THE VERY FIRST BOOK OF HORROR STORIES I EVER BOUGHT FOR MYSELF WAS "THE ARROW BOOK OF GHOST STORIES". The copy I bought was copyrighted 1969 and I was in first grade. I would have been four years old (or five maybe) and I bought it at school from the Scholastic book catalogue they gave us several times a year. My copy has been through the mill so several months ago I bought a new copy (this one was copyrighted 1960) online and I've been blasting from my pasting ever since. The book was edited by Nora Kramer and contains some ghost stories which are rather close to my heart such as KING O' THE CATS by Joseph Jacobs, JIMMY TAKES VANISHING LESSONS by Walter R. Brooks and THE WATER GHOST OF HARROWBY HALL by John Kendrick Bangs. JIMMY TAKES VANISHING LESSONS also has the distinction of appearing on Alfred Hitchcock's Ghost Stories album while THE WATER GHOST is read by Vincent Price on one of his classic Caedmon albums of the 70s. THE ARROW BOOK OF GHOST STORIES also has the good fortune to be filled with wonderfully spooky illustrations by George Wilde and I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you some more of them.

Halloween Comic Book Cover of the Day #15: DETECTIVE COMICS #414 (1971). Love me some haunted lighthouse!