Unique Halloween Costumes Inspired by Gothic Literature

Tired of wearing the same costumes as everyone else? Why not show off your literary knowledge and find something unique by plumbing the depths of Gothic literature! Of course, Count Draculas and Frankenstein’s monsters are common enough costumes, though usually based more on the film adaptations than their source texts. But there are plenty of other monsters, apparitions, and dramatic characters to be found within the genre. Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with:

1) The Bleeding Nun from Matthew Lewis’s The Monk

Your friends need not have read Lewis’s 1796 novel for this terrifying costume to make an impression. In this early Gothic text, the legend of the Bleeding Nun is a tale attached to the Castle of Lindenberg, home to a young woman named Agnes. When she and her lover Raymond decide to elope, Agnes plans to disguise herself as the gruesome specter in order to escape the castle. As Raymond describes her: “A chaplet of Beads hung upon her arm; her head was enveloped in a long white veil; Her Nun’s dress was stained with blood, and She had taken care to provide herself with a Lamp and dagger.” Of course, as Raymond and the reader eventually find out, it was not Agnes in disguise but the real Bleeding Nun herself who stole away with him in his carriage. All you need for this costume is a nun’s habit you can get from any Halloween store, some fake blood or red paint to stain it, a white veil, and her signature lamp and dagger. 

2) A skeleton hermit from Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto

This one is perhaps even more obscure, but I think can also stand on its own without context. In this prototypical Gothic novel, the hermit is first mentioned when the heroine’s father, Frederic, tells the story of his adventures as a Crusader in the Holy Land. While Frederic and his attendants wandered in some woods, they encountered a dying hermit who, with his last breath, directed them to a giant sword belonging to Saint Nicholas on which was written a prophecy about how to save Frederic’s daughter. When Frederic later threatens his daughter’s welfare by striking a deal with the usurper Manfred, the deceased mystic returns to warn Frederic away from this sinful path. He appears with “the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a skeleton, wrapt in a hermit’s cowl.” For this costume, all you need is a long, coarse hooded robe like monks wear and to do your face up like a skull. As a bonus, you can add a larger-than-life sword and go around pronouncing cryptic warnings to “Remember the woods of Joppa!”

3) The portrait from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

For a more recognizable costume, you can go with something from Oscar Widle’s famous tale of immortality and the unfortunate bargain the title character makes to achieve it. As Dorian remains young and beautiful while living a life of dissolute sin, the portrait painted of him at the beginning of the novel ages and develops an evil countenance in his stead. Dorian often visits his portrait, hidden away in a locked room and behind a purple and gold curtain, meditating upon the changes that are reflected in the portrait rather than in his own appearance. On such occasions, “He would examine with minute care, and sometimes with a monstrous and terrible delight, the hideous lines that seared the wrinkling forehead or crawled around the heavy sensual mouth, wondering sometimes which were the more horrible, the signs of sin or the signs of age. He would place his white hands beside the coarse bloated hands of the picture, and smile. He mocked the misshapen body and the failing limbs.” To dress up as the portrait, simply wear a picture frame around your neck and use makeup to make your face look as wrinkled, twisted, and corrupt as possible. For added detail, add a splash of fake blood on your hand, as appears on the portrait’s after Dorian murders Basil Hallward. 

4) The Woman in White from Wilkie Collins’s novel of the same name

Want something a bit less monstrous? Try the titular character from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. This character’s appearance is inspired by a common ghostly archetype found in the local lore of many different regions: usually associated with some tragic history, the ghostly woman in white tends to appear in upper floor windows of stately houses or walking along the rural roadsides. In this story, of course, she turns out to be not a ghost but Anne Catherick, an escapee from a nearby asylum. The narrator encounters her on the roadside “dressed from head to foot in white garments” with “a small bag in her hand” and “bonnet, shawl, and gown all of white.” All you need is an all-white dress and accessories, and you’re good to go!

5) Red Death from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”

This is one of my favorite of Poe’s stories and the visuals are particularly striking. In the story, Prince Prospero shuts his castle doors on the mass of peasants dying from a particularly gruesome plague known as the Red Death due to its bloody symptoms. While his people suffer outside, Prospero hosts an extravagant costume ball for his fellow nobles who hope to ride out the plague within his fortress. Then an unexpected guest arrives, who stands out from the other masked revelers: “The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse … His vesture was dabbled in blood—and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.” This costume would be perfect for any masquerade ball-type parties. All you need is to turn a white sheet into a bloody burial shroud, then use makeup or a mask to turn your face into that of a corpse and sprinkle it with some more fake blood. 

What are you planning to dress as this Halloween? Do you have any other ideas inspired by Gothic literature? Let me know in the comments below!