By Beyond the Ghost. This track is more like a film score. Looking forward to the album release on April 5th.
Click below...
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Red
And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.
PlaidStallions: Halloween Masks And Costumes
These pages bring back a ton of memories. More like window shopping back then, as I never ordered a single mask. I love how some of them look to be disposable after one wear (I'm talking to you, Batman).
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Vintage Halloween In New Jersey
Lots of cool vintage Halloween photos at the below link. The kid dressed as Superman is hilarious. A little Ham of a kid, as he pretends to be Superman when he spots someone taking a photo (I have some nerve calling any kid a Ham). Or maybe he just walked around the entire time with his flying arm pointed up in the air (which still makes him a Ham kid).
Click below...
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Too Soon: The Tylenol Pill Man
Tamper-resistant packaging on modern medicine directly results from one incident, which terrified the nation, baffled law enforcement, and threatened the country’s supply of food and drugs: the Tylenol poisonings. In 1982, a still-unknown assailant spiked Tylenol capsules with deadly cyanide, leading to the deaths of several people in the Chicago area and launching one of the most significant law enforcement investigations in modern history. A man named James William Lewis was convicted of extortion for mailing a ransom letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding money for an end to the poisonings, and although he couldn’t be pinned to the actual act, many of the lead investigators still believe he was the perpetrator.
The first death occurred on September 29th. And there truly was a nation-wide panic. It was constantly on the news and it was all anyone was talking about. It was so horrid that I am still amazed that Tylenol never rebranded.
So Halloween rolls around and I have a memory of being in the house and getting ready to head out with my brother and my friends to trick-or-treat when a group of people came up to our house for candy. ONE GUY IS DRESSED AS A GIANT TYLENOL PILL. And he appeared to be the size of an adult, so it was a HUGE red and white pill. It must have been made from a large cardboard tube with a paper mâché rounded top to make it look like the end of a capsule. The eye hole was a six inch rectangular slit. I have no memory of arm holes or arms hanging out of this, but there must have been, right?
I recall being very confused. The deaths had occurred only a month prior. And I guess that was my first exposure to bad-timing and poor taste (a skill I'd develop and master later in life). I wonder who he was. Was he a neighbor? Or some tall high school kid who thought he was funny? Or maybe someone who likes to mock Death and tell it to screw off and leave us alone? I dunno. Hoping it's the latter.
Click below for an interesting article about other unsolved mysteries...
Exploring An Abandoned Funeral Home
Pretty neat video below of two people checking out the very-stocked property of an abandoned funeral home. Hi Res too, so it felt like I was watching a modern found-footage horror film, where nothing happens.
Click below...
Believe It Or Not
This was a regular viewing at my house growing up. You WAITED for the moment Jack Palance said "Believe it or Not" at the end of every segment. But you didn't want him to rush it, and I have a feeling he knew that. You'll see what I mean.
Click below...
Monday, March 28, 2022
Now Playing: I Robot
By The Alan Parsons Project.
This song is more of a Friday song, but I'm currently wishing it were Friday so...
Click the robot (available at Walmart.com)...
But The Water Pressure Is Great
In use, the cleaver is swung like a meat tenderizer or hammer – the knife's design relies on sheer momentum to cut efficiently; to chop straight through rather than slicing in a sawing motion. Part of the momentum derives from how hard the user swings the cleaver, and the other part from how heavy the cleaver is. Because of this, the edge of a meat cleaver does not need to be particularly sharp – in fact, a knife-sharp edge on a cleaver is undesirable.
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Now Playing: Pre-Launch Deep Space Mission Brief Ft. In Quantum
By Ruptured World, a personal favorite.
Click below...
Hallmark's Howl-O-Ween Sounds (1987)
Remember card stores? I mean, I know they're still out there, but they seemed to be everywhere back in the 80s. One in every strip mall. These places were gold mines for Halloween decorations and an assortment of spooky sound effects tapes. I remember buying a roll of orange Halloween crepe paper once just because I thought it was neat. Never opened it. Those shops were probably the prelude to how so many of us Halloween folk love to go Halloween shopping in all the big stores come the season. As I can recall having that same feeling of looking around and then spotting the bright orange colors of paper decorations and darting off in that direction.
The audio cassettes were usually up near the register, and they rarely offered clues as to what you would be hearing on them. Though they were priced perfectly for the risk of not knowing. And they never disappointed.
