It’s that time of year again and Off To The Witch has a new Halloween special!What better guest to have than artist, author and grave stone robber, Shane Bugbee.

He’s here with us to discuss October memories, horror movies, odd experiences visiting a family owned funeral home and his obsession with the little monster from Plainfield, Wisconsin, Ed Gein.

There’s a fine borderline between slasher films and serial killers. Our cinematic monsters are merely caricatures. Shane’s obsession went beyond the drive-in screen to his first hand experience with locations and artifacts of the most notorious killers in American history.

We also discuss Shane’s fantastic new book “I Stole Ed Gein’s Tombstone” So join us for an in depth discussion regarding the darker side of Halloween.The new special will be available on Wednesday evening. In the meantime, have a listen to over a hundred full episodes and additional newsletters of Off To The Witch, wherever you find your podcasts.

The State Of The Weird Address:

Did you miss me?

Our last chapter was the 2024 Halloween Special and since then, I’ve been inspired and immersed in the creation of my new TV series. On this forthcoming episode I’ll talk some details of what I’ve been up to, all things to come and of course a few tales of the arcane, supernatural and the mysterious.

The Off To The Witch podcast returns with our 2024 Halloween Special! And the best way to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year is with a psychic medium. So join me (your host Christopher Garetano) and psychic medium, Jenson Smith as we discuss her experiences with the unknown, voices and shadows beyond the grave, Halloween, a possible extraterrestrial connection to the spirit world and predictions of things to come.So grab a pumpkin ale or an apple cider and enjoy an audible experience of Halloween nostalgia, spooky stories and the personal history of a unique psychic medium, Jenson Smith. @readingswithjenson The Off To The Witch Halloween special premieres on Halloween Eve (October 30th) at 8:00 pm ET and is available on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many more.Stay tuned #offtothewitch #hallowen #halloweenspecial

On tonight's newsletter I give a few updates on the new "Off To The Witch Presents" series of documentaries and other forthcoming projects.

We're going on a brief hiatus until the Halloween Special in October - this is to properly complete A Haunting We Will Go and dedicate my full attention to that and my new TV network miniseries.

Stay tuned for so much more as this is only the beginning

for White Phosphorus Pictures and Off To The Witch.

SEE YOU IN OCTOBER!

EPISODE #83

Things are getting weirder out there . We undeniably live on the borderline between fiction and reality.To celebrate, tonight’s episode of Off To The Witch is an anthology of tales from people who claim they experienced what most of us have only witnessed in movies, literature and campfire folklore.Join me tonight, beginning at 8:00 pm ET for a celebration of the strange, unexplained and unusual.Tonight’s newsletter premieres at 8:00 pm ET on all podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.The new episodes also premiere on my YouTube channel at OFF TO THE WITCH.If you’re new to the podcast you can listen to over 100 episodes in our back catalog anytime.Stay tuned for much more.#christophergaretano #offtothewitch #podcast #spooky #strangetales #folklore #talkradio #anthology #newepisode

OFF TO THE WITCH returns this week with a our latest newsletter. I’ll be back in two weeks with a brand new episode and guest.On this week’s newsletter I’ll give you an update on some of the projects that I’ve been burning the midnight lamp to forge and also to discuss a subject that’s all at once fascinating and disturbing.In 1990, author Bret Easton Ellis wrote a first-person, macabre satire of a twenty something, privileged investment banker, Patrick Bateman. The fictional Bateman character is also a psychopath. He is delusional, vicious, shallow and slowly descending into his own over indulgence most foul and wicked.Ellis later admitted that the Bateman character was somewhat autobiographical as he was consumed by what a majority of our narcissistic culture is ruled by today. Does Patrick Bateman as an archetypical character walk among us? Could it be your doctor, lawyer, teacher, boyfriend/girlfriend or our next president? Join me tonight for a discussion regarding the true monsters among us…Tonight’s newsletter premieres at 8:00 pm ET on all podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.The new episodes also premiere on my YouTube channel at OFF TO THE WITCH.If you’re new to the podcast you can listen to over 100 episodes in our back catalog anytime.Stay tuned for much more.#christophergaretano #offtothewitch #americanpsycho #podcast #psychopath #serialkiller #newepisode

