It's Gotta Be Halloween... sooner or later

"It's Gotta Be Halloween"~ Chuck E. Cheese

(it's a banger)

Weekly Halloween~ Let's Get Creepy

Spooky robots make for wonderful pre-Halloween game, but it also let's me tell you about this summer I got. For you, that is. Thinking about that variety I speak so highly of, I thought it'd be a good time to make a return of the Spooky Summer posts as a source of mid-week thrills. With Beast Summer starting next week, it seems like a good time to give Weekly Halloween a little break before the Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem goes into full sensory annihilation in August. So while we're enjoying the Beast Summer with bomb pop ice cream, fireworks, and watermelon (summer pumpkin), let's not forget.

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Weekly Walpurgis~ Wario in 3D

Walpurgis Night is a wonderful time for all things spooky, and seeing how Mario is on everybody's mind lately... Hey, know what rhymes with Mario? WARIO! Back before he was all burps and farts, Nintendo liked to sell Wario as something sinister as this commercial shows. The Virtual Boy had it's faults as YouTubers who never played one will tell you, but it had some good games and this was definitely one of them.

毎週のハロウィ~ーン レッドアリーマー 魔界村外伝

ごおおおお世紀末！

赤い炎の伝説が、ゲームーボーイに蘇る！

レッドアリーマー：魔界村外伝！

Weekly Halloween~ A Good Car

One thing that always gets me in horror movies is that nobody ever seems to own a decent car. Don't get me wrong, I've had to make do with a few less than quality rides myself at times. However, most slasher movies star college kids from obviously wealthy families. Think those big group trips to a cabin are cheap? However they're all seemingly driving the most clunker ass car... I guess it's the same logic that nobodies cell phone ever has signal once the bad guy shows up.

Weekly Halloween~ Alone in the Woods

The woods can be kinda creepy. I mean, yeah, nature is wonderful and all... but you know. Sometimes there's just random noises that come out from some woods and no matter how much you try to explain it away... you're still creeped out. With all the bad stuff that can happen it's only a matter of time before things get spooky.

Weekly Halloween~ Ouija for kids!

I've talked about board game manufacturers dabbling in the occult before, but it's really a long standing tradition. Variations of the talking board date back thousands of years, but none are more famous in the present than the Ouija board. Basic spirit summoning with the risk of opening a portal to hell is available as close as your nearest Target. Even today it has an aura of mystery and a forbidden nature. I guess it's all fun and games until Zozo shows up.

Weekly Halloween~ Witchy Ways

Ever see a witch? The town I loved in for a few years had one. She seemingly lived under a bridge in the town square. There was several accounts of her performing spells in the Post Office parking lot, dancing around small fires made of sticks and roadkill. I saw her once shaking some beads at a building. Was she just a crazy person loose in the streets? Maybe, but I wasn't sticking around to find out.

Weekly Halloween~ The Haunted Toys R Us

There's several certain things you'll experience depending on your generation. Several of us all know that copy of Frampton Comes Alive every bodies parents had. If you're a Transformers fan of a certain age, you're well acquainted with cardboard boxes full of one dollar Flip Changers at old BotCons. If you're into the paranormal... you've heard about the haunted Toys R Us. It's one of those ghost stories that just stays around, but not without reason. It's a pretty good story and there's something charming about a ghost in a toy store. Creepily so, sure, but there's just something neat about it. In another time it would have been a children's movie.

Weekly Halloween~ Men's Magazines

If I told you this was a magazine ad... you probably wouldn't believe me. Thanks to the general oldness of the production, it just looks like something straight out of the dark web. But no, the Rokurokubi is just there to sell us on this men's magazine. Honestly I'm a little lost on why they went this route, but you'll never see me complain about Yokai appearing in any media.

Dang, feels like I got cursed just watching it though.

Weekly Halloween~ A Fine Day

It's been awhile since I've talked about the Cursed Kleenex commercial, and since it's cold and flu season... Depending on who you ask, this commercial is cursed. Allegedly the entire crew died after making it. Allegedly bad things will happen if you watch it at midnight (don't worry, this posted at 12:01). From what I've heard, this isn't the actual cursed commercial. One from the 70's is and the urban legend moved onto this one instead. An article in a popular magazine was talking about it around the same time this ad was airing and the curse got passed on. Regardless, the song is uncomfortable.

Weekly Halloween~ The Veda Board

When it comes to spooky board games, everyone always points to the Ouija Board. Of course there's a good reason for that. It's older than dirt with spirit boards dating back thousands of years. There's countless reports of hauntings, possessions, and someone's cousin yelling "you're moving it" during a sleepover. There are many other 'games' available for a scary game night. Veda, The Magic Answer Man by Pressman Toy Corp was released in the 1950's. Veda was a fortune teller who'd answer your questions with magnets powering his movements. Sure, it was a silly novelty... but how often did he end up being right? Nothing says family fun like dabbling in the occult I suppose.

Weekly Halloween~ Is someone in there?

