The Devil Made Me Do It

I entered a costume contest that was held in my grade school when I was in first or second grade. I was The Devil. Not some cool homemade sewn costume like a lot of the kids were sporting, but rather a cheap store-bought variety: a plastic mask and a vinyl/flame retardant outfit - the "shirt" displaying an image of the Devil himself. That part of those costumes I never understood. Why not make the outfit simply be the body/costume of the Devil? Meanwhile it was more like Lucifer was wearing a t-shirt sporting an image of Lucifer. (Same goes for Batman costumes - it was never his chest plate/armor back then. It was always Batman wearing a costume with an image of Batman on it.)  Dumb.

So there I was in a Halloween parade marching around the school yard wearing my Old Scratch costume carrying a cool plastic pointy trident. I KNEW I was going to win first place. I have no idea what made me so convinced I'd be winning the prize for best costume (probably the Devil). The teacher walked slowly by the rows of children studying the costumes, pretending to make it a hard decision. Then she approached me. 

ME. 

I remember being nervous and panicked at the prospect of winning.  I was already planning my acceptance speech.  Probably something fun and light, with a few jabs of the pitchfork in the air towards my cheering classmates, just to let them know I was cool, yet humble and grounded. 

Then she reached out and touched the shoulder of the kid next to me - wearing a homemade hand-sewn dinosaur costume. You know the one - big long tail, spikes running down the back, a face hole where the pointed toothy mouth should be... his mother made it of course.

Somewhere in the crowd of noisy, screaming kids, I'm certain I heard The Devil laughing his horns off.

Nightmare On Elm Avenue

For five years, Michael Myers stood watch over the corner of Elm Avenue and Brook Drive in Churchville.

Not the real one, of course, but a life-size mannequin of the iconic horror villain that quietly became one of Bucks County’s more unlikely neighborhood landmarks, writes Jo Ciavaglia for Bucks County Courier Times.

What started as a Halloween display by resident Jim Cole eventually took on a life of its own.

The life-sized figure never really left for the off-season; instead, Cole dressed him for Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and July Fourth.

The neighborhood took notice. Residents started using the mannequin as a navigation landmark. Children tracked his seasonal wardrobe changes. Strangers pulled over to snap photos.

“People look out for Mike,” Cole said. “People use it for directions, I heard. ‘See Mike Myers and turn left.’”

However, not all residents have been so enthused.

Earlier this year, a couple photographed the display, and Northampton Township officials later informed Cole that anchoring the mannequin to a street sign violated township ordinances. Mike had to come down, relocated back to the family’s property.

The backlash was swift. Hundreds of commenters flooded social media to express their disappointment and rally around the fan-favorite Halloween display.

For now, the mannequin stands on the Cole family’s porch, displaced but not retired, while the family weighs options for a more visible home.

The article here.

The Shape

Sported my new Myers mask (Cemetery Gate Production's WARLOCK) this Halloween and I'd have to say that I've never felt more like him.  People seemed extra unnerved.  One child was shouting up from the sidewalk asking Michael Audrey Myers if he was going to kill him.  I did the Myers head tilt and his family laughed and screamed.  They eventually came up, and I could tell they were really creeped out and uncomfortable.  So after handing them candy, and as they were leaving, I stepped out onto the porch (something I rarely do).  They definitely weren't expecting that and the mom shrieked.  This caused the child, and his family, to run towards the sidewalk.  In what seemed like a moment from a Scooby-Doo cartoon, one of the handles on his trick-or-treat bag caught onto the foot of the staked corpse at the entry to the porch.  He didn't know what snagged him, but I could tell he thought it was me, as he wasn't looking back.  He screamed and left the bag dangling from the corpse's foot.  Michael Myers silently removed the bag, straightened the corpse, and looked up.  The boy was coming back.  I handed him his bag and he whispered "Thank you, Michael" and ran off.

It was one of those incredible Halloween moments that make this holiday so absolutely wonderful.

What a night.

Creepy Cheapies: In The Lab

Click below...

It's Time, Michael

When you finally buy that Myers mask that you've always wanted...

Witchy

Yes kids, you too can own one of the big Halloween three. 
That's right, THREE horrific masks to chose from. 
They're fun.
They're frightening,
and they GLOW in the dark.

