Friday Fright Night: Witches, Ghosts, & Mummies, Oh My!

 Curtis @The Passing Tramp (and sponsor of the Vintage Mysteries Group on Facebook) has revived the Friday Fright Night first launched in October 2020. Bloggers will take part in a month-long event sure to prepare us for Halloween. Friday Fright Night will find us serving up spooky, spirited reads at the end of each week throughout October. Curtis put out the call on Facebook but all bloggers are welcome to serve up ghastly delights and if you aren't on Facebook and would like to be included just provide a link to your post in the comments and I'll pass it along to Curtis.

I love Halloween. When it falls on a work day, I love to get into costume and go to work. But...I'm a big weenie when it comes to scary bits or horror. So, I'm going to start things off with a look at young adult mysteries with a spooky flair. First up is The Witches's Bridge by Barbee Oliver Carleton. Set in Massachusetts where young Dan Pride has returned to live with his uncle after his parents die in a plane crash. The Pride family has had its share of troubles over the years. During the time of the witch trials in America, an ancestor by the name of Samuel Pride was accused and executed as a witch--based on an accusation by the Bishop family. The years that followed found the Prides being blamed for all that went wrong in the area around Pride's Point and superstition kept everyone from using the causeway bridge that led to their land. Rumor said that the witch Samuel would appear as a large black dog and folks claimed to hear Samuel playing his fiddle near the Witches' Bridge. Carleton does an excellent job with atmosphere and uses the witch legend to full advantage. It may be the middle of summer, but the foggy marshland, eerie nights in the country, storms rolling in, and the spooky music near the bridge all work to make this a very appropriate book to read during the month of Halloween. We get all the trappings for a spooky story--a witch's ghost, creepy music, an ancient curse (uttered by the original "witch"), a large, ugly black dog, and an unexplained death. As a bonus, my edition of the book features cover art by Edward Gorey.

Second in our spooky line-up is The Ghost in the Gallery by Carolyn Keene. The Starhurst School where the Dana girls are residents is preparing to put on an operetta set in the time of Louis XIV called Spring Is Here in order to raise funds for a local charity. The operetta has generated such interest that the school has sold more tickets than their auditorium can hold. So, the girls suggest that they ask to rent the Mozart Music Hall which is owned by a former singing star. Mrs. Merrill is more than happy to let school use the Hall, but warns the girls that there are rumors that the Hall is haunted. It isn't long before the Starhurst students see a ghostly figure and hear weird singing when no one is around. Various attempts are made to discourage the girls from using the hall--from the ghostly sightings to a fake official declaring the Hall as condemned. Obviously someone wants them out, but is it all part of a real world plot or is there something other-worldly about the ghostly songs?

And finally, we have the Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy by Robert Arthur. The boys take on the case of Ra-Okron, an Egyptian mummy that whispers to Professor Yarborough, a friend of Alfred Hitchcock's. There are all sorts of mysterious goings-on, from the ancient Egyptian mutterings to statues that topple all by themselves to huge marble balls that tumble down hillsides (apparently unaided) to the reincarnation of Ra-Okron in the likeness of his favorite cat to the god Annubis appearing and stealing the mummy. The Investigators have quite an adventure dealing with all those spooky events.

Of course, each of these books could almost be an episode of the Scooby Doo mysteries, but good writing and a decent plot go a long way to making these very entertaining stories for the target age group (and for adults looking for a bit of mild ghoulish hijinks).