKean County Jail. Legend said the basement the dungeon was haunted.

8der wrung up through my shoulders as I conjured up thoughts of the embitt ered spirit of a wrongly executed man lingering in the black spaces of the dungeon awaiti ng justi ce.

Receding voices broke me out of my reverie. A heavy door boomed and I could hear the ratt ling of a heavy lock. Panic surged in my chest.

The group had left ! The door, locked!Cant be left in here!! GOT TO GET OUT!!I started to run for the door, my ashlight thrust ahead of me.

Turning out of the cell the lighted spaces bounded in my vision as I moved. I never saw the low pipe running along the ceiling. My fore-head clanged against it. Sunbursts ashed in my eyes, then nothing.

The feel of litt le cold feet on the back of my left hand squirmed into my consciousness through relentless pounding. I opened my eyes, only to stare into two bead-sized spheres, blood-red from the illuminati on of my ashlight. In fright and disgust I ung the huge rat from my hand and it thudded against the stone wall, squeaking its outrage.

I sat up and wondered how long I was on the moldy oor. I grabbed my ashlight and looked at my watch. 11:55. Almost mid-night? The tour began at 11 a.m.!

I stumbled to the dungeon oor and pushed. I might have been pushing one of the stone walls. I pounded on the door and bellowed for anyone who might hear, only to be answered by mocking silence.

Slumping against the door, I began to realize I might be in for a long stay in the black underbelly of the jail, sharing the space with I didnt even want to consider what.

I looked into one of the rst cells, remembering some plasti c and other debris had been left there. I found a reasonably dry piece of cardboard and, spreading it out, sat down.

As I strained to hear the slightest noise within the dungeon and without, minutes passed in the ringing quiet, my only comfort the light from the ashlight.

Deciding to try to yell for help again, I returned to the door. I opened my mouth to shout when, in the dark behind, I heard a loud thump. I whirled around and stabbed the ashlight beam right and left , desperately searching for the source of the noise.

I saw nothing but my ears caught a faint sound. At rst I thought it was more squeaking from a rat. But aft er a few moments, I heard the unmistakable sound of creaking not unlike the creaking of a new, sti manila rope weighted down by a condemned felon as he twists and sways.

Creak. Creak. CREAK.In terror, I edged along the wall to the cell where I had been sit-

ti ng.Creak.

I irrati onally thought the doorless cell would o er protecti on..Creak.I sat on the cardboard, trying to make myself shrink.CREAK.As I stared at the cell door, the sound suddenly stopped, only to

be replaced by another. At rst, it was an unrecognizable moan, but soon coherent words ran over one another is an almost harmonious chant.

I forgive sinned against I forgive all sinned against me I forgive all who have sinned

I FORGIVE ALL WHO HAVE SINNED AGAINST METhough I was paralyzed with fear, I recognized the words utt ered

by Crossmire almost 100 years before as he stood at his awful gal-lows. But there was a strange tone to the spectral voice. A mocking tone.

An eldritch glow played on the walls outside the cell. From the way it grew, the glow was obviously moving toward the door of the cell where I sat, helpless.

Suddenly, he stood there. Crossmires dead white face stared at mine, but from an odd angle. To my horror I saw the elongated neck, slanti ng impossibly over his right shoulder. A frayed rope hung from his neck, the heavy knot set below his left ear.

Horribly, he mouthed his chant past his distended tongue loop-ing out of the corner of his lips, which were curled back in a rictus of death.

Holding gray-white hands out he stepped toward me and, stoop-ing, he lowered his clutching ngers. Just before they circled my throat I heaved up, shrieking. Ducking away, I ran through the cell door and tripped over another pipe on the oor and sprawled onto the dirt.

I rolled over and saw Crossmire was right upon me, this ti me with the rope from his neck in his hands. He reached down, at-tempti ng to loop the rope over my own neck. I tried to fend him o , but the blows seemed to have no e ect.

