Living Food – Art project which explores the concept of eating food which behaves like living organisms.

Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise – In an elaborately-staged promotion for the Carrie movie remake, hidden cameras capture the reactions of people confronted with a young woman’s apparent telekinesis.

The Druggist – Creepy short story; free for download today on Kindle.

Press’n’Seal Glad Wrap Decorating – Super-easy idea for adding spooky writing to walls and mirrors.

Mechanical Ribs Swimsuit – Attractive piece from Black Milk, pointed out by WitchArachne, who added that their order confirmation email included the starting paragraph of a Halloween story which concludes on their blog. That’s a nice touch.

Vampire Donuts – This is such a ridiculously simple idea, but it’s so cute.

Kevin Francis Gray – Sculptor of elegant, highly creepy, statues.

Bride of Frankenstein Makeup – Great-looking makeup that changes under black light. Includes a tutorial.

Cheshire Cat Makeup – This is both fantastic and rather horrifying. (via WitchArachne)

Vintage Vice – Playlist of old-time songs about drugs, sex, booze, and other myriad sins.

Ink-wash Alien – I just adore these serene xenomorphs.

Unknown Specimen – Hyperrealistic digital image of a mandrake-ish thing in a jar, plus impedimenta. This is splendid inspiration for a Halloween prop.

National Museum of Funeral History – Short article about the museum in Houston.

Shredders – Knitted sweaters that look like kitschy “Christmas sweaters” but feature Baphomet, Krampus, Bigfoot, and other creepy things.

Birth Announcements – This is a brilliant idea. (Hat tip to xJane)

Spiderweb Balloons – Easy idea for making unique party decorations.

Plastic Surgery for a Better Fortune – A plastic surgeon in Japan will burn “better” lines into your palm to improve your palm readings.

Feminist Yog-Sothoth – An excellent new meme. More here.

Bat Cage Prop – Great-looking, reasonably easy, decoration.

Vampire Hunter Kit – Leather pouch and stake from ThinkGeek. (Hat tip to WitchArachne)

My Link Dump folder is overflowing, and at the rate of one post a week I won’t get through it ’til Christmas. I am hereby declaring this a week of all link dumps, all the time. Whee!

Weird Vintage – “Ads, illustrations, and photographs of a vintage or antiquated nature that make you just a tad bit confused/alarmed/amused.” A Tumblr of greatness.

Skull in the Family – Amusing series of photos depicting everyday life with a pair of plastic prop skeletons.

Titanic Music-box Tune Identified – The tune from a pig-shaped music box which was played to comfort children in one of the Titanic lifeboats has been identified.

Baby Bat – “I am the adorably cuddly night!” (Hat tip to xJane, who also supplied the caption)

The Evil Dead – Recipe for a party-size quantity of a pretty lethal-sounding drink.

Horror Nesting Dolls – These custom-painted matryoshkas are marvelously spooky.

6 Haunted Homes (and How it Would be to Live in Them) – An amusing roundup.

Necrotic – Mary Jane-style heels adorned with a skull designed by Gris Grimly.

Day of the Dead Iron-On Transfers – Handy book of patterns for needlework, painting, or other crafting. There’s also a steampunk version.

Frank N. Furter Poppet – This is the most ridiculously adorable little doll I have ever seen.

DIY Nightmare Before Christmas Props – Splendid blog devoted to NMBC props. There’s loads of really clever stuff.

Memories of a Fisherman – Interesting-sounding horror-themed computer game.

Creepy Message in a Bottle – A Redditor found somebody’s curse. (via Beth)

Shiro Cosmetics – “Makeup and Geekery.” Cosmetics with colors like Ever in Your Favor, Riddles in the Dark, and (my personal favorite) Nic Cage Raking Leaves on a Brisk October Afternoon. (Hat tip to Empress Pam)

What’s This? What’s This? – It would be fun to install a prop like this and see how many people had to change their underwear.

It’s a Snap! – This is an actual advertisement, for an actual organization (Central Institute of Technology), that does not go where you expect it to go.

Queen Mab – Romeo and Juliet retold from the viewpoint of the queen of the fairies.

The Arrival – Vintage-y illustration by Rhode Montijo. This is just how it feels when Halloween rolls in.

Snails – These photos are simply lovely. I didn’t know it was possible to make a snail look so noble.

Darkling – Great “bat wing” eyeshadow by hedwyg23 on deviantART. Her gallery has several more designs.

You know what I love about running this blog? People occasionally send me pictures of apple tarts shaped like hacked-off arms and it’s perfectly normal.

I’ve mentioned creepy-food blog Kitchen Overlord previously, and intrepid blogger Chris-Rachael recently sent me a note:

I wanted to give you a heads up that I’m working on a Walking Dead cookbook. For the month of October, I’m releasing some extra gore-tastic recipes I think your readers would get a kick out of. For example:

Bloody Banana Guts

Brain Frittata

I’ve attached a sneak preview of my upcoming recipe for a sangria soaked apple tart shaped like Merle Dixon’s arm, post hacksaw. It even has a little flesh peeking from the gaping wrist.

I replied, “gack,” and she responded:

I’m kinda proud of this one:

Plucked Zombie Eye

It looks evil in a bloody red bowl of Thai curry. Evil and delicious.

Also, here’s the full step by step post for Merle Dixon’s Arm.

There’ll be a lot more of this disgusting awesomeness this month. I’m having way too much fun making my kitchen look like a crime scene.

So. If you’re looking to create a truly kickass zombie-based party menu, it looks like Kitchen Overlord is the place to be. Check it out!

