Here are just a few of the rare ghost illustrations I’ve collected over the years.
We’ll start with a favorite specter!
I love seeing the way different illustrators represent the dearly (and not-so-dearly) departed.
Hat tip to Frank Zumbach for posting a number of these!
I won’t be typing much in the near future, due to a bad nerve pain flare in my hands, but will still try to post if possible.
Harrison Greeting Cards has released re-prints of vintage Halloween cards, most of which range from the 1920’s-1960’s (at reasonable prices)!
Check out these polymer clay renditions of classic horror movie posters by Clay Disarray.
What movie poster would you like to see get the clay disarray makeover?
There are even more on the official Instagram account than the website!
I just added this perfect piece of October reading to my wish list. It looks fantastic!
Chris Woodyard, author of the The Ghosts of the Past series, digs through long-buried newspapers and journals, for this fascinating look at the 19th-century obsession with the culture of death. The Victorian Book of the Dead unearths extraordinary tales of Victorian funeral fads and fancies, ghost stories, bizarre deaths, mourning novelties, gallows humor, premature burial, post-mortem photographs, death omens, and funeral disasters. Resurrected from original sources, these accounts reveal the oddities and eccentricities of Victorian mourning. Packed with macabre anecdotes, this diverting, yet gruesome collection presents tales ranging from the paranormal and shocking to the heartbreaking.
I took the liberty of grabbing screen shots of the table of contents.
Is this something you could see yourself reading?
Due to hand pain, I’m going to quote my source article to describe this awesome opportunity.
For its Halloween contest, Airbnb offers you to sleep with Dracula by opening the doors of a castle in Transylvania.
Guests will enjoy a deep sleep, lying comfortably in their coffin, installed in a wet and dark crypt.
Located in the misty forests of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, this unusual hotel room will be available the night of October 31 only, and you have until October 26, 2016 to participate.
Airbnb logo on the coffin pillow…nice touch.
I always like to do an Oriental Trading Co. roundup this time of year. Here are my favorite offerings from the 2016 catalogue.
Big Top Terror Cardboard Stand-Up
I love all their Day of the Dead offerings. This is the basic design.
Day of the Dead Skull Wall Decoration
I handmade a version of these years ago. Not your grandma’s die-cuts.
Bloody Weapon Cutouts
And if you’re looking for something kid friendly, there are adorable Halloween Owl Favor Boxes
Creepy Co. has released a series of enamel Beistle pins for Halloween this year, and they are awesome!
Bonus pin: cemetery winged skull!
Thank you, Colleen, for sharing this quintessential horror soundtrack instrument with me!
The Waterphone, invented by Richard Waters, has been used in countless horror movie soundtracks.
Waterphones are stainless steel and bronze monolithic, one-of-a-kind, acoustic, tonal-friction instruments that utilize water in the interior of their resonators to bend tones and create water echos. In the world family of musical instruments, the Waterphone is between a Tibetian Water Drum, an African Kalimba (thumb piano) and a 16th century Peg or Nail Violin. Each Waterphone is custom made using a hot metal process developed over the past 40 years. The tonal rods are tuned to a combination of micro-tonal and diatonic relationships presented in two distinct but intergrated scales having both even and uneven increments.
Take a listen!
Apparently, there are many imitation Waterphones being produced and sold all over the world, but the creator states that they are a rather “sad” rendition, and lack the depth and nuance of the real thing.
Vincent Price’s voice can make absolutely anything sound ominous with a twist of undeniable sophistication, as evidenced by this 1974 commercial for children’s vitamins.
Some might say he “sold out” with product endorsements like these. But I think he knew how (comically) amazing various products would be with his iconic presence behind them. I like to believe he enjoyed the irony.
If you’re feeling particularly masochistic today, you can listen to one side of the “Monster Vitamins Record.” But…you’ve been warned.
SheWalksSoftly 