Last year I read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher during the Halloween season and it was so much fun I decided to read something scary every October. This year, I decided to read Crumb Hill. Here are my thoughts on this creepy tome:
Crumb Hill: A Town History by Ethan Renoe is a delightfully disturbing journey into the strangest of places. Told through the eyes of Desmond Poots, an accidental visitor who is more or less coerced into becoming the town scribe, the book pulls readers into a world where absurdity is as common as breathing. As Desmond records the everyday happenings of Crumb Hill, he encounters an ensemble of odd and unforgettable characters – among them the Tonic Woman and Dangling Jerry – whose bizarre quirks are best experienced rather than explained.
Life in Crumb Hill operates according to peculiar rules: something inexplicable happens every day at precisely 1:17, and whispering may result in being sent to “the dimension,” an ominous punishment left to the reader’s imagination. This sense of structured strangeness builds a unique atmosphere, where the absurd feels both whimsical and threatening. Renoe’s world isn’t just weird for the sake of weird – it has a logic of its own, and that’s part of what makes it so unsettling.
Renoe’s use of sensory detail amplifies the unease. One early passage describes a faint scratching from inside a mysterious box: “It was so faint and fast that he thought he had imagined it at first. Just a little clawing at the inside of the box.” That creeping sound lingers, setting the tone for a book where even the smallest details are loaded with menace. Another chilling episode takes place in Crumb Hill Prison, famously voted “the dampest prison,” where inmates voluntarily endure grotesque “scrubbings” with wire brushes – rituals as horrifying as they are matter-of-fact in this warped town.
These surreal episodes unfold like suffocating nightmares sprinkled with a dark, deadpan humor. Between the eerie stories, the book is peppered with advertisements for oddball products like “Sroof Ffoffoos” cereal, at least I think it’s cereal, and announcements for the Crumb Hill Circus – “Crumb to the Circus!” -creating the feeling of flipping through an unearthed local almanac from a place that shouldn’t exist. The book’s layout enhances the atmosphere: every page features haunting graphics illustrating the eccentric daily lives of Crumb Hill’s residents, deepening the sense of immersion.
Is this book allegory, metaphor, or simply madness? Renoe leaves that question hanging. Reading Crumb Hill felt, to me, like stepping into the uncanny dreamscape of Pan’s Labyrinth or the unsettling fairytale world of John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things. It’s the perfect choice for anyone seeking a creepy, surreal read during the Halloween season. Perhaps the most frightening part is how quickly the town’s oddness began to feel normal – and that, more than any monster, is what truly lingers.
Friday’s Findings
Here’s a few things that scared me in the past. Strangely enough, they all have the same vibe as Crumb Hill in the review I wrote above. I’m seeing a theme.
- Frankenstein: The True Story
This is not the new movie by director Guillermo del Toro, but a made for TV movie I watched as a little kid. And it scared the chocolate milk out of me. It’s 1970s cheesy, but I rewatched it again last week for the first time in decades and I loved it all over. I’m surprised how much I remember from when I saw it as a kid. It’s available for free viewing on YouTube. - Thus I Refute Beelzy
This is a short story by John Collier I came across in college, and its creepy vibes have stuck with me all these years. It’s a quick read and a great way to get into the mood for Halloween. You can read it here. - Perdido Street Station
This novel is part horror, part fantasy, and part science fiction. China Mieville does a great job of world building the city of New Crobuzon, a Victorian-era-like town built around the ribcage of an unknown behemoth creature that perished centuries earlier. Humans live alongside different species of creatures which leads to an interesting cast of characters. Be warned: this story gets dark and takes some crazy turns. It’s one of my favorite speculative fiction novels and perfect for the Halloween season.
Andrew M. Friday 
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