You might be proud of the Jack O’Lantern sitting on your doorstep but you’re an amateur compared to Doug Goodreaux. A one-time special effects artist turned mortician, he takes August through October off so he can turn Halloween’s favorite gourd into finely detailed ghouls, goblins, and other monsters. (His home page includes a certain President whose skin is already pumpkin-hued.) You need to book early, and are too late for this year, but he has some pro tips: cauliflower makes convincing-looking brains and knobby old carrots perfect are perfect witch’s noses. This is pumpkin spice we can get behind!
Is the White House haunted? We don’t know, but the Washington Post reports that several of its most famous inhabitants thought so. Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, and Mary Todd Lincoln all reported unexplained sightings. The two rooms you’re most likely to encounter spirits from the past? The Oval Office, where David Burnes—who sold the land the White House was built on—has been heard but not seen, making those who sit behind the Resolute Desk feel just a little less resolute, and the Lincoln Bedroom, where Honest Abe himself has been known to pay guests surprise visits. Winston Churchill ran into the spectre of our 16th President during a visit in 1942, naked and freshly out of his bath. “You have me at a disadvantage, Mr. President,” was his reported comment. Lincoln’s spirit is supposed to return to the White House whenever he worries that the country is in trouble, which means it is only a matter of time until he is heard from again…
Sure, that “Sexy Russian Colluder” or “Zombie Kellyanne Conway” costume was the hit of your Halloween party, but what will you do with it tomorrow? News WNEP, of Moosic, Pennsylvania, has some hints of how to give them a longer life…
The Southern California band Insects vs. Robots wins the prize for best-named Halloween party: Electric Ghoul-Aid Acid Test.
Superheroes beat out politicians when it came to Halloween costumes this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Of the more than 9 billion dollars spent on costumes, only 2.2% of adults said they’ll be going as Trump, Clinton, or other politician, as opposed to the 13% who went for Batman, Spiderman, or Wonder Woman. The survey also found that Halloween isn’t just for humans. Pet costumes are now a thing. Ten percent of pet owners plan to embarrass their four-legged friends by dressing them as pumpkins, while another 5% will dress their cat or dog as…a cat or dog.
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