We’ve been missing Halloween at Atlas Obscura, so we decided to bring a little horror into early summer: Welcome to Rites of Spring, a curated collection of frights from around the world.

Over the next week, we’ll take you to the vast, arid deserts of the Gobi in search of the Mongolian death worm. We’ll dive beneath the Pacific to witness the horrors of the 600-pound King Octopus. We’ll gaze at the immortal horror of Haxan, the groundbreaking 1920s documentary about witchcraft, and much, much more.

So as the Beltane fires blaze and flowers anoint May Queens, we at Atlas Obscura invite you into this terrifying tapestry of stories. We hope you make it out alive.