Happy Hallowe'en!

Today is the day! I hope all of you have a spooky, safe and wonder-filled Samhain!

Hear the Monsters

Click on the pic for a lovely bit of Hallowe'en/Winchell's nostalgia from 1976!

Batty Pumpkin!

From the Facebook page of Pumpkin Sculpt U.S.A., I give you the Flying Fox Pumpkin!

Their description:

Here's our pumpkin version of a Flying Fox, a type of fruit bat. It's 7 feet tall and weighs over 500 lbs. It hangs from the rafters using a carefully engineered support of metal rods and wood.

Absolutely off-the-hook work! Wowza!

Creepy Hallowe'en

 Art by Sam Heimer. Visit his shop here.

Haunted

Abandoned. You can imagine the opulence, even as you take in the decay time has wrought on these places, once vibrant with lives being lived.

 

Someone slept in this bed. Someone who has long since passed away. There's his jacket, left behind as a reminder of its former owner.

More pictures of beautiful abandonment at Niki Feijen's website.

Listen! Did You Hear That?

Face it, you need some wonderful aural candy, from music to stories, for your Hallowe'en.

Click here for some great tunes and stories by the masters, and click on any pic to see if you can purchase for yourself!

Hallowe'en Reading

This time of year, when the night grows longer and the days cooler, when the wind starts to moan down our chimneys, it's time to curl up in our warm abodes and read a good book.

Or a hundred and nine of them!

I've pulled together a Pinterest board containing a number of books on Hallowe'en and horror. Some are prop-related. Some are party ideas or pumpkin-carving ideas.

Many are straight-up horror and ghost stories for those chilly Fall nights.

If you explore the board and find something you'd like to read, click on it and it'll take you over to Amazon so you can purchase it.

Click here to go to My Scary Bookshelf.

And happy exploring!

Hallowe'en Costumes, Anyone?

More costume shenanigans here, at Bored Panda.

The Legend of the Scarecrow: A ShellHawk's Nest Tradition

Click on the pic for a charming short film!

In the Know: A ShellHawk's Nest Hallowe'en Tradition

Click the pic.

The 31 Club

One of my Hallowe'en traditions is to purchase Halloween at High Noon's latest album, a treat I look forward to every October!

Their latest offering came out a couple of days ago: The 31 Club. Exactly what I needed to get me in the mood for the best time of year.

See the rest of Halloween at High Noon's catalog here. 

You Left the Bodies but You Only Moved the Headstones!

Click on the pic for a clip.

Poltergeist. The classic from 1982, not the remake. You know my disdain for remakes, right?

I feel that it's still one of the creepiest, most atmospheric movies ever made. At the very least it's in the top twenty, even though a couple of the practical effects look a little cheesy when compared to modern CGI. But overall, the movie and its effects still hold up.

As an aside, it's interesting to see the difference in storytelling style from then to now. Poltergeist is still frightening and creepy, relying on the masterful buildup of tension rather than cheap startle scares. Stephen Speilberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor took time to tell the story, to develop the closeness of the family before the crazy paranormal events changed everything for them, to see the sweetness and innocence of little Carol Anne before she was spirited away to the Other Side.

What was interesting in terms of the story is that they waited until nearly halfway through the movie to introduce a major influencer in the story: the riveting Tangina, a talented clairvoyant brought in by the paranormal investigative team who are helping the Freelings get to the bottom of their terrifying problems.

Click for Tangina's captivating monologue.

She's the very definition of small but mighty, showing courage in the face of what is, quite literally, all Hell breaking loose.

What floors me is that I now work for the guy who worked on the visual effects for this film.

This film, which is a large part of why I love horror and haunting!

Life is a funny old thing, isn't it?


Be sure to take time to watch Poltergeist this month, to set the creepy mood for you and a few of your closest friends!

All-Seeing Eye

This reminds me so much of Stranger Things.

Artist unknown.

Chateau D'Amour

Artist unknown.

Abandoned in Detroit

It looks like it's going to crumble in on itself at any moment. It must have been gorgeous in its heyday.

Found on Reddit.

The BEST Halloween Playlist!

Click on the picture of my handmade jack-o'-lanterns for a marvelous Hallowe'en playlist, filled with spooky nostalgia!

New York Hallowe'en

Looks like New York may just do a thing or two for Hallowe'en!

I'll have to add it to the bucket list East Coast Haunt Tour, when that happens!

In Our Haunted House

Click on the pic for one of my favorite goofy Halloween tunes!