Funny Video Games from the 80's

I was reading about some of the Halloween movies at work last night and never realized there was a Halloween video game made in 1983 for the Atari 2600. I had to search YouTube when I got home and found these videos...

I love how the person runs around after having their head cut off.


Here is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, also made in 1983...

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Video Link
Halloween Video Link

Dark Candles

Got my most recent order from Dark Candles yesterday. Here's a picture of some of the items I got. I owe Pumpkinrot big-time for introducing me to this place. The candles are awesome and really do smell like what they are named. One that really gives me the creeps... "Coffin". I'll be burning these this year at my yard haunt as just one more element to add to the atmosphere. I think I'll mainly be using "Graveyard" with some others mixed in here and there. I'm a big fan of "extras" that you may get when ordering from somewhere, and Dark Candles usually throws in a few extra things which are always good. They sell a lot of cool things other than candles also... check it out sometime.

Link to Dark Candles

Scary Stories

If you want to feel like a kid again, buy these books. I remember having these when I was young, and sadly no longer have my original copies. When I saw the 25th Anniversary Box Set on Amazon.com a while back, I knew I had to have them. Talk about bringing back some memories... I can still remember exactly where I was when I first read some of these stories, and how scary they were. The artwork, by Stephen Gammell, is also some of the best I've ever seen and adds a lot to the stories. I think that was what creeped me out more than anything about these books.

Amazon Link

Ghost

My friend Cemetery Prints on MySpace edited this picture of one of my Ghost props and sent it to me. Looks so much better than the original. I need to take better pictures of all my props though, with backgrounds other than my garage.


I owe Pumpkinrot credit for this one, since the original idea came from his "Cloaked Ghost".

Cemetery Prints MySpace Page

Wraith Costume

If anyone has an extra $2,000.00 laying around, I really need this costume. It stands 10 feet tall with a wingspan of over 10 feet. I'll gladly pay the $200.00 shipping...



I found this and a lot of other cool stuff on this site:
The Horror Dome

The House of Mysterious Secrets

I could spend all day (and a whole paycheck) looking at this site. So many cool things on here that I wish I had. Here are a few of them...




Because everyone needs a "Burning Jason" sticker...


This one was just too funny to leave out...


If anyone was thinking about getting me a gift certificate, hmmmmm.... ha-ha.

Link to The House of Mysterious Secrets

Sorry...

I didn't have time to make a post today of anything cool, creepy, Halloween related or scary. I'll make up for it later. Right now, I am sitting in my Algebra II class, which is scary enough.

I need to post a picture of an old trunk I found at the Goodwill store for $20. I haven't figured out what to use it for yet, but it's too cool not to use in my haunt. I was there looking for some old clothes to bury and let rot that I could use for a corpse or two. All the stuff they had was too nice for my corpses though.

Creepy Tree

I took this picture at a local park a few weeks ago. I don't know why, but it kind of makes me think about Halloween and looks kind of creepy to me. I'm sure to anyone else it just looks like a tree. I wish I had this one in my yard...

Projects...

Ah... it's that time of year again. The time where I have severely overestimated the time I have left before "Halloween". The countdown says 67 days until Halloween... but I forget about the part where I start setting up about three weeks before Halloween. So subtract about 21 days from that number. My list of things that I have left to do isn't too bad, just time consuming. Here's a little sample...

*Finish building and painting at least five more groundbreakers.
*Re-paint old graveyard fence columns from last year to "darken" them up a little.
*Re-paint three mudman props from last year to make them a little better looking.
*Finish a few more flickering lanterns.
*Make a new sign for my scarecrow.
*Make a new head for my scarecrow.
*Make things to hang on the windows to make them look boarded up.
*Make a couple more Bucky corpses. (Don't know if that will happen this year)
*Put new pneumatics in my "shaking coffin".
*Put a pneumatic lid opener on another coffin.
*Make a couple of other signs, one with my theme name, one to hang at the top of the road.
*Finish engraving and then paint 20 new tombstones that I have for the graveyard.
*Finish my "Apparition" prop.
*Hope that my pumpkin plants start producing some pumpkins... I have some nice looking vines, but no pumpkins yet.

Well, that's most of it at least. Halloween will be here before I know it.

Sixth Groundbreaker Complete

Didn't have much time to make a post today because I was finishing this guy.


I would have posted a better pic, but I'm not 100% happy with the paint yet. I'll probably post a big "family picture" with what I have so far after I finish one or two more.

I'll probably be working 12 hour shifts all this weekend to earn a little extra cash for an upcoming trip, so I might not be posting anything for a couple of days... I'll try my best to put something up though!

The Watcher

I made a short movie (less than 1 minute) last night that featured this thing. I'll post it as soon as I get a chance to edit and upload it...

