From Zombos Closet

My Halloween: The Moon Is a Dead World

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Ryne cookies Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o’Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds…in between mouthfuls of candy corn…with Ryne who beams some Halloween rays from The Moon Is a Dead World to light up the night…

 

Why is Halloween important to you?

I can’t remember when Halloween first became a staple of my life. Each Halloween in my younger years gets jumbled together into one big happy, spooky memory. I think, strangely enough, my love of Halloween began when I was eight or nine years old. My family was eating dinner in the living room on Halloween night when trick-or-treaters showed up at 5 o’clock! Trick-or-treating wasn’t supposed to start until 7, and it was a surprise to us that anyone would begin so  early. For some reason, this memory sticks with me as the biggest reason of why I love Halloween so much. Maybe it was the fact that I was with my family on that fateful Halloween, or maybe it was the enthusiasm of the trick-or-treaters that visited so early. Either way, Halloween became one of my favorite times of year, and it still holds that magical feeling from when I was a kid.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

I prefer my Halloween spooky rather than playful, so the trick-or-treaters in my ideal Halloween would have to be decked out in scary apparel – no princesses or pirates allowed! Also, you know that scene in Trick ‘r Treat where Anna Paquin walks down a forested path decorated on either side by jack-o-lanterns? That would be included as well, because the whole town gets caught up in the festivities.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

This is a little embarrassing, but I really enjoy the old McDonald’s Halloween Happy Meal toys they gave out in the ’90s – the ones that feature the Hamburgler, Grimace, and Ronald McDonald, where their costumes can be interchanged. It’s a nostalgic thing for me, I guess, because it reminds me of my childhood. We’ve had them for years, and still never hesitate to put them around the house each Halloween.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

My very first Halloween…like I said, my past Halloweens are all a jumble of memories, but I think I had to have been 4 or 5. I was Frankenstein, and I had a fuzzy, puffy Frankenstein mask and clogs to make me taller. We put something on my neck to look like bolts, although I can’t remember what we used.

What’s the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what’s your answer?

Q: Trick, or treat?

A: TRICK! For me, it’s never about the candy!

My Halloween: Fascination With Fear

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ChrisblueFive questions asked over a glowing Jack o’Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds…in between mouthfuls of candy corn…with Christine of Fascination With Fear who tells us what else holds her fascination…

Why is Halloween important to you?

Halloween is my favorite day of the year.  Has been since I was small enough to know what a favorite is.  It’s rather funny to think I love the holiday so much when I’m not really a big fan of kids (that alone should get me burned at the stake).  But it is such a fabulous time of the year.  In addition, October is my favorite month, and it’s just capped off by the holiday.  Over the years, I’ve always tried to take off work on October 31st, and sometimes November 1st as well – as the horror movies run late into the night.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

Well I might piss the parents off here, but I don’t have kids – so my Halloween is sans children.  Though I can very much appreciate kids in their costumes wandering aimlessly around my small town – I remember when I was a kid how much it meant to me.   But my perfect Halloween would consist of driving up to our cabin in the woods about an hour north of home (the one we lovingly dubbed the Evil Dead cabin, due to its similar look).  We’d have to take along our jack-o-lantern, cause that’s only right.  I’d sit outside and read in the crisp fall air so I could smell the dead leaves and feel the last of the autumn sunshine, then I’d have the hubby start a campfire and we’d hang out around that toasting up some marshmallows and such.  Then of course, it would be horror movie central for the rest of the evening, capped off by a trip to the outhouse in the dead of night right at the edge of the (Blair Witch) woods.

Punkinhead What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

My movie (DVD/VHS) collection would have to be my biggest horror/Halloween collection, but I do have a ton of Halloween decor. As I get older I cringe at the thought of putting it all away in November, so I haven’t been putting out quite as much. But I love antique looking Halloween collectibles – things that look decades old. Oh, and I collect witches.  Lots of them.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

I grew up in western Pennsylvania, so sometimes it can actually snow around Halloween. I recall one year when I was quite young and wanting to be a veterinarian for Halloween (you know, scrubs and a stuffed dog -real inspired), but it turned out to be like, thirty degrees outside. Hence, my hunter costume. Yep, camo and a shotgun.  Unloaded of course, but this was back in the day when a seven year old could tote a gun around town without getting thrown in juvie. Oh well, that big coat held a lot of extra candy.

