Halloween Signatures
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I absolutely adore the vibe that anything Halloween-related gives. As such, this year I decided to take a closer look at the signatures of the spooky season.
Now, you might be wondering why I am publishing this article in the middle of September. Truth to be told, I greatly overestimated how long this project would take me. I wanted to start it early in case I couldn't finish it in time for Halloween.
Turns out that two days was enough. I decided to release it now because I can. Without further ado, here are all the Halloween signatures I collected:
Characters
| Visual | Name | Image source |
|---|---|---|
 |
Vampire / Count Dracula | Stable Diffusion Online (AI) |
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Frankenstein's monster | Craiyon (AI) |
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Mad scientist | iStock |
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Ghost (white variant) | Dreamstime |
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Ghost (blue variant) | RuneScape 3 |
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Ghost (green variant) | RuneScape 3 |
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Werewolf (wolf-like) | RuneScape 3 (edited) |
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Werewolf (human-like) | LEGO |
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Ghoul | RuneScape 3 |
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Vampire hunter | Artstation |
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Evil wizard | Kinder Surpise Funny Castle |
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Cultist / dark magician | Oblivion Remastered (edited) |
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Witch (young) | Pngtree |
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Witch (old) | Pngtree |
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Witch (green skin) | Adobe Stock |
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Black cat | Video thumbnail |
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Ghost hunter | RuneScape 3 |
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Bat | Craiyon (AI) |
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Grim Reaper / Death (no skull) | 123RF |
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Grim Reaper / Death (with skull) | Shutterstock |
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Animated skeleton | RuneScape 3 |
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Headless horseman | Folklore, myths and legends |
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Demon / devil / Satan | VectorStock (edited) |
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Mummy | Craiyon (AI) |
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Undead pirate | RuneScape 3 |
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Zombie | Plant vs. Zombie |
Scenery
| Visual | Name | Image source |
|---|---|---|
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Jack O' lantern | Club Penguin |
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Pumpkin | Club Penguin |
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Bat decoration | Club Penguin |
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Spider decoration | Club Penguin |
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Skeleton decoration | Halloweencostumes.ca |
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Tombstone | Club Penguin |
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Coffin | RuneScape 3 |
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Magic cauldron | Club Penguin |
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Spiderweb | Club Penguin |
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Road lantern | World of Warcraft |
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Pumpkin garland | Club Penguin |
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Scarecrow | Video thumbnail |
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Blood soup | Club Penguin |
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Church organ | Club Penguin |
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Dead tree | Club Penguin |
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Pumpkin cutout | Higurashi Mei |
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Bobbing for Apples station | Club Penguin |
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Haunted portrait | Adobe Stock (edited) |
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Candelabra | Club Penguin |
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Gramophone | Club Penguin |
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Gargoyle statue | Craiyon (AI) |
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Carriage | Club Penguin |
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Soul flame | Club Penguin (edited) |
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Occult circle | Adobe Stock (edited) |
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Black metal fence | Shutterstock |
Items
| Visual | Name | Image source |
|---|---|---|
 |
Ghost costume | Club Penguin |
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Magic broom | Freepik (edited) |
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Magic wand | Vecteezy |
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Candy | Club Penguin |
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Candy | Club Penguin |
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Caramel square | Club Penguin |
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Lollipop | Club Penguin |
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Small chocolate bar | Club Penguin (edited) |
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Round chocolate ball | Club Penguin |
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Pumpkin basket | Club Penguin |
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Hand lantern | Club Penguin |
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Cup of blood | Freepik |
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Hand candle | Club Penguin |
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Hand candelabra | Club Penguin |
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Magic potion | Alamy |
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Scythe | Shutterstock |
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Pumpkin headpiece | Club Penguin |
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Skeleton costume | Pngtree |
Places
| Visual | Name | Image source |
|---|---|---|
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Haunted house | Adobe Stock (AI) |
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Spooky attic | iStock (edited) |
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Spooky basement | Freepik |
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Vampire castle | Stable Diffusion Online (AI) |
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Spooky forest | Photos.com |
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Graveyard | Shutterstock (AI) |
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Witch's House | Artstation |
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Swamp | |
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Creepy fishing village | Creative Uncut |
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Crypt / catacombs / mausoleum | Freepik (AI) |
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Mad scientist's laboratory | DeviantArt |
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Ghost ship | Czepuku |
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Paranormal train | Craiyon (AI) |
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Paranormal hotel |
Miscellanous
| Visual | Name | Image source |
|---|---|---|
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Scary movie night | Club Penguin |
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Full moon | Club Penguin |
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Nighttime | Club Penguin |
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Decorated house | Club Penguin |
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Scary story told around campfire | Club Penguin |
|
Occult ritual | Adobe Stock (edited) |
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Ectoplasm | Club Penguin (edited) |
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Animated unanimate object | Super Mario 64 |
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Occult session | Club Penguin |
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Trick or treat | Peakpx |
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Witch coven | The Quirky Celts |
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Blood | Vecteezy |
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Spooky eyes | Club Penguin (edited) |
I am pretty certain that Halloween is the holiday with the most signatures. As such, I might have missed one thing or two.
Although the vast majority signatures are very defined, a few are closer to concepts than well-defined forms. This is the case for "Vampire hunter", "Ghost hunter" and "Ghoul".
While writing the draft for this article, I originally wrote an entry for "Paranormal school". I ended up removing it as this concept do not really have a proper form. For example, Hogwarts in Harry Potter is pretty much a vampire castle in shape. I think that most other "magic academy" depictions in media tend to be in a large bog-standard manor.
I think that the common thread between all the signatures listed is that they all have a "power from the darkness" aspect to them. For example, haunted houses are typically haunted by a malevolent force. Wizard and witches are traditionally seen as people who dabble in dark arts that should be left forgotten.
An interesting note is that I think that this "powers from the darkness" thing is related, but distinct from Lovecraftian "powers of the unknown". Halloween-esque horrors tend to be more "grounded" and defeatable.
Although more grounded than cosmic horrors, the signatures still have a "magical" aspect to them. This is difficult to explain with words, but Halloween has a very distinct vibe compared to say, dark fantasy despite sharing many attributes with it. A good example of this are The Spook books. Although this book series is full witches, magic and even feature Halloween, it does not register as a "Halloween story" in my head. I speculate that this due to that story being seemingly grounded in real myths and legends and therefore feel more "real".
I had a good time making this article. I feel very nostalgic. It certainly gives me lots of inspiration for future projects.
Written by manpaint on 13 September 2025.