When wandering through unusual alphabets it’s virtually impossible to miss Edward Gorey’s classic The Gashleycrumb Tinies, or After the Outing. Each letter of this macabre book stands for a child’s name and the page for them shows the gory method in which they died. They die by falling down stairs, being struck by an axe, being attacked by a thug, and more.

Among all of these gruesome and largely involuntary deaths, the story ends with one that has nothing to do with being attacked. Instead, the story ends with a little girl – Zillah – who evidently drank herself to death with gin (at what appears to be a sort of creepy tea party attended by a doll with a skull for a head).

Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin

You can always trust Edward Gorey to provide creepy and macabre stories!