14 Scary Halloween Quotes To Totally Freak You Out

Want to hear something that will send shivers down your spine, make you want to hide under your covers, and give you goosebumps all over your body? Of course you do... it's Halloween season! These 14 scary Halloween quotes are the perfect thing to read before you go to bed tonight. They're also the perfect thing to read before you go to a frightening theme park, or walk down the street by yourself in the middle of night. Just kidding — but they are a good time if you're looking to freak yourself out. And who isn't looking to freak themselves out, especially during the month of October?

While scary movies certainly pack their punch of terror, there is something about the timelessness of the written word that makes it that much more striking. True, you can't "unsee" a Stephen King movie, but you also definitely can't "unread" a Stephen King quote. I mean, there is a reason the man has more than 50 books printed with his name on them. Whether it's a terrifying quote from William Shakespeare or a line from Mary Shelley that will make you want to lock every door and window in your home, there is bound to be something here that will scare the bejeezus out of you. You're welcome?

1. "'Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world." — William Shakespeare

2. "My candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open." — Mary Shelley

3. "It's said that All Hallow's Eve is one of the nights when the veil between the worlds is thin — and whether you believe in such things or not, those roaming spirits probably believe in you, or at least acknowledge your existence, considering that it used to be their own. Even the air feels different on Halloween, autumn-crisp and bright." — Erin Morgenstern

4. "I heard one cry in the night, and I heard one laugh afterwards. If I cannot forget that, I shall not be able to sleep again." — M.R. James

5. "But I love Halloween, and I love that feeling: the cold air, the spooky dangers lurking around the corner." — Evan Peters

6. "The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle." — Stephen King

7. "In our town, Halloween was terrifying and thrilling, and there was a whiff of homicide. We'd travel by foot in the dark for miles, collecting candy, watching out for adults who seemed too eager to give us treats." — Rosecrans Baldwin

8. "Tis the night — the night of the grave's delight, and 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

9. "At first cock-crow the ghosts must go back to their quiet graves below." — Theodosia Garrison

10. "There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery." — Joseph Conrad

11. "Nothing beats a haunted moonlit night on All Hallow's Eve.... And on this fatal night, at this witching time, the starless sky laments black and unmoving. The somber hues of an ominous, dark forest are suddenly illuminated under the emerging face of the full moon." — Kim Elizabeth

12. "Listen to them — the children of the night. What music they make." — Bram Stoker

13. "... it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and one a moorland farmer, who all tell the same story of this dreadful apparition, exactly corresponding to the hell-hound of the legend. I assure you that there is a reign of terror in the district, and that it is a hardy man who will cross the moor at night." — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

14. "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

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