And Now...A Word From Our Sponsors

Ok, so we don't actually have any sponsors but since when does something like that stop me?

After spending some time on YouTube.com (yes - I am addicted, thanks for asking) I came across several vintagesque (is that a word?) circa 1990s vids of Halloween commercials. Some of these I remember, some I've never seen but they all take me back to another time (in a Galaxy far, far away).

I've had a bit too much coffee this morning so I'm going to get right to it. Funny, I drink decaf. Anyway - on with the show....

Captain Crunch early 1990s



Universal Studios Horror Night & Pepsi early 1990s (love the Jack O'lanterns in this one)



Budweiser Bates Motel with Spuds MacKenzie



Duracell Batteries



Coors Light Elvira (I miss her!)

Bowling for Halloween

I can't bowl to save my soul. I suck! My mother has her own bowling ball and shoes, my uncle was in a weekly league and my grandparents once owned a bowling alley. I'm the only person in my family that cannot throw a bowling ball. ::sigh::

Ok, funny story alert! In the year BC (before children) the hubby, who loves to bowl, decided we needed to go out and enjoy this sport of the lanes with some friends. Oh joy, oh thrill.

Now in these early years I had what could only be referred to as "dragon lady nails". These suckers were long! I could take a swat at you from 50 paces. These things were that wicked.

So, dearest hubby proceeds to instruct me on the ins and outs of bowling (not like everyone in my family hadn't already tried and given up). I line myself up, step towards the lane, bring the ball forward, let 'er rip!

And rip it did but one of my nails went with it! Ball goes in the gutter, dragon lady nail sitting right in the middle of the lane half way to the pins. Oye! To this day when we bowl my husband still has to tell this story.

Tracy is also a bowler. She even received a college scholarship to bowl. Suffice it to say, I'm surrounded by these freaks of nature! But, it got me to thinking...are there bowlers who are also Halloween fanatics? I mean if I was going to take up this sport (ha!) I'd have to have a Halloween themed ball and my team colors would have to be orange and black. A quick checking around the net proved I was not alone in my thinking.

Love this pumpkin bowling ball from BowlingIndex.com

Now we're talking! Orange and black bowling pins from OnlineSports.com

Bowling.com has these great Halloween themed bowling shoes.

I might just have to have Monster Bowling shirt from CafePress.com

Don't have time to hit the lanes (or you suck like me)? No problem! You can play the Original Cat Bowling game right now.

Game Day

Now, now - just settle down! No need for panic. When we say game day we aren't referring to the Super Bowl or March Madness. We're talking about online Halloween themed games that can eat away an entire afternoon.

Personally, I don't play these things unless I've only got a few minutes before I have to be somewhere otherwise I'd get nothing done. Warning! These can be addictive.

First off is an oldie but a goody - Halloween Hangman:

Make sure you have some time on your hands before you try to conquer this one! M&Ms Dark Chocolates Hidden Dark Movies:

Grab your virtual shovel and smackdown the undead over at Ben & Jerry's:

Well, I hope you enjoy the games. I wasted half a day playing, uh, pulling up these links. This last one is called Halloween Nightmare. I could play it all day. Hmmmm, maybe I will.

Do You Hulu?

God I love technology!!

As you may have guessed I'm somewhat of a YouTube junkie but I have another addiction. Hulu.com.

Not hula - Hulu.

Hulu.com allows you to watch epidsodes from tv on your computer. According to Wikipedia.org (love them!):

Hulu is a website that offers commercial-supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, FOX and many other networks and studios.

Hulu also connects you to other online video sources. And, you can watch full episodes as well as excerts.

A search for Halloween on Hulu yielded 649 results.

Want to catch a Halloween episode from season 2 of the Addams Family? No problem!



Misplaced your invitation to Heidi Klum's Halloween party? No problem!



Want to know how to find and purchase real brains for your haunt? No problem!



Hulu will also hook you up with shows from sources such as Fear Net and Revisions - both of which have some great DIY for Halloween.

Oh, and while you're doing your Hulu - check out the Route666: America's Scariest Home Haunts episodes.

