15 Spooky Halloween Poems That Are Going to Make Your Hair Curl

This October, you may enjoy some tricks and treats from this collection of spooky Halloween poems. Ghosts, goblins, vampires, haunted homes, and ghouls are all present in these poems.

These are some excellent short Halloween poems to read as the yearly goblin and ghost festival draws near.

Creepy poems for Halloween

The Spider and the Ghost of the Fly

There is a spooky nursery rhyme in this poem by Vachel Lindsay. It tells the well-known horror tale of victim and predator. Every stanza heightens the sense of risk. This poem is perfect for a spooky Halloween reading.

“Once I loved a spider

When I was born a fly,

A velvet-footed spider

With a gown of rainbow-dye.

She ate my wings and gloated.

She bound me with a hair.

She drove me to her parlor

Above her winding stair.

To educate young spiders

She took me all apart.

My ghost came back to haunt her.

I saw her eat my heart.”

—Vachel Lindsay

From the Hand of Glory

Co-authors of the enthralling poem "From the Hand of Glory" are renowned English writers John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee. The poem explores the mystical and the macabre, enthralling readers with its intricately woven tale. 

It is well-known for its colorful visuals and strong themes. This work reflects the depth and intricacy of Dryden and Lee's literary prowess and is a remarkable example of their combined talents.

“O 'tis a fearful thing to be no more;

Or if to be, to wander after death;

To walk as Spirits do, in Brakes all day;

And when the darkness comes

to glide in paths

That lead to graves: and in the silent Vault,

Where lyes your own pale shrowd,

to hover o'er it,

Striving to enter your forbidden Corps;

And often, often, vainly breathe your Ghost

Into your lifeless lips.”

—John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee

Famous poems for Halloween

Halloween Party

One of the best Halloween poems for kids called Halloween Party explores a young speaker's thoughts about Halloween at his school. The reader is taken back to their own childhood and holiday experiences via the child's eyes. 

When the speaker shares a funny truth about himself and the date of Halloween, it's one of the greatest parts of "Halloween Party." Though it was written with children in mind, readers of all ages should find this poem interesting. 

“We’re having a Halloween party at school.

I’m dressed up like Dracula. Man, I look cool!

I dyed my hair black, and I cut off my bangs.

I’m wearing a cape and some fake plastic fangs.

I put on some makeup to paint my face white,

like creatures that only come out in the night.

My fingernails, too, are all pointed and red.

I look like I’m recently back from the dead.

My mom drops me off, and I run into school

and suddenly feel like the world’s biggest fool.

The other kids stare like I’m some kind of freak—

the Halloween party is not till next week.”

—Kenn Nesbitt

Haunted

“We are all preoccupied, 

haunted by the people

we should be. 

By the ghosts of everything

we promised ourselves,

as children we would be,

until we faced life with all its cruelty

and it turned us into graveyards

of our dreams, our choices, 

of what should have been our history.”  

—Reading Under The Radar

Some short poems about Halloween

Witch Crossing

Lydia Raven's "Witch Crossing" explores Halloween themes in an appealing and haunting poem. It showcases Raven's skill at evoking strong feelings and vivid images by drawing readers into a realm where magic and reality collide. 

“Bewitching and charming,

my lady in black.

A glance so alarming,

I had to look back. 

To ensure that no dream

could excite or beguile,

to subdue or redeem

her half-crooked smile.”

—Lydia Raven

Seasonal Spirit

“Autumn nights, witches in flight,

The ghosts remember when,

The pumpkins grinned, and the veil was thin,

On a night when scarecrows dance again.

When bats spread their wings, black cats screech,

From moonlit graveyards where ghouls roam,

To barren roads where skeletal trees reach,

The denizens of the dark have come home.

Seas of dead leaves herald the season,

The nights grow long to remind us,

We once feared the dark for a very good reason,

It’s Halloween night and the dead are ravenous. “

—John Grover

Top Halloween acrostic poem

Autumn Offering

Judith A. Lawrence's poem "Autumn Offering" is a masterful poem that honors the beauty and changes of the fall season. 

Judith A. Lawrence, who is renowned for her astute observation and moving pictures, perfectly captures the spirit of fall by emphasizing its vivid hues, crisp air, and the feeling of change it provides. 

“I shall be Autumn

this Halloween,

with leaf draped skirt,

and folds of

boysenberry velvet wine

flowing to the ground.

