41 Halloween Tattoos For Spooky Season and Beyond

Nightmare Material

Lee drew the first mummy-like tattoo in this trio of Halloween tattoos from a recurring childhood nightmare one of her clients had. Might as well turn your sleepless nights into something beautiful, right? That little guy in the middle is from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and a spell-binding siren straight from Lee’s mind is beside him.

Frankenstein

Adorned with ’30s-inspired makeup true to the film’s original era, this side profile of the Bride of Frankenstein from Valentine has brilliant green and purple draped blush and accurate stitch placement. The heart next to it is a tribute to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Valentine borrowed the green, purple, and blue color scheme typically associated with Frankenstein’s monster into the piece, which is accented by bolts, stitches, well-placed florals, and a quote from the book.

Bats

Always a popular image come Halloween, Valentine gave her bats the cutest tattoo treatments. Lee, on the other hand, sourced her bat lady tattoo from vintage imagery.

Ghosts

Ghosts are welcome visitors with the artful designs from Brooklyn tattoo artists Sophie Bee and Vannessa J. In fact, the above ghost kitty, which looks like it was drawn on with crayon, was a popular option during the latter’s flash day for Halloween 2022. Want a more spine-chilling option that keeps your ink fun? Opt for one of Bee’s looks, both of which capture the holiday’s spirit. (Pun intended.)

Jack-O-Lanterns

Upgrade your pumpkin tattoo with tricks inspired by these ones from Valentine and Eva Crawford, a tattoo artist based in New York City: glitter-like accents, a reference to The Office, and — of course — candy.

Movie Motifs

It’s showtime. Valentine gave the Sandworm from Beetlejuice a traditional tattoo treatment. But for her Nightmare on Elm Street tattoo, she gave Freddie’s iconic glove a modern pink color scheme and unexpected heart-shaped details. Valentine also topped off the gory image with a single strawberry for an oh-so-cute spin.

British tattoo artist Vicky Morgan created a whole new look for Friday the 13th’s main character by merging the traditional goaltender mask and machete combo with a retro pin-up aesthetic.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is also another amazing source of Halloween tattoo inspo. California tattoo artist Sanae García created a kawaii-style rendition of Jack Skellington’s dog Zero with skull flowers that would look perfect on their own too.