As I was desperately ghti ng against the hands, voices suddenly bore through my terror. The horri c image of Crossmire began to blur and gradually was replaced by one vaguely familiar.

Easy there, take it easy, the man said. You OK? You must have knocked yourself out.

Blinking, the face registered as one who was on the tour. What ti me is it? I asked.

About noon. A lady realized back in the courthouse that one of us was missing so we came back to check.

As relief ooded over me, I realized I was only out for several minutes, not hours, and the terrible experience was just a

Hey, whats this around your neck?Feeling chilled, I reached up to feel around my neck and my

ngers closed on something. I pulled it o over my head and stared at the old frayed rope, the hangmans knot sti ll in place.

...conti nued from page 7

91. What is the word Halloween derived from?__________________________________________________________________________________________________2. Why are orange and black Halloween colors?__________________________________________________________________________________________________3. Where did Jack o Lanterns originate?__________________________________________________________________________________________________4. What is the fear of Halloween is known as?__________________________________________________________________________________________________5. Celebrating the harvest around a bonfire, sharing ghost stories, singing, dancing and telling fortunes were Halloween traditions brought to North America by whom?__________________________________________________________________________________________________6. What was the first wrapped penny candy in America?__________________________________________________________________________________________________7. What group of people would wear masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as humans by roaming spirits on Halloween?__________________________________________________________________________________________________8. What is the average Halloween candy sales (annually) in the United States?__________________________________________________________________________________________________9. What tops the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters?__________________________________________________________________________________________________10. Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from what? __________________________________________________________________________________________________11. What animals were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their power?__________________________________________________________________________________________________12. Unibrow, hairy palms, tattoos and a long middle finger are signs of what shapeshifting beast?__________________________________________________________________________________________________13. With commercially successful holidays what place does Halloween come in?__________________________________________________________________________________________________14. In folkloric tales, what beings would often visit loved ones and cause mischief or deaths in the neighborhoods they inhabited when they were alive?__________________________________________________________________________________________________15. Count Dracula is believed to have been inspired by what 15th-century general and prince?__________________________________________________________________________________________________16. The Count Dracula Society, vampire clubs and societies with people claiming to be real vampiresm was founded in what year and by who?__________________________________________________________________________________________________17. There really are so-called vampire bats, but they're not from Transylvania. From where do these bats live and feed?__________________________________________________________________________________________________18. What is believed to have been created by medieval architects and stone carvers to ward off evil spirits?__________________________________________________________________________________________________

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1. All Hallows Eve or All Saints Eve3. Ireland, where people placed 3. Ireland, where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts.2. Orange - fall harvest;

Black - darkness and death.

5. Immigrants from Europe

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9. Chocolate candy bars with Snickers No. 1.

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10. Roman harvest festival that honors Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees.

11. Black cats

15. Vlad III The Impaler

14. Vampires14. Vampires14. Vampires14. Vampires14. Vampires

13. Second with Christmas being the rst.

12. Werewolf

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Enjoy some

local treats!

14

Halloween is a season of colors, from the orange pumpkins sit-ti ng on doorsteps to the purple and black bats hung from windows. However, Halloween also is known for its culinary delights, parti cu-larly the sweet treats that are served at parti es or handed out to trick-or-treaters.

Many di erent foods have become synonymous with Halloween, with some not available any other ti me of year. Certain foods are en-joyed simply because they are fun, while others are ti ed to customs honoring the dead. Below are some of the more popular foods come Halloween and a litt le history behind them.

Chocolate: Chocolate is big business around Halloween. Ac-cording to a recent survey from the Nati onal Confecti oners Associa-

ti on, 72 percent of all money spent on Halloween candy is spent on chocolate. Chocolate has been popular for centuries, but chocolates history is even lengthier than many people may know. Cocoa beans were harvested by ancient Olmec Indians as far back as 1500 B.C. Original uses for cocoa beans were in bitt er drinks, similar to cof-fee. It would take centuries more for cocoa beans to be combined with milk and sugar to create the chocolate we know today. J.S. Fry & Sons and Cadbury Brothers were early purveyors of that type of chocolate.

