Who ya gonna call? For Xennials, Ghostbusters was far more than a 1984 movie. The film became a full-blown childhood phenomenon, with its unmistakable logo, proton packs, Ecto-1, ghosts, toys, cartoons and one of the most recognizable theme songs of the decade.

Today, Lyle and Meghan revisit the original Ghostbusters and The Real Ghostbusters, looking at the strange combination of comedy and the supernatural that made the franchise so much fun—and helped it find a permanent home at Halloween despite the movie having nothing whatsoever to do with the holiday. And with both animated Ghostbusters series that debuted in 1986 celebrating their 40th anniversaries this year, the timing couldn't be better.

36 days until Halloween!

Watch it here: Netflix & Tubi

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Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

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Alvin Schwartz told us that “The Trouble,” from Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones, was true. And behind the story that terrified a generation of young readers was a real family, a real police investigation, and a strange series of events that unfolded on Long Island in 1958.

Meghan and Lyle revisit “The Trouble” and dig into the real Seaford poltergeist case that inspired it, separating Schwartz’s version from the historical record and exploring the investigation that captured national attention.

37 days until Halloween!

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Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

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What happens when Bugs Bunny takes on Halloween?

Witches, vampires, monsters, potions, trick-or-treating and one extremely eventful Halloween night — Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special takes some of the spookiest corners of classic Looney Tunes and somehow turns them into one delightfully chaotic Halloween adventure.

Meghan and Lyle head back to 1977 to revisit this spooky seasonal special, talk about how it all came together, and spend some time with Bugs Bunny, Witch Hazel and a collection of familiar faces getting into some very strange Halloween trouble.

38 days until Halloween!

Watch it here: https://youtu.be/6U8NW0yJa9g?is=2vjoPAe_WMtBsiTM

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Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full Countdown experience, including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content.

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Yesterday, we revisited the original Goosebumps books that terrified, delighted, and completely took over the bookshelves of a generation. Today, we’re joined by the artist responsible for the images we saw before we ever turned the first page.

Special Guest Tim Jacobus, the original cover illustrator for R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, joins us to talk about creating some of the most instantly recognizable book covers of the 1990s.

Tim takes us inside his creative process and shares what went into giving Goosebumps its wonderfully weird, creepy, colorful visual identity. We also discover where some of those original paintings are today — and hear a few fantastic surprises involving the Goosebumps movie starring Jack Black that we’re definitely not spoiling here.

If you grew up scanning a shelf of Goosebumps books and choosing which one to read based on Tim’s artwork, this is a must-listen.

39 days until Halloween!

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Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full countdown experience including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content:

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For Xennial kids, few books were as instantly recognizable as Goosebumps. That dripping logo, those gloriously strange covers, the Scholastic book fairs and book orders — and 62 original stories that helped make being scared ridiculously fun.

Today, Meghan and Lyle are going back to the original Goosebumps series from 1992–1997 and remembering what it was like to discover these books as kids. From the stories and monsters that stayed with us to the unmistakable artwork that practically demanded you pick up the book, we're celebrating the original series and the particular kind of childhood horror that made Goosebumps a 1990s phenomenon.

And we're not quite finished with Goosebumps yet. Tune in tomorrow for another VERY special episode when we're joined by original Goosebumps cover illustrator Tim Jacobus!

40 days until Halloween!

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Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheHalloweenPodcast

Email: [email protected]

Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full countdown experience including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content:

www.Patreon.com/TheHalloweenPod

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Can we really call something a proper holiday if Rankin/Bass didn’t make a television special for it?

Today we’re digging up one of the stranger corners of Rankin/Bass history with Jack O’Lantern, the wonderfully weird 1972 Halloween installment of Festival of Family Classics. It’s new to Lyle, relatively new to Meghan, and packed with pumpkins, witches, warlocks, scarecrows, supernatural mayhem and enough aggressively stage-Irish folklore to make Meghan — after living in Ireland with her Irish husband and spending rather a lot of her academic life specializing in Irish and British history — want to apologize to the entire country. Tá brón orm, a chairde!

