From Zombos' Closet

Halloween Rattlin' Shakin' Candy Coffin

This is actually quite creepy-cool: you pull on the skeleton's foot dangling out of the coffin and he shakes, rattles, and rolls like an Elvis Impersonator. The spider and web graphic on the coffin lid is a wonderful touch.

My Halloween: Halloween Addict

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with Allhollow Steve of Halloween Addict who keeps his October Dreams in mind all through the year...

 

Why is Halloween important to you?

I think it's one of the few holidays that is really about fun. It hasn't been clouded by set-in-stone tradition, family politics, overcrowded holiday travel, gift buying stress, etc.  It's about the thrill of being out at night, getting free candy and treasures, dressing up in costumes, watching scary movies.

You can celebrate Halloween however you want: with loved ones indoors, traipsing through a corn maze at night, by the warm glowing warming glow of a television horror marathon, handing candy out to kids and families at your door, building a yard display for the community to walk by and see.  So many different things, and it's all about fun.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

My ideal Halloween would be waking up with a balanced Halloween breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and a bowl of a General Mills Monster Cereal. Then I'd be out the door embracing the crisp Fall day and off to the local pumpkin patch for pumpkin scrutinizing and picking. From there I'd head back home to read a little from my favorite Halloween tome "October Dreams" while sipping a pumpkin spice latte. With AMC's FearFest on, I'd spruce up my house with any last minute decorations and carve my jack o' lantern before the trick or treaters start showing up (I'll be the cool house giving out mini Jones Halloween sodas and full sized candy).  When the doorbell stops ringing I'll switch over to my annual tradition of watching Trick 'r Treat with the lights off. I'd close the evening with John Carpenter's Halloween.  Once the clock 'ticks to 12:01am on November 1st the magic of the night dissipates...

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

As a kid, I had a 55" classic Beistle jointed green-tinged skeleton that hung on my bedroom door every October.  I loved that thing.  When the skeleton got hung up I knew that candy wasn't far behind. As for collectibles/decorations I don't like, I'm not a huge fan of vintage Halloween collectibles. I think it comes down to the fact that I don't like googly-eyed jack o' lanterns. I like a traditional jack o' lantern with empty triangle eyes. There's something both friendly and sinister about that traditional look.

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

I can't quite remember my very first.  I know that one of my very first costumes was a Collegeville "Tiger" but the one I really look fondly on was when I was in Elementary School and asked for and received a Ben Cooper "Darth Vader" costume.  My mom had this black velvet cape from a Halloween party she and my dad had gone to a few years before and I swapped the crappy, short vinyl cape that came with the boxed costume with the huge, black velvet one.

I wore it to school for the October "costume day" (when the teachers parade the classes around to each other's classrooms). In my mind I WAS Darth Vader. There was no more authentic looking Vader in that parade.  Didn't matter that I was still wearing the bright yellow vinyl suit part that said "DARTH VADER" across the chest, or that the cape was red on the inside (clearly more Dracula than Vader), OR that I was only 3 1/2 feet tall and not a 6' 5" David Prowse, OR that the mask had a rubber band holding it to my head.  Didn't matter.  I was rockin' that Vader costume.  Even had the "Imperial March" tune stuck in my head as I tromped around.  I couldn't have been happier.

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

Clever answer:

Question: Do you want to see something really scary?

Answer:  [attacking] Raawwwwwwwwr!

Straight answer:

Question: Would you like to make enough money doing HalloweenAddict.com to quit your day job and live comfortably?

Answer: Yes. Yes I would.

My Halloween: My Ghoul Friday

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with My Ghoul Friday who's the kind of girl you want to have around every day of the week, but especially on Halloween...

Why is Halloween important to you?

Halloween is the one season of the year when the general public gets on the same page as they engage in play, and they see beauty in the dark.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

That's really tough. My ideal Halloween might be a bright, crisp, but not too cold day that started with pumpkin flavoured coffee before heading to a pumpkin patch that had different types and colours of pumpkins and gourds. After choosing a wheelbarrow full of goodies, and maybe consuming some hot apple cider, I would make my way to a place in the country - maybe a cottage - where I and my closest friends (Oooo and let's throw in a number of fellow haunters I've always wanted to meet) would spend the afternoon adding the final touches to decorations (would be nice if there was a barn available). There would be cooking over a fire and music as we got closer to evening. And the night would be capped off with some excellent horror movies and perhaps a few games. I suppose that's a bit boring. Even if we added attending a Halloween fair or parade in the afternoon, my ideal Halloween doesn't get very fancy.

