Edgar Allan Poe's short story: The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
.....My attention, for the last three years, had been repeatedly drawn to
the subject of Mesmerism; and, about nine months ago it occurred to
me, quite suddenly, that in the series of experiments made hitherto,
there had been a very remarkable and most unaccountable omission: --
no person had as yet been mesmerized in articulo mortis. It remained
to be seen, first, whether, in such condition, there existed in the
patient any susceptibility to the magnetic influence; secondly,
whether, if any existed, it was impaired or increased by the
condition; thirdly, to what extent, or for how long a period, the
encroachments of Death might be arrested by the process. There were
other points to be ascertained, but these most excited my curiosity
-- the last in especial, from the immensely important character of
its consequences.....

A short story by Edgar Allan Poe
The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe's short story: The Pit and the Pendulum
I WAS sick -- sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at
length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses
were leaving me. The sentence -- the dread sentence of death -- was
the last of distinct accentuation which reached my ears. After that,
the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy
indeterminate hum. It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution --
perhaps from its association in fancy with the burr of a mill wheel.
This only for a brief period; for presently I heard no more. Yet, for
a while, I saw; but with how terrible an exaggeration! I saw the lips
of the black-robed judges.

Edgar Allan Poe's short story:The Fall of the House of Usher

DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn
of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I
had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary
tract of country ; and at length found myself, as the shades of the
evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I
know not how it was - but, with the first glimpse of the building, a
sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable ;
for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable,
because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even
the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked
upon the scene before me - upon the mere house, and the simple
landscape features of the domain - upon the bleak walls - upon the
vacant eye-like windows - upon a few rank sedges - and upon a few
white trunks of decayed trees - with an utter depression of soul
which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the
after-dream of the reveller upon opium - the bitter lapse into
everyday life - the hideous dropping off of the veil.

Edgar Allan Poe's short story: The Murders In The Rue Morgue

Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we
should have been regarded as madmen - although, perhaps, as madmen of
a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no
visitors. Indeed the locality of our retirement had been carefully
kept a secret from my own former associates; and it had been many
years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris. We existed
within ourselves alone.....

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" wich is "pepon." "Pepon" was nasalized by the French into "pompon."

A halloween story by Alecia DIXON
This is a story that one could tell in a darkened room, passing around the props at the end at the appropriate spots in the story... Be sure to protect your floor from the possible mess!
One Halloween Night
It was a warm Halloween night. Five boys hurriedly put on their Halloween costumes while chattering away with delight in anticipation of one of their favorite holidays. There will be friends, filled with giggles and smiles, and parents holding on tight to little hands. Uncertain tots approaching neighbors doors will eagerly hold out their .....

ACTIVITIES FOR HALLOWEEN
Characters and Vocabulary

Halloween Game

Halloween Yummy Recipes
Easy recipes for kids to make and decorate.