The 2025 Halloween Treasure Hunt is over. Check back next year.

2025 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, Friday 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 vulture illustration!

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

You missed it

Jack-o-lantern 1

A program book from an annual convention,

This spooky collection demands attention,

Come enter to win, and throw your hat in the ring,

When it comes to chills, their namesake is king. (Abigail)

/ner/detail/54476/StokerCon-2025-Souvenir-Anthology

Jack-o-lantern 2

Trapped in his sunken city under sea,

Ancient, malevolent, waiting to be free,

A wellspring of story, a mythos of his own,

Since his name came to light, his legend has grown. (Abigail)

/character/Cthulhu

Jack-o-lantern 3

This heroine doesn’t wear a scarlet letter,

But for eusuchian thrills no one is better,

Out for Halloween fun when she hitches

A ride with her host—one of the witches. (Abigail)

/work/1819077

Jack-o-lantern 4

An academic, a scholar, and an antiquary,

Who today is known for his stories scary.

When it comes to tales of ghosts and haunting,

This master’s work leaves nothing wanting. (Abigail)

/author/jamesmr-1

Jack-o-lantern 5

These magic makers like to fly,

On brooms across the moonlit sky,

Two years ago we named their stories—

A monthly project in different categories. (Abigail)

/list/44970/Witchy-Fiction

Jack-o-lantern 6

A board book from a master of rhyme,

A little pig who’s having a bad time,

How can he choose the best costume to wear?

Never fear—he’ll find a “spooky” one there. (Lucy)

/work/16241866

Jack-o-lantern 7

A century of titles, but not in years,

This list of books to bring forth your fears,

Compiled by our friends in public media,

Lots of titles, though not quite a cyclopedia. (Abigail)

/award/476/NPR-100-Best-Horror-Novels-and-Stories

Jack-o-lantern 8

Paranormal investigation, haunted by desperation

Friendship made among shades is fleeting.

The picnic is gloaming, whose hand were you holding,

Do the walls stand silent or screaming?

While katydids dream, the phantasms scheme.

Do journeys end in lovers meeting? (Zeph)

/work/5466/t/The-Haunting-of-Hill-House

Jack-o-lantern 9

Mummies, and dummies, and lawn gnomes: oh my!

This series oozes things that go "bump" in the night.

Many a tale of nostalgia for horrorphiles,

Do you know this '90's smash hit? (NOT the X-Files.) (Kristi)

/nseries/617/Goosebumps

Jack-o-lantern 10

With adaptations by Whale and Brooks,

And soon by del Toro and Gyllenhaal,

You may have forgotten to read the book,

Though it was the origin of all.


You’ll see him on Halloween if you look,

But his reach goes beyond horror’s call,

For when lightning strikes a corpse on a hook,

You’re also in science fiction’s thrall. (Zeph)

/work/8294

Jack-o-lantern 11

The year was 1893, All Hallow's Eve,

the final day of the Chicago World's Fair—

not long before the end of this devil's reign,

who conned, tortured, and killed without care.


This work explores the parallels of two men:

one creator, one destructor,

where one boasts a palace, the other a castle,

though the latter has far less reputation to spare. (Kristi)

/work/12491

Jack-o-lantern 12

A sleepy old town, but dripping with dread,

An aged curse or the vengeful undead,

He gathered his courage and made the trip

Summoned by the death of Widow Winship.


The Hessian’s axe is sharp at the tip,

An evil eye drawn may spare you his grip.

This movie at Hallow’s Eve is widespread,

Go give it a watch, but look out for your head! (Zeph)

/work/318109