when you love ghost stories but hate jumpscares | cosy process two

halloween recommendations from scary to snuggly 🎃

hello hello cosy process pals and welcome to the second instalment of the cosy process! the second cosy process of each month is going to look a little different — some months it’ll be a list, some months it’ll be an interview with a cosy creator, some months we’ll figure it out as we go! also, usually the second newsletter will be out more in the middle of the month than this, but I’m moving house in like two weeks so everything here is a bit all over the place, you know how it goes.

anyway! this month’s second newsletter is appropriately spooky 🎃👻 I’ve always loved ghost stories and a lot of gothic horror tropes, but I hate HATE jumpscares with a passion, so navigating those two things is always Une Dilemma, as the french may or may not say.

so for anyone in a similar boat, or who just wants some good spooky recommendations for your halloweeeeeeeeen plans, here are five of my favourites, ranked from Oh Sweet Jesus to You Can Happily Watch This in the Dark. Enjoy!

(some links in this email may be affiliate links. if you purchase anything via that link, I receive a small portion of the price with no extra cost to you!)

the haunting of bly manor - I couldn’t get through The Haunting of Hill House because TERROR but I love haunted house stories more than most things, so when I heard Bly Manor was both queer and less full of jumpscares, I gave it a go. And I LOVED it. I used two jumpscare guides to get through/know when the jump was coming and I’m so glad they exist, because I LOVED this show. Ghosts, big houses, things in the water, gay realisations, Carla Gugino - it’s all there. This is at the top of the Oh Sweet Jesus scale because despite the jumpscare guides there were two moments that legitimately played behind my eyes every time I tried to sleep for like a week, but it was WORTH IT. (NB: you’re going to want to look up some trigger warnings for this one but off the top of my head it includes: suicide, grief, and possession

crimson peak - hello my name is moog and I love haunted house stories. This one has way fewer jumpscares than Bly Manor and the main one is in like the first three-ish minutes and then the last forty-ish minutes basically have none, leaving you free to enjoy Guillermo del Toro’s gorgeous gothic Victorian gothic horror in relative peace and also see Tom Hiddleston’s butt if you’re into that (I personally am more into Jessica Chastain being foreboding, gorgeous, and repressedly sapphic in various lavish dresses.)

into the drowning deep by mira grant (affiliate link) - you know how the sea wants to eat you? in this book, a mockumentary crew go missing while following up on this mermaid legend so naturally, a few years later, a scientific expedition sets out to the same place to find out what happened. this goes about as well as you would expect. 🧜‍♀️This book has queer, autistic, Deaf, and multiple POC characters, and it’s absolutely like reading a haunted house thriller except the house is a boat you can’t escape and the ghosts are murderous horror mermaids that want to eat you!

scooby doo & the witch’s ghost - on the lower end of the spooky scale, this Scooby Doo halloween special has been my favourite since I was a kid. Hot angry lady ghost, Tim Curry (!!!!!), and an all girl GOTH ROCK BAND - it’s great. Spooky, but like… Scooby spooky. (Although it terrified baby me, ngl😂)

rachel maksy recreates vintage halloween pin-up ads - rachel maksy is one of my favourite creators on the internet and trying to choose just one of her halloween videos was HARD but this one combines costumes, photoshop, her adorable dog, and halloween vibes (but make it cosy). A delight! A wonder! A marvel! Get a novelty warm drink and settle in!

Thank you so much for joining me for this cosy process! If you’ve enjoyed this email and want to support me further, you can:

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Please feel free to reply to this email with any of your recent cosy faves, or if you check out anything I’ve talked about! I don’t always have the spoons to reply, but I read and appreciate every single email 💕

See you in a couple of weeks for the next instalment!

xoxo

Moog