#AScareADay Reading Challenge 2026 – Day 25: “The Stories We Tell About Ghosts” by A. C. Wise (2017)
A Scare A Day Reading Challenge
Romancing the Gothic founder and organiser, Dr Sam Hirst, is back for another month of A Scare A Day. Dr Hirst curates a daily reading list, and the challenge is to read the story or poem for that day and post your thoughts on social media using the tag #AScareADay (not #ScareADay – don’t forget the ‘A’ at the start like I always do!)
Last year, I posted a creative response to each story or poem featured in the challenge, and turned them into Season 05 of Eldritch Girl, where I talked about the stories and poems, and read my fiction/non-fiction piece inspired by the daily read.
This year, I’m pairing the challenge with #100HorrorMoviesIn92Days so I’m going to be suggesting a film pairing to go with the story/poem, the way I do for my book reviews over on Divination Hollow.
The challenge list is posted on RomancingTheGothic.com, and below. To thank Sam for this service, you can leave them a tip on Ko-Fi!
The “A Scare A Day” Daily Reading List 2026October 1st – Joanna Baillie – Night Tales of Other Times – 1790 – Read it here
October 2nd – Nikolai Karamzin – The Island of Bornholm – 1794 – Read it here
October 3rd – Anne Bannerman – The Black Knight of the Water – 1802 – Read it here
October 4th – William Harrison Ainsworth – The Spectre Bride – 1821 – Read it here
October 5th – Charles Pigault-Lebrun – ‘The Unholy Compact Abjured’ – 1825 – Read it here
October 6th – Mary Elizabeth Braddon – ‘The Cold Embrace’ (1860) – Read it here
October 7th – Amelia Edwards – ‘In the Confessional’ (1871) – Read it here
October 8th – Elizabeth Stuart Phelps – ‘Since I Died’ (1873) – Read it here
October 9th – Mary Elizabeth Coleridge – ‘The Witch’ (1893) – Read it here
October 10th – Arthur Machen – ‘The Novel of the White Powder’ (1895) – Read it here
October 11th – Gertrude Atherton – ‘The Striding Place’ (1896) – Read it here
October 12th – Elia W. Peattie – ‘From the Loom of the Dead’ (1898) – Read it here
October 13th – Mrs Wilson Woodrow – ‘Secret Chambers’ (1909) – Read it here
October 14th – W W Jacobs – The Well (1911) – Read it here
October 15th – Violet Hunt – ‘The Prayer’ (1911) – Read it here
October 16th – Rabindranath Tagore – ‘The Lost Jewels’ or Monihara (trans. 1917) – Read it here
October 17th – Ellen Glasgow – ‘The Past’ (1920) – Read it here
October 18th – Mikhail Bulgakov – ‘The Red Crown’ (1922) – Read it here
October 19th – John Masefield – ‘The Haunted’ (1923) – Read it here
October 20th – Elsa Morante – The Secret Game (1941) – Read it here
October 21st – Dorothy Quick – ‘After an Air Raid’ (1943) – Read it here
October 22nd – Mayra Montero – ‘Corinne, Amiable Girl’ (1994) – Read it here
October 23rd – Ahmed Khaled Tawfik – ‘The Wall’ – Read it here
October 24th – Mariana Enríquez – ‘The Little Angel’s Exhumation’ (2014) – Read it here
October 25th – A. C. Wise – ‘The Stories We Tell About Ghosts’ (2017) – Read it here
October 26th – Brandon O’Brien – ‘The Lagahoo Speaks For Itself’ (2017) – Read it here
October 27th – Darcie Little Badger – ‘Those Hitch-hiking Kids’ (2023) – Read it here
October 28th – Tyler Sookralli – ‘The Devil Wears Skin’ (2024) – Read it here
October 29th – Eleanna Castroianni – ‘They Return’ (2025) – Read it here
October 30th – Ash Vale – ‘consumed’ (2026) – Read it here
October 31st – Quincy Lee – ‘The Dark Follows Me’ (2026) – Read it here
A Scare A Day: Day 25
Day 25: “The Stories We Tell About Ghosts” by A. C. Wise (2017). Read it here.
Every year, there is one story on the list that really upsets me, and this is the one. I really loved the way the children were written, and the reflections on ghosts reminded me strongly of Every Version Ends In Death, a novel by Aliya Chaudhry. I would highly recommend that novel, if you’re looking for a longer read which expands on these ideas.
It was hard to think of a film for it, as I don’t usually watch films where harm comes to children, although I find inexplicable disappearances far less wounding to watch or to read than I did many years ago. This dealt with that in a really interesting way, and I appreciated Wise’s prose.
A Scare A Day: Plot Summary
Our narrator and his friends enjoy playing an app, Ghost Hunt! with the narrator’s little brother Gen. They tell stories about the ghosts in their neighbourhood, and as they catch ‘ghosts’ with the game, their stories blend with the virtual reality, until it is unclear if they are really playing a game, or if the ghosts on screen are real.
Gen is asthmatic, and he is afraid of the ghosts in the game, which start to take on a frightening reality. When Gen enters a house to prove he’s not scared, he disappears. The narrator searches for him and fails to find him anywhere. He does not even appear on the app.
Later, the narrator goes to the clubhouse and gets a ghost notification. His friend asks if he will look – when he does, he sees his little brother in the screen.
A Scare A Day: Film Pairing
For today’s deeply devastating story, I have a deeply devastating film: Le Mangeur d’âmes/The Soul Eater (2024) dir. Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, written by Annelyse Batrel and Ludovic Lefebvre.
This picks up on the theme of the story, the reasons why we need ghosts, and tell stories about ghosts; the fears around adults hurting children, and those children require a voice.
When the disappearance of children and bloody murders multiply in a small mountain village, an old legend shrouded in sulphur reappears… Commander Guardiano and Captain of the Gendarmerie De Rolan are forced to join forces to uncover the truth. TW: child abuse.
#AScareADay