10 Morbid Must-Reads for the Fall Season
Morbid and fascinating book recommendations for the fall season from the Cult of Weird book club.
If you’re looking for a macabre read for the fall season, something to curl up to while the air turns crisp and the veil thins, look no further. The list below has some compelling new releases, as well as some older work you may not have been aware of, to keep your brain cells tingling and your spine chilling this Halloween season.
Related: Weird Book Recommendations
Morbid Curiosities
Paul Gambino examines the truly extraordinary and bizarre objects in the collections of Ryan Matthew Cohn, Evan Michelson, and more. These macabre curiosities are showcased, some for the first time, with beautiful photos and accompanying descriptions illuminating the dark corners of history through skulls, occult objects, sideshow ephemera, mummified body parts, vintage spirit communication devices and other oddities.
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Ghostland
Ghostland is a haunted roadtrip through history by way of America’s most notoriously dark places, where the spirits of the past refuse to rest.
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A Season with the Witch
J.W. Ocker, travel writer and chronicler of strange destinations on Odd Things I’ve Seen, spent a Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts to see what makes it the “Capital of Creepy.”
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Anatomical Venus
Joanna Ebenstein of the Morbid Anatomy Museum explores the grotesquely erotic wax anatomy work from the past depicting beautiful female figures in varying stages of dissection.
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Tales of the Peculiar
Ransom Riggs, author of the enchantingly odd series Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, expands on the bizarre mythos he’s dreamed up with a new installment of stories from the secret history of the peculiar world.
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The Ghastling: Book Four
The Ghastling is a series featuring genuinely chilling short stories by various authors. Book #4 is the latest installment, and it promises to be even more gruesome than previous issues.
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The Victorian Book of the Dead
Victorian-era dead and mourning traditions, ghost stories, premature burials, post-mortem photography, and bizarre tales unearthed from newspapers and journals from the 19th century.
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Cabinet of Curiosities
A beginner’s guide to creating your own cabinet of curiosities, from finding and identifying specimens to preserving and mounting them for display.
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The American Way of Death
First published in 1963, then later updated for modern trends in 1996, Jessica Mitford’s celebrated book exposes the US death industry with wit and humor, tackling the embalming process, cremation, funerals and more.
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The Rose Of Paracelsus
From the description: “A Harvard graduate student and researcher explores a global entheogen system, discovering their practices leading to cognitive enhancement and, arguably, the next human form.”
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Looking for more? Check out these Weird Book Club picks from previous years:
