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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Me watching del Toro's Creature: "I am the child of a charnel house."

Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Going to leave this here again as I work on my latest review on the plane to MLA. If you want to listen to me and a bunch of other smart people chat about public humanities work at #MLA2026, our panel is at 12 pm on Saturday

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I've largely been working through the holidays, given an impending book deadline, and it's not easy, but damn do I love the learning part of the process. Can't wait to share it all with you (hopefully in late 2026)!

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Come for the mascot horror rundown, stay for my absolute terror playing Five Nights at Freddy's. youtu.be/uWcnJcROjlI?...

youtu.be

A Monster Expert's Take on Mascot Horror | Monstrum

YouTube video by Storied

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

I was instantly obsessed with KPop Demon Hunters (like the rest of the world) and knew I had to dig into the monsters portrayed. Meet the dokkaebi! youtu.be/5G9MvpQVLS0?...

youtu.be

The Deep Lore Behind KPop Demon Hunters | Monstrum

YouTube video by Storied

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

31/31 ARCANA ROYALE. A talented card player stumbles into a supernatural game that is about much more than money. Beings of all kinds wager lives for a chance to control fate. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

This was such a fun interview! Be sure to check out my "Unmissable Undead Content" list as well!

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

30/31 NIGHT OF THE SLASHERS. A bus of high school kids breaks down in a small town where every year, a local curse turns its residents into brutal, mutated killers. Gives old school slasher vibes. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

29/30 LET THIS ONE BE THE DEVIL. An even more horrific origin story for the Jersey Devil that’s also a look at how legends develop and survive over the years. If you like cryptids, you’ll like this one. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

My first fictional film! I'm a consulting producer on this project, and I'm so excited to be a part of its development. I can't say too much, but get ready for some surprising monster lore inspiration...

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

28/31 BYTCHCRAFT. A three-witch coven in NYC learn the hard truths about dabbling in powers greater than they are qualified for, just as a prophecy threatens to tear the world apart. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

I’m sorry, but I’ve seen this movie

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

26/31 NEWS FROM THE FALLOUT. After a bomb is dropped, the soldiers in the area become something else, something violent. Part zombie story, part noir Western, it's a new take on atomic horror. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

25/31 YOU WON'T FEEL A THING. A murder mystery that goes off the rails pretty quickly. Take a disgraced cop, a memory rapidly declining, and the revival of a serial killer, and you get something truly haunting. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

24/31 A GUEST IN THE HOUSE. I’ve been a fan of E. M. Carroll since day one, and this does not disappoint. A recently married woman adjusting to life as a wife and stepmother begins a strange affair with her husband’s first wife. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

23/31 RED BOOK. The Dyatlov Pass Incident is an iconic mystery. This story examines the mysterious deaths and other alleged extraterrestrial encounters. Rooted in fact and taken into the fantastic, it’s a compelling read. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

22/31 SEANCE IN THE ASYLUM. Post-Civil War asylum inundated with patients, seeks the help of an ostracized spiritualist tasked with curing its occupants, who taps into forces that no one is prepared to handle. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

21/31 CRUSH DEPTH. A nuclear submarine receives a distress call, leading the crew to discover a strange and threatening biological threat that leads to some insane body horror. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

20/31 THE SLASHER'S APPRENTICE. A true crime podcaster with a very personal connection to the subject decides that shadowing the longest-active serial murderer in the Pacific Northwest is a brilliant idea. Brutal, but also coyly funny, it's a bloody fun ride. #31DaysofHorrorComics.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

19/31 HEXILES. Children conceived by an occultist are born with unusual powers, but when their father dies, they are made responsible for his debts. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

18/31 SNAPS. A mysterious figure is caught on camera but invisible to the naked eye in the deaths of a series of “heart attack” victims. Why it comes is revealed along with horrible truths. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

17/31 BURIED LONG, LONG AGO. Belle Gunness may have been one of the most prolific known female serial killers. Her story is retold with a supernatural twist through the eyes of her daughters, who imagine her as an ogre. But she might not be their biggest problem...#31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

