Like most kids who lived in Southern California in the early 80’s, I grew up watching horror TV’s hostess with the mostest Elvira. I loved Elvira and still do. Last year I learned of another such TV horror host that was slightly before my time but every bit as influential. His name was John Zacherle but most people knew him as Zacherley The Cool Ghoul. Continue reading
Hey fellow ghouls! This year I decided to create a Halloween advent calendar just for fun. I wanted something to help remind me of all the cool things to do during my favorite month. I’m calling it The October Calendar. You can click on each day and a surprise will be inside. You might find ideas for activities, food and treats or spooky Halloween quotes. Let me know what you think of it.
Here’s the link: The October Calendar
Enjoy!
On any given weekend in October I’m usually rushing to build some kind of Halloween prop for my yard haunt. You know what really motivates me to work? Sounds weird but I love listening to either ambient Halloween music or a creepy old horror movie playing in the background on TV. It really gets me into the “spirit” of the season. Last weekend I watched several movies and decided to start doing a new series for the Ghoulie Guide called Horror Movie Roundup. In each roundup I’ll discuss the cool, creepy and just plain weird parts three horror films. In this debut episode we’ll talk about The Fly (1986), Carnival of Souls (1962), and The Omen (1976). Continue reading
The first few years of my Halloween yard haunt I realized that people really liked taking pictures inside my graveyard. I guess I should take that as a compliment but the problem was that people were walking over tombstones, tripping over wires and god forbid if someone got burned from accidentally touching the hot flood lights. It’s just too dangerous to have people in there and I didn’t want them to break any of my props. I decided to solve the problem by building a gate to surround my Halloween yard haunt. I’ll show you how you too can build a simple yet effective Halloween cemetery gate. Continue reading
In every city and town in America there are scores of unique Halloween events during the month of October. As I was throwing out some of my never-ending junk mail I saw an upcoming event that looks really cool. This year El Camino Community College in Torrance California will be celebrating the bicentennial celebration of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein in an event called Frankenstein 200. There will be music, panel discussions, an art exhibit, a screening of the 1931 classic film and even a ghost story writing contest! Sounds like a blast! Keep reading to get all the juicy details for this one of a kind event. Continue reading