I only support ghost hunting if you need the ghost for food.
— mikeleffingwell
Business Plan:
1. Make a “FREE HUGS!” sign.
2. During the hug, whisper, “But it’s $50 to let go.”
3. Gently press a knife into their side.
— rolldiggity
This Halloween, I’m going to scare everyone I know by texting them “We need to talk.”
— hipstermermaid
People passing out Bibles on campus today.
Took one, acted all flustered that someone had recognized me, signed the inside cover and handed it back with a handshake and said, “Always nice to meet a fan.”
Now it’s worth more.
— leonsbuddydave
Alarm clocks should come with sounds like “tiny doll feet scampering into the closet” because I AM NOT HITTING SNOOZE WHEN I HEAR THAT.
— vladchoc
So when I do go to yeshiva, I’m going to be there for about six months to a year and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to take a few days off during certain periods to travel to Prague, Rome, Budapest, et cetera. Is there anything that you’d like me to get you (that isn’t a golem)?
I want you to get a solid grasp of Aramaic and use it to film a sequel to the Passion in which Jesus returns to earth, builds an army, marches across the United States, knocks on Mel Gibson’s door and is like, “Not cool, dude.”
— Burgeoning Lads of Science
A spooky story that ends, “…and from that night to this, the radio of that black ’82 Camaro would never play anything…but Danzig.”
— KenJennings
If you’re about to be turned into stone by Medusa, strike a hilarious pose and at least lighten things up for the next guy.
— badbanana
Next time a stranger talks to me when I’m alone I’ll look at them shocked and just whisper quietly, “You can see me?”
— homoisa
It says something about my life that it’s a lot easier for me to remember how to spell “Cthulhu” than “Massachusetts.”
— loresjoberg
(No prizes, but if you can answer them all without googling you get bragging rights.)
In Halloween: Resurrection which rap star played a character who battled Michael Myers?
A) P. Diddy
B) Busta Rhymes
C) Eminem
D) Snoop Dogg
E) Ice Cube
What was the name of the madman who Dracula exploited as a servant?
The “Mothman” cryptid was allegedly first spotted in 1966 in which U.S. state?
A) Michigan
B) North Dakota
C) West Virginia
D) Florida
E) New Mexico
Harry Potter’s resident werewolf Remus Lupin is named after one of the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf and later went on to found Rome. What was the name of the other twin?
The ghost of what First Lady is said to haunt the second floor and the East Room of the White House?
A) Dolley Madison
B) Mary Todd Lincoln
C) Sarah Polk
D) Martha Washington
E) Abigail Adams
What was the name of the giant rabbit who plagued Donnie Darko?
Doctor Who villains the Weeping Angels have the appearance of mourning statues until you look away. In what episode did they make their first appearance?
A) The Time of Angels
B) Flesh and Stone
C) The God Complex
D) Blink
E) The Angels Take Manhattan
The Resident Evil series of video games takes place in what city?
Andrew Eldritch took his band’s name The Sisters of Mercy from a song by whom?
A) Judy Collins
B) James Taylor
C) Trini Lopez
D) Joni Mitchell
E) Leonard Cohen
In order for his plan to work, John Doe (Kevin Spacey) had to be killed for committing what Deadly Sin in Se7en?
Man, I’d forgotten how many episodes of the Muppets featured spooky celebrities. (There’s a bit of documentary lead-in; the actual episode starts at 1:01.)
“Is there anybody there?” said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grass
Of the forest’s ferny floor;
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
“Is there anybody there?” he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller’s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
‘Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:–
“Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,” he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.
A friend refers to these as “crack cookies;” not because they’re cracked, but because that’s what they’re as addictive as. The recipe scales up easily and they freeze well, so you can make a large batch and save some for later.
No-Bake Cookie Balls
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
1/2 C sugar
1/2 lb dates*, pitted and cut into small pieces
2 C puffed rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies
1/4 C chopped pecans (toast for a few minutes in a dry skillet if desired)
2 C sweetened shredded coconut
*The kind I usually use are the Deglet Nour variety (often just sold as “California dates”), but other types like Medjool should be fine as long as they’re dry-ish. You can sometimes find pre-diced dates too; those work fine and save time but they’re usually coated in sugar so reduce the sugar in the recipe by a Tbsp or so.
Place butter, sugar, and dates in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the dates sort of dissolve and the mixture looks fairly homogenous. Stir in cereal and pecans. Remove from heat, then shape into balls (for single-bite cookies, use about a tablespoon, but you can make them golf ball-sized if you want). I like to wear disposable latex gloves for this, since handling the hot mixture can be uncomfortable if you’re making a lot of them.
Whilst still warm, roll the balls in coconut until covered; if they start to cool off, pop them in the microwave for a few seconds. Serve warm or place on waxed paper to cool (they can be re-warmed in a microwave later if desired).