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

I have a plastic vintage black cat & pumpkin lamp I found at a second hand store for a dollar. It sits in my office year-round.

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

If you've ever gone to my "About Me" page, you've read the story. It started when my parents let me spray paint a tombstone on the concrete wall of our basement for my Grade 4 Halloween party.

It was my first real Halloween party, and I wanted it to be great. I constructed a haunted house the length of the basement and led people through dangling, slimy snakes hanging from the ceiling - just one example of the many forms and obstacles waiting for them in the shadow. I hadn't gotten over my fear of the dark, and I was deathly afraid of being in the basement alone (never mind with the lights off), but to make sure I could see well enough to safely guide each guest one by one through the haunted space, I sat alone in the pitch black basement for 20 minutes before the party goers even started to arrive.

That's when she was born, the little ghoul in the basement. Since then, she has come back to me every year, usually in late summer, ready to build creatures for Halloween. Sure, she's there throughout the other months, peeking through my eyes at the newest horror film being released, or tickling my neck so I turn to see the brochure for the Festival of Fear coming to the city.

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

Q: Can we, the general public, help you with time and donations to make your ideal Halloween come true?

A: And my answer is yes ;)

Halloween Howlin' Heads Light-Ups Pumpkin and Hooded Skull

Press the buttons on these Bowtie Pumpkin and Hooded Skull Howlin' Heads and their eyes light up while spooky sounds scare away the vampires while you eat the candy. I like candy treats that entertain you while you eat.

My Halloween: The Moon Is a Dead World

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!

Halloween 2010: Skull-Top Potion Bottles

Picked up this trio of small ceramic skull-top potion bottles at Marshalls...

My Halloween: Fascination With Fear

Five 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.

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.

Halloween Wolf Man Teeth

These teeth aren't as formidable looking as the Wolf Teeth appliance. They're more for nibbling rather than biting out chunks of flesh...

My Halloween: Spooky Little Girl

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with Zombie Ballerina dancing at Spooky Little Girl all Halloween Night long...

Why is Halloween important to you?

Halloween is, needless to say, my favorite time of year. It has an air of mystery and magic about it, and no matter how old I get, that magic never quite fades. I think Halloween gives people a great opportunity to have a little fun with "the dark side," something that is ignored or abhorred all too often throughout the rest of the year. During the entire month of October, there are things that appeal directly to my interests everywhere I look; even a mundane trip to the drugstore can be fun. TV programming is just a little bit better, there are haunted houses and horror movie revival screenings everywhere, and finally - finally! - it feels like everyone is on the same page as me.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

I would love to throw an amazing Halloween party in a quintessentially spooky old mansion. (Think 1313 Mockingbird Lane, or Hill House.) Someplace vast and eerie and unsettling. Themed food, including an array of pumpkin-based dishes, both savory and sweet. No one is admitted without a scary costume; no joke costumes or T-shirts that say "THIS IS MY COSTUME" allowed.

Ideally, during the course of the evening, myself and my partygoers would somehow manage to raise the dead, who would emerge from the backyard cemetery to perform an elaborately choreographed creepy dance, a la Thriller.

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

My boyfriend and I have a small but much loved collection of Spooky Town houses and similar Halloween figurines, which we display year round. I also have a soft spot in my heart for old school paper decorations - cutouts of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, etc., the likes of which you can buy at any party supply store for like 50 cents.

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

I think I was around 3 or 4 years old. I remember piles of dead leaves and cheap black capes and crying when I saw how ugly I looked in my witch costume, with my carefully applied green makeup and spirit gum wart (courtesy of my mom). I remember trick-or-treating shyly and feeling intimidated by the older kids and their rambunctiousness, but I also remember feeling excited and intensely curious about what was going on.

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

Q: What is your favorite Halloween-appropriate song?

And the answer is a tie: "Spooky" by the Classics IV (of course!) and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult.

Halloween Werewolf Teeth

Great artwork on the card and big chompers to put the bite on Halloween...

Halloween Monster Teeth

And the best part is one size fits all...plus being non-toxic is a plus.

Halloween Ghostly Ghouls Door Poster And Frankenstein Face

These Happy Halloween door decorations set the mood rather well, don't you think?

 

My Halloween: Freddy In Space

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.

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

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...

Halloween Flying Witch and Happy Skeletons Paper Decorations

Halloween paper and diecut decorations are not in vogue these days. That's a shame. The earlier decorations have a wonderful sense of playfulness and macabre mixed into their bold colors.