Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

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 ...

Today is an extremely important day in Halloween history. Twenty-seven years ago, my lifelong favorite movie was released into the world. I was just six years old at the time, but as obsessed with Halloween as ever. Back then, there really weren’t many things that the young Halloween enthusiast could watch. My only memories of kid-friendly Halloween media at the time are a few TV specials, mainly something called “Buttons & Rusty In ‘Which Witch Is Which?’”, which I had recorded on a VHS tape and watched so frequently to get my Halloween feels on in the off-season that it wore out pretty quickly. (My childhood mantra, any time I was obsessed with a movie, which happened pretty frequently, was from that moment on, “Is this tape going to break like Buttons & Rusty?”) There was some part of me that didn’t understand how there could be so many Christmas movies, but so few things related to Halloween. So, of course I was elated to find out that a Halloween movie was finally coming! ...

Here’s a story I haven’t thought about in a long time, but it came flooding back to me today after a random comment on Instagram asking about one of my decorations. I’ve mentioned before that my Aunt Trish was always the one to take me trick-or-treating as a kid. We had a regular route we’d follow, and, being the Halloween fanatics we were, decorations we got used to seeing every year and looked forward to seeing again. No memory is so prominent, though, as the lamppost that would transform every year into the backdrop of a magical scene. We noticed it that very first year, when I was four years old. A lamppost at the edge of the walkway leading up to a house that was pushed a little farther back than the others. The lightbulb was covered with a sphere shaped fixture, and, when Halloween time would come around, suddenly the silhouette of a witch on her broom would appear, creating the magical illusion of a witch flying across the moon. For many years that lamppost rema...