These keep in an airtight container for about a week (they rarely last that long). For longer storage, freeze on a cookie sheet until frozen and then put in an airtight container; they’ll last at least six months in the freezer. Take out as many as you want and microwave for 5-10 seconds to reheat.
The Vintage Doctor – Great-looking corsets, dresses, and other items made with unusual fabrics. (Hat tip to Kaitlin Michelle)
Vampire Fang Manicure – The page is in Thai, but the photos are clear enough to figure out what to do.
Seven Psychocats – (NSFW) Surprisingly faithful parody of the Seven Psychopaths trailer. The mere fact that Christopher Walken’s voice is coming out of a hairless cat should be enough to sell this.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls – These are easy to make and entirely yummy. (The whole Smitten Kitchen recipe archive is worth a look, too.)
Ticket to Hell – Vintage ticket for a Coney Island Bowery amusement called “Darkness and Dawn.” Something like this would be a fantastic party invitation.
Dracula Orchid – There’s a whole genus of orchids that I’m suddenly going to have to explore further, including Dracula vampira.
TwinkleBalls – Ridiculously cute handmade cake toppers, including many spooky ones.
I have no skill at knitting, and I never regret that more than when I run across patterns like the ones at Erssie Knits.
Erssie Major is a UK knitter who has been featured in several magazines, and her work has a definite pagan/goth bent. She makes many of her patterns available online, either free (such as this cute calavera) or quite inexpensively (like this skully knit cap).
The site is a little hard to navigate, since some links seem to circle back on themselves and the sidebar isn’t consistent, but the patterns are worth a bit of digging. I love this goth glam hat, and the collection of symbols in the magickal throw is impressive (although it’d be nice if they were sold as a bundle in addition to individually).
She’s also got a blog where she features new creations. One of her latest is this great “punk skull” sweater; she notes that she’ll make a pattern available for it soon.
If you knit, definitely check out the collection. There are some great potential holiday gifts.
Update: – Apparently Erssie decided to clean up her site and ditch the patterns two days ago. You can still find them at Ravelry: If you don’t have an account and don’t want to register, get a username/password at BugMeNot. Just log in and search for “Erssie.” (Bah.)
My pals the barn spiders were right on schedule this year: They show up seemingly out of nowhere every fall, and it’s their appearance that really means autumn to me. They’re plump and fuzzy and orange-and-black, and the outside of our house is currently festooned with living Halloween decorations.
Since today is the Big Day, I’m going to turn the forum over to you guys: What’s your favorite thing about Halloween? Share it in the comments!
p.s. – As is my annual wont, I’ll be participating in the unfortunately-acronymed NaBloPoMo again. There will be a post every day of November, including weekends. Can you hardly wait? I thought so.
As per usual, I have to show off the annual costume photos (it’s my blog; I can brag if I want).
Every year I make an entirely-too-elaborate costume for Shadowboy, usually make one for a friend’s niece to boot, then have professional photos taken. This year the niece had piratical aspirations, and although I lobbied hard for Shadowboy to be a parrot he insisted that he wanted to be a beetle. (Why, I don’t know, but hey–at least it was an interesting challenge.)
The girl’s costume was a relative snap; I used this pattern (bottom right) and tarted it up with brocade fabric and lace and whatnot. Shadowboy’s was…whatever the opposite of “a snap” is. Root-around-in-my-pattern-stash-and-swear-a-lot opposite. The pants are a pajama bottom pattern with feet cribbed from a dragon costume and re-cut into a more insectoid shape.
The top is the tunic from a cheerleader pattern I had laying around,* extended by a foot or so. The hood and gloves were taken from a generic animal costume, with channels stitched in the mittens to bifurcate the fingers and antennae added to the hood. The wings were cut from foam rubber and covered with the same fabric as the costume. They were attached to the back of the tunic with big strips of velcro.
As usual, no matter how much I gripe about the construction process, the results are worth it. These will join my big wall o’ Halloween photos, which help me feel Halloweeny throughout the year.
*I have a long-standing habit of buying likely-looking patterns whenever the local fabric stores have 99-cent sales, even if I don’t have an immediate use for them. I’ve generally found that hacking together pieces of different commercial patterns is easier than calculating measurements and drawing pieces from scratch.
The Mission Creeps have released a new album, and the title track is…cute. Sort of reminiscent of 60s pop songs, but bouncy and thematic.
Some of the other tracks sound intriguing, too, such as “The Plum Room (with Sounds from a Real Ghost Investigation)” and “Shadow: A Parable (Edgar Allan Poe: 1835).”
I have no skill at knitting, and I never regret that more than when I run across patterns like the ones at 
My pals the barn spiders were right on schedule this year: They show up seemingly out of nowhere every fall, and it’s their appearance that really means autumn to me. They’re plump and fuzzy and orange-and-black, and the outside of our house is currently festooned with living Halloween decorations.
