Real Halloween Horrors

Proving that sometimes the real world is scarier than horror stories, there were some sad events this Halloween, including a young woman who has accidentally hanged in a St. Louis haunted house attraction, and at least 6 people who were shot on Halloween night in Washington, DC.  Be careful out there, people!

Jezebel Wants Your Ghost Stories

Have you been haunted?  Jezebel is soliciting true ghost stories, to be published on the blog on Halloween.  Short of alerting the Ghostbusters, this seems like as good a forum as any to tell your tales.

Heidi Klum's Halloween

Supermodel/Project Runway host Heidi Klum's Halloween parties seem to be a thing of legend in celebrity circles.  I really respect people who go all out for Halloween, which is why I love this feature on Klum's costumes in the Daily Mail.  The piece includes pictures from several past Halloweens, and pictures of her in-progress costumes for this year, including this gem:

Also, the Weekly World News is claiming the above picture is a Bat Boy costume, which is awesome, but seems a rather poor likeness (shouldn't she have pointed ears?).  [Via Jezebel]

Reschedule Halloween? Never!

Some silly politician from Connecticut is proposing to reschedule Halloween.  Says Rep. Tim Larson, D-Conn.:

Halloween is [a] fun night for the whole family, but not so much when you have to race home from work, get the kids ready for trick or treating, welcome the neighborhood children, and then try to get everyone to bed for an early school and work morning.

Obviously, Mr. Larson, you have no sensitivity to the season.  Yes, it's inconvenient, but October 31 is immutable.  What do you think this is, Thanksgiving?  No, thank you.

Campaign Against Racist Costumes

As part of the ongoing struggle to problematize racist Halloween costumes, members of the group Students Teaching About Racism at Ohio University have started a "We're a Culture, Not a Costume" campaign, juxtapozing images of racist costumes with members of the groups they stereotype.

[Via Jezebel]

"Dead End Jobs"

Laura Chase-McGehee, The Capital

My local paper profiled several area haunted house attractions this weekend, including the Psycho Safari at Bowie Baysox Stadium and Heidi's Haunted Hills.  The latter is run by a 16-year-old, whose level of vision is truly enviable.  I wish I'd been running a haunted house out of my back yard when I was sixteen.  Nice to know there are so many creepy attractions close to home.

NPR on the Haunted House Business

djwudi, via Flickr

NPR has a fun behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional haunted houses.  You can listen to the article, or read the transcript, at the link.

Dead Bat in Jo-Ann's Halloween Aisle

"Bat" by possumgirl2, via Flickr

It may sound like set-up to a bad joke, but a dead rabid bat was found recently in the Halloween aisle of an Olympia, Washington, Jo-Ann Fabrics.  Strange, but true.

[Via The Consumerist]

Ricky's Tasteless Eating Disorder Costume

Not that they're exactly know as arbiters of good taste, or anything, but costume and beauty chain Ricky's was really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this oh-so-sensitive Miss Anna Rexia costume.

The Village Voice was the first media source to call Ricky's out on this nonsense last month, and now even TIME is getting in on the discussion.

The costume has since been pulled and is no longer for sale, but its reputation, like the screenshot at left, will live on forever in infamy.

Oh, No! A Pumpkin Shortage!

"pumpkin farm" by sevenblock, via Flickr

The Washington Post is reporting that, as a result of Hurrican Irene, much of the Northeast may experience a pumpkin shortage.  It seems that the storm destroyed a lot of crops, which may drive up the price of pumpkins or cause avid decorators and parents of young children to fight to the death over seasonal squash.

[Via Jezebel]