Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 I have never really been one to celebrate New Year’s. In fact, up until last year, I always found the idea of a whole blank slate stretched out in front of me to be somewhat ominous. Facing the unknown can either be exciting or scary, and I think, on some level, 2020 turned out to be a combination of the two. It was definitely not a typical year, and many of the long-term goals I had for myself didn’t pan out due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, but it did have its high points as well as lows. It’s hard for me to believe this blog will be a year old tomorrow. I came up with the idea to start blogging at some point in late 2019, but got frustrated every time I attempted it. I also already had a failed Halloween blog under my belt from around 2015-ish, which ultimately became nothing but a boring collection of hauls, and led to me buying things I didn’t really want, just for the sake of having something to talk about. But, while I may not have the legions of followers that ...

Do you remember those characters that were so common in children’s media in the 80s and 90s? Those women who lived alone, or maybe with cats? Perhaps they had some sort of physical ailment or deformity that made them stand out in a not-so-great way? The ones all the neighborhood kids feared and wouldn’t so much as pass by her house alone? The one they called ‘Witch’?  I should’ve known I was destined for a spooky existence when I saw those types of characters and immediately thought, as it would be put today, “GOALS!” In fact, my mother once told me, during some fight we were having, most likely around the time leading into my puberty, that I was so mean, that would likely be my future. Old and alone, and feared by everyone in the neighborhood. When I defiantly responded by yelling “GOOD!”, I don’t think my mother realized that I meant it. I wasn’t just trying to be a brat; I honestly found that kind of life intriguing. I’m not quite sure why, if it was solely the thought of being ...

 It’s Christmas Eve today on the Gregorian calendar, so what better time to address something I often contemplate but never really talk about much: My love/hate relationship with the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. I was six when the movie first came out, and was extremely intrigued as, of course, my interest in Halloween was taking shape and this was a movie featuring characters that looked like walking decorations. The looks of some of the characters scared me a little at first (I have a vivid memory of checking behind the shower curtain for a lurking Jack Skellington every time I went to the bathroom for a couple of years.) but I did enjoy the movie, and was most in love with the characters of Sally and Zero. Nonetheless, as a young child, I always felt there was something about the story that I just didn’t quite “get”, so the movie was never a go-to when I was a kid the way Hocus Pocus was. In fact, I don’t think I gave much thought to The Nightmare Before Christmas until...

 I know that most of my posts here have been on the melancholy side lately. The first two months after Halloween are always the most difficult for me, as post-Halloween depression combines with basically being force-fed Christmas and then treated like there’s something wrong with me when I regurgitate it. (My attitude toward Christmas is at its absolute worst this year...I think the pandemic stress on top of it is just too much.) So, I decided I wanted to do a more upbeat post, and thought, what better way to get my mind on something else, than to do a movie review? And, because I was wanting to do something more upbeat, why not choose a movie that’s meant to be fun? So, today, we’re going to be talking about a movie I don’t see mentioned around the Halloween community much (or really at all):  Fun Size. I didn’t pay much attention to this movie when it was first released. It came out in 2012, when Victoria Justice was at the height of her popularity thanks to Nickelodeon, and...

 As the Gregorian month of November has officially come to a close, the final remnants of spooky season, to the layman, will surely be disappearing with it.  I have long thought about the pumpkins that hang around on porches after Halloween’s end. How they stand out in a world that seems to have forgotten Halloween ever was, and wonder what their story is. Have they just been forgotten by those whose homes they inhabit, or is it intentional? Is there someone dwelling in these places that’s at least a little bit like me, and wants to leave some representation of their favorite time of year lying around until it rots away in its own time? And, perhaps this is a silly question, but do the pumpkins know somehow that their moment has ended? As I said, these are things I have often thought about, but I recently was inspired to do even more thinking on the subject. An artist on Instagram,  Everett’s Attic , recently designed these two Christmas pumpkins, named Rotting and Plotti...