This October's NIGHTMAREFEST has brought ghosts and ghouls galore to haunt the halls of this supernatural site. To commemorate this feast of frights, we present to you an assemblage of apparitions in image and text, inspired by the chilling works of many authors.

A Nightmare Dreary
By, Impperatrix

Come one, come all, shouts the dread circus' ringleader
Autumn falls, salute the night, the witch and the demon
The time had come, the veil falls, tear apart the cedar
They celebrate the darkest times, the terror is their reason
Behold the nightmares that arrive quickly galloping
Chosen by them to appease their need for goosebumps
In three they come, as the three wayward sisters in gathering
The trinity come as muses for them that have their minds vacant
The Townhouse, the haunted house, the house for a poltergeist
A closed apartment, an old cottage, the building that was left unfinished
Empty, old, forgotten, forsaken, abandoned to insects and mice
The imagery of bricks and cement, which ghouls are sheltering in it?
The Bureaucrat, the slave of rules, papers, pencil, pen, and administration
Seeking to put in order a world drowning in true and pure entropy
Is it the rightful horror? Is the realm around it the unfeigned aberration?
Or maybe both king and kingdom bring the atrocities in complete syntropy
The Graveyard Shift comes at last, but indeed not at least
The gravedigger roams around the necropolis, lonely at his job
Tombs and sepulchers until the horizon, a scenario without bliss
And from the six feet under they can hear the dead, their cry and their sob
Autumn falls, salute the night, the witch and the demon
Come the monster, feast the reaper, hex the hag, and cry the dead
They celebrate the darkest times, the terror is their reason
A Nightmare Dreary, the three muses for those who love the dread

Townhouse
By, LORDXVNV

In a townhouse old and quaking, lantern raised and fingers shaking,
Here I wander, there I tarry; Every door might cause my death.
Shrieking wailing makes me fearful; lamp-cast shadows flicker awful
As I wander and I ponder, I see a room with chairs of flesh.
As I wander and I ponder past that room with chairs of flesh,
Every door might cause my death.
Pushing forth I see a specter of a banquet table's nectar
Tempting plates with steaks and sweetmeats. But drawing closer, putrefaction.
Scratching from the wooden floorboards urges me to keep on forwards.
Termites rising in my footsteps, worries urge a counteraction.
Termites rising, cause for action, worries urge my plan for action,
Close behind me, putrefaction.
Panic strikes; I can't stay resting. Lamplight ebbs; my fear is cresting.
Demons that I've tried to hide from come now to extract their tithe.
Secrets hidden, secrets failed, revealed now by a tattletale.
Needles pin me; I can't hide. Upon those needles now I writhe.
Like a puppet, needles pin me, on those needles now I writhe,
To my demons must I tithe.

The Bureaucrat
By, DrGooday

In this here tower of ivory gray, I hold the pen and yet I have no say.
I sign the form, I sign once more. I hear the footsteps approaching.
I pray to God they pass me by, ignore me for the storm brewing in their sky,
The smell of rot, a dreadful silence filled with fraught. Can they hear the beating of my heart?
That dreaded crowd I hear their laugh I cannot bear that awful baff, the click of their gun.
And now they sit there and laugh, as those they've killed are never sought.
And now I shun the killer, I lock that door; I focus on my work forevermore.
I do my best to that killer's face as I huddle closer to my dark wood desk.
Those greedy salesmen at the top of it all, I pray for the day that they fall.
My prayers cut short as they approach my holy fort. A knocking at my door.
Knocking harder, ever louder, enough to turn the wood into powder, do not let them in.
Quiet now I say, as my body leaves my mind. I know that the beast remains.
My heart beats now, faster yet faster. I can hear them breathing through the plaster.
My sweat is cold now, dripping to the floor, I release a silent cry.
I lean down over my desk, I turn my mind to these awful tests,
The paper slashes through my flesh, the smell of gore now fresh, their interest now renewed.
A silent cry the fear shining through my eyes, I've signed their contract with my blood.
I fall silent as they turn the handle open…

