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 2026
October 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 28
Day 28: “The Devil Wears Skin” by Tyler Sookralli (2024). Read it here.
Tyler Sookralli is a passionate poet, writer, and student at The University of Chicago. Interested in the intersection between oral and literary storytelling, he is an ardent creator with work appearing in The Blue Marble Review, The WEIGHT Journal, TeenInk Magazine, and beyond. A big fan of all things horror and fantastical, it is almost necessary that he incorporates speculative elements into his artwork. You can find Tyler on Twitter @tylersookralli.
The Devil Wears Skin is the winner of the Apparition Literary Magazine April Flash Fiction Challenge.
I really liked this, it’s very punchy and sad. I think this is another highlight of the month for me. It’s a good one. I especially like the imagery in it, and the fantasy elements.
A Scare A Day: Plot Summary
The narrator tells us of the time he found his sister dead, killed by a soucouyant who took the form of their grandmother. The first clue she is not their Nani comes when they arrive at her house to find there is no rice to go with their food. (Soucouyants, or the Hag, have to count grains of rice when it is thrown in front of them).
Although the narrator fails to save his sister, he saves himself by finding the bag of rice in the cabinet and scattering the grains. The house burns down, leaving him with scars, and the soucouyant and his sister are dead.
A Scare A Day: Film Pairing
Today’s pairing is Soucouyant (2015) dirs. Sean Field and Kermany Lionel, written by Sean Field and Jason Fitzroy Jeffers. It’s a short film with a runtime of 00:11:33. This is not listed on Letterboxd, but can be found on IMDb.
A lot of Caribbean Horror films are shorts that can be found on Vimeo and YouTube, and it’s worth diving in with some searches and poking around to see what you can find. The Where to Watch button links to YouTube in this case.
In the small Caribbean island of St. Lucia lives an ancient spirit. Soucouyant, as she is known, cannot be contained, captured or killed. The people in the town of Gros Islet have come face to face with this reality. Soucouyant has taken 8 lives already when she prepares for her latest victim. As she passes through the town her spirit begins the task of finding a replacement for her tortured skin.
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