Halloween '13

A yearly tradition of mine is to draw a baker's dozen monsters for each day leading up to Halloween. It started off with just the classic spooks, but has since gone on to cover everything from mythological beasts to literary nightmares to unsung creepy things I think deserve more attention.



Witch

A Witch made of cauldrons and wearing a hat that used to be a rival Wizard.



Zombie

Brought back from the dead not from a virus or sorcery, but by the destruction of its tombstone. The Zombie will hound the poor fool who wrecked the marker until they restore or replace it. Although "unkillable" in this state, the Zombie is prone to falling to pieces, each of which continues on under its own power, and if the tombstone-destroyer isn't quick to fixing the mess they may soon find themselves surrounded by hundreds of undead body parts.



Scarecrow

This monster --and it is a living monster-- sneaks into a cropfield one dark and chilly evening, taking the place of any existing normal hay scarecrow, and proceeds to devour whatever crows, sparrows, mice, insects, dogs, humans, and every other creature that comes within its reach... everyone that is but the farmer. Someone needs to take the blame...


The Scarecrow is extremely fond of the bones of its victims, and would gladly stuff itself until it explodes instead of disposing of even the tiniest bone fragment.



Mummy

The Mummy has been reanimated by a fungus similar to those (such as Cordyceps) that plague ants and other arthropods. Both the main body of the Mummy and the removed organs placed in its canopic jars have been infected, and now that archeologists --ignorant of the warnings-- have opened its tomb, it/they now search for a high point to unleash their spores. The Pyramids look like a good spot.


While one may think the fungus was originally planted to punish any grave robbers, in truth the Mummy was infected during life and was soon after murdered and buried to protect the kingdom.



Devil

The Devil tempts and tricks humans into giving him their souls to fill the void in his own heart (what's left of it, at least) left from being cut off from God's Eternal Love.


... and because it really pisses God off.



Werewolf

Cursed to transform into a monster every full moon, he might not remember what he did the following day, but he certainly feels it.



Clown

He performs puppet shows starring "Calm Tom", who does everything the right way and has a grand life, and "Grim Tim", who does everything the wrong way and suffers grievous consequences. The Clown is completely ignorant to the fact that his tales and visage are utterly terrifying to many in his audience (both young and old alike), and instead of toning it all down he will instead target the most frightened and make him or her join in a live re-enactment of one of Grim Tim and Calm Tom's parallel (mis)adventures, with the Clown acting as Tom and the child or adult as Tim.



Headless Horseman

After countless years of searching for his head to no avail, he has come to believe somebody has stolen it and is using it as their own, so now the Horseman tears off and tries on the heads of anyone unlucky enough to cross paths with him. He's yet to find a match...


The Headless Horse despises the Horseman as they never go and search for his lost head.



Swamp Monster

He makes his home in the bottom of a swamp out in the middle of nowhere. So remote is his domain that he's the only sentient being there, though the Swamp Monster is convinced strange aliens called "mahns" occasionally visit. He even claims to have proof of them (supposedly on of their "floating ships" and a foot), but no one believes him since their all just stupid animals that don't care about the mysteries of the world anyways.



Boogieman

A parasitoid that manifests within a Sandman (obviously there are multiples of both) and and literally vomits nightmares. The Boogieman memorizes its host's nightly route while gestating so that, when fully grown, it immediately has a whole list of victims to inflict nightmares upon. These nightmares in turn create the Boogieman's true source of food: fear.


The Sandmen are fully aware of this disastrous blight and do their best to keep in it check, but they are unable to find out just where Boogiemen even come from. No "Boogiemother" has yet been found, leading some Sandmen to believe Boogiemen may be a dark part of themselves...


You may have noticed the Boogieman bears some similarity to the moose (the long skinny arms, the largeish nose, the dewlap, and of course the antlers). That's because I had a nightmare involving a moose I thought was dead back when I was young and just facing the reality of death (via roadkill), and so the moose has become something of a personal symbol of abstract terror, my "boogieman".



Vampire

He drains his victims dry, leaving nothing but their skins -- which he wears as a disguise to walk into town and lure in other victims. In the event that something goes horribly wrong and his demise is imminent, the Vampire's tail (which includes a "backup" of his brain) can detach, run away, and fully regenerate into a new body for the Vampire.



Frankenstein's Monster

Denied a bride by his creator, _______ decided that he'd create one himself. Victor didn't leave many notes on how to repeat the process, but he left something just as important: a corpse to experiment on.



Haunted House

Trick-or-Treaters picked the wrong place to demand candy!


... but wait. Something's not right. That house was destroyed by a fire 13 years ago. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!



HALLOWEEN!

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