If you're creepy and you know it, clap your hands!
Vol. 7
Admit it. You are desperately waiting for signs of Autumn, aren't you? Spotting that first display of pumpkin scented candles, the aisle of black wreaths and fake gourds. Seeing the orange backdrops going up in the seasonal aisle as the bags of Smarties and candy corn are tossed out to give us weirdos something to snatch up like Precious. It's time to start the Halloween hunting.
Try to keep the crazed look from your face.
Today we're going to seek out the shops that give us some holiday scares all year. They're the real heroes.
Year Round Halloween Shops
Halloween Town
These are real life, brick and mortar Halloween shops that carry costumes, home décor and collectibles. Some lean more towards family fun, others are definitely for the adult horror fan. They are open year round, so you can always get your Halloween fix.
*Halloween Town - With more than 20 years in the business, this place has a huge inventory. It's actually broken up into three buildings. The original shop houses props, home décor, books and clothing. The costume shop includes make-up and wigs, while the kid's shop is just that.
They also carry Rob Zombie collectibles and Rick Baker's limited edition artwork prints.
The original shop is located at 2921 Magnolia Blvd., Burbank, Ca., with the other locations on the same street. They have what I would call a “vintage” looking website. www.halloweentownstore.com
*Crypt Keepers Halloween Emporium- Located in Sterling Heights, Michigan, this place has some unusual collectibles, such as Elvira and Coraline figurines, movie collection cut-outs, a Texas Chainsaw Massacre jigsaw puzzle, and a Mask of the Month Club.
33249 Van Dyke Ave., Sterling Heights, MI www.cryptkeepershalloween.com
*Screamers- Not far from Crypt Keepers, so you can make an afternoon of it. Screamers carries a monster collection of women's sandals, Ben Nye theatrical make-up, monster movie tiki mugs and one cool boxed Bela Lugosi mask.
35431 Southbound Gratiot Ave. Clinton Township, MI www.screamerscostumes.com
*Halloween Club- While they do carry costumes for the whole family, including a Holly Golightly dog costume, you'll find some really scary home décor here. A soup bowl of floating body parts? Yes. How about a skull and spinal cord beer funnel? Can't pass that up. I find the licorice scented wax skulls necessary.
14447 Firestone Blvd., La Mirada, Ca. www. halloweenclub.com
*Halloween Emporium and Haunted Tea Room- If you've read my past posts, you saw pics from my visit here. Coffees, teas and candy, all with a ghostly or monster theme, and toys, clothing, and home décor for the sweeter side of Halloween. I'm digging the “Goblins and Ghouls” soy candle I bought, it smells like rich buttercream frosting.
4555 S. Ft Apache Rd, Suite 106, Las Vegas, NV www.halloween-emporium.com
*Ballyhoo Curiosity Shop- Not specifically a Halloween shop though they do carry vintage Halloween décor, but this shop is like walking into a creaky, long abandoned Victorian house. You'll find unsmiling daguerreotype images on the walls, skulls, horns, specimens, and that old wooden cabinet of porcelain dental crowns you'd been wanting. It's located in the Ballard neighborhood.
5445 Ballard Ave., Seattle, WA www. ballyhooseattle.com
Let me know about other year round Halloween shops. Being creepy never stops.
Spooky News
By now you're seeing some Autumn spreading into the stores, even if it's just a few pumpkin candles. Here are some recent sightings that are coming to me from different parts of the country:
Bath & Body Works has their Autumn/Halloween products in store.
Hallmark is putting up their seasonal products.
Ross is slowly putting out Autumn.
JoAnn Fabrics has their seasonal fabrics out.
At Home has started putting Autumn up.
Cracker Barrel has Autumn & Halloween up.
Spirit Stores has a whole slew of new animatronics. See them here:
Netflix has the trailers for the Tim Burton series Wednesday available. Also, the trailer for The Midnight Club from the producers of The Haunting of Hill House.
Rob Zombie's The Munsters will be released on DVD on September 27th, and will be available on Netflix a few weeks later.
Spooky Booky
Help For the Haunted by John Searles
William Morrow, 2013
Set in the late 80's-early 90's and told by Sylvie, the youngest member of the Mason family. Her parents are unusual, a fact that their community realizes once the media outs Sylvester and Rose Mason as paranormal investigators. It begins with newspaper articles, followed by a dreaded book, which discloses that they not only seek out haunted items as investigators, but also offer their expertise as faith healers. Sylvester and Rose truly believe in possession and spirits, filling their basement with evil objects they've removed from clients, including an especially scary rag doll.
This paranormal work marks Sylvie and her teenage sister, Rose Jr., as weirdos to their classmates, and Rose Jr. is nothing short of enraged that her parents are so weird and cause the family to be the target of pranks and ridicule. But young Sylvie gets the brunt of the family trauma. Easy-going by nature, her sister's behavior obligates Sylvie to always be accommodating even when it's unfair.
From the very beginning the reader knows that Sylvie's parents have been murdered and that Sylvie witnessed some of what happened, this isn't a spoiler. But since the Masons took on the burden of several sick strangers, mostly because Sylvester was interested in the fame "curing" these people would bring him, there were several different scenarios that might have happened in that dark church. Who was there, who was the instigator, and what becomes of everybody and everything the Masons leave behind?
This story is loosely based on real-life paranormal investigators couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, who ran an occult museum out of their house and owned the “Annabelle” doll. It's an intense tale of paranormal beliefs overlapped with the dysfunction of a family that may have multiple sources of the chaos. The reader is provided a little more information bit by bit as Sylvie tries to figure out what's happening.
Scare Scale: 3
Witch's Cauldron Cupcake
The Creature Is Home
The water is lovely
you could float there all day
treading slowly, gracefully
the air is cooling, causing you to shiver
just a little.
The last of the golden day is dissolving
you close your eyes as a light breeze ruffles your hair
and a strand of seaweed tickles your ankle.
You smile and wave to your friends on shore
how nice of them to have-
the seaweed is wrapping around your calf, and somehow
your thigh.
It's suddenly so tight
and something is scratching your belly
you're yanked down hard
before you can inhale a breath
yanked down
grasped by your arms
yanked down
face to face
green scales, gills, wide toothless mouth
of course you try to scream
of course the water rushes in
but the creature doesn't let go
it holds you underwater
both of you now with gulping mouths
and bulging eyes
facing each other.
The water is so black now
has night fallen
or have you hit bottom?