Greetings friends, October is here once again! Time for jack-o'-lantern carving, horror movie marathons, and over-the-top Halloween decorations. Looking to add a healthy dose of horror to your comic book reading? Here are some of the creepier graphic novels that haunt the Free Library's collections.

Looking for an old-fashioned nightmare epic that reads like a dark fairy tale? try the folklore-filled horrors of Harrow County. Set in the rural south of the 1930s, this eight-volume series (2015-2018) weaves the dark stories of memorable characters surrounded by sinister forces inhabiting the woods around their homes. A southern gothic you won't want to end, each book is filled with witches, generational curses, and a vast collection of supernatural creatures.

Harrow County written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Tyler Crook
Young Emmy always knew that the woods surrounding her home crawled with ghosts and monsters -- the countless haints of Harrow County. But on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she learns that she is connected to these creatures -- and to the land itself -- in ways she never could have imagined.
 

Like your scares in a contemporary setting? Join the Rook family in Wytches (2015), as they face the titular terrors and a darker form of witchcraft mythology. Themes of grief, parental fears, and fractured family dynamics are explored in this comic, enhancing the atmosphere of supernatural dread.

Wytches written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Jock
When the Rooks family moves to the remote town of Litchfield, NH to escape a haunting trauma, they're hopeful about starting over. But something evil is waiting for them in the woods just beyond town. watching from the trees. Ancient...and hungry.

Out of the woods and closer to home, my last recommendation is set in a city, close to present day. Infidel (2018) provides a chilling twist on what it means to be haunted by truly destructive forces.

Infidel written by Pornsak Pichetshote and illustrated by Aaron Campbell
A horror tale for the 21st century, Infidel follows an American Muslim woman and her multi-racial neighbors who move into a building haunted by entities fuled by xenophobia.

So those were just a few of my favorites, but there is a lot of great comics and graphic novels out there, in physical form in our catalog and digitally through one of our most popular database offerings, Hoopla. What's the scariest graphic novel that we should read? Let us know in the comments!