What’s the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what’s your answer?

Q: Why doesn’t my town hold Trick-or-Treat AT NIGHT???

A: I’ve been asking myself that question for over thirty years.  Runs in my mind when I was small, we trick-or-treated at night.  Folks with the porch light on were handing out candy, if the house was dark you steered clear (or threw corn at it later on). Later in my teens, my town changed it to daylight only. From around noon till 4pm. And no, my town is not full of crime.  At all.  There is no real reason why kids can’t trick-or-treat at night here.  It makes me so mad when I think about it, them taking away our fun and making kids even more afraid of the dark than usual.

My Halloween: Freddy In Space

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Freddyinspace Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o’Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds…in between mouthfuls of candy corn…Johnny Boots of Freddy In Space has this thing for Freddy and Halloween. Is it just me, or do you think this photo is as creepy as all Hell, too?

 

Why is Halloween important to you?

Because it’s the one time of the year where everyone embraces the things that I embrace all year round and I love to see that. Stores I would otherwise never step foot in are loaded with cool stuff that’s right up my alley, both new and old horror films hit DVD and the theatres left and right, and pop up all over television networks that normally show no love for the genre. People decorate their homes the way I decorate mine all year long – it’s as if all is right with the world for a month or so out of the year.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

As much as one might expect that I go all out on Halloween and do all kinds of wild things to celebrate my favorite day of the year, my ideal way to spend the day is with my girlfriend, some pumpkin beer, a handful of horror flicks, and a bunch of candy to hand out to trick or treaters – and of course to feast on. That’s all I need to have a great Halloween. I remember how thrilling it was when I was a kid to be given a big size candy bar or an extra little special treat in my bucket, and I love to give those little thrills to the new kids in town. It’s for this reason that I try to stay home during the day and night of Halloween and always feel like I missed out when I end up going out for the night.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

While I cherish each and every one of my Halloween collectibles – which my dad and I have amassed a ton of and proudly display most throughout the entire year – i’ve gotta say I really have a love for this weird squishy pumpkinheaded dude that my family has had since as far back as I can remember. He always puts a smile on my face when I pluck his tattered ass out of a bucket come mid September and just the sight of him really gets me in the spirit.  Unfortunately that’s a sight that I at the moment cannot share because I can’t seem to find him!

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

The earliest Halloween memories I can remember were at my elementary school. We would have a parade every year where we all dressed up and walked around the gym or parking lot, depending on the weather. I remember loving that and cherishing the difference of it from normal day to day school life. Not a very exciting answer, but that’s the first I can remember experiencing Halloween.

Freddyinspace2

What’s the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what’s your answer?

I guess i’d like to be asked what I am doing for Halloween this year. Reason being, this will be the very first Halloween my girlfriend and I spend in our very own place. I absolutely cannot wait to decorate the place and to hand out candy to our own batch of trick or treaters. At the same time it’s bittersweet because not only will I for the first time not spend the day in my childhood home, but my dog – who passed away late last year – won’t be there to notify me when the kids are headed towards the front door.  She always bothered the living hell out of me on Halloween, but i’m definitely gonna miss that incessant barking now that she’s gone.

Things will be different, but i’m highy looking forward to what seems like it’ll be my first ‘grown up’ Halloween experience.  Rest assured though, come October 31st, I will still be as giddy and excited as the kids who come to my door looking for candy – this is something that I hope never changes.

My Halloween: The Halloween Blues

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Sad pumpkin Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o’Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds…in between mouthfuls of candy corn…Sam Hain of The Halloween Blues let’s it all hang out.

 

Why is Halloween Important to You?

Because it’s one of the few holidays where it’s okay for me to be a total a-hole to the people I love. I can also jump out of the bushes and scare little children without worrying about the cops arresting me.

Describe Your Ideal Halloween.

