You get to set ghost stores in Storm Walbaum? I am so jealous.

It would be a grave mistake to overlook Lestatic as a display type. And of course, the old House Monster fonts collection is to die for.

James: you are right - the display side of the font house is very well stocked for this kind of thing. Actually there are some sweet looking Storm display faces too - but deciding on text is tougher! And that is the core of my question.

I used Goudy Claremont once for a book about the Disney movie Haunted Mansion.

http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/downloads/richard_beatty/goudy_claremont/

Nice! It may be a bit much for really extended text because of the s - but it’s a great example anyway.

Maybe pick a font that has died and come back from the grave? Like perhaps one of the revival faces from the 1910s or 20s?

:-)

A Caslon might establish the mood better than rational type.

darnnit! i didn’t know there was already a digital version of Goudy’s Italian Oldstyle. oh well.

but to advise on the original question: i think you’d want something just a bit more menacing (somehow) than Walbaum. if we’re sticking with Storm, I might try something a bit more on the fauvist side, such as Serapion or maybe Regent.

Re: Caslon. That was my 1st thought - which are sometimes the best.

Thanks Paul! I will reconsider those.

Comic Sans is pretty scary...

But seriously, Trump Medieval with those spiky serifs could work too.

You could also look at other slightly distressed fonts like Poliphilus, Celestia Antiqua, Truesdell.

Kruella, by Margo Chase.

Talon, by Richard Lipton and Margo Chase.

[EDIT.] Oooops... My bad, I didn’t see that you were asking for fonts to set the stories in... Kruella and Talon are more suited for titling.

Would Preissig work in text? Actually it’s something I have been wondering about for a while, intuition says no, but I have seen the italics work well for medium amounts of text and was surprised by its efficacy (similarly with Foundry Gridnik).

http://www.stormtype.com/typefaces-fonts-shop/families-39-preissig

Tim

If they’re good ghost stories, they’ll be plenty scary without any help from the typeface—-so I think it’s best to keep the effect of the text face subtle. Caslon, Storm’s Walbaum, Trump Mediaeval, I think they’d all work. Baskerville too. I might even try Elysium to see the effect. It’s a little heavier and edgier than many text faces. I once used it to set a novel about the ultimate solution to bad drivers: nail them to crosses overlooking the Don Valley Parkway.

I second Gary’s recommendation of Baskerville. I believe John Baskerville himself was a headstone engraver. I don’t know how well the font would carry into modernity but the Monotype version is s*c*a*r*y* . . .

Pressig is one of the first things I thought of but I can’t see setting an extended text in it regardless of my admiration for the face. Elysium is interesting. Baskerville has the right feeling but it always seems a little too daylight and upright and so maybe a little too safe for me in this case.

Just reminded of a recent “ghost story” of sorts — Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell — set in Baskerville. I didn’t find it convincing, but others did. Curiously, the front is in what I think might be a Caslon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Strange_&_Mr_Norrell

Now that you mention it I think the cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a good example of the feeling I want. I will have look at what it’s set in. I seem to recall thinking that the text face was less carefully chosen than the cover’s and that it was maybe less than an ideal match to the cover. But I haven’t looked at it in a while. I will look again. Andrew, what version of Baskerville do you favor & why? I should look at the p22 faces as well...

Post Mediaeval—-there’s another possibility, although I find the l.c. “a” is slightly distracting in text settings and hence have only ever used it for semi-display text and titling. The typeface certainly has character (kind of makes me think of old castles) but, except for that darned “a”, is not too far out for extended text. It doesn’t have oldstyle numerals, however, the numerals are less than cap height and are kind of semi-oldstyle; they blend in quite well.

Ghastly Panic might be a good choice

Post Mediaeval does have a certain desirable tension. But I don’t think it’s really a text face. More a pull quote or headline sort of thing to my eyes. Ghastly Panic is really not a ’text font’ Billy... Thanks to you both just the same.