She gave me an example of how imposing the organ can be with perhaps the granddaddy of all scary organ music, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

We do have lots of loud sounds on this instrument, and a massive variety of timbral options.” I remember recently reading that the only two things humans are preconditioned to be afraid of are falling and loud noises. “That being said, the organ is inherently mysterious. I think part of me wants to say that organs are scary in the same way snakes are scary - we’ve been conditioned to think this is scary,” said Horsley. She is the dean of the Greater Hartford chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the music director at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford. To help me break down why this is, I sat down with organist Michelle Horsley and asked for her thoughts. It seems like anything played in a minor key on a massive pipe organ automatically evokes a sense of tension or dread. The pipe organ is often regarded as the “king of musical instruments,” but it’s also the king of scary music. This Friday evening, the Greater Hartford chapter of the American Guild of Organists will host its 30th annual “Pipescreams” event - a kind of spooky organ crawl and concert.

How to play spooky organ