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Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving

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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 17

Dark Academia novel: The Society for Soulless Girls by Laura Steven (2022) Quote: It was open on the very last page I’d looked at: ‘How the Ritual Was Performed’. I wondered which of my fellow philosophy students had stumbled upon it. And why did they leave in such a hurry that they left the volume lying around like a piece of old junk? The page was exactly as I last saw it, with one tiny, significant exception: the droplet of blood in the bottom right corner. A small smudge, as though someone had pricked their finger on a spindle and then tried to turn the page. The sight made me smile. Someone had tried to perform the ritual. I knew it in my bones. There was someone at Carvell as intrigued by the occult as I was. For some reason, this knowledge bolstered me. In a moment, the decision was made. I was going to attempt the ritual too.   ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 16

Dark Academia novel: Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones (2023) Quote: Everyone from Oreville knows the story of Clarissa. Her living ghost haunts the long rain-dark winters alongside the looming specters of Washington’s grim army of infamous serial killers and litany of missing girls…. Clarissa Campbell, who vanished so completely that no one has found a trace of her – not the full investigative force of the Oreville police department, not legions of armchair sleuths and online obsessives, not television news crews or magazine reporters or Clarissa’s friends and family. ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 15

_____ Dark Academia novel: The It Girl by Ruth Ware (2020) Quote: Afterwards, it was the door she would remember. It was open, she kept saying to the police. I should have known something was wrong. She could have retraced every step of the walk back from the Hall: the gravel crunching beneath her feet of the path across Old Quad, under the Cherwell Arch, then the illegal shortcut through the darkness of the Fellows’ Garden, her feet light on the dew-soaked forbidden lawn. Oxford didn’t need KEEP OFF THE GRASS signs; that lawn had been the preserve of dons and fellows for more than two hundred years without needing to remind undergraduates of the fact…. Then up staircase VII, four flights of worn stone steps, right up to the top, where she and April slept, on the left-hand side of the landing, opposite Dr. Myers’s rooms. Dr. Myers’s door was closed, as it always was. But the other door, her door, was open. That was the last thing she remembered. She should have known something was wrong. But she suspected nothing at all.  ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 13

Dark Academia novel: Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (2021) Quote: “This is where it gets interesting. The second son loves this girl so much he decides to step onto an unholy path. Now the story varies, but in the one my mama told me, he makes a deal. He takes his youngest sister, goes to a crossroad on the property past the witching hour, and he waits until some evil comes to him. He looks that evil square in the face and offers it his sister in return for his wife.” … “He kills his sister,” Sam guessed. “Of course he does,” Mr. McCormick said.     ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 12

Dark Academia novel: Very Bad People by Kit Frick (2022) Quote: Tuesday morning, three classrooms have been ghosted. All over campus, there are whispers. It’s happening again. And I heard they make initiates drink blood. And it’s just a stupid hoax. The teachers talk too. I bet I know who is responsible. And at least they’re not defacing school property. And there are proper channels here at Tipton. Three students have completed their initiation rite. Which leaves seven of us. ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 11

Dark Academia novel: Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann (2017) Quote: The two lions crouched on top of their pedestals, frozen in preparation to leap. One was snarling, its stone teeth menacing in the late-afternoon shadows, while the other stared out with disdain at the broad sweep of empty soybean fields that lay just across the state highway, a disdain made all the more pointed because the lion was missing its left eye. The missing eye was their only major flaw. A myth of swift and terrible justice falling on those who harmed the lions had shielded them further disfigurement over the years. Blackburne legend had it that the student who chiseled out the left eye as a class prank in 1947 died that same week, drowning in the Shenandoah Creek when his canoe tipped over. Since then… the lions were left alone. ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia, October 10

Dark Academia novel: My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham (2022) From the cover: You’ll never guess what’s watching in the dark… Quote: While all towns have their ghosts, Rainwater’s was special. They sank through its submerged sea caves and slithered up its cliffs. They bounced around its caverns and tunnels like electrical pulses in a brain, echoing memories of footsteps and laughter and screams through the ground and into the towering evergreen trees. The peninsula had a habit of keeping things long after they were gone. ALT
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Halloween 2023: 31 Days of Dark Academia (Part 2) Is Coming Soon!

In 2021, my Halloween Countdown focused on 31 Days of Dark Academia. I enjoyed that so much that I’ll be back in October 2023 to spotlight 31 different and new works of Dark Academia! As in 2021, I will be using the #31DaysofDA tag. Each day I’ll be posting a different DA title with a haunting/atmospheric quote. I hope you’ll enjoy the recommendations! ALT In the meantime, here are a few links related to my own Dark Academia-related doings, FYI! In 2022, I had the great delight of teaching a graduate course on Dark Academia for Signum University. This experience led me to write the 2023 article “Teaching Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman (1951),” which appears at Reading Shirley Jackson in the 21st Century. I continue to be fascinated by — and am working on a new project related to — the key features of Dark Academia literature. To my mind, these include the use of Gothic modes of storytelling (as I define Dark Academia as a subset of the Gothic), a focus on an academic setting and educational experience, the cultivation of a dark mood with an emphasis on death, and an interrogation of imbalances in and abuses of power. For a longer discussion about defining the Dark Academia genre (as opposed to the aesthetic), there’s my discussion of DA 1) in my “Looking Back on Genre History segment on Episode 671 of the StarShipSofa podcast and 2) in my essay "Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia” in the forthcoming Potterversity anthology. I have a new project in the works, as well, and will be discussing that soon! Right now, I can say that I’ll be giving a related paper (“Consumed by the Campus: Dark Academia, the Gothic Imagination, and the Missing Student”) in November at Sheffield Gothic’s “Consuming the Gothic” conference. I hope to see some of you there (virtually)! For now, I hope you will enjoy my 2023 Halloween Countdown starting tomorrow! The most wonderful time of the year is almost here! 🎃
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Halloween 2022: Halloween Day

