Good evening, ghoulies and ghosties, and welcome to year 12 of 31 Days of Halloween.

It begins!!

Yes, twelve whole years ago, I sat down and thought, hey, wouldn’t it be fun to do a pop-up newsletter? Thirty-one emails aren’t even that much, right? (Ha! Ha. Haha… 💀)

So, if you’re new here, some info: for the entire month of October, I send one email per day (plus one bonus message on November 1st, to say goodbye). And that’s it! Once I’m done sharing the month of curated Halloween links and art, this newsletter goes back into its crypt until it can creep out next year to haunt again.

I’m really going to try to keep things short and sweet this year. (Do I say this every year? Yes. Do I stick to that? Hardly ever! But - I’m going to try. Hopefully this will make the newsletter easier to write, but also easier to read.)

And one final thing: this newsletter is, and has always been, free! We’re in this for the love of the game, folks. But since 2024, I do pay to distribute it via email. Because of that, I set up a Ko-Fi as a tip jar to help offset the costs and show appreciation. I won’t mention this again til the very end! Mwah! x

Today’s Halloween morsels to help usher in the vibes for this month: some cool art and a comic.

(Shoutout jzplusplus in the XOXO community for sharing that comic!)

See? Short and sweet, just like me.

It’s still kinda hot here in Portland, Oregon but it is starting to feel like fall. It may be 80 degrees out there, but there are leaves on the ground and they’re crunchy underfoot! That counts!

Oh, also - please keep me in mind this month and send along your fun spooky Halloweeny photos, art and links! This will help prevent me from making this year’s newsletter 50% Dracula, 50% Widow’s Bay content…

(Plus, the big question: do you know what you’re going to dress as this year? Hit reply and let me know!)

With love,
Laura

October 1, 2026
Laura E. Hall
@lauraehall
lauraehall.com