Honestly, I have no ideal Halloween. There is no one way in particular that Halloween is perfect to me.  Every Halloween is different. When I start the day I never quite know how it’s going to end and that’s the way I like it. Halloween should be more than just a planned series of events, it should be an adventure.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

I don’t have many relics of Halloween past, but there’s this one mask that I’ve kept for a few years now that I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of.  Which is funny considering I bought it at the Dollar Store. I used it to scare the hell out of a bunch of my students for Halloween and they absolutely loved it. Now I use it mostly to scare family members and on occasion, my dog.  It has a lot of sentimental value, so I don’t see myself ever getting rid of it. One day I want to scare my grandchildren with it.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

I have terrible memory, so this question is super hard. I think the earliest Halloween I remember was when I was like in 3rd or 4th grade. Yeah, that’s how bad my memory is. That year my school was sponsoring a maze in their parking lot that featured blood and gore! The 90s were so awesome, people weren’t as PC back then. The most significant thing I remember from that year is that I wore some fake blood around my mouth and some of it got inside, so I was tasting it the whole night. In fact, I can still taste it till this day, which is why I’ve never worn fake blood since.

What’s the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what’s your answer?

Q: Who is the Pumpkin King?

A: That’s a good question…

My Halloween: Halloween Overkill

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1 Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o’Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds…in between mouthfuls of candy corn…Halloween Man666 of Halloween Overkill keeps asking the questions “Can you really have Halloween overkill? Can you ever have too much of that October 31st  rush of candy, costumes, and creepy fun?” And he always comes up with the same answer: Hell No!

 

Why is Halloween important to you?

I think the thing that makes Halloween so important to me today is because of the memories I have of Halloweens long past and the feelings of past Halloweens that it invokes. The Halloween nights growing up where I was Dracula, and a ninja turtle, and the devil, and even a clown are all nights that I can still remember to this day. The smell of grease paint and scorched pumpkin guts. The smell of pumpkin seeds roasting in the oven and that smell of the plastic insides of those masks we used to wear.  Even that odd scent of burning fog machine liquid are all sensations I can actually smell right now if I try hard enough. I have these vague memories of it always being slightly rainy on Halloween growing up and now it just seems to be ice cold up in Michigan where I travel to be with my parents every Halloween. So mostly I think it is just reliving and remembering those memories of old Halloween’s and my youth that makes Halloween so special to me.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

My ideal Halloween would be waking on a warm autumn Saturday Halloween to the smell of doughnuts from Blake’s Apple Orchard and the scent of cider coming from the kitchen at my parents’ house. My wife and I would finish setting up the front yard haunt that we do every year at my parents’ house. A few people would show up for a small Halloween party and after it gets slightly dark outside we would kick it into high gear with the theatrics and fog machines and makeup and masks. The yard haunt would run for a few hours during which a few more close family members and friends would all show up to celebrate and watch the madness unfold on the front lawn.  After the actual trick or treating is done we might pile into the car, speeding away from the city lights into the eerie darkness of the farm countryside to enjoy a professional haunted house and hayride. When all that is done we would all come home to a nice warm pizza, a few gallons of pop and a few pounds of candy. We would relax watching all of our favorite Halloween classics on the t.v. We would all stay up past midnight (I haven’t missed a Halloween midnight since I was about 5 years old). Then we would all wind down and say goodnight as everybody heads home.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

The Halloween collectibles I cherish are the ones from my youth. The ’70s and ’80s Halloween decorations are the best, and I consider them collectibles. Aside from that I have many different little Halloween trinkets I’ve collected over the years which I hold very dear to my heart. The Halloween collectibles I hate are some of the more modern ones that are too cutesy (such as the bejeweled skulls) for the holiday, although there have been a few modern collectibles here and there that I would proudly add to my collection. I’d have to say one of my all-time favorite Halloween collectibles was actually featured right here on Zombos Closet: the Halloween Haunted House Nite-Lite.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

I think the first time I knew that Halloween was “THE day” was the year I was dressed up as Dracula. I can still remember my parents helping me put the makeup on and helping out with the costume and the accessories. To this day I don’t know how, but I can replay most of the night in my head as if it had just happened yesterday.

Here is one of my most cherished pictures of me on that night (photo top right). That is my dad behind me in the chair and I don’t know what it is about the picture but as an adult it just tugs at my heart strings to see myself as a little Dracula boy and my dad behind me growling and showing off his “Vampiric” side as well. I often credit my parents as being the ones who I can blame for my Halloween and horror obsession and this picture reminds me of that.

2What’s the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what’s your answer?

Q: Hi Jason, would you like to come work for our Halloween mask/decorations/haunted house/design/screenwriting company?

A: Hell yes I would!

By the way that’s my wife and I (photo right). Trick or Treat!