Brown stained face,

eyes rimmed in gold,

nails dripping sunset,

a crown of twigs

to cover my head.

You may gather from me

the spring of my youth,

my summer of maturity,

and hold onto with me,

the solace of these days

of remembering

before the frost.”

—Judith A. Lawrence

Monster

With Halloween quickly approaching, it's time to find the scariest Halloween poems that occupy your thoughts. Similar to Richard Maxson's monster, your fears overwhelm the page, compelling you to face your deepest fears. 

“Love was in the hopelessness of you,

each word a part of how you would be.

Imaginings have a way of forming themselves

from a wish for light, a wager to conceive a ghost.

This is how you were born from her, barely born herself.

You, created twice, a story and a story’s child.

A god less knowing watched her write each page,

the glory and the fear that was your life,

rising out of her desire, rising from a myth

before her eyes, piece by piece, from dream to fire.”

—Richard Maxson

Acrostic poems Halloween

Continual Conversation with a Silent Man

This time, instead of the north wind and the swaying trees, "the old brown hen" and "the old blue sky" serve as examples of the obdurate, wordless, and emotionless Reality that you will encounter in "Continual Conversation with a Silent Man."

“The old brown hen and the old blue sky,

Between the two we live and die —

The broken cartwheel on the hill.

As if, in the presence of the sea,

We dried our nets and mended sail

And talked of never-ending things,

Of the never-ending storm of will,

One will and many wills, and the wind,

Of many meanings in the leaves…”

—Wallace Stevens

Cirque

“The clown is dead when last we found

a grave excuse to look around

and peer inside the shadowed door

upon the third and final floor

we listened but heard not a sound.

The house sits back upon the ground—

suspended, still, a merry-go-round

and no one goes there anymore

the clown is dead.”

—Sara Barkat

Sink

“Down in the depths

of the murky deep

are the discarded Jack-O’-Lanterns

That no one ever keeps  

After that night

Called All Hallows’ Eve

When they light up the dark

Until the trick or treaters leave 

Then their candles grow dim

And at the chime of midnight

All the Jacks are collected

Under filtered moonlight”

—Jess M. Collette

Halloween scary poems

From The Haunted Palace

Edgar Allan Poe's allegorical narrative poem "The Haunted Palace" was originally published in the literary journal American Museum in 1839, owned by Poe's friend Nathan C. Brooks. 

The poem describes a castle that was once radiant with light and beauty but has now collapsed into chaos and decay, signifying the slow collapse of a person plagued by inner demons. 

48 lines long, divided into six stanzas of eight lines each, "The Haunted Palace" is also included in Poe's well-known short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," where it is recited by the character Roderick Usher.

“And travellers, now, within that valley

Through the red-litten windows see

Vast forms, that move fantastically

To a discordant melody

While, like a ghastly rapid river

Through the pale door

A hideous throng rush out forever

And laugh - but smile no more.”

—Edgar Allan Poe

The Haunted Oak

The horrific story of racial brutality as narrated from the branch of an oak tree is rendered even more terrifying by its ballad-style structure.

“Pray why are you so bare, so bare

Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;

And why, when I go through the shade you throw

Runs a shudder over me?

My leaves were green as the best, I trow

And sap ran free in my veins

But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird

A guiltless victim's pains.”

—Paul Laurence Dunbar

Acrostic poem about Halloween

Song Of The Witches

“Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Harpier cries "'Tis time, 'tis time."

Round about the cauldron go;

In the poison'd entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Swelter'd venom sleeping got

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.”

—William Shakespeare

Her Strong Enchantments Failing

The title of Alfred Edward Housman's short Halloween poem is "Her strong enchantments failing." 'The Queen of air and darkness' and a young slayer engage in combat in this frightening poetry.

“Her strong enchantments failing

Her towers of fear in wreck

Her limbecks dried of poisons

And the knife at her neck

The Queen of air and darkness

Begins to shrill and cry

"O young man, O my slayer

To-morrow you shall die."

O Queen of air and darkness

I think 'tis truth you say

And I shall die tomorrow;

But you will die to-day.”

—Alfred Edward Housman

Scary poems Halloween

Candy has a special meaning around Halloween because it's a part of the trick-or-treat activities. You will also need some sweets while reading these scary poems or serving your guests.