Halloween. All Hallows’ Eve. Spooky Season. The last day of October can go by many names and, on a similar note, can be celebrated in many ways. From haunted houses and horror movies to dressing up in frightful costumes and trick-or-treating, this time of year is filled with a litany of eerie events enjoyed by many adults and children alike. But how do the experts get in the spooky spirit?

We recently sat down with Romita Ray and Theo Cateforis from the Department of Art and Music Histories to ask about their favorite pieces of Halloween-themed media and what makes them their go-to ghoulish works.

Romita Ray, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Art History

Modern Ghost in a Modern House by Mary Petty

"Mary Petty’s Cubist ghost wafting down the stairs towards a Noguchi table, hovers across the cover of a January 1949 issue of The New Yorker Magazine. But the spookiest elements in the composition are the trees whose spindly shadows reach inside the house, their canopies turned into claws grasping at a moonlit sky. The original watercolor and ink drawing for this illustration is housed in the Syracuse University Art Museum."

Theo Cateforis, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music History & Cultures and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Fine Arts

The Bride of Frankenstein score by Franz Waxman

"The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is one of the most famed horror classics, due not only to its iconic imagery, but also its frightening music. The film’s composer, Franz Waxman, whose papers are held at Syracuse University’s Special Collections Research Center, adds shivery string tremolos and a tragic theme in the movie’s climactic scene where the monster finally meets his bride."