In the mid-1960s Disney released Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, an LP album composed mainly of sound effects collected by the Walt Disney Studios sound effects department. Despite the title, its only relationship to the Haunted Mansion attraction was that some of the sounds were eventually used in various places during the ride.

Side 1 consisted of ten vignettes narrated by voice actress Laura Olsher (including one track called “Chinese Water Torture” which today is remarkable mainly for its cultural insensitivity); the second side contained a variety of sound effects intended for use in creating one’s own stories.

YouTube user doctordel has kindly uploaded the entire album. If you, like me, were scarred impressed by this album as a child, prepare for a stroll down memory lane.

Adagio Teas – Sells “fandoms samplers” with collections referencing “Welcome to Night Vale,” Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, and lots more.

Jewelry Made from Fake Food – Wearable items made from realistic-looking fake food. I like the bacon brooch.

Free Crochet Skull Patterns – Roundup of patterns from various sources.

Mage Studio – Jewelry and accessories made from pretty D&D dice.

Victorian Cliff House – Some old photos of a very precariously-perched, but completely gothy and awesome, mansion in San Francisco. It looks like there’s a restaurant there now. Poop.

KISS Garden Gnomes – I like this makeover much better than the zombie ones.

Fairy Godmother Cabinet – Assemblage artwork made for a “fairy godmother” swap.

Choi Xoo Ang – Artist who creates surreal, really creepy, sculptures. NSFW-ish.

Croshame – Hey, neat; I didn’t know these guys had an Etsy shop. Lots of weird little amigurumi like Baphomet and Sid & Nancy.

Cobra Cake – Despite its intricate appearance this loooong cake is made of halved bundt cakes and Rice Krispie treats, so it’s actually fairly DIY-able.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, BoifromIpanema has a great tutorial for adding a bloody anatomical heart to a shirt or blouse.

His instructions begin, “draw an anatomical heart onto the front of your shirt,” which means that his artistic skills are significantly greater than my own. If you’re in the same boat, just find an image of a heart that you like and transfer it onto the fabric. Searching Google Images for “anatomical heart outline” returns a lot of simplified drawings that are suitable for tracing, and Home Stories A to Z has a roundup of various methods for transferring images; choose whichever one looks easiest.

The rest of the process is pretty straightforward, painting the heart with dye and letting it spread a little. The tutorial suggests using tie-dye resist to prevent the dye from spreading too much, but you could probably omit that step; the heart should look fine surrounded with a little seeping blood.

This is an amusing antidote to the sugary-sweet imagery you usually see on Valentine’s Day. Give a shirt to your sweetie, gift friends with a matching pair, or wear one yourself to make strangers vaguely nervous.

Unlike tabletop role-playing games where the players roll dice and move miniatures, the players in LARPs act out their characters’ moves. Last month, 180 LARPers gathered at a 13th-Century castle in Poland to spend a weekend as students at Hogwarts. The College of Wizardry LARP was an “unofficial” big-budget adventure organized by RollespilsFabrikken and Liveform, assisted by local Polish players.

Earlier this month, 180 players from 12 countries (including the United States) came to Czocha Castle to enter the world of Harry Potter. Armed with wands and wizarding robes, textbooks and potion bottles, these live action role-players came to Czocha to live out their dream of entering the wizarding world and experiencing, if only for one weekend, what would have happened if that owl had shown up to whisk them away from the muggle world forever.

Here’s a promo for the game:

There’s also a longer followup documentary here, and Kill Screen wrote about the experience.

The game was supposed to be a one-shot event, but response was so enthusiastic that they’ve got two additional ones planned for April 2015: One a sequel for participants of the first game and the other for new participants.

The sites for the LARP teams involved, RollespilsFabrikken (all Danish) and LiveForm (which has an English version of the site) both have loads of other interesting-looking past games which might serve as resources for homebrew events.

(via Super Punch)

Like any self-respecting goth, you’ve probably got leftover scraps of velvet lying around that you aren’t sure what to do with. The Lemonista has an easy tutorial for making attractive velvet pumpkins in a variety of sizes.

The tutorial uses real dried pumpkin stems, which add an interesting rustic touch. If you or a friend grows pumpkins or other squash in your garden, you can save the stems after harvest. It might also be possible to find long-stemmed squash at the grocery store, and (obviously) you can save the stems from jack-o’-lanterns after Halloween. Make sure they’re completely dry before you use them, lest they mold: Just leave them in a warm, dry spot for a week or so.

If you don’t want to use real stems–some of them have teensy spines that might be unpleasant–or you don’t want to wait to collect them, you can make fake stems. anderson + grant has a method for making surprisingly realistic-looking stems; An Extraordinary Day‘s “book pumpkin” tutorial includes easy instructions for making stems with a twig and hot glue.

The Lemonista’s tutorial suggests filling the pumpkins with a mixture of dried beans and fiberfill; you could also use poly pellets or similar filler beads.

These pumpkins are so easy to make that you could turn out a lot of them in a couple of hours. They look great grouped in a bowl or arranged on a mantlepiece. They’d also make cute placecards which could double as a party favor.

This short student film is “the story of two escaped demons looking for redemption. Join Waffles and Syrup on the ride of their after lives as they set out on an epic journey through the 9 circles of Hell.”

