With Halloween creeping right around the corner, people are looking forward to dressing up, watching horror movies, eating candy, or the big Halloween Dance for juniors and seniors. It’s the time of year where people love a good scare or to feel shivers down their spine. To keep yourself in the Halloween spirit for and after the holiday, here are just a few eerie or spooky songs that fit the essence of fear, terror, or unease.

No One Lives Forever- Oingo Boingo

Famously remembered from the classic horror film Texas Chainsaw Massacre and as one of Oingo Boingo’s most notable songs, “No One Lives Forever” is all about our own mortality and our fear of death. This song is what somebody would imagine hearing if they were chased by a killer in a horror movie, which is exactly how the song was utilized in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Much like how it’s impossible to escape killers sometimes in movies, it’s impossible to escape the eerie blaring of the trumpets and chilling guitar.

Welcome To My Nightmare- Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper is the king of “shock rock” known his raspy voice and macabre stage performances. His voice already sends chills down the spine. “Welcome To My Nightmare” takes his shock value a step further starting out with very little musical backing to accompany Cooper’s slow and quiet vocals. His vocals shift from soft and quiet to calm and cocky, which only heightens the creepy guitar and blaring trumpets as a minimalistic piece compared to some of his other songs. Considering that the song is about a mentally unstable man begging his lover to spend time with him, Cooper’s vocals lend the song a feeling of a calm sense of insanity.

Tubular Bells- Mike Oldfield

This song is a must for Halloween. “Tubular Bells” was British composer Mike Oldfield’s claim to fame after it appeared in the cult classic horror film “The Exorcist” as the opening theme.

Although the song itself is a beautiful and sprawling composition spanning two parts, the first five minutes of Part 1 is where horror shines through. The unsettling piano, the titular tubular bells in the background, and the intermittent bursts of the electric keyboard sound chilling and ominous. It’s the song you would expect to hear as prelude to something terrifying, a sign that something is clearly wrong. It’s a song that will keep you looking over your shoulder on Halloween night for anything that might be lurking in the dark.

Scary Monsters and Super Creeps- David Bowie

Although this song isn’t meant to be an eerie or haunting song, it certainly comes across as one during Halloween. Bowie’s classic song is all about social isolation and a fear of others. It describes the “scary monsters” and “super creeps that can leave a person frightened and withdrawn since people can be the real monsters. The guitar solos are off-putting because of how odd they sound and Bowie’s vocals grant a sense of urgency and fear that can be felt after just the first verse. This song may not be as true to the spirit of Halloween as other songs, but it will definitely leave you “running scared” on Halloween night.

This Is Halloween- Marilyn Manson cover

Marilyn Manson is a very creepy person. Like Cooper, he is also major face in shock rock and metal. His stage presence is unsettling with his pale white makeup, tall and gaunt appearance, his black attire, and his crimson lipstick. His vocals are just as unsettling with his wailing screams and throaty voice. “This Is Halloween” is a classic Halloween song from the iconic Tim Burton film “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. While Danny Elfman, the composer of the movie, gives the song a fun and eerie vibe, Manson changes the feel of the song entirely. With his heavy metal style and consistently calm vocals that occasionally become menacing growls, the song becomes utterly terrifying, especially if you listen to the song in the dark or at full volume. If there’s one song that encapsulates the fear towards monsters, ghosts, and the supernatural during the holiday, it’s this cover.