There is something magical about October.
The leaves are browning, the sun is setting earlier and the realization that the year is ending is just beginning to dawn. The air is filled with an eerie sense of mystery and wonder, and as the temperature drops and the sun continues to wane, there’s a significant change in the kind of art we consume. Many of us go from lighthearted romance novels and summer road trip playlists to scary movies and angsty, fall-themed soundtracks. Iconic fall media come out of hiding — “Hocus Pocus,” “Gilmore Girls,” Harry Potter — reappearing on our living room televisions for their yearly showings. Through the art we love, we immerse ourselves in the autumn way of life, consuming the spookiest, most haunting media we can find.
But art can also haunt us in a different way — sometimes a show ends on a cliffhanger and we can’t move on from it until we get the answers we need. Other times we finish a book and are haunted by the last line forever. Like a ghost following in our wake, the art we consume stays with us forever, embedding itself into the deepest crevices of our mind and changing the way we think. It lives within us, long after we close the book or turn off the television — and isn’t that the beauty of it? The way that the people we meet and the things we observe stay with us forever?
These are the exact questions I posed to these six brave and talented writers, all of whom took on the daunting task of confronting the people, places and things that haunt them.
Welcome to the Haunted B-Side. Read on at your own risk.
Senior Arts Editor Rebecca Smith can be reached at rebash@umich.edu.