Baby Pumpkins

I received my "Baby Pumpkins" on Monday that I purchased from the Pumpkin Hollow Etsy Shop and have to say that I am very pleased! One of my favorite parts of the whole experience was the way everything was packaged, I truly felt like a kid on Christmas morning as I was opening it (or maybe a kid on Halloween night would be a better description!). I have to say that of all the Halloween things I have ever bought, that this was the first time that even the packaging had a Halloween theme to it... it was awesome. I am looking forward to having these on display as one more reminder of Halloween throughout the year. This shop was opened by two super nice people with amazing talents who also love Halloween, so needless to say, I am hooked. I highly recommend you to check out their shop for some great Halloween related items!

Link to Pumpkin Hollow

Brave

I loved this picture that my dad took of a trick or treater walking through a "gauntlet" of sorts. My brother-in-law was coming out of a coffin, and I was in the bottom right corner of the picture in a ghillie suit (probably scraping a tupperware bowl on the ground, which makes a very scary sound by the way). Anyway, judging by the picture they didn't look too scared at all... a lot braver than I would have been at that age. Had a cool bag, too!

It Was a Good Day

Picked up a few Halloween related items at different stores today, and received my package from the Pumpkin Hollow Etsy Shop which was awesome (I'll post some pictures of that later!)...


Trick or Treat Doormat, which might stay out on our front porch year round.

Two candle lanterns, some skeleton garland, and some little gargoyles. I have always been a big fan of gargoyles, so I had to have these.

I couldn't pass up this "Mummy Cat" either...

I doubt if any of the stuff in the middle picture will be used in my display, but it will look neat around the house and workshop.

Yankee Candle Air Freshener

Every person who loves Halloween NEEDS one of these in their car no later than August 1st, if not year round. I'm going back today to the place I got this one so I can stock up on more of them.

Flickering Lanterns

I am really excited about using my flickering lanterns this year. I fell in love with them after watching the videos on www.skullandbone.com, one of my favorite haunts. After watching this video, I knew I had to make several of them.

Check out the Skull and Bone website for a very amazing and detailed haunt.

Skull and Bone

Video Source

Mad

Oh admit it... you would be too.

Skeleton in the Closet

Thanks, Rot, for reminding me of this great vintage video and song.

Louis Armstrong 1936
Uploaded by sirarnold

Video Source

Creepy Bug

I was lucky enough this morning to have taken these pictures of one of my favorite creatures, the Praying Mantis. At first I thought I had seen the aftermath of their mating ritual, where the female kills the male, but it was actually just where this guy (or girl) had just shed its exoskeleton.


If you look closely in the background, you can see the Mantis looking at its former self.


It looked proud of its new "skin".

This wasn't really Halloween related... but some people might find it kind of creepy and I thought it was kind of neat.

Annual Halloween Costumes

My oldest son usually picks out his own Halloween costume every year, here are some from the last few years.

2004: Skeleton


2005: Hooded Zombie


2006: Ghost


2007: The Haunted Tree


I can't wait to see what he picks this year. Maybe he'll just want me to make him a costume... that would be fun. We had another baby boy in November of 2007, so this year should be double the fun. He might have to be a baby zombie or something like that.

My Dream House

This is probably what my dream house would be like. This is the intro to the show "Tales From the Crypt".



YouTube Link

Nightmare

I keep having the same bad dream (nightmare, to me) and I wish it would stop. It's October 31st at about 6:00 p.m. and the first Trick or Treater's are making their way out. To my horror, I find that I have not even started to set up my yard haunt. Everything is still in the garage, basement, etc. and I don't know where I have been for about the last month or so, or how Halloween managed to sneak up on me. It continues with me trying to set up everything after it has gotten dark, and it just turns into one big disaster... things are falling apart, breaking, paint is coming off of things, everything you can think of is going wrong and people are looking at me with disappointed looks on their faces. Then I usually wake up, glad that it is over but feeling like I really need to get to work.

This dream probably means something but I don't know what.

Scaring Kids on Halloween

This is what it's all about... I love this video.




YouTube Source

In the beginning...

This little guy was our very first Halloween decoration. We got him about 8 years ago and was our yearly decoration for a few years when we lived way out in the county in a place that we would not have had any Trick or Treaters. He will always be a part of our haunt in one way or another, no matter how funny looking he might be.

Grim

This was my latest project that I completed. I named him Grim, and had to dedicate this one to my friend over at http://www.pumpkinrot.com/ , for all the inspiration he has given me through his work. He's also a super nice guy who only has good things to say about other people's work and has always been willing to answer any questions I have had. I credit him for introducing me to the world of paper mache', and all the cool things that can be created with it.

Pumpkin Flower

I was happy to see this flower from the street as I was pulling into my driveway yesterday morning after work. Upon closer inspection, I saw that a bee was happy to see it also. He seemed to be enjoying some "Pumpkin Pollen".

I am raising my own pumpkin plants this year, I don't know how they will turn out but if everything goes right I'll have way too many pumpkins and will give a lot of them away. I have about ten plants in the ground and I'm trying out raising three other plants in pots. I think they should all be o.k. if I can keep them watered every couple of days.

Computers

My computer might be part of the haunt this year... because I want to kill it.