FAMOUS HALLOWEEN WRITINGS

The month of October ushers in frost on the pumpkins, apple harvest and all hallow eve. Through the ages, much has been written about this mysterious time of year. Many of the following quotes may seem familiar - see if you can guess who wrote them.

What fearful shapes and shadows beset his path, amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night! With what wistful look did he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from some distant window! How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with snow, which, like a sheeted specter, beset his very path! How often did he shrink with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath his feet and dread to look over his shoulder, lest he should behold some uncouth being tramping close behind him! And how often was he thrown into complete dismay by some rushing blast, howling among the trees, in the idea that it was the Galloping Hessian on one of his nightly scourings! (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving)

Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, in the caldron boil and bake. Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog. Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing. For a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble. (Song of the Witches, William Shakespeare)

‘Tis the night - the night of the grave’s delight, when the warlocks are at their play. Ye think that without the wild winds shout, but no, it is they - it is they. (Arthur Cleveland Coxe)

Hark! Hark to the wind! ‘Tis the night, they say, when all souls come back from the far away - the dead, forgotten this many a day! (Virna Sheard)