Chit-Chat

ChatGPT uses advanced natural language processing (NLP) to understand and respond to user input. It can be used for a wide range of tasks, including answering questions, summarizing information, writing articles, generating code, and even composing creative pieces like poems or scripts. 

How it works:

ChatGPT is trained on a massive dataset of text from the internet, allowing it to learn patterns and generate coherent and relevant responses. It essentially predicts the next word in a sequence, based on the previous words and the overall context. 

This technology will soon make you unemployed and intensely miserable (I made that part up).

This might seem self-serving, but I promise that my brother texted me out of the blue saying he asked ChatGPT about my work.  It was unsolicited (I swear), as I feel like simply asking A.I. about me is ultimately going to lead to it ripping me off, and to the aforementioned misery.  

But when asked, it responded with the below:

Pumpkinrot’s style can best be described as handcrafted folk horror meets Halloween art installation. His work blends rustic, decayed materials—like sticks, burlap, and natural fibers—with hauntingly atmospheric lighting and design. The result is a deeply eerie, otherworldly aesthetic rooted in:

Folk horror: Inspired by rural superstitions, scarecrows, and pagan-like effigies.

Organic textures: Emphasizes weathered, rotting, and natural elements.

Silent storytelling: His props often feel like they’re part of an ancient ritual or lost myth, evoking narrative without words.

Muted, earthy palette: Dominated by browns, grays, and sickly yellows, with flickers of candlelight or eerie glows.

Minimal but powerful movement: Many of his pieces are static but posed in ways that suggest life or presence.

Overall, his work feels like unearthed relics from forgotten autumnal folklore—evocative, unsettling, and deeply immersive.

I was really creeped out at first.  But then I figured that write up would look nice on a tombstone... I definitely appreciated that it formulated that description based on stuff it found online.  But it still feels icky.

Then I envisioned a future where home haunters begin generating A.I. haunt photos of nonexistent Halloween displays.  A future where it becomes impossible to determine what's real and what's not.  As someone who receives messages on Instagram asking me if my photos are A.I., I dread a future where no one can tell the difference.  And I'm thinking that future isn't all that far away.  

Witch

Now Playing: Moonlit Waters

By Nocmar.

Click below...

Or click here for youtube.

Haunting.net

Many more images here.

Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders

Watched this unsettling documentary tonight and it reminded me of this old blog post about the time I saw a guy, RIGHT after the murders occurred, dressed as a Tylenol pill on Halloween night, back in 1982.  After all these years, I still can't believe he did it.  

The documentary is pretty chilling.

Click below...

Now Playing: Superstition

A really cool cover of a great Stevie Wonder song.

By R. Missing.

Click below…

Or click here for youtube.

Trailer: Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein

This one feels very promising.

Click below...

Now Playing: Echo//Radiate

By Superposition.

Click below...

Or click here for youtube.

Haunted Logan Mansion

So many wonderful images.

More photos here.

Basement Black & White

More From The Haunt Next Door

Love this IG account, documenting various home haunts from different areas and towns.

Click here to see a ton more.

Now Playing: Arrival

By Gdanian.

Click below...

Or click here for youtube.

Image source.

Suburban Horror Show

Man, this photo really captures the oddity that is home haunting...  A small dark wonderful world surrounded by a big world of boring life stuff.

Image by Mike Procario.

Bojo's "Ghost Town" Bonus Spooky Mix

BoJo's first BONUS mix released halfway to Halloween! Bonus mixes are themed with genres not typically included in the annual BoJo Spooky Mixtapes. Saddle up, partner, and great ready to rattle them chains!

Click below...

Transworld's East Coast Haunters Convention 2025 Walkthrough

If you were curious what this event was like, here's a nice, non-sensational walkthrough.  Some really neat props.  

Now maybe this stuff exists already, but I always thought a company would make a ton of cash selling small motors for people (me) who aren't good at assembling that sort of thing.  Small, quiet (strong) motors that slowly rotate to aid a stirring witch, or maybe one that looks side to side in a somewhat slow, somewhat fast, unpredictable manner, to have a prop's head look in various directions.  As a static prop guy, I would absolutely build a witch with a head that darts left, and then right.  