Happy Halloween, everyone! Song: “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe Quote: The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me— Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. Read the complete poem. Listen to Joan Baez’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 9

Song: “Ghost of Norma Jean” Quote: When you see another cross By the road where she is lost, You’ll know that she has some company. Listen to the Steep Canyon Rangers’ performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 8

Song: “Little Margaret” Quote: Is Little Margaret in her room
Or is she in the hall?
Little Margaret’s in her coal-black coffin
With her face turned toward the wall. Listen to the performance of Sheila Kay Adams…
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Halloween 2022: Day 7

Song: “Pretty Polly” Quote: Polly, Pretty Polly, your guess is about right: I dug on your grave the biggest part of last night. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to the performance of Ralph Stanley & Patty Loveless:
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Halloween 2022: Day 6

Song: “The Ghost of Eli Renfro” Quote: Can’t you hear? Can’t you hear? When the moon is bright and clear From time to time, It’s old Eli dragging chains And moaning people’s names. I just hope and pray he never thinks of mine. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to The Nashville Bluegrass Band’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 5

Song: “Long Black Veil” Quote: Oh, the scaffold is high and eternity’s near. She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear. But late at night, when the north wind blows, In a long black veil, she cries o'er my bones. She walks these hills in a long black veil. She visits my grave when the night winds wail. Nobody knows. Nobody sees. Nobody knows but me. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to Gillian Welch’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 4

Song: “Murder of the Lawson Family” Quote: It was on last Christmas Evening, A snow was on the ground, His home in North Carolina Where this murderer he was found. His name was Charlie Lawson And he had a loving wife, But we’ll never know what caused him To take his family’s life.
Listen to The Carolina Buddies’ performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 30

It’s Halloween Eve, and this is a favorite of mine! This quote, in particular, is one of my favorite lines from any song. Song: “Crazy Mary” Quote: That which you fear most could meet you halfway. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to the performance of Victoria Williams…
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Halloween 2022: Day 3

Part 1: Song: “Bringing Mary Home” Quote: But 13 years ago today in a wreck just down the road Our darling Mary lost her life, and we still miss her so. So thank you for your trouble and the kindness you have shown; You’re the 13th one who’s been here bringing Mary home.
Listen to The Country Gentlemen’s performance…
Part 2: Song: “I’ve Come to Take You Home” (Note: This song is a direct response to the song I posted above, “Bringing Mary Home.”) Quote: Though his life is swiftly fading, a memory remains Of that chilly, ghostly evening while driving in the rain.
Listen to Seldom Scene’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 29

Song: “Ghost” Quote: In the wind, there’s a lonesome sound.
In the night, there’s a cry from the hill country ground.
It’s a hum from an ancient tone.
It’s a presence. I can feel it in my bones.
Somethin’ I can’t see has been surroundin’ me,
There’s a ghost trying to talk through me. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to South Austin Jug Band’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 28

Song: “Graveyard Blues” Quote: I got up this morning,
With the blues all around my bed.
I got up this morning,
With blues all around my bed.
I had a dream last night
The one that I loved was dead. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to the performance of Roscoe Holcomb…
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Halloween 2022: Day 27

Song: “Down in the Willow Garden” Quote: My father often told me
That money would set me free, If I’d but murder that dear little girl
Whose name was Rose Connolly. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to the performance of Tim O'Brien & Paul Brady…
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Halloween 2022: Day 26

Song: “Darlin’ Cory” Quote: Dig a hole, dig a hole in the meadows.
Dig a hole in the cold, cold ground.
Dig a hole, dig a hole in the meadows,
Gonna lay darlin’ Cory down. There are many versions of this song. Read more here. Listen to Driftwood Company’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 25

Song: “Callie Calling” Quote: I hear my Callie callin’, callin’ every night.
She stirs around each evenin’, but never in the light.
Haunts me and she taunts me and fills my heart with fright.
I hear my Callie callin’, callin’ every night. Sometimes she whispers, other times she screams.
It’s hard to tell the difference, if she’s real or in my dreams.
She’s the creakin’ in the ceilin’, the knock upon the door,
The wind outside the window, and the footsteps on the floor. Listen to Milan Miller’s performance…
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Halloween 2022: Day 24

Song: “Willie Moore” Quote: She threw herself in Willie Moore’s arms,
As oft time had done before,
But little did he think when they parted that night
Sweet Anna he would see no more. It was about the tenth of May,
The time I remember well,
That very same night her body disappeared
In a way that no one could tell. Read the complete lyrics. Listen to the performance of the Kossoy Sisters…
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Halloween 2022: Day 23

Song: “Katie Dear” Quote: Then he picked up this golden dagger,
And stove it through his troubled heart,
Saying, “Goodbye, Katie, goodbye darling. The time has come for us to part.” There are many versions of this song. Read more here. Listen to the performance of Brennan Leigh & Noel McKay…
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Halloween 2022: Day 22

Song: “The Lantern” Quote: In dark misty hills of Carolina,
Way back where the mountain laurel grows,
On cool October nights, with a lantern shining bright,
There’s something out there walking through the darkness all alone,
Creeping through the darkness all alone.

Read the complete lyrics. Listen to Front Range’s performance…
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