October 2013 archive

Trash Can Trauma

The year was 1996. That’s when Larry Lund contacted Mid-Island Appliance to obtain some used washing machine solenoids to use for the creation of Halloween props. As it turns out, owner Carl Chetta was also interested in mechanical Halloween decorations and was especially interested in Lind’s plans to pump air through the solenoids instead of …

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So THAT’S what happened to the ‘Transylvania Twist.’

Hanging out on twitter, our good friends at ZombiePumpkins.com asked   Anyone know how to do the Transylvania Twist? That’s my favorite line in the Monster Mash song. I want to revive Drac’s dance. — Zombie Pumpkins! (@ZombiePumpkins) October 19, 2013   I sent him a link to a follow-up that Bobby “Boris” Pickett released, …

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Axworthy Flying Ghost

Although Scott Axworthy created what he called the “ghost flight system” in 1988, it was dubbed as the “Axworthy Flying Ghost” (sometimes known as the “Axeworthy Flying Ghost”) when he posted it on the Halloween-L mailing list in 1995. The name’s popularity was only rivaled by that of the prop itself. After all, what haunter …

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Video Store Day Is Here!

If you’re a movie fan and want to depress yourself sometime, just fire up your search engine of choice and try looking for video rental stores in your area (along with the surrounding areas). Chances are you’ll find either nothing active or one lone holdout serving multiple cities. Everything else is just libraries and rental …

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Fanimatronics

For a long time, the only ways one was told to use an oscillating fan in a haunted house was to either use a hidden one as a source of wind (either blowing on fabric props-such as curtains or ghosts-or directly on the customers) or as a way of making an empty rocking chair seemingly …

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6′+ Episode 78 is Up!

To quote the description given at the new listing: “Our yearly tradition of setting the mood for the creepiest night of the year returns, as this episode features music from Nox Arcana, Midnight Syndicate, Sam Haynes, Ray O’Bannon, Jerry Vayne, Grave Tone Productions and more. You might get more scared by the Monstermatt Minute but …

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How To Detail Haunted House Walls

It’s odd…despite being a Halloween/horror blog, we rarely discuss how to make props for Halloween displays and haunted attractions. And when the subject is discussed, it’s usually focused on printable stuff. As you have probably noticed, we’re slowly changing things around here so that we have more how-to stuff in the mix. As you can …

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Frankenstein’s Castle

Location: 288 Derby Street Salem, MA 01970 (

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It Came From Amazon V

Because when I’m looking for a spooky sound effects CD, I look for one that tries to cash in on the popularity of Lady Gaga. Oh yeah, that won’t be incredibly dated years from now… While we’re on the subject of sound effects CDs, here’s one that seems hellbent on provoking the legal team of …

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Your Costume Makes No Sense

Few regrets this year. I regret not catching Jackson Phibes while he was in New York. I also regret that I missed out on The Nebulas, who I last saw when I caught one of the few East Coast performances of The Ghastly Ones. When I saw the Nebulas, they were decked out in the …

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Even More Links I Like

And You Thought It Was…Safe(?) – Lots of online review shows make you laugh, but this is the only one I can name that also provides insightful commentary and openly celebrates when a movie is good. CthulhuWho1’s Blog – A fantastic resource of Lovecraftian images and audio adaptations (complete with links to free downloads). Watch …

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Halloween Traditions

One of my Halloween Traditions is to basically catch up with Dinosaur Dracula, the site that Matt from X-Entertainment started when he wanted to rebrand his efforts. It’s no surprise that we’re fans of DD here at GdL16, since Matt’s been one of the kings of celebrating the obscure pop culture of the last thirty …

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Quick Makeup Tips and Costume Ideas

If you’re still not sure on what you want to be for Halloween, I’ve assembled a little collection of links that should be of great interest to you. Although I’m a huge fan of Halloween masks, I do have to admit how makeup does have some advantages of wearing makeup instead of a mask. Wearing …

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Be Yourself (Behind A Mask)

At the unofficial kick-off of my Halloween season, I talked with one of the actors of Phantom Creep Theatre, the New York City based horror-hosts whose live shows at Coney Island were the highlight of my first summer as a resident of Gotham. The actor performs as one of the many puppets and costumed characters. …

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It Came From Wikipedia VI

Strange but true: Freddy Krueger is a playable character in Mortal Kombat (Komplete Edition). Sadly, Robert Englund didn’t provide voice work for the character this time around. Speaking of video games, the classic British game Cauldron was originally supposed to be based on the movie Halloween. I was also surprised to learn there’s a comedic, …

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Colder Weather

Something non-fatal but just as jarring affected my alter-ego, which delayed the latest 6ftplus episode. My words also disappeared (these are borrowed.) Do something creepy this weekend. I’ll rejuvenate and get back on my feet.

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