My main New Leaf town is a horror-themed town that ties into Halloween in a few ways, and these are the villagers I have in case any of them appeal to you:
Ankha: I've seen Ancient Egyptian costumes being associated with Halloween for years now so she seemed like a perfect fit.
Cobb: His house's interior design doesn't suggest it as much in New Horizons, but in New Leaf he had mad scientist furniture so I liked to imagine him to be a mad scientist. His green skin and yellow eyes give him a sort of zombie appearance, so my headcanon is that his mad science has affected him.
Coco: Her design is inspired by Haniwa funerary figurines from Ancient Japan, the same inspiration as the gyroids.
Hans: His design is reminiscent of portrayals of a yeti/abominable snowman. That seemed like a cool "monster"/cryptozoological creature.
Lucky: Easy one here, probably the easiest. A mummy? Yes, please. He makes for a wonderful duo with Ankha too.
Marina: See Octavian below.
Octavian: His house's interior design throughout the series has always been outer space themed, so I found it fun to think of he and the other Octopus villagers as aliens. This also helps to explain why we can catch octopus from the ocean too.
Pietro: I'm not personally scared of clowns, but a lot of other people do have coulrophobia (fear of clowns) so he seemed like a good fit. He's my mayor's next door neighbor and I love him. I made him make IT references with his greeting and catchphrase.
Stitches: His multicolor, cobbled together appearance made me think of Frankenstein's Monster.
I also have Boris but he's a stretch. His name makes me think of Boris Karloff, the actor who portrayed Frankenstein in the classic Universal Monster movies of the 30s. Then, his tusks make me think of vampire fangs and, because his name makes me think of Boris Karloff, my brain also thinks of Bela Lugosi, the actor who portrayed Dracula in the 1931 movie. He has a little movie theater in his house in New Leaf too, so it all ties together in a weird way.
I'm planning to move in Freya and Pashmina to replace Ankha and Marina respectively, as Ankha is on my New Horizons island and I'm moving Marina to a different New Leaf town. Pashmina because goats have been associated with witchcraft and because I like her design better than Nan's, though Nan's would probably fit better thematically because of stuff like Black Phillip and Baphomet. Meanwhile, Freya is my favorite of the female Wolf villagers and I think a Wolf would fit well as a werewolf reference.
Other villagers that could work would include:
- Annalisa. Maybe just me, but her design makes me think of a plague doctor's mask.
- Any of the Wolf villagers because they'd make for a nice werewolf reference.
- Bella. Another maybe stretch, but some people fear mice and they're often shown in spooky places in media.
- Clay because he's based on dogū, another type of Japanese figurine. I dunno, seems like a living statue is a fun idea to work with.
- Drift, because his orange, brown, and yellow coloration can be associated with Fall and, by extension, Halloween. He also has a Throwback Skull Radio in his house. He used to live in my New Leaf town as a mascot but I eventually replaced him.
- Kiki due to her black cat design, as they're popular associated with witches as a witch familiar.
- Muffy, because she's a cool goth sheep.
- Nan, because like I mentioned with Pashmina, she could sort of reference Black Phillip and/or Baphomet.
- Raddle, since his surgical mask and general doctor design scheme gives him a unique look. His house's interior design ties into the theme well too. Basically the same idea as what I mentioned for Cobb, could be a Dr. Frankenstein sort of reference.
- Tasha. Another stretch, but her house features a bunch of black furniture and has cool Stormy-Night wallpaper. Also, she has black fur and orange eyes, two colors often associated with Halloween.
There's also the knights (Knox and Sterling), the robots (Del, Ribbot, and Sprocket), and the superheroes (Agent S, Big Top, Kid Cat, Rocket, and Mira) since those could be costumes, but those feel like stretches too.
