Something tangential to this site's public purpose (but within the bounds of its ultimate purpose) is this artifact from my childhood, from a time when I lived on the east coast and is one of the things that have made me always love Halloween.

This book followed us throught my childhood, in our travels it was always just part of the Halloween decorations, but I always had a great fondness for it, and would often set it aside from the decorations being packed away so it could reside on a bookshelf, handy for perusal. Nobody in the family objected.

And of course, that version was colored in, some of the pages even completed. I think everyone in my family but my father had a hand in coloring, from the subtle crayon-scrawl on several pages by my youngest sibling to the more sophisticated coloring done by my mother.

The illustrations are by Alton Langford, who received some inspiration from Brian Froud's work, which, in 1979, would have been contemporary enough. The poems by Deborah Apy are also a delight, and led me to do my own Halloween poetry when I was a teenager.

Speaking of which, each poem concerns itself with a separate creature, a denizen of halloween lore, some of which is obscure to me. I wish I knew what or who Deborah Apy's source was for each of them:

• Cole Pexy — a horse spirit which protects orchards from thieves
• The Hagge — a creature which inflicts itself on those who gorge on sweets
• The bogie Shellycoat — a spirit which issues false cries for help, then laughs at those who come running to its aid
• The Host — ghosts who committed crimes while alive on earth, but who must now fight one another after death in the sky
• Kalyach Vare — a spirit of winter responsible for protecting wildlife
• Buttery Spirit — a creature which feasts on the pantries of wealthy, wicked folk

Others, such as witches, dwarves, goblins, and trolls are almost fairy tale in nature.

The book remains in the family, but I have my own copy now, worthy of scanning and printing out my own coloring take whenever I choose to do so, finally available to me after 40 years.