Melted Plastic Popcorn Witches

 I picked up these melted plastic popcorn witches together at a sale a couple years ago.  Apparently, I never posted them.

Atari Haunted House

I was late to the Atari craze.  Its popularity was already declining when my parents broke down and bought me one, likely because it was finally affordable.

I didn't have a whole lot of cartridges; again, that affordability thing.  After all, if memory serves, cartridges still cost about $30 in 1983.  So, often, I would borrow cartridges from friends.

I distinctly remember borrowing this Atari cartridge from a friend in high school in the Fall of that year.  I thought a cartridge called "Haunted House" would certainly augment and enhance my Halloween experience.  It did to varying degrees of success.  I wandered around the blocky maze that stood in for a house, usually in the dark, encountering digitized creatures that required some suspension of belief to see them for what they were supposed to be and never did win.  I think I only had it for a week or two and the day soon came when I had to return it.  I recently rediscovered it at an estate sale.  

Halloween Revisited -- Strangely Enough

I'm reaching back into the past once more today, this time to 2013.  Again, I didn't participate in the Countdown to Halloween until 2014, so hopefully this is something new for you.  And let me apologize for the numerous changes in font and text size.  Blogger doesn't have an easy way to repost past posts without copying and pasting which doesn't work well.

There's no shortage of television programs profiling weird happenings and ghostly occurrences these days, particularly this time of year.  Shows like Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum,  Syfy's Destination Truth, Biography's My Ghost Story, History Channel's Monster Quest  and countless others satisfy even the most rabid paranormal fan's appetite.  I have to admit I'm a sucker for those kind of shows.  I've been drawn to them since I was a child watching Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of "and Jack Palance's "Believe it...OR NOT!"  Prior to those shows, similar tales were often compiled in books such as  the one I found at an estate sale some time ago.

Halloween Revisited -- The Devil, You Say?

I dropped the ball today, so I'm introducing a new feature for this year called "Halloween Revisited".  This isn't a "best of", it's more of a "hey, what have I already posted in past years that people may not have seen or remember?"

This one dates back to 2011 prior to my participating in the Countdown to Halloween.

It's rare to find cherubic devils, but here we are.  I found this guy at a garage sale way back when (when you could still find decent vintage items at garage sales at affordable prices)

Beistle Wiggling Witch

I hit a pretty good sale with some nice vintage Halloween diecuts this past Spring.  Oddly enough, there was only one other person looking through them. Unfortunately, that person got there just before me and grabbed some of the best pieces.  They left behind any that were damaged, so I was glad to save those.  The damage doesn't bother me.  This one has some tape tears, but I think it still looks great.

While the piece isn't marked, I can see by the art that it's a Beistle and various auctions for this piece corroborate that, at least for what that's worth.  It was also suggested she dates from the 1940's which I would agree with. I couldn't find her in either of my reference books.  

The witch stands 14" tall and is jointed at the neck and waist, allowing her to perform a nice little jig when wiggled.

Monster Maker Game

Today we look at "Monster Maker" by Whitman (Western Publishing) from 1977.  While this game isn't as cool as the Mighty Men & Monster Maker I found back in 2019, I can see how this could be fun for the pre-school to about 6 years old set; the game recommends ages 4 to 8, but I can see a 7 or 8 year old getting bored with it.

I found this particular game out of the box with just the lid cut out.  I'm not quite sure why that would have been done unless the box was damaged severely.

Halloween -- It's My Bag, But It's Lookin' Mighty Empty

Greetings, greetings fellow Halloweeners!

How can it be that time of year has rolled around once again?

This is my 13th (*gasp*) year with The Countdown.  Will it be unlucky? Well...

If this past year's finds were Halloween treats, I got a rock.

I'm not saying I didn't find some gems among the rocks, not a to mention a grail I've been on the hunt for for years, but they were few and far between.

As lamented in the past, it's getting harder and harder to find vintage Halloween at garage and estate sales. Most people are privy to the collector's market now and for those that aren't, Google reverse imaging has made it a no-brainer when identifying collectability and value.

But let's not let that spoil our bag of joy this year.

As is tradition, my first post will be some Trick or Treat bags I've found over the past year, starting with this 1970's bag by Austin Art, a subsidiary of Hazelle, Inc Kansas City, Missouri.