EPISODE #82

Twenty years ago, I completed a little documentary, shot on video tape, regarding the struggles and dreams of various independent horror movie makers. I knew then the term “independent film” was a bit of a misnomer in the popular zeitgeist as the movie makers I profiled didn’t have benefactors in the industry. They weren’t praised or beloved. They were unknown to most. Almost all of them were paying out of pocket, and had no business plan or pathway carved for themselves. There was certainly no guarantee for success and most likely the odds were stacked against them. It seemed their desire exceeded their ability in many cases. I understood that very well as Horror Business was made under the same circumstances. I was fresh out of film school when I started shooting and had nothing but a mini DV video camera and an idea.(Horror Business trailer - 2005)https://youtu.be/TV85Yr61J7o?si=rK_Jxh4dvxRgL_NrThe new episode of Off To Witch, Is an honest conversation (in the tradition of Horror Business) with a movie maker who shares a common denominator with all filmmakers from Stanley Kubrick to Ed Wood. It’s that irresistible compulsion that drives you, for better or for worse, through any obstacle to make motion pictures no matter what the consequences.Join me as my guest this week is Terry Reid Wickham, a director who has made truly independent horror pictures for over thirty years and his dream and obsession, that has not diminished, only grows stronger at the dawn of his new project.

Here's a link to Terry Wickham's latest project:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/beginning-of-the-end--3?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1XcbS7Olwfo5LWl_5G8A9DFrie0hgv0bawygaAOr5CDwy_pPeWfJS9Htk_aem_pto4bjJql6Hnphv3D56vig#/

The new episode of Off To The Witch premieres on Wednesday night at 8:00 pm ET on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and many more. It will also premiere on my YouTube channel (at OffToTheWitch)#offtothewitch #podcast #

On Tonight’s Off To The Witch newsletter, I rant about the current state of paranormal TV programming, how it can be elevated and also I discuss how I adopted a completely different perspective while making the first feature length chapter ( A Haunting We Will Go) of my new series.
Part of that perspective is that of the spirit. One day we’re all going to cross over. What do you experience when you die? Can you imagine the perspective of a ghost? If we meditate on this more perhaps we’ll learn to communicate better with the phenomena that we call a haunting.
Tonight’s episode premieres at 8:00pm ET on all major podcast platforms as well as my YouTube channel.
The previous episode will also premiere on YouTube later this week - I was dealing with a computer crash and just getting things back in order.

EPISODE #81

Off To The Witch returns tonight with a brand new episode!The devil has been a portrait in cinema from its inception. Beginning with the magic of the silent era - with movies like Benjamin Christensen’s Haxan and the Georges Melies “Faust In Hell” to Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and William Friedkin’s the Exorcist.As it’s displayed in art it also mirrors real life. Many of the demonic and devilish displays are based on true accounts.Join me as I explore The Devil In Cinema with an authentic, practicing witch, Krista Brown.Join us tonight (beginning at 8:00 pm ET) New episodes of Off To The Witch premiere every Wednesday night at 8:00pm ET.Off To The Witch can be found on all major podcast platforms as well as my YouTube channel (at offtothewitch)@highlight#offtothewitch #christophergaretano #devil #witch #cinema #horror

While I’m busy in post-production on the first feature length episode of my new series - A Haunting We Will Go, I’m reflecting while editing a segment where I regard the impact that The Amityville Horror (both the tragic murders and subsequent ghost story) had on me as a child. A haunting is not only of paranormal activity. It lives in the mind. If introduced in your formative years, it will always have an effect. I think it’s certainly the tragedy of the Defeo family (who we’re all murdered in their beds by their eldest son) that is the true mystery and the most haunting aspect of its folklore. Join me on tonight’s newsletter for a meditation on The Ghosts Of Amityville.Join us tonight (beginning at 8:00 pm ET) New episodes of Off To The Witch premiere every Wednesday night at 8:00pm ET.Off To The Witch can be found on all major podcast platforms as well as my YouTube channel (at offtothewitch)@highlight#offtothewitch #ghoststory #haunting #amityville #psychic #paranormal #amityvillehorror #metaphysical