Image by Nikita Mikhailov.

Hexeglaawe: The Kecksburg UFO Incident

Pennsylvania's Roswell

On the evening of December 9, 1965, a large, brilliant fireball was seen in at least six U.S. states and Ontario, Canada as it streaked over the Detroit, Michigan–Windsor, Ontario area. Reports of hot metal debris over Michigan and northern Ohio, grass fires, and sonic booms in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area were attributed to the fireball.  Some people in the village of Kecksburg, about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, reported wisps of blue smoke, vibrations, and a "thump" and also that something from the sky had crashed in the woods. 

In 1990, Unsolved Mysteries aired an episode partially devoted to the incident. It suggested an extraterrestrial craft had crashed. It featured local residents who said they had found an object in the woods shaped like an acorn and about as large as a Volkswagen Beetle, bearing writing resembling Egyptian hieroglyphs.  They said it was subsequently removed in a secret military operation.  A prop from that show currently remains on display in Kecksburg.

We traveled there in September for a look at the area and to photograph the monument.  It seems locals still have their own theories about what really happened there on this date fifty-nine years ago today.

Click here to see the Unsolved Mysteries episode.

[More] Amongst Dead Things

Definitely the most unique masks out there.

Delightfully disturbing.  Like you'd put one on and never be able to remove it.

Click below to see his latest...

Creepy Cheapies: "Frightmare" Oktober Studios Mask Review

Click below for another episode from Dr. Lady...

NECA Ben Cooper Costume Figures

Introducing the Ben Cooper Costume Kids Collection, a figure series based on the popular kids’ costumes from one of the largest Halloween costume manufacturers from the 1950s through the ‘80s. Standing approximately 6 inches tall, these fully poseable figures wonderfully capture the vintage horror spirit and are ready to make some spooky mischief on your collector’s shelf. Series 1 includes Creature, Devil, Frankenstein, Mummy, and Skeleton—classic Ben Cooper costumes worn by an inclusive group of kids.

Wearing a mask styled after an original Ben Cooper design and soft goods clothing replicating the vinyl look of the classic costume, each playful figure comes complete with a trick-or-treat bag or pumpkin bucket accessory. Every figure is sold separately and packaged in a numbered, retro-style window box that pays homage to the original costume packaging.

Click here for more photos and more info.

Old School

More images here.

Spook House Witches

Halloween Ends

I've run from you. I have chased you. I have tried to contain you. I have tried to forgive you. I thought maybe you were the Boogeyman. No, you're just a man who's about to stop breathing.

- Laurie Strode

Hermit, Waterlogged Variant

Such a neat design from Immortal Masks.  Would look really cool as part of a Witch display.

Click here to see more.

Creepy Yard 2023

An Asylum of Monsters...

Click here for more photos.

Creepy Cheapies

Glad I checked in to see if there were any new mask videos from Dr. Lady.  So many new episodes.  I'm not even a mask collector - I just love the fact that this guy is making videos like this, dressed as a horror host.  

Click below...

Daytime Spook House

The Haunt has been deconstructed and I'm currently going through photos to add to the gallery.  Wanted to post some daytime pics.

Remembering THE MASK

You might remember an old blog post where I talked about my first Michael Myers mask.

I recently found it in a box of old masks I had accumulated over the years.  I was really surprised to see it as I had assumed it melted away at my parents' house in some abandoned Halloween box.  But there it was, battle scars and all, staring up at me, with the darkest eyes... the Devil's eyes.

I had forgotten that I had painted the lips a weird brown color.  I was trying to achieve that amazing shadowy look from the HALLOWEEN IV movie poster, where the mask has never looked better.  It's such amazing film poster art.  Meanwhile, I essentially gave Michael Myers some lipstick (it looked great in the dark though!).

Nothing but the best memories of being in that mask and overalls with faux bullet holes, sitting on my parents' cold cement steps in the shadows on Halloween night.  Sitting on the steps, staring at a street; not seeing the street, looking past the street; looking at this night, inhumanly patient, waiting for some secret, silent alarm to trigger me off... to hand out candy.

Behold Don Post Studios' THE MASK.

And here's the HALLOWEEN IV poster that led to those horrid dark lips.