...conti nued on page 16

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Candied apples: Candied apples are usually dipped in to ee or caramel. Other apples may be dipped in a melted sugar coat-ing, similar to the recipe used for lollipops and pulled-sugar treats. Its believed candied apples were created in 1908, when they were meant to be a display item to enti ce customers into candy shops. Candied apples are popular in the fall, when theyre easier to make because thats when apples are in abundance. In additi on, the layer of candy surrounding the apple sets bett er in autumn weather than in the humidity of the summer.

Candy corn: Candy corn is most oft en found around Halloween in North America. The candy was created to look like kernels of corn. However, each candy kernel is three ti mes larger than a real kernel. Candy corn was created in the 1880s by George Renninger of the Philadelphia-based Wunderle Candy Company. The Goelitz Confec-ti onery Company began producti on at the turn of the century, calling their product Chicken Feed.

Soul cakes: Early origins of trick-or-treati ng can be traced to customs for commemorati ng the dead. Individuals, mainly in Britain and Ireland, would go door-to-door souling for cakes baked with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins. For each cake they received, recipients would o er prayers for families departed relati ves. Some people have kept the traditi on alive and bake these biscuit-like cakes.

Pumpkin pie: Pumpkin pie makes its debut in the fall when most pumpkins are ripe for the picking. Pumpkins became popular for cooking in England in the 17th century and were likely brought over to America by the pilgrims. Early pumpkin pies were savory, full of spices. Todays pies are more sweet but sti ll feature the familiar avors of the past, including nutmeg and cloves. Pumpkin pie can be enjoyed around Halloween, but it usually takes center stage during Thanksgiving celebrati ons.

...conti nued from page 14

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As Halloween draws near each year, employees at the Paper Factory in Olean brace themselves for the onslaught of school-age children, as well as older party-goers, who want to dress in the years latest fashion or craze.

Sta at the North Union Street store said the trend for younger girls and boys this year are costumes from the popular Descen-dants Disney Channel movie and television show. The movie depicts the adventures of children of Disney cartoon characters who include Cruella de Vil, Jafar, Evil Queen, Queen Belle and King Beast.

Paper Factory employee Cris Orcutt said the demand for De-scendants costumes has made the outf its harder to keep in stock at the store as well as other businesses in the area.

She said a number of younger boys also want to cloak them-selves in Halo acti on hero outf its based on the popular sci- video game, which are readily available at the store.

A lot of the boys also want to be zombies, and litt le girls always want to be princesses, she added.

Orcutt said traditi onal favorites for adults include nurses, witch-es, vampires, police and superhero outf its. She said the scary clown outf its are both loved and feared by customers.

People are always afraid of clowns, Orcutt said as she walked past a parti cularly frightening clown on display. I think its because they made those movies about them from the Stephen King nov-els.

Orcutt said the upcoming presidenti al electi on has also created a demand by adults for the masks of several candidates.

Well have the Donald Trump masks and we have the Hillary (Clinton) masks, well have all the presidenti al masks, she said of masks of past presidents, including Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.

Presidents always do well, she noted. Store owner Debbie VanScoter said a patt ern she has noti ced

over the years is that people will shop for their childrens costumes rst, and shop for themselves as the holiday draws closer.

VanScoter said another trend she has seen is that more people are purchasing costumes possibly because of the convenience and quality of the outf its.

Nowadays, we sell more costumes than we rent, because they

are bett er quality these days, VanScoter remarked.Shelly Baker of the Goodwill store in Bradford pointed out that,

for do-it-yourselfers, the Goodwill has hats, tails, gloves, individual pieces of fabric and even full and parti al Halloween apparel.