Making costumes is one of my favorite activities, so every year I go all-out on Shadowboy’s Halloween duds. For the past few Halloweens I have predicted that he would eventually break my heart, costume-wise, and this is the year he finally went and did it. Doctor Who is his new passion, and he insisted on dressing as the Eleventh Doctor. I’m perfectly happy with his Whovian fandom, but the Doctor essentially wears street clothes. Street clothes!

To make it even worse, I also make costumes for a friend’s niece, and this year she wanted to be a cat. A shapeless overall with a tail and ears swam across my vision.* Sob.

So I did my best. Shadowboy’s outfit is, sadly, mostly purchased; the boots are from Morenza, and everything else except the coat came from local clothing stores. I did make the coat; a simple blazer pattern done in tweed. My only change was to add elbow patches. (Incidentally, if you’re looking for an exhaustive guide to the Doctor’s clothing, check out Steve Ricks’ blog.)

I had a little more leeway with the cat since she didn’t have to hew to a particular style, and I parlayed that into a lot of leeway. I just couldn’t countenance a plain-overall-with-ears-and-tail sort of costume, so I decided that if the fabric was leopard- or tiger-print, I could do anything I wanted.

I normally provide pattern numbers for reference, but the resulting kitty princess is such a bastardized melding of patterns that pinpointing its parentage is difficult. A lot of its DNA comes from (discontinued) Butterick 4320, but I added a stretchy velvet panel to the bodice and shortened the skirt dramatically. I added an underskirt which was just a simple circle skirt with a whole bunch of black tulle ruched on top,** a long tail (just a plain tube stuffed with fiberfill), and a fabric-covered headband with ears. She also requested a matching costume for her favorite dolly, and I was happy to oblige. That was Simplicity 1711.

My reward for doing this sewing every year is professional photos, which I add to my big gallery o’ costumes. The photos above, plus these of Shadaughter and Shadowboy and Shadowboy and friend make me awfully happy.

*Thank goodness for Shadaughter. Not only did she request a gender-bent Tenth Doctor costume (covered here), she recently informed me that she wants to go to next year’s Comic-Con as Daenerys Targaryen. I can always count on her for a challenge.

**A friend recently mentioned that she liked a particular costume made largely from pink tulle. I said, “If you don’t mind using black instead, I’ve got 100 yards of black tulle in the basement.” She replied, “Why would anyone have 100 yards of black tulle…never mind, I forgot who I was talking to.” Clearly.

Just once I’d like to see someone coolly walking away from an explosion walk right into a spider web.
— yoyoha

Everyone says they want a fairy tale wedding. But as soon as I show up and curse their baby I’m “out of line”.
— YourKyness

It’s really a lack of imagination that makes children check under the bed. Like the monsters couldn’t be floating invisibly just above you?
— NightValeRadio

Anyone else getting sick of their dad constantly bragging that the Zodiac Killer was never caught?
— rolldiggity

Actually I would love to try cauliflower but it looks like broccoli’s ghost and I don’t eat haunted foods.
— HonestToddler

I can’t believe there was ever a time when I didn’t understand why Charlie Bucket’s grandparents stayed in bed for twenty years.
— DJRotaryRachel

I like how Dracula wore a bow tie. Didn’t need to. Did so anyway, even without the help of a mirror. That’s class.
— badbanana

They Found Her Earring In Your Car, Charlie Brown
— pattymo

I want the word pizza tattooed on my arm in Japanese, people will think its something deep & emotional but really it just says pizza
— iphone420s

If my Ouija board keeps saying “ANYBODY WANT A PEANUT” is it Andre the Giant or just some asshole ghost doing Princess Bride quotes
— KenJennings

This whimsical short film is a project by Kristin Kemper.

(via pdq)

Monsters of New York – Wonderful images of whimsical monsters added to photos taken around New York City.

The Haunted Garden – Odd little Tumblr devoted to botanical myths and legends.

A Book is a Sneeze – Letter from E.B. White discussing Charlotte’s Web which includes some lovely thoughts about spiders.

The Gibson Girl’s Guide to Make-Up – A guide to historical makeup, with suggestions for period-inspired looks.

Omar Rayyan – Artist who specializes in wonderfully surreal paintings. I particularly like his Contessa with Squid.

Bat Molding – The subtle bat relief on the Penn Mutual building is lovely.

12 Horrifying Photos of Clowns – Vintage photos of clowns that will haunt your dreams. These would make excellent Facebook banners.

Deer Jaw Glasses – It’s a pity these were just done for a show and aren’t for sale.

Victorian Poop Table – Made of poop, that is; specifically coprolites. Also technically Georgian rather than Victorian. Whatever. It’s neat.

Freedom – The Carousel – Pretty artwork by Anne Wipf.

I’m sort of an idiot.

When I saw that the 2013 special Halloween edition of Martha Stewart’s magazine wasn’t available in my area, I decided to order it online. There were a bunch of back issues available, and I thought, “Hm. The 2012 and 2011 issues don’t look familiar. Obviously I have holes in my collection. Lo! I must order them as well.” So I did. And they came in the mail. And when I went to file them, I discovered that I had both of the back issues because I am more alert than I thought I was.

So. I have an extra copy of the 2012 and 2011 issues to give away to two commenters who might actually be missing them.

If you would like one, leave a comment by Friday, October 18. If you have an issue preference, mention that too. Two commenters will be chosen at random. (Non-US people can play along; I don’t mind shipping overseas if you don’t mind waiting however long it takes cheap postage to arrive.)

And next year, somebody remind me that I have all of the back issues.

Update: random.org spat back magic numbers 3 and 7, so KJ and Gail FC win these silly back issues. I’ll send email separately to get your mailing addresses. Thanks to everyone who played!