Ghost stories have long been traditionally associated with Christmas, and a good spinechiller can prove a welcome spooky antidote to the saccharine sentimentality of the season. Anyone likely to be in the Liverpool area over the next few weeks, who fancies an evening of ghosts and goosebumps, should check out The Haunting of Hill House, the new production at the city’s Playhouse Theatre. It comes with an impressive pedigree, adapted from a 1959 novel by America’s queen of psychological horror Shirley Jackson, staged in association with the legendary Gothic film studio Hammer.

Everyone likes fairy tales, don’t they? We all know that everyone here loves darkness even more. So we thought, why not combine those two?

This frosty December we share with you a gothic story.

I hereby continue the story of how I met the child…I can’t tell you how I met the man just yet. Although, that”s another story worth telling.

Alchemy’s resident horror fiend Gavin Baddeley attends a lot of horror festivals, but he reckons the Welsh event, Abertoir, is among the best. So we asked him to report back on the best new fear flicks that previewed at 2015’s six day Aberystwyth marathon of the macabre…

I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I have long been a fan of Alchemy Gothic. From the time I saved for months to buy my first piece (which was the Gothic Ankh incidentally, and is still one of my favourite pieces to wear and one of their bestselling items) to now be honoured and welcomed as part of the family.

Having in mind that the 18^th of November is Occult Day we dedicate this story to all the witches among us.

Deadly Cards

A young lady came to my shop on one Friday morning. She seemed very cheerful and she was dressed very prettily. She told me she wanted a tarot reading. I asked her if she preferred a certain deck for I had many tarot decks. She told me she very much liked all of them and that she would leave it up to me.

Students of the occult and devotees of the darker fringes of history will be delighted to hear that the Royal College of Physicians, in Regent’s Park London, are planning an exhibition dedicated to John Dee. A pioneering scholar – learned in mathematics, philosophy and navigation – Dee was one of the most fascinating and brilliant figures at the 16^th century court of the English queen Elizabeth I, universally admired for his learning.

Now that the darker days are coming, more and more monsters will be crawling out of their hideaways, ready to feast on the human flesh once again. You must be prepared for what is about to come.

I have never been very fond of the human kind. Too plain for my taste, too dull. I did however follow their wars and quarrels from time to time when on greater scale and now and then my curiosity took over when it came to their bizarre traditions. That must have been my destiny for that is how it all started. And that is how I met him.

Beautiful title for a wicked article isn’t it? Because this article will be wicked in every way possible. Halloween is knocking on our doors and I could not possibly let this opportunity pass without some naughtiness.