Why do we get a thrill out of horror films? And what's the deal with poisoned trick-or-treat candy? Those are a couple of the subjects in the Halloween edition of the Mental Floss show Scatterbrained. You'll also hear about a scientist who did research on trick-or-treaters, the inspirations for Stephen King novels, and a 1992 British TV hoax that terrified the audience ..read more

It's a reliable sign of autumn in the modern world. As soon as school starts, a Halloween store will suddenly appear somewhere in town. It stays open for a couple of months, and then closes early in November. It will be back next year, but not necessarily in the same place. How do they manage to do that? All of this would be impossible without the existence of vacant retail properties in need of tenants, even if those tenants only plan on being there for a few weeks. What’s bad for retail is good for Halloween pop-ups, at least to a point. These companies need vacant spaces to fill, but they ..read more

Comedian David Lopez imagined the movie Halloween as if it happened in his house. Michael Meyers is no match for... well, just watch it. Bonus comedy if you are bilingual. This year, he produced the sequel. There are other videos where Lopez (Juan) encounters Chucky, Pennywise, and Jigsaw. -via Metafilter ..read more

Halloween decorations come in all flavors, and aren't necessarily related to the classic monsters of horror films and folklore. Star Wars fan William Plessinger built a 17-foot-tall AT-AT for Halloween last year. This year, the improved version again graces his front yard in Columbus, Ohio. See more pictures of it at Facebook, and see a news report about the AT-AT at Laughing Squid. Plessinger did the interview dressed as a stormtrooper, more or less ..read more

Hellen Die of Eat the Dead (formerly the Necro NomNomNomicon) celebrates the 25th anniversary of the movie Hocus Pocus with a recipe. In one scene in the film, Winifred Sanderson is working on whipping up a batch of her famous potion, with Mary and Sarah Sanderson helping her out. One of the critical ingredients is a dead man’s toe.  Mary drops one in, but not before Sarah helps herself to a few to snack on. After trying a few, Die decided to make hers out of chocolate instead. On a stick. There's something rather appealing about a recipe that starts with "wash your feet," even if you ..read more

Every year (except 2017), redditor aubra_cadabra and her friends do a group costume for Halloween, focusing on the roles of one versatile actor. They've done Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Will Ferrell, Jim Carey, and Johnny Depp. This year, they chose Tom Hanks. The movies represented are, from the left, Toy Story, Castaway, Apollo 13, Forrest Gump, Big, David S. Pumpkins from Saturday Night Live, and A League of Their Own. You can see a gallery of all the costumes from from 2012 to 2018 at Imgur, plus a chart to show each costume with its inspiration, and a picture of all the friends in regu ..read more

How impossibly random could a Halloween costume be? That's what I thought, until someone pointed out that this is a reference to Kevin's Famous Chili from the TV series The Office. It doesn't say that on the package, because this is a parody of unlicensed costumes. -via reddit ..read more

When redditor Monkeygruven posted this picture of some family friends ready for trick-or-treat, others bemoaned that the kids didn't pick their own costumes, nor did they know who they were portraying. Maybe it was more like this. Mom: Do you want to wear a scary costume or a princess costume? Girl: I don't know! Mom: You can be both! You can be a queen who got her head cut off! Girl: Yeah, let's do that! Boy: I want to have my head cut off! Mom: How about you be the king that murdered her? Boy: Well, okay. But how will people know I did it? Mom: Let me tell you a scary story, a true story ..read more

It had to happen sooner or later, considering how iconic the image is. You can now buy an inflatable Halloween costume that makes you Han Solo frozen in carbonite! Entertainment Earth expects the costume to begin shipping some time this month, and you can pre-order it now for $60. That includes the inflatable, a fan, gloves, and a mask. It's up to you to provide a friend to help you through doors and hand your drink to you. See a diagram of how the costume works at Boing Boing ..read more

You thought the Joker was disguised as a nurse, but for Halloween, he was an obstetrician! Brittany Selph and her husband Justin went to the hospital in Paris, Tennessee, on Halloween because Brittany was in labor. Her doctor, Paul Locus, was dressed as the Joker and left for a while to hand out Halloween candy. He was still in costume when he returned to the hospital in time to deliver their little girl Oaklyn at 8:20 that evening. "When [Locus] came in our room the following morning, in normal doctor attire, he said, 'Sorry I couldn't make it in last night, glad to see the delivery went we ..read more