Stories of the undead, the ghostly, and the bloodthirsty… these are the horrors we associate with Halloween. But the scariest tales are happening year-round and everywhere we look: melting glaciers, smoky skies, and the overall impact of a growing climate crisis. This Halloween eve, we have three truly scary stories of climate change from Alberta’s magazines.

It’s not just the Wicked Witch of the West who is melting. In the Summer 2025 issue of Nature Alberta, we learn how melting mountain glaciers and provincewide drought are a threat, not only to Alberta’s water security, but also beyond our borders. The receding glaciers have a trickle effect (pun intended) on the agricultural system across the Pacific Northwest, and on our climate as a whole. 

“The climate conditions responsible for the loss of our glaciers also result in heatwaves that we cannot live through, fatal water shortages, wildfires that burn our forests and communities, floods that destroy our cities and homes, sea level rise that inundates coastal settlements and cities.” While there’s no stopping it now, there are things we can do to manage this impending shortage and its consequences. Learn more about the melt by reading “Our Future Is on Thin Ice: Mountain glacier loss and Now drought threaten Alberta’s water security” by John Pomeroy in Nature Alberta. 

It’s coming for your blood and for your brain…and no, it’s not a zombie. In “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And your blood, and your brain…” Paula Simons writes for Alberta Views in the June 2025 issue about the eerie impact the annual wildfire smoke is having on our entire bodies.

She shares the words of Sarah Henderson, scientific director for Environmental Health Services with the BC Centre for Disease Control, from her testimony to the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry about her research into the health effects of wildfire smoke: “‘One of the important things to know is some of those very small particles are small enough to translocate across the lung into the bloodstream, and then cross the blood brain barrier,’ Henderson testified. ‘Smoke can have a direct impact on the brain.’”

Then there’s the invisible forces at play. In “The Human Cost of Climate Change: Alberta has more at stake than its environment and economy” Taylor Lambert writes for The Sprawl about the social and psychological impact of climate change. In a story that focuses predominantly on climate displacement and refugees, Lambert also describes how “climate displacement need not be strictly physical: remaining in place to witness the impact can also be devastating—a different sort of forced separation from one’s familiar environment.”

Alongside the ghosts, the zombies, and the witches, there’s no denying the looming threat of climate change.