16/31 EVENT HORIZON: DARK DESCENT. A prequel to the always haunting film, a space crew is about to complete their first jump, when things go awry even before they encounter anything preternatural. My favorite lines so far: "Hell isn't below us. It's in the void." #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

15/31 EXQUISITE CORPSES. Halloween night in a small town falls victim to the 13 richest families in America, all of whom play a deadly game each year, assigning a weapon and a killer to duke it out in a battle royale. #31DaysofHorrorComics

Silhouette figures of two men, one of whom is breaking the other's neck.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

14/31 SISTERHOOD. Campy sorority rush horror with an angry ghost, a big secret, and an unlikely friendship that lasts beyond the grave. #31DaysofHorrorComics

Young woman behind prison bars with different sides of her face. One a human, redhaired girl, the other a pink-eyed ghost corpse.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

13/31 HELL HEIST. Thieves get a whole lot more than they bargained for after their assignment to steal a sarcophagus goes horribly (and delightfully predictably) awry. Angels, demons, and threats of an apocalypse? What’s not to love?

A silver-armored angel with white wings wields a glowing sword while a large horned demon roars behind her amid flames.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

12/31 VIOLENT FLOWERS. After a vampire sentinel is poisoned, his clan gathers to solve the mystery in a story that explores addiction, youth culture, and what devotion really means. #31DaysofHorrorComics

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

11/31 WHEN I LAY MY VENGEANCE UPON THEE. A troubled priest is assigned to shadow a noted exorcist and finds a world of supernatural phenomena that challenges everything he believes #31DaysofHorrorComics

A screaming woman lies in bed as a priest performs an exorcism, holding a book and raising a hand in a ritual gesture.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

10/31 MOMMY BLOG. Tongue-in-cheek look at parent influencer culture and true crime about a serial killer blogger who keeps her kids and neighborhood safe by taking matters into her own hands–all while wearing an apron and perfectly coiffed hair. #31DaysofHorrorComics

Woman with a baby sleeping on her back with headphones on. She is splattered with blood and holding a weapon with a bloody torso hanging above her

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

9/31 DENIZEN. A blended family heads to Joshua Tree for camping and bonding, but find themselves challenged by a dark force that exposes their inner secrets #31DaysofHorrorComics

A woman standing in an RV doorway is wrapped and pulled by multiple dark shadowy hands emerging from the darkness behind her.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

8/31 IT KILLED EVERYONE BUT ME. A final girl must face her past when she’s brought in to assist a PI after another group of teenagers is slaughtered similarly. I'm a sucker for anything Letizia Cadonici illustrates TBH. #31DaysofHorrorComics

A girl with a bloodied face and shovel stands before a house under a full moon, while a headless figure holding a glowing object approaches through the trees.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

7/31 KILL TRAIN. A morbid way to control overpopulation is at the center of the plot, where a random commuter subway train is deemed expendable and all occupants are murdered. That is, until an unlikely group of survivors decides not to go quietly into the night…#31DaysofHorrorComics

A subway train with its doors closing on a bloody arm extending onto the platform, lit in red and blue tones with other body parts in the compartment

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

6/ 31 LOOK INTO MY EYES. Toxic social media culture is given a supernatural spin in a story where the hottest new app seems to be linked to a string of missing teenagers #31DaysofHorrorComics

A distressed woman’s face surrounded by many green hands and flowers, with repeated text bubbles saying “Shame on you.”

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

5/31 BLACK DIAMOND. Cult horror at a popular ski destination highlights the familial tensions of a strained (and problematic) father-son dynamic. It asks the question: What crimes would you commit for your children? #31DaysofHorrorComics

A towering antlered humanoid creature with a skull face looms over a skier, saying, “We are glad you came.”

