About This Activity
What makes a story truly terrifying? Just in time for Halloween, this bone-chilling course invites students to explore the darker corners of the human imagination through classic tales of horror, mystery, and the supernatural. Students will engage with chilling excerpts from canonical authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and Washington Irving, examining how language, setting, and suspense are used to evoke fear and fascination. We'll also analyze select clips from culturally significant film adaptations to explore how these stories have evolved across media and time. As both readers and writers, students will sharpen their analytical skills while crafting their own scary stories, beginning with the deceptively difficult challenge of the one-line horror tale. By the end of the course, students will have gained a deeper appreciation for the art of suspense and storytelling—and maybe even sent a few shivers down each other’s spines.
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