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.
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 (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’ (1991) – 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 12
Day 12: “From the Loom of the Dead” by Elia W. Peattie (1898). Read it here.
I was thrown out by the name “Urda Bjarnason” as that’s not how you’d be called in Iceland; she would be Bjarnasdottir, but it is set in the USA, so that could explain that. “Urda” is one of the Norns, so that’s a nice nod to mythology, given that she is a seer.
I went to Reykjavik and explored some of Southern Iceland in 2025, and had a wonderful 4 days there. One of the things we did was a folklore walking tour – we lost one American very early on as she got scared of the witches and revenants, and she went to join a history tour instead. I don’t think the history was much less scary, but I hope she had fun. So – if you’re easily scared – that’s not the tour for you. If you, like me, love all that sort of thing, I highly recommend booking with the company Your Friend In Reykjavik, and making the most of your time in the city.
READ MORE: Ghosts, Spectres, and Zombies in Icelandic Folktales
A Scare A Day: Plot Summary
Urda is about 124 or more, and now lives in the USA with a community of Icelanders. She is a seer and a storyteller. The first part of the story sets up who Urda is, and the things she can do.
The second part of the story is a tale told by Urda. It’s about a happy family in Iceland, torn apart by the death of the mother. A stepmother arrives, is cruel to the children, and makes them go about in rags to save money.
One night, the stepmother awakes to find the mother’s ghost weaving cloth for the children, and the cloth winds around the stepmother and freaks her out. She goes and gets proper clothes and blankets for the children, and is scared into acting better towards them, for fear of the ghost coming back.
A Scare A Day: Film Pairing
Dýrið/Lamb (2021) dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson, written by Valdimar Jóhannsson and Sjón.
I’ve picked this one because it is Icelandic, and also about taking care of a child that isn’t necessarily your own, but very likely your husband’s by other means. While there is no ghostly mother, I think this one is a good Gothic drama of family disintegration and complex blended family trauma.
Here’s a list of more Icelandic Horror on IMDb to peruse if you’re up for it: imdb.com/list/ls565025041
I also enjoyed The Damned (2024) dir. Thordur Palsson, in which a widow in an isolated fishing village believes she is haunted by a revenant and makes terrible choices.
Leave a Reply