Stolloween - A Truly Ghoulie Guy

Ok, so I know this guy. And - he's just not right in the head. He likes to play with paper and glue. And, he hangs out with creeps. Annnnnd - he's extremely talented. If you haven't come across his work then you've been hiding under a rock but I'll introduce you anyway. His name is Scott, aka Stolloween.

Remember making paper mache projects when you were a kid? Well, Scott never quite got over that whole experience and that's a good thing. You see Scott is one of the most talent Halloween paper mache artists we've come across.

The work of Stolloween is fresh, unique and really pushes the limit of the medium. He proves that paper mache isn't just for second graders.

His haunted yard is an unbelievable display loaded with towering demon reapers, a coven of witches, terrifying tombstones, Jack O'Lanterns with an array of expressions and much more. All of this is constructed out of paper and glue. Say it with me - AMAZING!


We had an opportunity to pick Scott's brain recently and see if there were a few things we didn't know about him. (Ok, it's true we twisted his arm.) So here it is:

Ten Thing You May Not Know About Stolloween (from the man himself):

1. My first papier mache prop was made back in 1979 while in high school. A large elephant created from two balloons and some cardboard for the ears. The elephant won 2nd place in the high school art fair.

2. My favorite source of inspiration is a visit to the local library. Surfing the internet is great but taking a few hours to browse through books is much more inspirational and productive.

3. I usually make props in batches of three or some other odd number. One gargoyle, three dragons, five masks, nine pumpkins and so on. I’m guessing I build in odd numbers because I’m a bit odd.

4. My favorite prop is always the piece I’m currently working on. Always.

5. My preferred spelling is “papier mache” vs. paper mache. Both are proper, I must enjoy typing the extra letter.

6. I find it impossible to build a prop without music. Lots and lots of music usually from the 80’s. It’s amazing what Van Halen does for my creative process.

7. I never have a shortage of ideas. Every prop I work on creates a dozen new ideas for future works thus creating a vicious cycle.

8. I am a terror with a hot glue gun having burnt myself hundreds of times. My track record with scissors, razor blades and hammers isn’t that great either.

9. The biggest prop I have ever made from papier mache is a cauldron measuring over four feet wide and close to four feet high. The cauldron seemed like a great idea at the time but too bad I never considered where I was going to store the thing.

10. My current project involves making some life-sized zombie puppets for a short film project. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.

So there you have it.

Best of all, not only is Scott talented - he's also generous. On his sites you can find tutorials and downloads for nearly every project he's made. Head on over to one of his blogs but allow yourself plenty of time. Trust me you'll be there a while.

Stolloween Blog
Stolloween.com

P.S. Don't tell him that I said nice things about him. I wouldn't want it to go to his head ;)

Instructable

I'm certain that you are all familiar with a little site called Instructables.com. A wealth of tutorials on how to do, well, most anything. The great thing about it for us haunters is that there are quite a few Halloween how-tos on the site.

Today I'm going to share a few I have on my favorites list but we're always hungry for more. So - drop us a comment and let us know your faves.

First up is the Bubbling Halloween Cauldron from our good friend Goldie. Goldie is a very creative spirit. Not only is she capable of banging out some great props she also makes some awesome costumes.

Nicemag's tutorial on her Death Becomes Her Costume is amazing! Allow yourself plenty of time to pull this one together.

We're just dieing to try out the Creepy Bubble Halloween Cocktails posted by DotatDabbled!

Zombie Stomp

Night of the Living Dead. A cult classic and one of my all time favorite flicks.

For decades the zombie has lived in the shadow of it's more popular horror cousins, Dracula and Frankenstein, but lately he's been creeping to the forefront.

If you haven't been paying attention then the Zombie Walk is probably alien to you but let me tell ya - it's sweeping the nation. From California to Oklahoma to Florida zombie fans are coming out in droves - dressed to kill.


Also known as the zombie march, zombie crawl, zombie mob and zombie shuffle - over 50 cities participated during the World Zombie Day on October 26, 2008. "Zombies" are encouraged to act the part by dragging themselves along slowly and communicating with grunts and groans.

These zombies made the news when, on October 27, 2007, Thrill San Diego & Zombie Walk partnered up to host a world-record-breaking dance to "Thriller" in cooperation with Thrill the World, which included over 80 cities around the world performing the choreography simultaneously.