Another possible way to put a costume together is to repurpose, instead of purchase, by looking around the house. Objects like torn pantyhose, old drapes and items in a junk drawer

can supplement fabrics, dresses, hats and necessary accessories without spending anything at all.

Meanwhile, Trisha Lombardo, marketi ng coordinator for Spirit Halloween in Olean, said Batman is always a popular choice, es-pecially with the recent 75th anniversary and the movies that have rocked the box o ce over the past few years. There are plenty of opti ons for men and women to be Batman, Robin or villains like the Joker, which is a really fun spin on the current superhero craze, she said.

Interesti ng costumes and creati ons for this Halloween season include: The Ice Bucket Challenge (a good choice to not only further the awareness raised last year, but also to impose challenges on people), one or two of the many characters of AMCs hit series The Walking Dead and characters from ABCs Once Upon A Time, which incorporates fairy tales with pop culture to enti ce young adults and viewers of the hit show.

By Kate Day Sager And Amber TurbaSpecial to Halloween Spooktacular

Descendants, presidential campaign influences costume selection for Halloween this year

Kate Day Sager/Olean Times HeraldPaper Factory employee Cris Orcutt (foreground), models a Hillary Clinton mask at the North Union Street business as fellow employee Verity Schwindler (at rear) and a spooky witch observe. Masks of presidenti al candidates, such as Clinton and Donald Trump, are in demand this Halloween season.

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Are you a scary movie bu ? Do you relish in the building music and the jump-out-of-your-seat moments that unleash from you a primal scream? Many people share a love of scary movies and have made the horror genre one of the most popular.

No month of the year celebrates horror movies more than Oc-tober. Each October, movie theaters, television stati ons and viewers count down to Halloween with ick aft er ick featuring gore, sus-pense and pure horror.

Many horror movies were inspired by classic literature, includ-ing works from Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Gaston Leroux. Horror lms oft en incorporate mystery, suspense, supernatural elements, and fantasy in additi on to themes that play on viewers fears. Evil creatures, witches, zombies, serial killers, and many additi onal nasty characters may appear in horror lms.

Horror lm fans can trace scary movies origins back to the late 19th century. Some credit silent lm pioneer George Mlis with creati ng the rst horror movie, which was ti tled La Manoir du Diable (The Manor of the Devil). Japanese lmmakers also were instrumental in popularizing the horror genre.

Popular literary characters, from Dracula to Dr. Frankensteins monster to Mr. Hyde to Quasimodo, have appeared in horror mov-ies. Many horror movies have focused on the end of the world and the occult. Psychological horror movies also have proven quite popular with audiences, as have slasher movies, which became quite popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

Many horror movie fans have a favorite subgenre, but many also will gladly watch any ick that puts a scare in them. Some horror movies have had more box o ce success than others, and the fol-lowing are some notable horror movies that put a scare in viewers and some dollars in their producers pockets ( gures courtesy of the Internet Movie Database).

World War Z ($202 million): A zombie pandemic is set to cripple the world, and one man races against ti me to stop it.

What Lies Beneath ($155 million): A woman believes her Vermont home is haunted by a ghost.

Gremlins ($148 million): This tale of pets that boast some

unusual qualiti es became a cultural phenomenon in the 1980s.

The Blair Witch Project ($141 million): When three lm

students disappear aft er investi gati ng the legend of the Blair Witch,

their documented footage sheds light on their fate.

The Silence of the Lambs ($131 million): Few lmgoers can

forget Anthony Hopkins Oscar-winning turn as Hannibal The Can-

nibal Lecter, who works in conjuncti on with naive FBI cadet Clarice

Starling (Jodie Foster) to catch a vicious killer on the loose.

The Ring ($129 million): This lm is a remake of a classic

Japanese ghost story and made many viewers want to avoid their

televisions aft er watching it.

Highest-grossing horror films perfect for Halloween

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