Creepy Casper: Dreadful Bookshop aims to delight fans of horror fiction

CASPER, Wyo. — A young entrepreneur is taking a stab at giving horror fans a safe space to indulge in their passion for the macabre.

Trinity Beck became a fan of the slasher genre as a teenager, when she first saw the original 1990 TV miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s “It,” starring Tim Curry.

“It freaked me out,” she said. “At first I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is my thing.'”

But it did become her thing, enough so that she now considers herself among the countless superfans of the genre. She dove into more of King’s books, and eventually saw the now-classic 1996 horror-comedy “Scream,” which she says is her favorite of the slasher sub-genre. “They’re so outlandish,” she said.

Trinity grew up in a town outside of Fort Worth, Texas, and visited Casper family often before moving here about two years ago. She quickly discovered the used bookstore Bookin’ It, which owner Kristy Bussey opened in 2023. “I found out it was woman-owned and she started it all by herself, and that’s kind of been a dream of mine,” she said. Trinity was hired at Bookin’ It, and started brewing the idea of perhaps opening her own store specializing in the two things she loves most — books and horror stories.

Trinity says for her, horror offers an escape from real-world complications. “It’s like, they’re horrible, and you go, ‘I guess the real world isn’t so bad,'” she said. “To me personally, it’s comforting. I don’t know exactly why, but I know a lot of people feel the same way.”

According to Trinity, Kristy Bussey recently purchased the historic building at 118 E. 2nd St. where Bookin’ It is housed, and offered an unused third-floor space for rent. She’s peeling back layers of quirky old Casper, giving the place a proper dark coat of paint and collecting odds and ends for a gothic Victorian aesthetic. Over the past few months, she’s scoured used, thrift and online sources for old books. She recently made a trip to Denver to score some stock as well, and has an upcoming trip back to Texas planned where she hopes to find some treasures.

Her hope is to create a community of like-minded fans, a demographic she feels is often looked down upon by people outside of the fandom.

“I feel like I’ve been ostracized for liking horror, like people think you’re gonna turn into a psychopath if you watch these movies,” she said. “So I want to make a space where people don’t feel bad, and they can just enjoy what they like.”

She’s been active on social media, particularly with her Instagram and TikTok accounts, where the excitement among fans is already brewing. A monthly horror book club is planned, along with movie nights and a bigger celebration around Halloween, where other women-owned businesses already participate in what they call the “Cauldron Crawl.”

Perhaps in the future she’ll offer horror DVDs and other physical media, but for now the focus is strictly on the literary.

She’s planning a soft opening this summer. There is, however, a date in June that’s as painfully obvious as a wayward sorority girl meeting a bloody end at summer camp, and nobody with braaaaaaaains could pass this up.

“I wanted to open early June, and I looked at the calendar and found out there’s a Friday the 13th,” she said, “so I have to do that day.”

When the store opens, she will join the sisterhood of numerous women-owned small business that have sprung up in Casper’s historic retail heart of late. “All of the women-owned businesses down here are incredible and so supportive of each other,” she said. “It’s very encouraging.”

The Dreadful Bookshop will tentatively open on Friday, June 13, 2025, on the third floor of 118 E. 2nd St. in downtown Casper. Follow it on TikTok and Instagram for updates.