And why are they doing this? Hell, I don't know. Because they can, I guess. Maybe their just tired of being ignored. After all, zombies are people too.

The Mysterious Jill Tracy

When I stumble upon a piece of music I really like I play it over ad nauseum. Why? Partly because I want to and partly because it makes my family crazy. When I came across this artist I played these vids so much that I think even my computer became annoyed. The window for the video abruptly shut down after about 50 plays.

You may have come to some sort of conclusion as to what type of music I'm into based on the past couple of vids I've shown here in the blog. Well, get over yourself because I'm not quite that easy to pin down. Yeah, brace yourself for something totally different.

Today we venture into the world of artist Jill Tracy. If she sounds familiar then you probably heard her in the background on a recent episode of NCIS.


Her style is mesmerizing, her vocals captivating and her videos - hauntingly beautiful.

Tales of medieval torture devices, safety coffins, suicides, and lusty murderous obsessions mingle with exquisite songs of lost loves and tarnished passions. *

The San Francisco Bay Guardian describes Jill Tracy as "...Part tough-as-nails film fatale, part funeral parlor pianist, Tracy manages to adopt many facades yet remain ever and only herself — a precarious and delicious balancing act..."

I couldn't of said it better (which is why I used their quote).

Haunted by the Thought Of You



The Fine Art of Poisoning



To learn more about this enigmatic artist visit Jill Tracy's MySpace page.

* quoted from the artist's MySpace page.

Love Potion No. 9

Happy Valentine's Day Ghoulies!

Ahhhhh, the one day of the year that is set aside for lovers to take long walks on the beach at sunset whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears.

Yeah, whatever. After 18 years of marriage for Tracy and 19 for me the only way we'd get a walk on a beach with our hubby's was if there really was a Love Potion No. 9.

So, instead of the traditional sugary-sweet Hallmark moment of the holiday we've decided to give you a visual tour of Valentine's Day from a Ghoulies perspective. Hit it Igor....

1. shadowbox 2. bleeding valentine 3. valentine card 4. heart over tombstone 5. deep fried valentine 6. raven valentine card 7. toxic toons valentine print 8. waiting for valentine 9. love tombstone 10. my bloody valentine 3D 11. valentine zombie doll 12. chucky valentine 13. arrows through heart 14. valentine girl 15. valentine bears 16. love potion no. 9 17. heart prop 18. true love (source unkown) 19. bleeding heart cake 20. living dead doll valentine bride 21. valentine dining 22. zombie valentine 23. frank (source unknown) 24. vampire kiss martini

Paraskevidekatriaphobia

Paraskevidekatriaphobia. No I did not just make that up. No I can't pronouce it. Yes, I know what it means.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13th.

I guess that would mean that anyone plagued by this phobia is having a really bad day today. In fact they're probably going to have a rough year since Friday the 13th actually occurs three times in 2009. (February, March and November.)

What is it about the thirteenth of the month falling on a Friday that brings so much foreboding?

Apparently Friday is a terribly unlucky day. Especially if your name was Jesus Christ. He was supposedly crucified on a Friday.

Chaucer didn't help TGIF when when he penned Canterbury Tales in the late 14th century stating, "and on a Friday fell all this misfortune".

Ah, and let's not forget the stock market crash of 1929 that will be forever remembered as Black Friday.

Ok, so what about the number thirteen? Apparently our ancestors didn't like this number. They preferred to work in dozens: twelve hours, twelve months, twelve signs of the zodiac, etc.

Oh, and then there's also that twelve disciples thing.

Pair the two together and we've got a hell of a mess partly in thanks to King Phillip. He sent out the order for the arrest and slaughter of members of the Knights Templar on none other than Friday, October 13, 1307.

I think Friday the 13th gets a bad rap but if you still have the F13 fear here are some things that might help to you get through the day:

Pick up some of these Happy Friday the 13th greeting cards from Canton Box Company on Etsy.

If you have a problem with bad luck you might want to invest in a bottle of this Jinx Remover from astralcrafts on ebay:

If all else fails check out the latest and greatest Jason flick - Friday the 13th. I guarantee you that your day won't be nearly as bad as what the characters face in the movie.

Will You Be My Halloween Valentine?

