2023 Halloween Treasure Hunt

It’s October, and the Halloween Hunt has returned!

We’ve scattered a troupe of jack-o-lanterns around the site. You’ll solve the clues below to find the jack-o-lanterns and gather them all together.

  • Decipher the clues below and visit the corresponding LibraryThing pages to find a jack-o-lantern. Each clue points to a specific page right here on LibraryThing. Remember, they are not necessarily work pages!
  • If there's a jack-o-lantern on a page, you’ll see a banner at the top of the page.
  • You have two weeks to find all the jack-o-lanterns (until 11:59pm EDT, Tuesday October 31st).
  • Come brag about your troupe of jack-o-lanterns (and get hints) on Talk.

Win prizes:

  • Any member who finds at least two jack-o-lanterns will be awarded a jack-o-lantern badge. Badge: ().
  • Members who find all 12 jack-o-lanterns will be entered into a drawing for one of five LibraryThing (or TinyCat) prizes. We‘ll announce winners at the end of the hunt.


P.S. Thanks to conceptDawg for the ghostly flamingo illustration!

ConceptDawg has made all of our treasure hunt graphics in the last couple of years. We like them, and hope you do, too!

Sign in or sign up to participate.

Jack-o-lantern 1

Based on a well-liked children’s cartoon,
This story takes place under the moon,
Linus tries to wait up the whole night,
To prove that his idea is right. (Lucy)

Jack-o-lantern 2

Spirits, specters, a spooky manifestation,

Are these shades true creatures of damnation?

Devils, demons, or just lonely souls unbound,

Enduring while their bodies molder in the ground? (Abigail)

Jack-o-lantern 3

A recent film was made from this,

With a different title, set in Venice,

Though the characters are similar in name,

The film and book are not the same. (Abigail)

Jack-o-lantern 4

In Mexico with

Sugar skulls and marigolds

Forebears are honored. (Lucy)

Jack-o-lantern 5

Two years ago we made this list,

A monthly custom in which all assist,

This time devoted to stories scary,

To books that leave us spooked and wary. (Abigail)

Jack-o-lantern 6

Reflections on the Morning After Halloween:

Liquor is quicker,

But candy makes sicker. (Tim)

Jack-o-lantern 7

A picture story told in rhyme,

A witchy ride for Halloween time,

A series of animals on broom beseated,

A hungry dragon by them defeated. (Abigail)

Jack-o-lantern 8

This dark angel wraps us in her web of dreams,

A garden of shadows where nothing is as it seems,

A bitter place sown with the seeds of yesterday,

Flowers blooming in the attic, as the children play.

(Lucy & Abigail)

Jack-o-lantern 9

Fierce or cheerful, round and bright,

These carven gourds light up the night—

Once a spooky Celtic Samhain tradition,

Brought to the states by Irish immigration. (Abigail)

Jack-o-lantern 10

A childhood favorite, for many cinephiles,

produced by a master of the spooky lifestyle.


The story is simple enough, here’s the scene:

a skeleton man who rules Halloween

grows bored of his dusty, old, tired routine,

and takes a stab at Christmastime: with a scream!


Thank goodness his rag doll heroine is around

to save him and help to restore Christmas Town. (Kristi)

Jack-o-lantern 11

Crafter of one of the most popular classics,

this Irishman’s tale is a standout in Gothics.

But pay no mind to the bloodsucker at hand,

for the clue you have here is more carefully planned.


Abraham is the author’s real firstborn name,

though his other moniker is what came to fame.

And after his death in April of 1912,

an auction took place: one for all of his shelves.


Fast forward, now, over 100 years,

to a little website full of book lovers and peers.

We don’t even care if you’re alive or if you’re dead:

if you were bookish and famous, we’ll find what you’ve read.


So, now, my dear readers, you’ve surely found your mark,

unless you’ve been reading this all in the dark.

Carry on, friends, but do so sensibly:

for herein lies the path to Legacy. (Kristi)

Jack-o-lantern 12

What rocks they are, but every year.

Copley Lawn is filled with fear.

A film on film, the scene its own,

By budding bulldogs keenly known:

Chapel, graveyard, stacks beware,

And stumble not the fatal stair! (Tim)