GROUNDHOG ATE OUR HALLOWEEN PUMPKINS

Where was Carl Spackler when we needed him?

Every October, at our old house, the first lady and I always put out a nice harvesty display in the front yard as seen in this 1998 photo taken the day after Halloween.


One evening after a weekend trip, we noticed all of our pumpkins were spread around the front yard. My first thought was, “those darn prankster kids.” After examining the pumpkins we were shocked to see they were hollowed out and missing all of their gooey guts. We could tell from the teeth marks that some type of critter gorged themselves on our soon to be Jack O’Lanterns.

We had no choice but to buy another batch of pumpkins and set ‘em out again. Sure enough our pumpkin bandit showed up once more and this time we caught the little furry booger on video.



Even tho the groundhog and some of his buddies ate the rest of our pumpkins I did manage to save two that I carved into Jack O'Lanterns.

ILLUSTRATED JACKS #14

Taken from an old Halloween Greeting Card.

WATCH A NEW EPISODE OF ASK VLAD

Click here to watch Vlad's newest episode.

PIANO WITCHCRAFT OF CY COLEMAN RECORD ALBUM COVER

FLEA MARKET FRIDAYS #48 Halloween Edition

I found Piano Witchcraft by Cy Coleman out of a dollar bin of albums just in time for the countdown.


I really didn't think I would get a chance to add a Flea Market Fridays post this month. The month is still young, so who knows, maybe I'll get lucky again!

I'M YOUR HUCKLEBERRY

Looks like someone snapped this photo just after the kids came back from trick or treating. That baby with the pumpkin sucker is giving Huckleberry Hound the evil eye. The kid must be a Yogi fan! See the kid in the gold costume that kind of looks like C-3P0?. He's really a moon monster and we'll see him again later this month.

The slide is labeled 1960.

MR. INFLATABLE FLIPPER VISITS A PUMPKIN FARM

Mr. Inflatable Flipper loves the fall season and he always looks for something different to get him into the Halloween spirit. One year he visited a pumpkin farm and this is the picture postcard from that trip. In the photo you can see Mr. Inflatable Flipper enjoying a pumpkin ride!


His kind and helpful hosts were Pappy and Polly Pumpkin, seen here driving the wagon.


For many years, these happy pumpkins were the official mascots for the farm. And they made his day special by giving Mr. Inflatable Flipper a nickel tour of the farm. He saw the giant corn maze, the pumpkin shaped water tower, the baby animal petting zoo and finally the tiny pumpkin home of Pappy and Polly.

His favorite part from this specific visit was the simple time spent inside the home of his pumpkin hosts. They sipped on warm apple cider and chatted many hours into the night. He even made friends with Pappy and Polly’s dogs Muffy and Tuffy who tried to nip and bite him earlier in the day. They thought he was a dog’s chew toy.


Every fall he thinks back to his wonderful joyous time at the pumpkin farm.

On a sad note, he heard that Pappy and Polly Pumpkin were accidently sold to Mrs. Carlyle Snordy. Yes, Mrs. Snordy turned them into pumpkin pies for the fall fair. The good news was that she won two blue ribbons. At least Pappy and Polly went out on top!

1954 DUBBLE BUBBLE AD

Hmm... I'd watch out for this kid. He just might trick you even if you do give him a Dubble Bubble treat!

I WAS A TEENAGE ZOMBIE FROM THE 1980'S

Life is tough for most kids during adolescents, but I had it much worse. When most kids were feeling insecure over their latest acne outbreak, I was feeling insecure that my rotting face was gonna fall off. Yeah, the rumors are true. I was a teenage zombie!



I made the video above by stitching together clips found on some of my old video tapes from the late 1980's. Back when I walked this earth as a teenager, I went through a short phase of wanting to learn all I could about movie make-up. For me it was all about blood, gore and zombies and these clips are the result of those few years.

Watching this old footage is like a time machine for me. At the beginning, the lady opening the door is my beloved grandma. My gore make-up always grossed her out, but she was a big kid herself and she never said no when I put her in one of my silly videos.

The photo below was taken on Halloween night in 1987 and some of the clips in the video is from this night. The guy on the right is my good pal Greg. He’s the one with the Spuds McKenzie shirt and the tranced out eyes. His superb death scene at the end of the video is truly some brilliant acting! The spider web T-shirt guy on the left is my other good pal Jeff. He’s always been the crafty type and he built that mummy in the middle. I had to drive twenty miles in full zombie make-up with that mummy propped up in the front seat of my canary yellow 1976 Ford Elite. I remember getting some strange looks at the stop lights. Good thing it was Halloween night!


See a video clip of our mummy here.

Eventually I grew out of my gory make-up phase sometime in the early 90's, but for those few years it was fun being a teenage zombie from the 1980's!