Halloween

The annual fundraising event in Des Moines' Sherman Hill neighborhood features the area's historic homes going all-out for Halloween in support of the DMARC food pantry.

The first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College continues to touch lives.

The Day of the Dead is celebrated primarily Nov. 1 and 2. Families celebrate the Mexican holiday by gathering together, building altars called ofrendas and honoring deceased family members by sharing memories, food and gifts.

The 48 Hour Horror Film Project — a spin-off of the long-running 48 Hour Film Project — had amateur filmmaking teams racing to create the spookiest, bloodiest, creepiest films they could. Des Moines producer Samuel Pace-Tuomi reflects on his final year leading the project.

What can ghost stories tell us about the world? The Talk of Iowa team takes a ghost tour of Cedar Falls and discusses ghost stories with author Carmen Maria Machado.

Also, a University of Iowa professor shares the lengthy history of witch trials in Europe and the United States.

Drought has affected several pumpkin-producing states, including Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. But rain arrived at the right time to produce a bumper crop in parts of the Midwest.

A historical society tour with a spooky twist, and a ghost story-teller and Iowa historian share Iowa ghost stories and discuss what they can tell us about the world.

A Des Moines horror tour partners with Iowa Radio Reading Information Service to make the spooky tour accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

We revisit our conversation with author Benjamin Percy about his 2013 book "Red Moon" and Ethan Rutherford's "The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories" from the same year.