Halloween Carols: the Best Songs for a Spooky Mood

There may be no such thing as a Halloween carol, but there should be. Halloween involves more decorations than any holiday except for Christmas, and it just seems like singing creepy songs would be a great fit. Imagine a group of silent children congregating outside your home on Halloween, silently staring at your family before they open up with some creepy, Gregorian chant style song.

Wouldn’t that be festive?

She’s about to sing The Monster Mash.
Photo by Georgi Kalaydzhiev on Unsplash

Like most Christmas Carols, a Halloween carol should invoke instant vibes appropriate for the holiday. And while it’s not necessary to remember the whole song, the chorus should be easily remembered.

So here’s our list of some of the best “Halloween Carols” to get you into a spooky mood. To qualify, it should be easily remembered, be appropriately spooky, and have a fun chorus to sing along with.

The best songs for a spooky mood

No list would be complete without The Monster Mash (1962) although we wish it was. We kind. Sort of.

The Monster Mash is a classic. Originally written by Bobby Pickett,, this song has probably played in every public elementary school ever since it was released 60 years ago, ensuring it is etched into the minds of most Americans, forever.

This is Halloween (1993): From the modern Halloween classic The Nightmare Before Christmas, this song is incredibly catchy and will plant itself in your brain for weeks. You may find yourself begging for Christmas music just to purge this creepy ear worm.

Spooky Scary Skeletons (1996): There are two kinds of carols: the kind that you legit like and the kind you like only during the holiday. The Monster Mash falls in this category, and so does Spooky Scary Skeletons. While it’s fun and perfect for the holiday, boy can it be overplayed.

This song is one of two on our list that owes its popularity to YouTube more than anything else. Written by Andrew Gold, this song was part of an album called Halloween Howls. At some point someone loaded Skeletons to YouTube, and it’s since become a standard among Halloween anthems.

Ghostbusters(1984): Do we even need to justify this one? This song actually topped the charts in August of 1984, so at one point EVERYONE was listening to this one. Just call out “Who you gonna call” and we guarantee most people will think “Ghostbusters!”

Re: Your Brains (2006) by Jonathan Coletrane. This one may not be as big a hit as the other songs on this list, but it’s easily our favorite. Musician Jonathan Coletrane released this song in 2006 on the album Thing a Week Two, and it’s just the perfect Halloween song for the aging Gen X office worker. It hits all the right notes of spookiness and fun to get you into the holiday spirit.

We have to give Honorable Mention to whatever song David S. Pumpkins backup dancers dance to.

If you got too scared by our post, settle down with some less horrific reading: