We’ve come across a few vintage Halloween photos over the years, and we’ve always found them compelling and not a little creepy.
But we’ve never seen a collection the likes of the one British musician Ossian Brown, formerly of the band Coil, has compiled. In his new book (new to the U.S., that is—it came out in England last year), Haunted Air, Brown shares images from Halloweens past that span the years 1875–1955, and you can take it from us (and Brown), Halloween ain’t what it used to be.
These images manage to both delight and chill. We can’t promise you won’t have nightmares after viewing them, but we expect you’ll find it difficult to stop looking.
No less an authority on strange and unsettling art than David Lynch wrote the book’s forward, which tells us all we need to know, really.
We looked for a slide show from the book that we could embed here for your enjoyment, but alas, we didn’t come up with one. Instead, we’re providing links to three different proprietary slideshows that should whet your appetite. We’ve already ordered our copy; we suspect many of you will follow suit. (If you are so inclined, just click the book’s title a couple of paragraphs back or look for the Amazon widget in the lefthand column; if you do, we’ll benefit a bit from your purchase, and as always, we appreciate your support.)