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I'm not into little hearts all over the place. Roses are one my most unfavorite of flowers. And, though I love chocolate - it goes straight to my butt.

Another reason I'm not a VD fan (yeah, I like to poke fun at this holiday by giving it a venereal disease) is because my birthday is the day after. The only thing as bad as being born on a holiday is being born on one of the days that flank it.

You see, this gives all your loved ones an easy way to kill two birds with one stone. The ol' "this is for your birthday and Valentine's day" trick. Yeah, whatever cheapskate.

Anyway, I decided to see what was out there for the ghoul in love and here are a few of my favorite things. (Just in case you want to send me a gift. My birthday is coming up ya know.)

How come we don't see Valentine's like these anymore? A-Valentine-A-Day blog showcases several Valentines with a Halloween theme.


This Skelly Devil is ready for love. From AmbitionsDesigns:


A whole new way to give someone your heart. By cbtscloset (on Etsy).

Valentine candy corn? Now that just ain't right!

LA is Creepy

I've only been to LA once so far but I really loved it. Especially the Fabric District where I managed to purchase over 40lbs of fabric for various costumes I wanted to create.

Cities like LA are freeing. You can wear whatever, do whatever, say whatever and no one really pays you no never-mind. No matter what you do it's likely there will be someone around who's acting even more crazy than you.

I don't know that I would want to live there. Traffic is kind of a nightmare. Where I live I can get across town in 15 minutes unless it's rush hour. Then it might take me 17. But - the opportunity to see and do things is nearly infinite in LA.

I do know this. Next time I visit I'm going to check David Markland's blog, CreepyLA.com - The Los Angeles Halloween blog - before I go.

If you haven't been following him then you likely missed out on the showing of the Ed Gein Collection. And you probably weren't even aware of a place called Club Hell. Oh, and Splatter - the exhibition of art inspired by murder - yep you missed it!

Even if you don't live in LA you can at least catch a glimpse of the haunted happenings. And, best of all - you don't have to fight traffic to do it!

The Joys of Duct Tape

Faster than a a hammer and nails, more powerful than Elmer's Glue, and able to leap tall projects with a single wrap. Duct tape.

Here's a little history according to Wikipedia:

...duct tape was originally developed during World War II in 1942 as a water resistant sealing tape for ammunition cases. Permacel then a division of Johnson and Johnson, used a rubber-based adhesive to help the tape resist water and a fabric backing to add strength. It was also used to repair military equipment quickly, including jeeps, firearms, and aircraft because of these properties...

Ok, if it's good enough to repair military equipment, it's good enough for me! And, it was good enough for my dad. I swear that man would never not have duct tape around. It was the bandage for anything he didn't have the time deal with properly. A temporary fix in desperation that sometimes became permanent.

I don't know too many haunters that don't sing the praises of duct tape. You can use it to build props, hang decorations and even make costumes. I'm telling ya it's the wonder invention of the 20th century. No longer limited to battleship grey, it now comes in a plethora of festive colors including a glow in the dark version. Nirvana!

The Duct Tape Guys have written several books and they have a duct tape costume picture gallery. (Duct tape knight shown below.)

Our good friend Susan convinced her son Josh to suffer through the duct tape body double and provided a quick Indestructibles.com tutorial on how to pull it off. Perfect for making a custom prop!

This kid cracks me up! From Parker's Tutorials we bring you this video on how to make a peg leg and parrot props for your pirate costume. (Get his autograph if you can - he's going to be a star someday!)


Want more inspiration? Drop by StuckAtProm.com where you can view high school prom goers who have constructed their entire ensembles from, what else? Duct tape!

And in closing I'm going to leave you with the zany Original Duct Tape Guy's video from their video collection on YouTube. Now that's a wrap.

Pimped Out Pumpkins

I'm miss Autumn. I miss the leaves turning and falling from trees to reveal their eerie skeletal branches. I miss the sun setting early and the chill in the air. I miss pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins used to be a yearly event but these days with our busy schedule it's sometimes hard to find the time to carve one pumpkin let alone several.

