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With Halloween approaching, we asked seven of our academic experts to tell us about the most unsettling artwork they’ve ever encountered. From gruesome portraits to creepy critters, these are the paintings that have stayed with them long after their first glimpse.

As plastic skeletons enter the shops, pumpkin spice flavourings spread through coffee houses like Japanese knot-weed and jumpers are dug out of drawers, music fans’ playlists also begin to shift, with “spooky sounds” replacing “sunshine mixes”. And, just as Christmas means endless repeats of Mistletoe Wine and Fairytale of New…

A door creaks shut, unexpectedly; a footstep is heard on the stair; a face seen at the window. The haunted house is a staple of gothic writing, television and film, but what is it about this humble setting that holds such a fascination?

Seeing the cover of Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (1981) has a powerfully Proustian effect on me: my stomach drops a little bit and a shiver of twinned fear and delight runs down my spine, even now, some 35 or so years after I first encountered…

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has long served as a parable – a warning against the hubris of playing God, the dangers of motherless creation, reckless parenthood and unchecked scientific ambition. It’s a story that continues to resonate, revealing how little human ego and error have changed over time.

When I think of my first encounter with horror, I don’t think of a vampire, a witch, or even a possessed girl’s head spinning round (I saw The Exorcist at the age of seven). I think of a Sun God, I think of teeth and claws slicked with blood, I…

Few feelings are more thrilling for a literature scholar than unearthing an archival gem. Urmila Seshagiri, professor of English at the University of Tennessee, got to experience such a jolt when she was told about previously unseen typescripts of three short stories by Virginia Woolf.

Many of us will have experienced the rage that comes with being badly treated at work – and maybe even felt the instinct to pack up and leave. Bad bosses, belittling treatment or poor pay could be behind these kneejerk emotions. But, while most employees swallow their anger and get…

After years of trying to understand the minds of people who hurt others, I have recently turned my attention as a criminal psychologist from violent crimes to the less well-known world of green crime.