Halloween Cryptogram

A spooky line in a letter-swap code: type your guesses in the boxes, or print it with its answer key.

Halloween Cryptogram

Name Date

Every letter stands for another letter, and no letter stands for itself. Work out the code to read the message.

2 of 17 letters filled in

".,",".."

Solve it to see who said it.

Type a guess in any box and every box with the same code letter fills in. Arrow keys move between boxes.

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Letters given at the start

0 of 40 quotes solved

Keep track of the code here:

CodeABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Letter

Answer key

"If he be Mr. Hyde," he had thought, "I shall be Mr. Seek."

Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A pun on hide and seek.

CodeABCDFJKNOQSTUVWYZ
LetterBSOKGFIMRDAEYUHLT

Next step Unscramble Halloween wordsPut your own spooky message in code

All 40 quotes

Witches and Midnight 11

  • And many a fine gentleman has a pumpkin head, as well as my scarecrow. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Feathertop, in Mosses from an Old Manse. The witch is speaking.
  • By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.
  • Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog William Shakespeare, Macbeth. A newt is a small salamander.
  • Fair is foul, and foul is fair: hover through the fog and filthy air. William Shakespeare, Macbeth. The three witches.
  • I'll make a man of my scarecrow, were it only for the joke's sake! Nathaniel Hawthorne, Feathertop, in Mosses from an Old Manse.
  • It was nothing, after all, but a scarecrow stuck upon two sticks. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Feathertop, in Mosses from an Old Manse. A witch brings her scarecrow to life.
  • Now the hungry lion roars, and the wolf behowls the moon William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck, at midnight.
  • Round about the cauldron go William Shakespeare, Macbeth.
  • There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. William Shakespeare, Hamlet. Hamlet has just met a ghost.
  • 'Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn William Shakespeare, Hamlet. The witching time is midnight.
  • When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? William Shakespeare, Macbeth. The first words of the play, spoken by a witch.
Show all 40 quotes (29 more)

The Raven and Other Poe 8

  • Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December, and each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1845). An ember is a glowing coal.
  • And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1845).
  • Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1845).
  • It was night in the lonesome October of my most immemorial year Edgar Allan Poe, Ulalume.
  • Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1845). The opening line.
  • Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1845). Quoth means said.
  • The skies they were ashen and sober; the leaves they were crisped and sere Edgar Allan Poe, Ulalume. Sere means dry and withered.
  • While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of some one gently rapping—rapping at my chamber door. Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1845).

Ghost Stories 10

  • All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Haunted Houses.
  • All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon now came crowding upon his recollection. Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane rides home alone at night.
  • Besides, no ghost in history had ever been treated in this manner. Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost. The family he haunts is not afraid of him.
  • But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded. Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. An apparition is a ghostly figure.
  • I must rattle my chains, and groan through keyholes, and walk about at night, if that is what you mean. Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost. The ghost explains his job.
  • One need not be a chamber to be haunted, one need not be a house Emily Dickinson, Poems.
  • Such was one of the favorite haunts of the Headless Horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered. Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
  • Then the ghost spoke again, and his voice sounded like the sighing of the wind. Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost.
  • This has ever since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark. Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
  • To her immense surprise, however, it was the Canterville Ghost himself! Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost.

Monsters and Goblins 8

  • Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky, in Through the Looking-Glass.
  • Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. The creature is speaking.
  • "If he be Mr. Hyde," he had thought, "I shall be Mr. Seek." Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A pun on hide and seek.
  • It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein finishes building his creature.
  • Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make! Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897). The count hears wolves howling.
  • Morning and evening maids heard the goblins cry: 'Come buy our orchard fruits, come buy, come buy Christina Rossetti, the opening of Goblin Market (1862).
  • We must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market (1862).
  • Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will! Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897).

Dark and Windy Nights 3

  • All round the house is the jet-black night; it stares through the window-pane Robert Louis Stevenson, Shadow March, in A Child's Garden of Verses.
  • Like one that on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread, and having once turned round walks on, and turns no more his head Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
  • Whenever the moon and stars are set, whenever the wind is high, all night long in the dark and wet, a man goes riding by. Robert Louis Stevenson, Windy Nights, in A Child's Garden of Verses.

How this list was compiled: Every line was matched word for word on 2026-09-30 against the Project Gutenberg plain-text edition it comes from (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/N, where N is): 100 Shakespeare, Complete Works; 10031 Poe, Complete Poetical Works; 41 Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; 14522 Wilde, The Canterville Ghost; 512 Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse; 84 Shelley, Frankenstein; 345 Stoker, Dracula; 43 Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; 12 Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass; 16950 Rossetti, Goblin Market; 25609 Stevenson, A Child's Garden of Verses; 151 Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; 1365 Longfellow, Complete Poetical Works; 12242 Dickinson, Poems. Verse is printed as running text with line-opening capitals lowered. Every author died before 1929; the years were read from the Project Gutenberg catalog pages. The one-line notes are our own. Licence: own work

How it works

Each Halloween cryptogram hides a line from a classic: the witches of Macbeth, Poe's raven, the Headless Horseman, a ghost nobody is afraid of. The lines are spooky, not gory. Two letters are given to start.

Read the full guide

Spooky lines in five groups

Witches and Midnight holds 11 lines, most of them Shakespeare: Eye of newt, and toe of frog. The Raven and Other Poe has 8. Ghost Stories has 10, from Sleepy Hollow to Oscar Wilde's Canterville Ghost, who must rattle his chains. Monsters and Goblins has 8, and Dark and Windy Nights has 3.

Where to start

A lone code letter is A or I. After an apostrophe, try S or T. In the Poe lines look for rhymes inside the line: dreary, weary and napping, tapping, rapping share their endings, so one solved word opens the next.

  • Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." has 22 letters, too few to count. Keep 2 or 3 letters given for that one.
  • Read the solved line aloud: the witches' lines from Macbeth are a chant, written to be spoken.

Questions and answers

Is this Halloween cryptogram safe for a classroom?

The 40 lines were chosen mild: witches, ravens, ghosts, goblins and dark nights, with no blood and no death scene. They are old texts, so expect words such as quoth, cauldron and apparition; each line's note explains the hard one.

Can I print a Halloween cryptogram with the answer?

Yes. Print puzzle gives a sheet with the coded line and an A to Z tracker grid, and the answer key on a second page. Untick Print the answer key too, in More options after a solve, to leave it off.

Where do the lines come from?

From 14 books by authors who died before 1929, among them Shakespeare, Poe, Irving, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Christina Rossetti. Each line was matched word for word against its Project Gutenberg text on 30 September 2026.

Why is Double, double toil and trouble missing?

That line is already one of the quotes on the cryptogram maker page, so it is left out here. This page has five other lines from Macbeth.

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