My friend Wren sent me the below and it was an odd experience listening to it, as I was familiar with each segment as though I had listened to this exact tape back in the late 80s over and over again. I knew what was coming up next, having not heard a single second of this SINCE the 80s. I find that a little peculiar.
Click below for Hallmark's love letter to Old School Halloween. Thanks, Wren, for the nostalgia. And for helping me realize I had issues.
Of The Hollow
Another of his sources of fearful pleasure was to pass long winter evenings with the old Dutch wives, as they sat spinning by the fire, with a row of apples roasting and spluttering along the hearth, and listen to their marvellous tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted fields, and haunted brooks, and haunted bridges, and haunted benches. (I took some liberties here.)
Image by Willowcottage Photography.
Saturday, March 26, 2022
8mm Halloween
Found a gem. Wonderful silent 8mm movies from someone who adored Halloween. The home haunt is pretty impressive. But do me a favor (if you're viewing on a laptop)... before you click on the image below to launch the short video, click on the link right above it to get some music going to accompany your viewing. It's a fun remix of an old classic by Artie Shaw that I've always loved.
Then click below to launch the home movies...
Exponential
Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills! The people it kills get up and kill!
Dr. Foster, Dawn of the Dead, 1978
Friday, March 25, 2022
Now Playing: Ngc224
BIG fan of Cosmic Ground. This recent release has one track from every album, but each has been remixed and updated for 2022. I love it.
Click below for the first track on the album. A superb eighteen-minute track.
The Revenge Of Scar Stuff
One of the earliest Halloween-flavored blogs I recall finding was Scar Stuff [make horrid scars and gashes]. The best name ever and some really genuine and nostalgic content. He didn't post much, but just one of his posts was worth fifteen of mine. Then he just disappeared one day in 2014.
A few days ago, my friend Wren asked "Why didn't you tell me about this?!" and it was a link to recent activity by Jason from Scar Stuff. It was just one post, made in September of 2021. But it was loaded. And it made me pray that he was back for good. Here's hoping he's working on another blog post which will post soon.
Blogs are a dying art form. So out of fashion. So non-social-media. But they're important archives (I think). Easy to search and wonderful in which to get lost. I love curating material for my weird Halloween archive and database. And it's nice to be back, by the way. Over thirteen thousand posts and over fifty thousand comments. And, get this, over six million views since the beginning. I plan to be around until Blogger gives up the ghost or a solar flare fries our grids.
Click below for the Scar Stuff blog. And I encourage you to read every post, and click every link, and watch every video. The catnip video alone restored me to health after a rough week at work.
That New SCREAM Movie
I was pleasantly surprised with the latest Scream film. After being burned by the recent Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, I was expecting the worst. I was SO glad I was wrong about that. Smart, fun, and delightfully meta, I was on board right up until the end credits. The intro scene below is a great example of what I'm talking about. If you like this, you'll dig the entire thing. I found the mention of some recent modern horror films to be a gas.
Click below for a HD scene from the intro. It gets REALLY violent, and has some NSFW language.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Now Watching: Dune - End Credits
I must confess to being one of those people who run out of a theater the SECOND the film ends. So the modern trend of putting in an after-credits scene is ludicrous to a person like me (meanwhile I barely go to the theater).
But the below is a perfect example of how to force your audience to sit there. As I recall seeing this in the theater back in 1984...and I sat there. And probably waited to see if anything awaited at the end of the credits crawl (it didn't).
Click below...
Keep Off The Moors
This movie is a classic for a reason. Click below for a great scene (some language and definitely some violence). Incidentally, the first howl they hear on the moors is identical to a howl from a neighborhood dog (assumption). When I hear it at night on a walk, I always say "Aw, shit, David. What IS that?" to no one.
Click below...
EXCLUSIVE!!!
Kidding.
But I'm on board with Nicolas Cage playing Dracula in the upcoming film Renfield.
Click below...
Pennsylvania Dutch Halloween Scherenschnitte
Scherenschnitte, which means "scissor cuts" in German, is the art of paper cutting design. The artwork often has rotational symmetry within the design, and common forms include silhouettes, valentines, and love letters. The art tradition was founded in Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century and was brought to Colonial America in the 18th century by Swiss and German immigrants who settled primarily in Pennsylvania.
My good friend Wren recommended a neat book by Peter V. Fritsch. I had never heard of Scherenschnitte before, but I know I love Dutch folk art (especially hex signs), and when she sent me some images from the book, I couldn't order it quickly enough.
Here are some images and poetry...
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Thanks, Wren!
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