Click below for the video from HalloweenHaunts365...

City Reaper

A 16-year-old boy worked on his grandfather's horse farm. One morning he drove a pickup truck into town on an errand. While he was walking along the main street, he saw Death. Death beckoned to him.
The boy drove back to the farm as fast as he could and told his grandfather what had happened. "Give me the truck," he begged. "I'll go to the city. He'll never find me there."
His grand father gave him the truck, and the boy sped away. After he left, his grandfather went into town looking for Death. When he found him, he asked, "Why did you frighten my grandson that way? He is only 16. He is too young to die."
"I am sorry about that," said Death. "I did not mean to beckon to him. But I was surprised to see him here. You see, I have an appointment with him this afternoon - in the city."

Image by cameraupoint.

Trailer: Weapons

Click below...

Now Playing: Childhood

By Lowering.

Click below...

Square Teeth And Angry Eyes

Image by haoa192.

Happy Birthday, Antonio Bay

Suddenly, out of the night, the fog rolled in. For a moment, they could see nothing, not a foot ahead of them. Then, they saw a light. By God, it was a fire burning on the shore, strong enough to penetrate the swirling mist. They steered a course toward the light.

But it was a campfire, like this one. The ship crashed against the rocks, the hull sheared in two, mars snapped like a twig. The wreckage sank, with all the men aboard.

At the bottom of the sea, lay the Elizabeth Dane, with her crew, their lungs filled with salt water, their eyes open, staring into the darkness.

And above, as suddenly as it had come, the fog lifted, receded back across the ocean and never came again. But it is told by the fishermen, and their fathers and grandfathers, that when the fog returns to Antonio Bay, the men at the bottom of the sea, out in the water by Spivey Point will rise up and search for the campfire that led them to their dark and icy death.

I Miss 80's Horror Films

Click below...

The Fear Of Clowns, A Study To Find The Origins

Our next step was to explore the origins of people’s fear of clowns. A follow-up questionnaire was given to the 53.5% who had reported at least some degree of clown fear. This new set of questions related to eight plausible explanations for the origins of this fear, as follows:

An eerie or unsettling feeling due to clowns’ makeup making them look not-quite-human. A similar response is sometimes seen with dolls or mannequins.

Clowns’ exaggerated facial features convey a direct sense of threat.

Clown makeup hides emotional signals and creates uncertainty.

The colour of clown makeup reminds us of death, infection or blood injury, and evokes disgust or avoidance.

Clowns’ unpredictable behaviour makes us uncomfortable.

Fear of clowns has been learned from family members.

Negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture.

A frightening experience with a clown.

Image by Danny Casillas.

Text source.

Blobs And Photo Bombs

During our recent photo shoot of the Witch and scarecrow, we were trespassing on a property out in Downingtown (close to where the diner scenes were filmed in the 1958 film THE BLOB).  As we were getting to the end of the shoot, there was some movement on the hill behind the scarecrow and we saw three dogs coming our way with their owner.  I figured we were about to be tossed off the property by a [rightfully] confused individual.  Turns out she was also trespassing.  And she was pretty excited seeing what we were up to.    

She was an older woman from a nearby neighborhood who told us she typically walks her dogs there.  She said she was mystified when she looked from her backyard and saw a scarecrow in the far distance.  The dogs had come running at us with one of them barking heavily at the Witch.  The others seemed to be enjoying the open space, as their owner laughed and excitedly told us over and over again that she absolutely loved these weird creatures.  She asked a ton of questions about the props and took a load of photos.  She and the three dogs posed a few times for some photos with the Witch and the scarecrow...  I snapped away using her phone as we all blabbed and spoke about the property and its history, and our strange hobby of photographing monsters.  The dogs turned out to be the sweetest animals.  And the big one eventually stopped barking at the Witch.  

We said farewell and packed up the creatures and headed to the Downingtown diner for a terrific blob-themed breakfast.  They're VERY proud of their blob there, and I'd highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.  

Trailer: Tron - Ares

Loved Tron: Legacy, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

Click below for the trailer (the film's score is by Nine Inch Nails)...