Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

(by @mater.mortem on Instagram) The time has come once again to address an issue that doesn’t relate to Halloween, but is truly scary. As a horror fan, I can think of many terrifying things. Just last night I shared the monster from my scariest childhood nightmare. The day before that I talked about a chainsaw-wielding maniac. But I don’t think there can possibly be a more horrifying concept in the world than having to fear for your life on a daily basis, solely for existing as a black individual. As a white woman, I obviously can’t even begin to comprehend what it feels like, to experience the oppression and venom that black people have been forced to deal with, on a daily basis, for so long. But another thing I simply can’t comprehend is why  such a horrific, ugly attitude toward our fellow human beings exists in the first place. I grew up in a mostly white area. I was an only child with a strict Republican father. I can’t even recall how old I was before I had a c

Last night, I was tagged in one of those “five fun facts about me” things that’s been going around Instagram. Now, I like to think outside the box when it comes to those things. I feel boring when I say “I love birthday cake flavored anything”, or “I have a rare phobia of eyes” (both of which are true by the way), so I try to think of more interesting things to share. Last night I remembered how, for most of my childhood, I believed I had somehow brought a demon dog from a nightmare I had into existence, and that it was living in my basement. It’s actually a pretty interesting story. I was either seven or eight when I had the dream. My biggest fear at the time was a character I’d seen on TV while my cousin was visiting. (The same cousin whose viewing of Reading Rainbow made me believe you had to go through a mummification process to become an adult , actually.) His name was Gooey Gus, the Slime Monster, and, at the time, I’d never been more scared of anything in my life.

I have a confession to make, boils and ghouls. Somehow, and I truly have no real explanation for this, up until last night, I had never gotten around to watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I know. How can I even call myself a horror fan, right? I truly don’t know how it escaped me for so long. I suppose I have to be in the right kind of mood for those slasher type films, and when the mood strikes, I tend to veer more toward the slashers I’ve had more exposure to throughout my life, such as Michael Myers (obviously!), Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees. Leatherface was just someone I never got to know that well over the course of time. But honestly, after finally viewing the movie that made him a horror icon, I truly wish I hadn’t waited so long. As much as I enjoy horror movies, I always find it very hard to call one “perfect”, at least by technical standards. No piece of media is without its flaws, and the horror genre, no matter how good the story is, usually t

It seems like the last of the “real” pumpkins around the Patch is about to leave us for the big pumpkin patch in the sky. I am always sad to see them go, despite probably having enough “fake” pumpkins to fill the local farms’ patches, but I must say, they had a terrific run this year.  I thought we could take this time to look back on some of our “real” pumpkins’ best moments through the year. As you can see, it’s always exciting for the residents of the Patch to find a new pumpkin. Either that, or our little ghost friend here is wondering how in the world he’s supposed to carry this one in addition to the three he already has.  A family photo of our dear Pumpkids (and Pendergast the ghost poppet, all of these made by TheBeastPeddler) and most of the pumpkins, taken shortly after returning from Sleepy Hollow. These sorts of photoshoots make post-Halloween depression a little less debilitating.  Another little photoshoot from shortly after Sleepy Hollow (starring

I’m going to guess that everyone has, at least once, clicked on a movie on a streaming service and had it not turn out to be what they were expecting.  Sometimes it’s for the better. Last summer I found an amazing hidden gem of a Halloween-themed movie called Lost Creek on Amazon Prime. I clicked on it thinking it would be as mediocre and silly as most of the other little known movies I try to watch based solely on the fact that they have the word “Halloween” in the title or a pumpkin somewhere in the poster, but it surprised me in the best way. I will write a full review of it one day (in short, I will say it’s required viewing if you’re a 90s kid who loved Are You Afraid Of The Dark?) but today I want to talk about a movie that I just watched that, sadly, surprised me in the opposite direction.  SPOILER WARNING: I will reveal the ending in this post! Let me start off by saying, I went into this movie knowing absolutely nothing about it, but when you find a movie mark

Have you ever wondered why I refer to my room, my blog, basically the entire little universe I’ve created, as The Pumpkin Patch? Well, as you can probably imagine, I have a very long, very happy, very emotional history with pumpkins. I dressed as a pumpkin the first year I trick-or-treated. The first autumn event I remember experiencing outside of Halloween night itself was a class pumpkin picking trip in kindergarten, and painting the pumpkins afterward. The Great Pumpkin visited me for most of my childhood. And, for as long as I can remember, the Halloween decor displays I would set up in my childhood home (I was always the one in charge of the Halloween decorations; Halloween was not my parents’ thing.) were always referred to as “The Pumpkin Patch”. My childhood displays consisted of more than pumpkins, of course. I would line up every Halloween item I could find, from pumpkin pails, to tiny raffia scarecrows, to ghosts made of cheesecloth, to anthropomorphic chi

One day I will write a full review and in-depth story about my lifelong favorite movie, Hocus Pocus. As one of very few family friendly Halloween-themed movies that existed in my childhood, I’m sure you can imagine the depths of what it’s always meant to me. But for today, I’d like to just talk about a funny little fact.  Anyone who’s seen the movie likely remembers the scene when eight-year-old Dani Dennison, after having dragged her poor older brother Max around trick-or-treating for most of the evening, decides to get smart with a group of teenage bullies from Max’s school.  The band of bullies is led by two delinquents named Jay and Ice (née Ernie) and their idea of Halloween fun is smashing pumpkins and taking candy from the kiddos. Rather than going the long way around, as Max suggests, Dani decides she’s going to walk right through the middle of their mischief, and the Ice demands she pay a toll of “ten chocolate bars, no licorice” in order to pass them.  But it’s w

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will watch anything related to Halloween. Any movie or TV show with spooky looking characters tends to catch my attention. However, I’ve noticed an ongoing pattern in “spooky” type media that’s marketed toward children and families.  It’s almost always about humans and “monsters” (or otherwise spooky characters) learning to coexist.  I can think of several examples of this just off the top of my head. Halloweentown High, Hotel Transylvania, Monster High, and even the Disney Junior series, Vampirina, come to mind right away. And the story is almost always the same. The humans are appalled at first, then someone befriends one of the monsters, or one of the monsters ventures out to befriend a human, and we’re meant to come away having learned to be accepting of other’s differences. Cue whatever version of “Kumbaya, My Lord” fits the situation, and fade to end credits. I’m not saying that this isn’t a valuable lesson to instill in our chil