We also get into the genuinely fascinating Irish traditions behind the jack-o’-lantern, including why the “turnips” carved in Ireland and Scotland are what Americans would generally call rutabagas, and discover that the real folklore is considerably creepier than Rankin/Bass’s version.

So grab your pumpkin, mind the witches overhead, and join us for a wonderfully peculiar bit of vintage Halloween television.

41 days until Halloween!

Watch it here: LINK

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Email: [email protected]

Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full countdown experience including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content:

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Some Halloween specials become childhood traditions. Others somehow pass you by completely — and then, years later, you finally discover what everyone has been talking about.

Today Meghan introduces Lyle to Fat Albert’s Halloween Special, a 1977 Halloween favorite that neither of us actually grew up watching. Meghan only discovered it as an adult after hearing it repeatedly mentioned among beloved classic Halloween television — and, much to her delight, she loved it.

We’re talking wonderfully old-school homemade costumes, Halloween mischief, Mudfoot remembering the supposedly better — and considerably less safety-conscious — Halloweens of his childhood, a spooky house near the cemetery, and the wonderfully lived-in neighborhood atmosphere that somehow made Meghan nostalgic for a Halloween special she had never actually seen as a child.

Does Fat Albert’s Halloween Special still work when childhood nostalgia isn’t doing any of the heavy lifting? Lyle is about to find out.

42 days until Halloween!

Watch it here: LINK

Follow The Halloween Podcast:

Website: http://www.thehalloweenpodcast.com/

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Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheHalloweenPodcast

Email: [email protected]

Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full countdown experience including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content:

www.Patreon.com/TheHalloweenPod

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They’re creepy, they’re kooky, and for both of us, they’re pretty much perfect.

Today on the Xennial Countdown to Halloween, we’re revisiting The Addams Family (1991), starring Anjelica Huston, Raúl Juliá, Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci.

The Addamses had already been delightfully strange for decades by the time they reached the big screen, but for a lot of Xennials, this was our Addams Family—and Meghan and Lyle both absolutely love this film.

We’re looking back at what made this wonderfully macabre family so much fun to grow up with, why the movie still works more than 30 years later, and why it feels so completely at home during Halloween season.

So dim the lights, practice your finger snaps, and join us at the Addams residence.

43 days until Halloween!

Watch it here: LINK

Follow The Halloween Podcast:

Website: http://www.thehalloweenpodcast.com/

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/TheHalloweenPodcast

Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheHalloweenPodcast

Email: [email protected]

Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full countdown experience including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content:

www.Patreon.com/TheHalloweenPod

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Today, Lyle takes the lead as we return to the wonderfully unsettling world of Alvin Schwartz with “The Dream,” from 1991’s Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones.

It’s a deceptively simple little story about a woman named Lucy Morgan, a disturbing dream, and the uneasy question of whether changing your plans can really change what is waiting for you. We’re talking about why this short tale is so effective, the nightmare imagery that made it memorable, and the particular kind of childhood terror Schwartz was so remarkably good at creating.

44 days until Halloween!

Follow The Halloween Podcast:

Website: http://www.thehalloweenpodcast.com/

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/TheHalloweenPodcast

Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheHalloweenPodcast

Email: [email protected]

Haunt Line: 731-400-0472

Support the show on Patreon to get the full countdown experience including exclusive shows and giveaways, early listening access, and behind-the-scenes content:

www.Patreon.com/TheHalloweenPod

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For a generation of Xennial kids, staying on Nickelodeon long enough meant eventually crossing over into the wonderfully strange world of Nick at Nite. Suddenly we were watching television made years—or even decades—before we were born, and because so much of it was wholesome and family-friendly, it was the kind of television grown-ups could happily watch with the kids still in the room. But Nick at Nite also had a wonderfully bizarre sense of humor, especially when it took perfectly innocent old television and repackaged it like something out of a horror movie, paranormal investigation, or conspiracy documentary.

45 days until Halloween!

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