We go pumpkin shopping twice in the Fall. First stop is to the local Hospice where they offer a wondrous variety of pumpkins donated by a local greenhouse, The Bloomin' Idiot (don't ya just love that name?). This is where we pick up some of the more unusual varieties that we usually leave uncarved to decorate the yard through Thanksgiving.

Our second trip is to the Sunnyside Pumpkin Patch for carving pumpkins. First we go through the corn maze then it's on to sling shot pumpkins and play some pumpkin themed games. After a quick bite we grab a wagon and make our way through the pumpkin patch in search of the perfect pumpkins.

There's no shortage of pumpkin carving inspiration on the web. I looked at pumpkin carvings yesterday until my eyes were about to bleed. We could have a blog solely about pumpkin carving and never run out of inspirations (hmmm now there's an idea). Simply put, there is no excuse for not carving when you have great resources such as these:

Here's a twist on traditional pumpkin carving. Wired.com had a contest for the coolest Geek O'Lanterns.

Tom over at ExtremePumpkins.com knows how to think outside the pumpkin. He's the one responsible for the well known Puking Pumpkin, Mooning Pumpkin, Territorial Pumpkin and many other twisted creations. (Pick up his books too!)


Surely only the most elite in the world of pumpkin carving could create such a masterpiece as this full size skeleton!? If you want to give it a try head over to mcragheads tutorial on Industructibles.com.


Did you know there was a pumpkin carving forum? Well, you do now. If you want to trade patterns, get tips on carving and growing pumpkins or just show off your skills pay a visit to the Pumpkin Wizard at CarvingPumpkins.com. (Jack Sparrow pumpkin by AlexW can be found in the Your Best Carvings thread.)


If you just can't get it together and carve your own then we have the solution! MasterpiecePumpkins.com offers precarved artificial pumpkins for purchase. I am seriously considering the Frankenstein's Wedding collection show below.


Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to carving pumpkins. I'm sure we'll revisit this in future blogs but right now I have to run. I have an appointment with my pumpkin decorator to pick out patterns for 2009.

Dead Man's Hand

Ya know what I hate? Those damn flyers for "As Seen on TV" and so called collectibles that are stuck in with an order or magazine. First of all, if I wanted it when I saw it on tv I'd have already bought it. Secondly, if something is labeled as a "collectible" then you can be assured that it is not one. If it's going to be collectible they aren't going to make a gazillon of them (think those festive Avon perfume bottles).

I recently received a mailing from BMG. That's the music club I belong to that I was fussing about a few posts back. Inside were some of those stupid flyers. I was standing over the trash can tossing them one by one when something caught my eye.

The Dead Man's Hand. A "collection" of biker skeletons playing poker from CollectiblesToday.com. Hmmmm. Now I don't need another dust collector but wouldn't this be a cool full size prop?! This doesn't fit with my current theme but let's explore this a bit.

What would one need to pull this off? You'd need some skeletons (buckys preferably but bluckys would work in a pinch). Assorted tattered clothing, boots, and other biker look apparel from the thrift store. Poker cards, chips, beer mugs, faux stogies and cigs, biker jewelry, faux snakes and of course some sort of table and a few chairs. Basically just follow the picture and add your own little touches.

It might be fun to get a group of friends together and each one contribute a biker skeleton dressed in full garb to the scene.

I'd really love to see someone tackle this project and send us a pic. Anybody, anybody??

The Creepshow Is In The Garden

Ya gotta love a band called The Creepshow. And what's not to love about a lead singer decked out in tats and a gown? If you haven't been properly introduced than allow me the honors.

The Creepshow is a psychobilly band from our neighbors up north (umm that would be Canada for those of you that are geographically impaired). Formed in 2005, the majority of their songs center around horror films in the horror punk genre. They call it hellbilly (again I ask - what's not to love?).

The Creepshow - In The Garden:



P.S. The vid I'm sharing with you today features Hellcat as the lead but she gave birth to her own little hellcat with hubby and Matadors' lead singer Hooch. So - her little sis Sarah "Sin" (the blonde in the vid) has taken over. (Hellcat and The Prowl's solo album coming soon but you can catch a couple of their tracks on the Ghoulie Girls MySpace page.)

Halloween Speed

We Ghoulie Girls love automobiles. In fact if you had wanted to date Tracy when she was in high school the first question you would have been asked was "What do you drive?" Yep, she's one tough customer!