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Reposted by Dr. Emily Zarka

Laughing Squid @laughingsquid.com · 03/10/2025

Dr. Emily Zarka takes a look at the Boo Hag, a skinless witch who steals the life force of the sleeping, according to Gullah Geechee folklore. laughingsquid.com/gullah-geech...

laughingsquid.com

The Gullah Geechee Origins Behind the Energy Sucking Skinless Witch Known As the Boo Hag

Dr. Emily Zarka takes a look at the Boo Hag, a skinless witch who steals the life force of the sleeping, according to Gullah Geechee folklore.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

4/31 YOU'LL DO BAD THINGS. An homage to Giallo films that dives into the psyche of a true crime writer looking to move into fiction but finds himself with a rather bloody roadblock. Bonus points for the most disturbing riff on “The Licked Hand” urban legend I’ve seen yet. #31DaysofHorrorComics

Stylized figure in black and red with a mask, holding a finger to their lips in a shushing gesture.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

3/31 BENEATH THE TREES WHERE NOBODY SEES: RITE OF SPRING. An excellent installment to the series, the sister of one of serial killer Samantha’s victims thinks she’s got a lead, or is it a carefully planned trap…#31DaysofHorrorComics

Comic book cover that riffs on Corduroy the Bear, showing a bear in an apron and goggles holding a bloody knife, with the title Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

2/31 THE NEIGHBORS. When a family moves from the city to a rural area full of odd people, their teenage daughter goes through a sudden personality change in this fresh take on the changeling tradition #31DaysofHorrorComics

A purple-skinned figure leans through prison bars, speaking to someone while a stuffed animal’s paw reaches out. A speech bubble reads, “You have to promise not to tell, all right?”

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

1/31 PLAGUE HOUSE. A trio of ghost hunters find that some evil leaves marks that extend behind place, and wounds are not always physical in a story that redefines “haunting.”

Comic illustration of a person standing amid skeletons and ruins, looking up at a swirling red vortex with words like “Greed,” “Death,” and “Plague.”

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

You know what tomorrow means? The start of my annual #31DaysofHorrorComics. Each day of October, I'll post one of my favorite horror comics I read this year. This will be the seventh year of the tradition (RIP to my Twitter account), and I can't wait to get started

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

All those negative YT comments are really coming in handy for this piece I'm writing on public scholarship, and it's giving me a perverse sense of joy. Thanks, trolls!

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Busted out my professor voice (and overhead projector) for this quick Monster Theory 101 episode. It's basically a recap of why I study what I do and why research into monstrosity is so important. youtu.be/vUwRaWLEZnk?...

youtu.be

The Real Reason You Love Spooky Monster Stories

YouTube video by Storied

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Well, according to my kid, he can "hear" Halloween coming, and it sounds like "skeleton." THE TIME IS NEAR, PEOPLE.

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Now that the ink is dry, I'm writing a book y'all! Get ready for a global exploration of cryptids, featuring gorgeous illustrations. EEK

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

I love a good mystery and the Flatwoods Monster is certainly strange. See the latest Monstrum and let me know what you think happened in the woods! youtu.be/Pex7x4Z9htw?...

youtu.be

The Most Puzzling UFO Case of the 20th Century | Monstrum

YouTube video by Storied

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

A bit bummed my “I love sharks cause they’re funny looking” quote didn’t end up in here, but in all seriousness, Jaws changed the game. 💕🦈

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Welp, my kid is obsessed with Halloweentown and picked out his first antique (a goofy ceramic owl) so I think we are doing this right so far 🎃

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Dr. Emily Zarka @dremilyzarka.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

I've done a lot of interviews, but this quote might be my favorite yet: "...a lot of other cryptids have more nefarious purposes...But nightcrawlers are just some little dudes out there walking around." fresnoland.org/2025/05/01/t...

fresnoland.org

The Fresno Nightcrawler urban legend included in new docuseries

A quirky 20-second clip from 2007 featuring the Fresno Nightcrawler has unexpectedly united a community of urban legend enthusiasts.

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