It is officially spooky season! If you’re a big fan of Halloween, chances are you’re already planning out costumes, turning your lawn into a graveyard, and breaking out those pumpkin spice recipes. I enjoy the Halloween ambience too, even if my hometown is still experiencing mid-70s weather this week. Nonetheless, it is October. To put us all in the right mood, here’s a roundup of the best Halloween fairy tales I could find.
What exactly are Halloween fairy tales? Why spooky ones of course. Stories with atmosphere, characters returning from the dead, and maybe a scary element or two. I dove into the more obscure tales to bring you this list, so let’s see if you’ve heard of any of these . . .
8 Halloween Fairy Tales
1. The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers
I love this story, and it definitely belongs amongst the Halloween fairy tales. In this lesser-known Grimm story, a young lad grows up mocked by his village because he’s not afraid of anything. Determined to find out what fear is and finally feel himself shudder, he goes on a journey to seek out the scary, dark, and hair-raising. His adventures involve ghosts, zombies, and challenge to spend three nights in a haunted castle. Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre has a delightful TV version of this story perfect for the month of October. Read it here
2. The Marsh King’s Daughter
Perhaps the most atmospheric of the Halloween fairy tales is this installment from Hans Christian Andersen. In it the child of a fairy princess and a monster is afflicted with a nasty curse. By day she is beautiful and cruel; at night she’s an ugly toad who is gentle and kind. This strange story has many Halloween elements: a Jekyll and Hyde transformation, a fierce swamp monster, misty moors, a priest who returns from the dead, and even some animal sacrifice. Read it here
3. Jump into My Sack
This delightful fairy tale is about the youngest of twelve brothers and is told in Slovenia and Italy. The main character, Francis, shows gratitude to a beautiful fairy queen who rewards him with a magical sack. This nifty bag gives its owner the ability to command anything to appear inside it, and Francis uses his new powers to gain wealth and perform many good deeds. He even manages to bring people back from the dead and to outsmart the Devil himself. This sack is basically the ultimate trick-or-treating dream. Read it here
4. The Aged Bride
Many Halloween fairy tales have lots of versions told in many different countries. “The Aged Bride” is a primary example and is told in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Denmark, and Sweden. This story has serious Rip Van Winkle vibes too. In it a new blushing bride strays from her wedding party into the moonlit woods (or a field or sometimes a mountain). The young woman is swept up by a merry party of elves or faeries that invite her to dance and drink wine with them. By the time she returns to her wedding, a hundred years have passed and her groom is long dead. Read it here
5. Fitcher’s Bird
Another installment from the Brothers Grimm, Fitcher’s Bird is a German version of the French tale Bluebeard. In it, an evil wizard poses as a beggar and carries off young maidens to his house in the woods. After kidnapping and killing two sisters, the wizard takes the youngest sister too. But the girl escapes by disguising herself as a bird covered in honey and feathers. She even manages to bring her sisters back from the dead zombie-style by piecing their chopped up bodies back together. Eek! Read it here
6. Godmother Death
On my list of Halloween fairy tales, this one told in Slavic countries and in Mexico is probably the coziest of all. In it, Death is a kind woman who becomes a godmother to a poor man’s newborn son. Devoted to the family, she uses her powers to bring them prosperity and even takes the boy’s father to visit the underworld. There she shows him the lifespans of every human being tracked with taper candles that slowly burn down. But the father’s taper is shorter than he expected . . . Read it here
7. The Baba Yaga
What’s a roundup of Halloween fairy tales without any witches? There’s always Hansel and Gretel, but how about a witch more off the beaten path? I present to you the Russian Baba Yaga. Baba is usually depicted as a ferocious old woman in the woods who lives in a house perched on chicken legs and enjoys eating children. There are many, many stories about Baba Yaga, but here’s one that features her flying mortar and pestle as Baba chases down a young victim. Read it here
8. The Tale of Stingy Jack
This one comes straight from Halloween’s Irish roots and explains the origins of the jack-o’-lantern. Stingy Jack is a drunkard in an Irish village. When the Devil comes to harvest Jack’s wicked soul, Jack outsmarts the demon multiple times. After Jack traps him in a coin and then an apple tree, the Devil finally promises to never take Jack’s soul to Hell. When Jack eventually dies, Heaven won’t take him either because of his evil deeds. So Jack’s soul is forced to wander the earth for eternity carrying a carved turnip with an ember glowing inside to light his way. Read it here ❧
