Going through the ABCs didn't used to be so terrifying, but then illustrator Mike Boon slapped a horror movie icon's face on each letter and now spelling is the stuff of nightmares.
Actually, there's something cute about a furry W shaped Wolfman, and Freddy Krueger doesn't seem so bad when he's shaped like the letter K.
Link --via Laughing Squid
The creator of this awesome Power Loader costume, like the one Ripley pilots in the scifi classic Aliens, clearly needed a way to get themselves and their baby to safety no matter what sort of heavy objects stood in their way.
If babies figure out how to pilot Power Loaders what's next? Truck driving babies? Baby fighter jet pilots fighting cute little wars over teething biscuits? Beware the baby uprising!
Whatever you think of politics, President Obama, or the upcoming election, you have to hand it to this guy who rigged up a Halloween costume as Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster. At the link, you'll see a different angle that makes it look real. Link
The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers aren't big fans of Halloween, and not because everyday is Halloween to them because they're always wearing a costume because that's too easy.
The real reason they don't like Halloween is the guy they're battling in this video- the Pumpkin Rapper. How do you battle a villain with the power of hip hop on his side? With a terrible rhyme scheme, that's how!
--via Cheezburger
A bunch of kooky seniors from the Greenspring retirement community in Springfield, Virginia got together and put on a show to one of those moldies but goodies called The Monster Mash, you know, the graveyard smash.
My guess is this video will catch on in a flash, and every senior from San Diego to Queens will be doing their own version of that bone rattling Halloween classic!
--via Tastefully Offensive
The blog Pregnant Chicken rounded up a whole slew of pumpkins and Jack O'Lanterns that were arranged and carved in such a way as to illustrate a pumpkin giving birth. Many of them appear to be from obstetrician's offices and maternity wards, because they need Halloween decorations, too! Be warned that as funny as they are, some images may be a little too graphic for the very young or very sensitive. Link
By baking a bunch of cookies and then gluing them together with frosting to make a box, you can easily make great cookies filled with spooky cookie treats filled with delicious candy treats.
Redditor coffee_IV won a costume contest with this lovely version of Sissy Spacek's character in the movie Carrie. I love the suspended bucket of blood! She said the whole costume cost about $15 to make. I bet her mother warned her before she went to the contest that they were all going to laugh at her. Link
This cake is absolutely adorable, but with a face that cute making a sad puppy dog expression on top -I don't think I'd ever be able to cut into it.
Although European vampire panics died out in the 1700s, America had its share of scares in the 1800s, particularly in New England, and particularly during outbreaks of tuberculosis. Some of the dead were dug up and killed a second time, just to make sure.
The particulars of the vampire exhumations, though, vary widely. In many cases, only family and neighbors participated. But sometimes town fathers voted on the matter, or medical doctors and clergymen gave their blessings or even pitched in. Some communities in Maine and Plymouth, Massachusetts, opted to simply flip the exhumed vampire facedown in the grave and leave it at that. In Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont, though, they frequently burned the dead person’s heart, sometimes inhaling the smoke as a cure. (In Europe, too, exhumation protocol varied with region: Some beheaded suspected vampire corpses, while others bound their feet with thorns.)
Often these rituals were clandestine, lantern-lit affairs. But, particularly in Vermont, they could be quite public, even festive. One vampire heart was reportedly torched on the Woodstock, Vermont, town green in 1830. In Manchester, hundreds of people flocked to a 1793 heart-burning ceremony at a blacksmith’s forge: “Timothy Mead officiated at the altar in the sacrifice to the Demon Vampire who it was believed was still sucking the blood of the then living wife of Captain Burton,” an early town history says. “It was the month of February and good sleighing.”
Yes, it happened in several states, a lot more often than one would suspect in 19th-century America. Read about these incidents in Smithsonian magazine's extensive article about American vampires. Link -via The Week
The yearly tradition of celebrating All Hallow’s Eve, or Halloween as we know it today, is thought to’ve begun in the 19th century when Scottish and Irish immigrants brought the holiday with them to North America.
Today it’s more than just a harvest themed holiday, it’s a day of wearing costumes, getting your neighbors to give you candy and decorating your house to show you’re the spookiest person on the block. Let’s take a look back and see how Halloween became the holiday we know and love today.
Photo: ABC Television/Wikimedia Commons
Let's start things off with a Halloween themed publicity still from the 1970 television series Nanny and the Professor. Not sure if the kids were intentionally trying to look creepy, but if so then they've succeeded!
Photo: Johnny Cupcakes
What a cute bunch of bunnies! Or are they bats? Naw, they're cute little bunnies, you can tell by their fluffy little tails. How…adorable?!
Photo: Shorpy
Imagine trick-or-treating in 1957 and being greeted at the door by this terrifying goofball...does this count as a trick or a treat?
Photo: IMLS Digital Collections & Content/Wikimedia Commons
A whole bunch of folks from the High Point Housing Project in Seattle, Washington celebrated Halloween, 1943 in the community hall. Where are all the men? Possibly off fighting overseas, as this picture was taken in the era of World War II.
Photo: Ruth Edna Kelley/Wikimedia Commons
“No Hallowe'en Without Jack-o'-Lantern” is the title of this photo from The Book Of Hallowe'en, circa 1919. These guys are so proud of their handiwork that they’re setting their pumpkins on the roof for everyone to see.
I wouldn't typically think of Death Becomes Her when I think about zombie movies, but it certainly is when you think about it -and, of course, it is a great movie. If you're trying to think up a good selection of movies for your Halloween horror movie marathon, this list of the best zombie movies ever should definitely help inspire you.
Awww, little Wednesday, I bet you were born with that great hair -you are an Addams after all. Of course, this is just one of the many great geeky baby costumes io9 found on the net.