Graveyard Shift
By, LAN 2D

To a grave; plundered and unearthed,
I walk unwilling, through dark.
Yet, pigeon footed, I traverse.
The light behind me, now afar.
The tomb looms, illuminated;
A ghoul, a fiend, I discover.
This way comes, something wicked,
Something else, something other.
I can't remember her jade eyes,
Cold snaps my feet asunder.
It's time to go, sweet dreams, goodbye;
Alive, yet buried six feet under.
The horn sounds and the dead pass by,
Time marches on through fog.
Almost midnight now, a cry
Speeds along the track. Tick tock.
But when the mind fails and falters,
The sparrow finds perverse belief:
A forgotten dead beneath the altar,
hidden with avarice and conceit.
The wheel of life halts in the ground
With but dry remains leftover.
Face down in the soil, a muffled sound;
The damp dirt has no flavour.
Something's out there, held on a string,
Quietly, beyond the trees.
A moonlit brown, never changing,
Where viscous skies seem to breathe.
To avoid the night it hides,
Silent, a taunting monster.
Behold! I screech in fright,
Fading, the frost melts faster.
I walk along endless hallways,
Through a thousand thousand doors.
Forevermore, her eyes ablaze
Yet a meaningless allure.
Above, a buzzing pale white light,
A shift, a crunch, then a shout,
Try to run, with all my might-
It's too late — the power's out!

Images assembled by DodoDevil

Image Sources

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Poets:

Name: Elf-rib
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.486316

Name: De slaap van de rede brengt monsters voort
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.42735

Name: Skelet met harnas, allegorie op de dood
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.597235

Name: Uil uitgedost als pelgrim
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.37637

Name: Twee mannen en een monster in een werkkamer
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.199314

Name: Figuur in de vorm van een walvis
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.445428

Name: Menselijk oog met een afwijking
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.195117

Townhouse:

Name: Hoge huis te Zoelmond, in de Betuwe
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.245923

Name: Stadsgezicht
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.5458

Name: Huizen aan een gracht
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.304734

Name: Boereninterieur
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.9650

Name: Zonsverduistering, gezien vanaf de maan
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.600284

Name: Jongen op een bank deinst terug voor een geestverschijning
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.652841

Name: Ik kijk van bovenaf op de vage vormen van een menselijke figuur
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.42215

Name: Still Life with a Tall Beer Glass
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.6366

Name: GOC Symbol
License: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
Source Link: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2744

Name: Vinger die is genezen van een geïnfecteerde wond (osteomyelitis)
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.601991

Bureaucrat

Name: Vanitas stilleven
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.5422

Name: Portret van een onbekende vrouw achter een schrijftafel
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.673553

Name: Monster met vluchtende mensen
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.199308

Name: Monster met schaal
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.199429

Name: Kiemcel II
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.561832

Name: Anatomische studie van het hoofd, de neus en de tong
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.339371

Name: Fotoreproductie van een prent naar een schilderij,
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.615829

Name: Portret van Willem Frederik baron van Roëll
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.99611

Name: M1911A1
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Source Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M1911A1.png

Name: A B Blair Chicago Daily News newsroom
License: Public Domain
Source Link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_B_Blair_Chicago_Daily_News_newsroom.jpg

Name: Schrijvende hand
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.308061

Name: Studieblad met schelpen
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.247474

Graveyard

Name: Begraafplaats op het binnenhof van de kathedraal van Canterbury
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.350152

Name: Dode duif
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.145007

Name: Begraafplaats, Bath, Pennsylvania, Verenigde Staten
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.449187

Name: Een man wordt eenzaam in een nachtelijk landschap

L'homme fut solitaire dans un paysage de nuit

License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.42202

Name: Huis bij avond
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.202438

Name: Fotoreproductie van een prent van een schilderij, voorstellende de Aanbidding der wijzen
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.616277

Name: Catacombe
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.213352

Name: Doodgraver
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.143920

Name: Reproductie van een schilderij van Hamlet en de doodgravers
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.710488

Name: Menselijke schedel op een stok
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.623525

Name: Oliver Cromwell bij de doodskist van Karel I, koning van Engeland
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.122331

Name: Watch
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.19080

Name: Vrouw van Richard Roland Holst in bed met afgewend gezicht
License: Public Domain
Source Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.297845