I teach a literature class for middle school students and I thought it would be cool to have them read a spooky short story this week, it being Halloween and all.
They are advanced ESL students. We just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Oliver Twist (unabridged) - they understood most of the text, if not all the subtleties. I think they would enjoy a short story mystery, but a creepy story would also be cool. I considered Lovecraft, but I somehow doubt they’d appreciate him. Any ideas?
More Poe- Masque of the Red Death, perhaps House of Usher. I like The Black Cat but in this day & age, half the class would react in utter revulsion at the treatment of the cat & the other half might see it as a good idea. The Tell-Tale Heart is always cool.
Lovecraft suggestions- The Herbert West stories, The Dunwich Horror, The Shadow Over Innsmouth- none of those are too advanced for middle schoolers.
Chapter 5 of Frankenstein through to the Coleridge quote (the monster’s creation & Victor’s nightmare- which no movie has yet done).
Chapter 16 of Dracula (the Staking of Lucy Westenra).
W.W. Jacobs, and it’s a great one–good recommendation.
[ul]
[li]“Cypress Swamp Granny” from Vivian Van Velde’s Curses, Inc.[/li][li]Even more Poe: “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (warning: this one is gross!)[/li][li]“The Rats in the Walls” by H.P. Lovecraft[/li][li]“A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner[/li][li]“Was It A Dream?” by Guy de Maupassant[/li][li]“How Love Came to Professor Guildea” by Robert Hichens[/li][/ul]
I read The October Game, Ted’s Cave Story, and Pidgeons From Hell, and they were all really good. The Cave Story is a series of web pages, but still a really interesting and suspenseful read.
Many of Roald Dahl’s stories have a creepy element. “Mr. Botibol” does not, but it fits the roleplaying theme of Halloween and is by far the most uncomfortable of the bunch.
How about “Oh Whistle And I’ll Come To You My Lad” by Montague Rhodes James? Somebody suggested him and I just happened to read that one, and I’ve seen it referenced a million times after that. It scared the crap out of me sitting here at my desk at the library.