Ever go into a room and feel like someone else is in there, despite knowing you're alone? It's weird huh? I remember this one building I worked at. One of the offices was mostly empty but you never felt alone in there. It was a bit intimidating, like I needed to leave. It was probably just my imagination or maybe emotions from a repressed memory. It's just weird. Kinda like today's video. I don't think I've ever walked into a hotel room and felt like it was empty.

Weekly Halloween~ Ghostly Mansion

I'll never live in a mansion. Sure, it would be nice, but that's not the life I was meant to live. It's probably for the best as mansions seem to breed ghost stories. The Haunted Mansion at Disney, the Haunted Mansion at Long Beach, and the Haunted Kreischer Mansion in New York. Just one look at that thing and you know something spooky is going on.

Weekly Halloween~ The Haunted Castle

I love classic horror. There's charm and emotion that's missing in modern horror. When it comes to really old, like super old silent movies... I'm absolutely enthralled. There's a layer of weirdness that cannot be replicated. It's in part to the techniques used at the time, the weird frame rates of early cameras, and well... the cursed nature of the films. Am I watching honest entertainment, or something from the dark web that'll unleash a demon into my house?

Weekly Halloween~ What's the cat looking at?

Every think you saw something? We all have, and that's the basis for a lot of ghost stories. We either write it off as the lights from a car or a demon straight from hell in the living room. When it comes to animals acting strange though, that's another matter. If they're staring at the floor intently... there's something there. Maybe a bug got in or a piece of fuzz floated by... or that demon is actually in the living room. That's the creepy thing when your pet stares at seemingly nothing. They're looking at something, or someone.

Weekly Halloween~ The Enchanted World

No matter how much modern paranormal TV I watch, they can never match the vibes these old productions would give off. Something as simple as a commercial for one of these awesome Time Life Books series made them seem downright forbidden as a kid. You just knew some serious shit was inside and reading them could possibly spell out certain doom. Between these and Mysteries of the Unknown, Time Life Books really had their finger on the pule of the occult... or so it seemed. I can't tell you how many times I've read through these in a waiting room or borrowed from a library. One day I'd like to get a complete set.

Weekly Halloween~ Won't you take me to Spooky Town?

Real ones know Halloween doesn't end. Oh, sure, the actual holiday comes to an end... but everything that goes into it never stops. November 1st is the clock resseting for next year. January is when many companies start soliciting their wares for the upcoming season. Octobers maybe 10 months away, but it takes alot of early planning to get all that scary stuff in stores by then. It's a lot of fun for somebody like me who loves and breathes the holiday all year... and I'm assuming you reading this as the spooky stuff gets the most site hits.

Leemax has recently unveiled their 2023 Spooky Town lineup. Spooky Town is a Halloween tradion for most that is part of the early seasonal kick off that starts showing up late summer during Code Orange mania. This year looks to be a banner year for the town where all things are spooky.

I'm particuallry intersted in the 'Trick or Treat, if you dare' house. It's a wonderful suburban house decorated for Halloween with a home haunt in the garage. Simple, but perfectly represents the holiday. The 'Full Moon Diner' is a resturant staffed by werewolves. It's a silly take on those greasy all night joints straight out of an episode of Goosebumps. 'Skeleton Cottage' is a simple shack, like the ones you might find on the side of a rural road. However excellently themed with pumpkins and constructed partially with bones. It's a pretty artistic design is impressivley well done. There's a lot to see on the site and I'm sure more will be unveiled as the year goes by. I'm pretty fond of the smaller figure sets meant to populate your own Spooky Town with scary civilians. It's just the beginning of the year as I'm writing this, but Halloween is already off to a great start.

Weekly Halloween- Diese Fahrt ist scheiße

I'm more of a dark ride guy. I like the theming and the spectacle, so when a roller coaster gets any kind of theming... it's a good thing in my eyes. But a scary roller coaster? Ok. Vampire's commercial really sells the idea with the spooky graveyard and the scary bats. It's like a little classic horror short and even the parks mascot gets in on the act! I watched some ride on videos of the coaster and it whips you through a heavily tree covered area and around the old tiny Belgium village area of the park. I really hope some guy dressed as Dracula makes occasional appearances during night time rides.

Weekly Halloween- The Christmas Witch

Everyone will bring up Krampus each year. It's to be expected during such a happy and cheery time. Real ones know about Christmas time monsters that terrorize kids and adults alike during the most wonderful time of the year. It used to be time for scary stories after all. Probably one of the most fun Christmastime creeps would be Gryla, the Christmas Witch. In Iceland, she's believed to take naughty children back to her cave and eat them. Her story goes back a long time and has several variations thought history, but that's the general gist of it.

She's not alone either, her kids (or brothers depending on story) tend to cause all sorts of troubles in the homes of these naughty children. They eat the kids back at the cave along with Gryla and her lazy husband. Just like most witches, Gryla has a cat who eats those that didn't get new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. Suddenly all those socks and crappy sweaters from grandparents don't seem so bad. I think whats really funny, is that thanks to so many parents using Gryla as a way to scare their children into behaving, it was actually against the law for a while. Gryla is still somewhat a common mythological character that terrorizes Iceland during Christmas. That says something to her spookiness that she's been around so long and still somewhat a real world terror to those who hear about her every Christmas. Happy Holidays... if you survive.