BOO!

Did I scare you?  Heehee! I decided to write a big bumper blog post in honour of Halloween, packed full of spooky, spine-tingling fun. I’m actually a wee bit scared as I sit here writing this, because my sister Cass just Skyped me this Jezebel article asking people to submit their (true?) ghost stories. Aaargh! I’m a sucker for a spooky story…

Have you got any scary stories? Has anything weird, eerie, uncanny, supernatural, unexplainable or delightfully creepy ever happened to you or someone you know? If so, I’d love to read about it – please leave a comment or link me to your story. If you have any recommendations for spooky books or films, I’d love to hear about those too.

I am happy to say I have never seen a ghost (& never want to!), but I do love reading ghost stories & watching spooky movies. I’m really looking forward to the release of The Woman in Black next year. I’ve seen the 1989 telemovie a few times (& read the book & seen the play twice) & I am not ashamed to say it totally freaked me out, it’s really scary (if you happen to be a scaredy-cat, like me).

I thought you might enjoy a few Halloween-themed items from my own collection of vintage magazines. Here’s a recipe for Halloween Cardamon Butter Cookies (from a Meadow Gold ad) taken from the October 1950 issue of Ladies Home Journal. And below, we have a few pages from a wonderful Fancy Dress catalogue from 1938. It’s full of all kinds of whimsical costumes to celebrate the holidays, from Miss Muffet to Mephistopheles.

To further help get you in the Halloween spirit, I’ve posted a couple of my favourite spooky vintage radio plays from the Suspense series. On a Country Road stars Cary Grant & is your classic scary story…stormy night, escaped inmate from the local lunatic asylum, unwise shortcut down a deserted country road, empty petrol tank…you get the picture. It’s fabulous! The second play, Ghost Hunt, is your classic story about a sceptic spending the night in a haunted house. The way he gradually unravels is really well done.

Turn down the lights & click on the images below to listen (each play is about half an hour long).

Photos from Shorpy

I’ll bid you farewell with one of my very favourite cartoons (that terrified me as a kid); Porky & Sylvester spend the night in a haunted house, hilarity ensues…watch it after the jump! Happy Halloween everyone! :)