Spooky Emojis Are Trending

Spooky Emojis Are Trending

As we once again approach the spooky side of October, certain emojis are getting the time to โœจshineโœจ. Or โœจgLoW eeRIlyโœจ, as the case may be.

Halloween emojis consistently trend on social platforms like Twitter in October, especially for classics like ๐ŸŽƒ Jack-O-Lantern and ๐Ÿ‘ป Ghost.

There's a big selection of Halloween-appropriate creatures and characters across our emoji keyboards, many of which are drawn from folklore and fables the world over.

There's also other frightening faces like ๐Ÿ’€ Skull and ๐Ÿ‘น Ogre, as well as mystic monsters such as ๐ŸงŸ Zombie, ๐Ÿง™ Mage and ๐Ÿง› Vampire).

Emojipedia-Vendor-Design-Comparison-Halloween-JackOLantern-1

Above: ๐ŸŽƒ Jack-O-Lantern as it appears across different devices and platforms.

Ahead of the year's Halloween, we can already see spooky season emojis emerge from the darkness.

The most prominent example is the ๐ŸŽƒ Jack-O-Lantern, which at the time of writing is Emojipedia's second most popular emoji page and is beginning to show early signs of its usual spike at this time of year.

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In fact, ๐ŸŽƒ Jack-O-Lantern has historically experienced the greatest relative spike in usage of any emoji come Halloween.

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Emojipedia-Vendor-Design-Comparison-Halloween-Ghost-1

Above: ๐Ÿ‘ป Ghost emoji, as it appears across various platforms.

๐Ÿ‘ป Ghost is also expected to undergo a considerable jump in use come Halloween, though there's been a notable downwards trend over the last number of years.

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Could this emoji's negative association with the slang term ghosting be impacting its appeal during the annual spooky season?

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Could ๐Ÿ‘ป Ghost's decline also be in part due to the growing popularity of other ghoulish creatures on the emoji keyboard?

Emojipedia-Vendor-Design-Comparison-Halloween-Zombie

Above: Cross-platform comparison of the ๐ŸงŸ Zombie emoji.[1]

Looking at fantasy characters introduced in early 2017[2], the ๐ŸงŸ Zombie, ๐Ÿง™ Mage, and ๐Ÿง› Vampire) all see a relatively large jump in use in October.

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But, of course, these faces and creatures aren't the only emojis that can encapsulate a spooky scare or a frightening feast. There's also creepy crawlies in ๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ Spider, ๐Ÿชณ Cockroach, and ๐Ÿชฑ Worm), and various objects that aren't categorically Halloween-related, but see an increase at this time of year, such as ๐Ÿฅ€ Wilted Flower, ๐Ÿ”ฎ Crystal Ball, and โšฑ๏ธ Funeral Urn).

With a creative mind, just about any emoji can be a spooky. Here's what we now suggest on our Halloween Emoji List:

๐Ÿ“– Read More


  1. While ๐ŸงŸ Zombie, ๐Ÿง™ Mage, and ๐Ÿง› Vampire display with a gender neutral design across most vendors, WhatsApp continues to display each of these emojis with the same design as ๐ŸงŸโ€โ™€๏ธ Woman Zombie, ๐Ÿง™โ€โ™€๏ธ Woman Mage, and ๐Ÿง›โ€โ™€๏ธ Woman Vampire respectively. This is expected to be changed in a future update. โ†ฉ๏ธŽ

  2. While introduced in March 2017, Emoji 5.0 support would not arrive to a majority of devices until late 2017 / early 2018, meaning that most emoji users were liekly unable to send or receive this goulish creatures until the following year. Amusingly enough, Apple released iOS 11.1, containing the likes of ๐ŸงŸ Zombie, ๐Ÿง™ Mage, and ๐Ÿง› Vampire, on October 31 2017. โ†ฉ๏ธŽ