Halloween Projection: Cloudy with a Chance of Ghosts

Happy Halloween, everyone.  In addition to my love for garage and estate sales, I also have a passion for Halloween.  Occasionally, the streams cross.  Such was the case last weekend. 

I had been looking for a new feature for my Halloween decorations and had come across these projectors from holidayprojector.com.  Essentially, they are rear-projection systems you can place in a window and gives the illusion of ghosts walking around in your house.  The kits cost $269, way more than I was willing to spend on a Halloween prop.

Coincidentally enough, I spied a similar projector in an ad for an estate sale in Des Peres, Missouri.  That's a little bit further than I usually drive, but I was hoping for a bargain.  As it turned out, they wanted $45 for it.  I checked ebay and found with shipping, the same projector costs between $25 and $30.  I told the person running the sale this and despite it being the first day of the sale, they dropped the price to $20 on the spot.

Trick or Treat

Whenever I look through stacks of vinyl at garage and estate sales, I’m always on the lookout for Halloween records.   Christmas records abound, but Halloween records are fairly scarce.  At the same sale where I found the Burger Chef Monster Fun records, I also came across one of my holy grails.  Actually, I have to give credit for both of those finds to a friend who was with me at the time, another vinyl collector who well knows my Halloween passion.

What was on TV - October 28th through November 3rd, 1978

It's time once again for "What was on TV".  For those of you just joining or need a refresher, this is a sporatic feature of this blog.  What is its connection to garage saling?  Nothing at all, but I did get the issues free from a local Freecycle group I belong to, so it kind of fits in with garage sales and getting cool stuff on the cheap.

I've been trying to publish these posts to coincide with the date of the TV Guide and today's is no exception.  From 35 (gasp!) years ago, into television's past we go.

Strangely Enough

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 Hangups

No, I'm not talking about problems people have with Halloween.  I'm talking about those great cardboard diecuts from yesteryear.  If you're old enough, you probably remember them from dime stores, classroom walls and maybe even your own home.  Beistle was the predominant maker of these wall hangings, starting way back in 1900, although it would be a decade before they got into the paper decoration business.  I love the art on these.  Unfortunately, the artists are uncredited and I haven't been able to find a definitive list of artists who worked for Beistle, although H. E. Luhrs who married into the Beistle family and eventually became CEO was one of them.

I found this witch in the basement of an estate sale this past winter.  She stands a staggering 5 foot tall.

Halloween Monster Fun Find

It's always fun to find something extra in the items I buy at garage and estate sales.  Usually, I find them in in books, entrapped for years in the dark of the pages.  It might be a pressed flower, a four-leaf clover, lost love notes or even hidden tardy slips.  Over the summer I even found two $2 bills tucked inside a CB jargon book.

I was at an estate sale a couple of weeks back and found a few Halloween records.  One was "Sounds to Make You Shiver" by Pickwick Records published in 1974.

I'm Cuckoo for Thermo-Serv!

I went to the annual Gramond subdivision garage sale this past week.  It was pretty much a bust.  Participation seems to be dropping in neighborhood sales as was evidenced by this and the Canterleigh Estates sale a few weeks back.  But I didn't come away empty-handed.  I did find this Sonny the Cuckoo Cocoa Puffs Thermo-serv mug for one thin dime.

I'm pretty sure it's vintage and features Sonny in his original striped shirt.

Essentially, these mugs are simply clear plastic, watertight (usually) mugs with a paper insert.  Be warned, they sometimes leak, so take care when washing.  Considering their proliferation, there's remarkably little information about Thermo-serv on the internet.  I think most people have had a Thermo-serv mug in their homes at one time or another.  Those featuring beer labels are probably the most common.  In fact, I have a standing order from a friend to grab any beer-themed Thermo-serv mugs I come across.  Even the Farrah cup I found a few weeks back was a Thermo-serv.  Searching the internet, I found no other examples of the Cocoa Puffs mug or any other cereal-themed Thermo-serv mugs.  Anyone seen one of these before?