Halloween Playlist: 30 Songs That’ll Give You Chills

Creepy playlists can put anyone in the Halloween spirit, especially as the leaves change color and the temperature cools. No matter the season, however, a chilling playlist is absolutely acceptable. I mean, how else are you supposed to get your spooky vibes on? Well, I suppose you could have a horror movie marathon night, but listening to a chilling Halloween playlist is a much easier way to set the mood.

From Lauren O’Connell’s chilling rendition of “House of the Rising Sun” to The Rigs’s sinister lyrics in “Devil’s Playground” from American Horror Story to the haunting melodies of Delta Rae’s “Bottom of the River,” this haunting playlist has it all.

Another creepy song on this Halloween playlist is “The Hanging Tree.” Without The Hunger Games, we would have never heard the eerie notes of this ominous piece.

After watching the movie, I remember searching for the meaning of the song and found it was much more sinister than I originally realized. As the song progresses, you realize that the singer of the song is the dead murderer and he never left the hanging tree. Now, it seems like he’s telling his lover to flee, yet he repeatedly asks if she’s coming to meet him. Then comes the phrase, “Where I told you to run, so we’d both be free,” suggesting that he might have been telling her to join him in death.    

Erutan’s “Come Little Children” is a spine-tingling hit from the popular Halloween classic Hocus Pocus. Until I was maybe 12, Hocus Pocus would always leave me feeling unsettled. The Sanderson Sisters generally creeped me out, especially when they’re flying back to their cottage whilst Sarah sang “Come little children, I’ll take thee away, into a land of enchantment.” I mean, come on. There’s trouble spelled all over that line. I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. 

For a great time, you should crack open one of these creepy books while listening to this haunting playlist.

Read on for some of the creepiest lines from this Halloween playlist. You can also find the playlist on Spotify at the end.  

“Come Little Children” by Erutan

Haunting Line: Hush now dear children / It must be this way / Too weary of life / And deceptions

“The Hanging Tree” by James Newton Howard and Jennifer Lawrence

Haunting Line: Are you, are you / Coming to the tree / Where I told you to run / So we’d both be free

“Once Upon a Dream” by Lana Del Rey

Haunting Line: But if I know you, I know what you’ll do / You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream

“Seven Devils” by Florence + The Machine

Haunting Line: See I was dead when I woke up this morning / I’ll be dead before the day is done / Before the day is done

“Bottom of the River” by Delta Rae

Haunting Line: So go to the river where the water runs / Wash him deep where the tides are turning

“Devil’s Playground” by The Rigs

Haunting Line: Welcome to the devil’s playground / You can look and you can touch / It’s a real fine day at the black parade / And I swear it won’t cost much

“Devil Devil” by MILCK

Haunting Line: What makes you so special, special / To think I would ever settle / For that devious dance between you and me, Devil, Devil

“Yellow Flicker Beat” by Lorde

Haunting Line: I dream all year, but they’re not the sweet kinds / And the shivers move down my shoulder blades in double time

“Secret” by The Pierces

Haunting Line: Yes, two can keep a secret / If one of us is dead

“Hide and Seek” by Lizz Robinett

Haunting Line: Ding Dong / Where is it you’ve gone to? / Do you think you’ve won? / Our game of hide and seek has just begun