Happy Hallowe'en!

A few images from Halloweens past, plus an idea for a project for next year...

It was bucketing rain here yesterday, promise of rain tonight, so fingers crossed it all just blows by or holds off until late!

Have a wonderful Hallowe'en y'all! Happy New Year!

Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe

It's been a bit over 165 years since one of America's great writers passed, but we still talk about him. We still quote him. We are still fascinated by the darkness he explored and brought to light in haunting poems and unsettling stories.

Edgar Allan Poe. 

His work goes beautifully with this time of the year. This time, when the year is slowly dying and we hear the bones clacking in the windswept trees and the leaves scuttling down the street.

And we can hear those works read by greats like Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone!

Click here to start listening on Spotify.

Hallowe'en: Keep it in the Family

A yearly shoot, with husband and daughter as the eerie subjects.

A wonderful way to document the passing of years.

You can read the Upworthy article about this unique photo shoot here.

 See more of the annual Hallowe'en photo shoot here.

Other photos by the very talented mom, Julie Paveto, here.

Waiting...

Just waiting around for Halloween.

Image by Davide Gabino.

October 2017 Haunted Shenanigans Tour?

Click on the pic for a fun commercial about Sleepy Hollow's activities.

I've been chatting with Mr. ShellHawk about next year's October activities. I've wanted to do an "East Coast Halloween Tour" for awhile, since there are so many events, people and haunts I'd like to visit.

I'd like to start in Sleepy Hollow, New York, for the Great Jack-o'-lantern Blaze and various other events. I love historical tours, so of course, that would have to be on the list. The performance of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a no-brainer, too!

Maybe after that, we'd catch a plane to Nantucket and take the ferry to visit The Village Mire and Chris Baker. Have a couple of beahs in the yahd while he shows off his props.

After that, a quick trip up to see Haunted Overload. I've wanted to see this forever! It's always rated one of the top five haunted attractions in the nation.

On to Philadelphia, for the Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride and a tour of the city. Maybe Johnny Thunder will have some time to get together between scaring folks at the Bates!

There could be other things, but I think that's a good place to start!

Any of you East Coasters have suggestions as to what to see?

Halloween 2000s

Comics by Dave Lowe. More Halloween-related comics at Para Abnormal.

The Little Man Who Wasn't There

Click on the pic for a vintage offering from Red Novo and his Orchestra.

I remember reading a reference to this song in one of Stephen King's books (The Shining, maybe? Can't recall...), then I ran across it while I was researching for one of my Charmed Pot episodes.

Pretty creepy, in spite of its danceable, upbeat sound...

By the way, if anyone knows who originated the Whisper Men graphic, above, please let me know so I can give credit!

Open House Time!

Another year has whizzed by since my last open house, and I really just can't believe it! This is traditionally my last in-person sale of the year, and I know that this year, after this one, it will be time to catch up on long overdue commissions (still!) and start planning and designing for next year.

A couple of the folks from my hood came over to help me set up, which allowed me to get to bed at a decent hour!

After tonight's open house, whatever is left will get put into the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy shop.

  

See you soon, gang!

Hauntcast - Undead!

Hauntcast: Undead is a new addition to the Hauntcast family, and will be lurching your way monthly!

Live interviews, prop shops and other nefarious goings-on will be available with a subscription to Hauntcast. The newest podcasts are always free, but you get access to so much more content with a subscription!

And don't forget the latest offering for Hallowe'en fanatics: Haunt Club!

Haunt Club is a gathering of Hallowe'en lovers to swap ideas, share prop tips and so much more.

"Haunt Club delivers value via Halloween media and Haunt related services across multiple websites and in all mediums from one centralized place. We provide technology that is vital for Haunters to inspire learning, creativity and sharing via web, native IOS & Android app, mobile, video, and chat. Our goal is to bring unity to the greater Halloween community and provide access to the most talented Haunters and the greatest Halloween minds."

Shamble over to the site now and browse around! You'll be glad you gave yourself these Hallowe'en treats!

This just in:

The Theater of the Mind video pilot episode is available! Yes, Theater of the mind can now be seen and heard!

Although Revenant does have a face for radio, so be warned...

Final Details

If you're one of those crazy people like me, who loves to put detail into every little thing in your Halloween decorations, you might think about putting a small cabinet of curiosities together, or perhaps just a little apothecary display in a handy front window.

I did this a few years back and threw in a Madame Leota effect, and it turned out pretty well!

What you need to do is either cruise through your local second-hand store or just save bottles and jars of different shapes and sizes that you were going to throw out, anyway. Fill up your sink or a bucket and put your bottles and jars in there to soak the labels off completely. After a few hours, most of them will just separate easily from the glass.

If you're handy with Photoshop, you can create your own labels. But if you're like me, the person who keeps saying you're going to learn Photoshop, but somehow never gets around to it, you can search around for cool labels to download. There are plenty of creepy labels available on Etsy, but you can also find free downloads, like this one, from Catch My Party.

At this point, all you really need is a pair of scissors and a glue stick, and you're in business! Fill up the bottles with tonic water and position a black light where it can't be seen, but it will shine down on the bottles, and you've got spooky, glowing bottles! (Tonic water is black light reactive.)

If you're really ambitious, throw on a pair of disposable gloves and take apart some fresh highlighter pens of different colors. Take the ink cartridge and squeeze it into the tonic water for different colored "potions." Throw in some plastic eyeballs, spiders, or whatever you want, to give yourself some variation in your contents. You can even drip some wax on the lids, or use a glue gun to glue down some sisal twine and then drip wax on it for a real, homemade look.

Most of all, just have fun with it, and let your imagination roam!

Happy making!