My dad is a mechanic so I grew up around cars. I'm a 5'4", SUV driving, maniac with an attitude when I'm behind the wheel. God help anyone in front of me who cannot at least go the speed limit.

I got my love of cars from my dad but I also inherited his need to speed. Yes, it's his fault. I know that I blame my parents a lot but it's true. My dad taught me to drive at the ripe ol' age of 13. At 14 they allowed me to drive one of their cars to school - a 1970 lime green GTX with a 440 engine. (Who the hell gives their lead-foot daughter this kind of vehicle? Is it any wonder I like to speed?)

Anyway, my SUV is rather boring - it's midnight black but that's as close as it comes to being a "Halloween car". We figured we couldn't be the only car loving, speed freaks with a penchant for Halloween out there so we did a little search. Check out these tricked out Halloween cars we found.

We call this one we found on flicker the Batmobile (for obvious reasons):

A little something for you Sci-Fi fans out there - the Alien Car:

And check out this blog where they list the top 20 Halloween cars. Here's just a couple to get you started:

Castle Car:

Devil Dragon:
Hmmm, ya know, my parents still own that GTX. Wonder if they'd let me give it a Halloween make-over?

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Ahhh the Mad Scientist laboratory. A visual delight of spooky sights and sounds and so fitting for your kitchen during your Halloween party.

So you've got your deformed creatures in jars, your Jacob's Ladder, your plasma ball and your bubbling jars. What? You don't have bubbling jars? Well that's something we need to remedy.

This is a super simple trick you can pull off with just a few supplies. Here's what you'll need:

A jar with a plastic lid (a plastic pretzel barrel jar works great)
Aquarium pump (from the pet supply store or ebay)
Plastic tubing to connect to your aquarium pump (pet or home supply store)
Water (you get that from the tap in the kitchen)
Black light reactive agent (Tide detergent, highlighters, glow in the dark paint, etc.)
Black light (found at any party store)
**I couldn't find my pictures of our setup so if you have questions just yell**

1. Remove the lid from your jar and drill or cut a hole just big enough to accomodate your plastic tubing.

2. Fill your jar to the desired level with water but leave some room as we'll be adding some more water in a bit.

3. Put the lid on your jar and run the tubing through the hole to the inside bottom of the jar.

4. Attach the other end of the tubing to your aquarium pump. Plug in the pump and give it a test run. Your water should bubble.

5. Now we need to give the water a creepy glow. We stumbled across this video so we'll cheat and let it show you how:




6. Add your glowing liquid to your jar. Position a black light nearby, turn off the lights, turn on your pump and enjoy!

Here's another glowing water video we thought you might enjoy:




If you'd like to try this with glow-in-the-dark paint, check out this vid by brittadotcom that we found on YouTube:

You Can Get It On Ebay

Ok, so last night I'm taking a detour through ebay as I hadn't stopped in in a while. I like to search for unique things that might be great for props. I use search words like "strange", "weird", "unusual", etc. just to see what turns up (now that you know I better not see you bidding against me).

I did find one special strange little something that I managed to win but I'll share that another time once I get it all decked out.

No what I want to share today is just plain, well hell, I don't know how to explain it. Suffice it to say if you happen to be in the market for some brain surgery staples then you're in luck!



Yes, for the mere $50 opening bid you can be the owner of freshly removed staples from this woman's head. Just think of the possibilities! Come on haunters - this one is for you!
Now, I realize that I'm making a bit light of this woman's situation. She is selling these because (and I quote):
Wouldn't you love to own the beginning of a new strong womans world. I need to sale the staples from my brain surgery .My brain surgery was on Jan. 13/09 the staples were removed Jan.23/09. It will help me start my new life worry free.
So, not only can you get some genuine, Canadian, medical grade staples for your latest prop creation you can help this woman with her new beginning. Now I ask you - what's not to love about that?
**UPDATE: I just checked on this auction and see that's it been removed by ebay. I'm sure they considered it to be human body parts or some absurd thing like that. It's staples for heaven's sake! (Ok, true they've been used and that could be some sort of biohazard type thing.)
Let this be a lesson to you haunters - you snooze, you lose!