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Halloween home decorations have come a long way. See the other songs programmed for this house at the YouTube channel. I have to wonder what the neighbors think! -via Metafilter

Neatoramanaut Steffan Gilbert sent this picture of himself and his wife. If you can't see him, it's because he is well-camouflaged.

The story behind the photo is simple: my lovely wife and I were attending a Witches (costume) Ball in Nashville some years ago. While figuring out what kind of costume I might wear, I noticed that a really nice wool suit of mine had become severely moth ridden, but rather than consign it to the scrap bin, I asked my lovely wife if she would make me, rather than a GreenMan suit, an AutumnMan suit, and she did so. We won a lovely statue of Kwan Yin as the prize for best costume, and all in all the evening was quite splendid.

They had such a good time, they didn't want to "leave." Ha! Thanks, Steffan!

Forget March Madness, the real fun is in the Monster Madness bracket over on Famous Monsters of Film Land and you don't even have to wait until spring to enjoy the fun. In fact, you can help nominate the top monsters and monster killers for the bracket on the site right now. After the seventh, be sure to return to see the official brackets and even see which monster (or hero though I suspect it will be a monster) wins.

Look at this little pirate -a young Errol Flynn? No, it's Neatoramanaut Peter Walker!

My Mom made this costume for me. It was in 1953.
I was eight years old.
I loved it.

That's the Halloween he'll never forget. Thanks, Peter!

Send us a picture of your most memorable Halloween costume! Email it to tips@neatorama.com and then look for it on the Halloween Blog during October. The best costumes will win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop!

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The couch gag opening of The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode this weekend was created by Guillermo del Toro and is three minutes long. You may have to watch it twice: once to enjoy it, and once again to see how many horror movie references you can spot, because it's chock full of them! -via Buzzfeed

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Sure, they look terrifying to us, but that was the point! Halloween is supposed to be scary, creepy, and simple enough to involve everyone! Sexy, funny, or pop culture costumes had no place in the Halloween of yesteryear. -via Buzzfeed

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Workers at fast-food restaurants have seen just about everything now. When a car comes through being driven by a skeleton, they don't faint, they don't scream, they just get their phones out to take a picture. But then, the skeleton turns to look at them and all bets are off! -via The Chive

Tired of the plain old jack-o-lantern you carve every year? Well, you could grab some of our great Neatoshop pumpkin decorations or you can try to make something different with one of these 25 cool pumpkin ideas from A Subtle Revelry. If you're looking to cook your pumpkin after Halloween, many of these offer you great options that don't involve carving so it will stay fresh until you're ready to cook the meat.

I particularly like #25, the pumpkin turned into a flower base as it would make a great centerpiece or a great outdoor decoration depending on what flowers you put in it. 

Via Make

Deirdre Wingell made this costume for her son. He's a fan!

Okay, so it's not *my* costume from when I was little. Though I had some fabulous ones, I don't think there are any remaining photos of them.  I have fond memories of my mom catering to bizarre whims though so when my fan-obsessed three year old wanted desperately to be a "fan" for Halloween, we made it happen.

It was definitely a group effort.  My son is now 11, but from the time he was an infant he was completely obsessed with fans for some reason.  We don't know why.  It ended shortly around age 4.  This was all he wanted for that Halloween.  The costume is a margarine dish for the front, a Cool-whip container for the back, foam core for the blades and my husband the engineer made sure everything was angled perfectly.    We couldn't figure out how to get them to stick on so we ran to the store to get velcro tape and I made a harness out of it.  Just cut slits in the plastic tubs and threaded it through, hung them over his shoulders and stabilized it around his back.  It didn't look quite finished, so we sent the pics to my mother in law and she said, "It needs a thing like those old fashioned fans" and she was right - so I went to home depot and found a pull chain and THAT made it.  The pull chain in the front made all the difference in the world.

It was the hit of the neighborhood and it took us about two hours to trick or treat that year.  People were taking pictures, going in for full sized candy bars - you know you have a hit on your hands when that happens.

Thanks, Deidre!

Atlas Obscura is presenting its annual 31 Days of Halloween series, full of spooky and macabre stories about real people, places, and things. Today, we learn about the Cursed Amethyst.