(via The Presurfer)

This concludes Yet Another Doggone Week of Link Dumps. Regular posting (and once-a-week Link Dumps) return Monday.

DIY Umbrella Spider – This is technically a costume, but I see no reason why it couldn’t be used as standard rain gear. Just use water-resistant fabric instead of the felt and trouser socks.

Beyond the Dark Veil – Attractive book by the curator of The Thanatos Archive which explores post-mortem and mourning photography.

The Day My Kid Went Punk – Oh, cheesy after-school specials, how I miss you.

Hari Kuyo – This Japanese ceremony for honoring broken needles is rather sweet. There’s a bit more detail about the practice here.

Skele-Men – Completely Serious Comics makes me giggle.

Hogwarts-Themed Hotel Room – A London hotel has turned a couple of its rooms into Hogwarts dorm rooms.

GWAR Covers Pet Shop Boys – This is kind of awesome.

Pumpkin Patch – Desktop wallpaper featuring the pumpkin patch from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The same site has some other interesting free downloads too.

Epic Rap Battles of History – This edition features Jack the Ripper vs Hannibal Lecter.

Dreams of Death – Pretty photo series featuring the insect victims of carnivorous plants.

Zombie Scrub – “Removes dead skin.” :::rim shot:::

Now You Know – A list of interesting, offbeat sites, like rainymood.com (rain and thunderstorm sounds) and doesthedogdie.com (lets you know in advance if the dog/pet gets injured in whatever movie you’re watching.

Inspector Pancakes Helps the President of France Solve the White Orchid Murders – Kickstarter for “a children’s book most definitely not for children.” It looks adorably horrifying.

Dr. Chase’s Receipt Book – A book of patent advice dating from 1888. This review makes it sound kind of awesome.

Grandma’s Ceramic Figurines Get a Grim Makeover – Artist Tom LaBonty gives cutesy ceramic figurines a very metal makeover.

Knitted Candy Corn – Free pattern for teensy knitted candy corn from Mochimochi Land.

The Vanilla Studio – Amusing menorahs and candlesticks made from toy dinosaurs and other critters. I particularly like the non-kosher Menobster. (Bonus: Check out this sea monster menorah.)

The Greatest Werewolf Art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance – A roundup of interesting images.

Candy Corn Party Mix – This salty/sweet mix would be great for a party.

Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor – I have long adored DK books for their gorgeous photographs, and even if you’re an avowed pacifist this look at the history of weapons is fantastic. Click the “Look Inside” feature to browse some of the pages.

Frightening Finery – WebUrbanist did a feature on “macabre” jewelry creations.

Miskatonic University T-shirt – The Miskatonic U. Fighting Fishmen are the pride of Arkham.

Ravens are Shitty Houseguests – Myths RETOLD tackles Poe.

7 Deeply Bizarre Horror Shorts to Watch on YouTube – A roundup.

Impossible Magnets – “Souvenirs from places you’ll never visit.” Neat “souvenir” magnets for places like Oz and Jurassic Park.

The Strange Log – Twitter feed “Documenting the strange poetry of changelogs and patch notes.” I think my favorite so far is, “Turkeys no longer bounce when they contact water.”

Witch’s Spell Books – Easy tutorial for making prop books. These would look very cool with taxidermy eyes in place of the googly eyes.

The Gorey Store – Loads of Gorey-themed merchandise. I like the li’l bat necklace.

Stuffed Pizza Skulls – Something else to do with your skull cupcake pans.

The Etiquette of Courtship – “…many a promising affair has been ruined because a suitor sent his lady a buttercup, meaning ‘That’s the last dance I’ll ever take you to, you big cow,’ instead of a plant with a more tender significance.” (Hat tip to Bruno)

Threads of the Dead – Etsy shop with interesting gothy clothing. I like the ouija board bikini.

20 Bizarre Hearses Around the World – If by “bizarre” you mean “awesome.” (I’m also fairly sure that several of these are privately owned and driven rather than actually being used to haul around corpses, so the title would more accurately be “hearselike vehicles.”)

Re-covering a Parasol – Steam Ingenious has a tutorial for covering a parasol frame with the fabric of your choice.

Here’s How You Sell a Haunted House – Interview with a real estate agent about selling allegedly haunted homes. My favorite line: “If people fall in love with a home, there are things that they’ll look past,” with the implication, “such as a screaming skull in the attic.”

12 Fetishes That Will Brighten Your Day – Aw, man; I sort of hope there’s porn about the little Zoloft doughball too.

Total Nightmare – Subtitle, “Why I can’t play horror games.” Heh. (There’s a sequel here.)

Facehugger Leash – I have no idea how well this works as an actual dog leash, but it’s certainly striking.

Steampunk LEGO – Coffee-table book full of steampunky Lego designs. It doesn’t provide build instructions, so it’s more just to admire someone else’s creations, but it might at least be a source of inspiration.

Porcelain Creatures – Ukrainian artists Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev create delicate, fanciful porcelain monsters and animals. There are more photos on their Facebook page (a couple of the illustrations there are NSFW).

Dubious Expedition – Fantastic set of fake “specimens” from a Lovecraftian expedition of discovery.