Haunted: Halloween ’86 - Spirit Edition

 

RETURN TO POSSUM HOLLOW
October 31st 2025: On a quiet evening in Possum Hollow, two kids are looking for the perfect Donny and Tami costumes. On a quest to dress up as their heroes, Steven and Kym venture into a Spirit Halloween, but just as they put on the costumes, they’re surprised by Jack the Reaper who plummets them through a vortex back to 1986 to relive the infamous nightmare that Donny and Tami endured

Jack the Reaper has taken over Possum Hollow with a few old friends and they are having so much fun, it’s scary. To find their way home our heroes must battle all sorts of evil and there is nowhere to hide…

SAVE HALLOWEEN!
Teamwork is the key to returning to 2025 in time to trick-or-treat. Steven and Kym must work together to overcome spooky obstacles, climb through chaos, dodge pumpkins and destroy enemies before they come face to face with Spirit Halloween’s finest. With exciting challenges, insane surprises, and a sweet soundtrack…

Are you ready to return to Possum Hollow? Join the fun and grab a limited-edition physical copy of the game while online-only supplies last! This game is compatible with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and select Retron consoles.

I will freely admit that I rarely ever buy anything from Spirit Halloween. It's nothing against them, I just don't have a need for any of the horror tchotchkes or cartoon-y animatronics that they sell. Of course, this never stops me from hitting up the local Spirit each October just to see their offerings...

But in this case, I think I'm going to make an exception. Because Spirit recently released Haunted: Halloween ’86 - Spirit Edition, a full retro-inspired 8-bit (Spirit) Halloween game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. This is absolute marketing genius. 

I'm definitely a sucker for anything "nostalgic Halloween" and by the looks of the fun gameplay below, I'll be heading over to mom's house to dig out the old original NES system from her basement and dropping this one in to give it a try!

Haunted: Halloween ’86 - Spirit Edition is back in stock after selling out the first batch and available here.

  

Laughing Hands - "Ledge"

Back at it with another great ambient release to get us into that dark Halloween mood. This time from Laughing Hands, an Australian experimental group and their 1980 release, Ledge. I recently discovered this track through ZoydRa's incredible YouTube channel, choc full of rare and obscure ritual, ambient and industrial releases.

This one really nails that droning, creepy Halloween ambient feel. Maybe not what they were originally going for way back in 1980, but it still sounds so modern today. Definitely one to add to your Halloween playlist. Enjoy!

  

ARISE!!! (The 2025 Redux)

An eternity of cold, lifeless slumber is abruptly shattered. Movement stirs within the undead crypt as frantic reanimation courses through once stagnant flesh. A distant bell beckons from the darkness, tolling the seasons’ metamorphosis. The tomb’s stone slab lid slides ever so slightly releasing a fiery amber glow. This awakening cannot be stopped, will not be stopped! A withered hand jolts skyward, breaking the silence of eternal rest. Blood red eyes cast a manic gaze into the blackened depths of a cold autumn night. And locked in the incessant grip of insatiable voracity… I rise from my grave.

I originally posted this in 2022, but it's more relevant now than ever. I took another extended break from all things Halloween (just for the sake of my sanity) and had planned on making my triumphant return just in time for TransWorld. And Half Way To Halloween. And again for the Midwest Haunters Convention. And then again for the 4th of July...

But it kept getting pushed back because I just didn't feel "ready." The full commitment wasn't there, so I just kept kicking the can down the road. Until the "100 Days 'Til Halloween" posts appeared. Damn. The alarm bells began ringing and the decrepit old voice buried deep in the back of my rotting brain whispered, "It's time..."

A small but fiery glow from a single candle cracked the darkness of the Cemetery and reanimation began the yearning toward those chilled nights of Autumn.

The planning begins again as I revisit the long list of new ideas and old repairs. The full transition will continue over the next few weeks as the stream of all things Halloween begins to flow, but for now the seal of the grave has been broken and things are once again stirring at Highbury Cemetery...

100 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

Fröhliche Krampusnacht!

Photo courtesy of Liv Rainey-Smith/Xylographilia.

It's Krampusnacht, and that means that all of the bad children will be visited by Krampus tonight! Krampus, the Christmas Devil and evil counterpart of St. Nicholas, is a cloven-hooved, goat-demon that punishes bad children with a lash of his birch branched switch, then transports them to Hell inside the wicker basket upon his back.

Have you been good this year?

Enjoy these images of Krampus from various European Krampuslauf parades. I'll be writing more about these parades in an upcoming post!

Photo courtesy of Bernhard Knaus/MeinBezirk.

Photo courtesy of Spajzgirl.

Photo courtesy of Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Photo courtesy of Matej Divisna/Getty Images.

Photo courtesy of Fest300/Krampusnacht 2013.

Photo courtesy of Marktgemeinde Wölbling.

Photo courtesy of daili.it.

  

Sublimatio Mortis - "Nox Entis"

The Halloween display is all put away. The golden, orange, and brown leaves have all fallen from the trees. The last of the sun-warmed days of Autumn are gone. We now look ahead to the desolation of winter.

A perfect track to usher in the changing of the season. Cold, dark, and grating. Welcome, winter!

Enjoy.

2024 Pumpkin Dump Video

Just a quick Instagram video to share from this year's Pumpkin Dump. Another successful drop at another local, abandoned house. They really do make a great backdrop!

Enjoy!

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