The Delhi Purple Sapphire (which is not a sapphire) was supposedly stolen from the Temple of Indra in Kanpur, India. Afterward, calamities befell every subsequent owner, including several untimely deaths, and all attempts to dispose of the gem only saw it bounce back. One hapless owner gave it to a friend, who committed suicide and willed the stone back to the one who gave it to him! Another owner, convinced of the curse, threw it in a canal, but it was salvaged and returned to the owner. Finally, Edward Heron-Allen locked the stone away in seven boxes, each within another, and locked it in a bank vault. His wishes were that it not be opened until three years after his death.

In 1946, Heron-Allen's instructions were carried out, and the amethyst was donated to the Natural History Museum in London -with a stern warning. Read about the trail of misery left behind by the jewel at Atlas Obscura. 

(Image credit: Allison Meier)

My favorite costume was this one I wore to our local elementary school's Halloween Fun Run. I got many double takes as I ran my 3 miles dressed as Forrest Gump.

What does it take to turn a pumpkin into a word search? Nothing more than a little chalkboard paint, some white stickers and a few sticks of chalk. If you want to really help the scene, then a few wooden blocks, some glue and Scrabble tiles can help complete the theme. Find out all the fine details for completing this look over at Thistlewood Farms.

It's a great alternative to pumpkin carving if you don't like to deal with all the mess or the dangers of carving knives. On the downside, you'll need a good light on these if you want them to be visable to trick or treaters. 

Neatorama presents a guest post from J. Tithonus Pednaud of The Human Marvels. This story is condensed from his forthcoming book After Life: True Tales of the Wandering Dead.

Most famous for his poems Prometheus Unbound, Cenci and Adonis, Percy Bysshe Shelley is widely regarded as a pioneer of the English Romantic movement. It is a place in literary history he shares with his friends and colleagues Lord Byron, John Keats and George Gordon. All four poets died young, within only a few years of one another, but it's the circumstances surrounding the earthly remains of Percy Shelley that are most intriguing.

The fact that his wife, Mary Shelley, kept his withered heart wrapped in silk and pressed in her leather bound copy of Adonis for over 30 years does seem odd - even for the author of Frankenstein. But the truth is that the preservation of her morbid memento is actually the least remarkable part of this true tale especially when one considers the serendipity and obsession involved in securing the heart of Percy after life.

On July 8, 1822 Percy set sail from Leghorn to Lerci in his refurbished boat, The Ariel. It was actually a trip home as the Shelleys had been living in Lerci, Italy for several years. The voyage was only fifty miles across the Gulf of Spezia. However, Percy and his two crewmen were never seen alive again.

At some point, The Ariel was forced under by a squall and all aboard her were drowned. For several days no bodies were found and the story would have ended there if Percy had not met an adventurous seaman by the name of Captain Edward John Trelawny six months earlier.

Percy and Captian Trelawny had become very fast friends in a very short period of time. Trelawny's affection for Percy was so rich that he personally trolled the coast for 10 days until he heard of three bodies that washed ashore.

The bodies had washed ashore in the jurisdiction of three different governments, as Italy was not unified at this time, and so Trelawny had to negotiate with the Lucca, Florence and Pisa governments to access and identify the bodies. Paying bribes out of pocket to circumvent quarantines Trelawny discovered that, in all three locations, law dictated that all bodies washed in from the sea were to be buried immediately. Further, the bodies were to be covered in quicklime to hasten their decomposition for fear of disease.

This meant that the bodies could not be exhumed or transported for a 'proper' English burial.

Want something sweet for Halloween? Then you won't want to miss this fantastic holiday recipe round up from Sugar Kissed. The Oreo Cakester bats are a cute treat that couldn't be simpler, but if you're looking for something a little more complex, try your hand at baking a Frankencake. Personally, I'd like to try my hand at the cinnamon caramel apple pumpkins. Whatever you're into though, there's certainly one recipe here you'll enjoy.

Through the month of October, Neatorama will feature our readers' Halloween costumes of the past. The very first costume picture sent in was this tasty taco! Emily Towers' grandmother made this costume for her.

My grandmother made all my Halloween costumes growing up. She was a very talented seamstress.  For the 4th grade I told her I wanted to be a taco, my favorite food. She was from Hungary, and didn't know what a taco was. But she bought some magazines and did her best down to the sliced tomato pillows. I got to lead the parade at school!

That looks spicy -and adorable. Thanks, Emily!

Send us a picture of your most memorable Halloween costume! Email it to tips@neatorama.com and then look for it on the Halloween Blog during October. The best costumes will win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop!