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Hi guys. I'm from the US but I've been living abroad for a while. I've been running a social club for foreigners here to meet locals and things have been going really well. I wanted to rent a room with a projector this Halloween and show these fine people some of the best American Halloween cultural relics so maybe some TV episodes, songs, dramatic readings of poems, dishes. Whatever you can come up with. It's like 6 weeks from now but so far I really want to have everything planned out. I guess it doesn't need to be stuff from the US but stuff that you associate with celebrating Halloween in the US. Right now I'm thinking: a Halloween episode of the Simpsons a Twilight Zone episode a dramatic reading of 'The Raven' some time for ghost stories some assorted cheesy Halloween music as people file in and socialize Candy Apples It's a free club so let's not get crazy and I know some people will want to suggest movies but I don't know if people will have the patience to sit still for the full runtime of a movie. What do you guys think?
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Sep 22, 2020 16:55
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 11:09 |
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You could hand out small packs of candy to all visitors, but inform them that the candy might be tainted so they would need to check each individual piece for any sign of tampering before consumption. That's pretty standard for an American Halloween experience. Serious response: The ghost stories and reading of the Raven are good for some cultural references. I would recommend something like Urban Legends such as Mothman or even stories of American serial killers such as H.H. Holmes and his Murder Castle as unique to american culture.
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Sep 22, 2020 17:32
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It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
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Sep 22, 2020 17:59
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The Hopewell Haunting is a short, black and white short ghost story based in rural Kentucky. Really nice Americana aesthetic and a decent ghost design. Might be a good substitute for a full-length movie, though "Ernest Scared Stupid" is something I always watch in October. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sImMmdeO0c Harely Poe is a kind of acoustic/punk band out of my home state of Indiana that does a lot of dark comedy songs with Halloween themes. A lot of their stuff is inspired by "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and they also put out a direct rendition of the "Hearse Song" which is suitably creepy and really steeped in the old ghost lore of the 19th Century here. Their other stuff is good too, but some of it might be inappropriate for certain crowds. The Hearse Song should be fine though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJppqS8uDyQ Another good song/music video might be "The Shadow of the Undertaker" by Backwater Gospel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQTLTKAIKvw I guess you can also rifle through the old collection of Goon Ghost Stories from back when those were popular. I remember there being some really good stories like the Tar Lady, Marmalade and the Wire Man that work well as American urban legends without a lot of unnecessary Creepypasta flair. Wire Man was based in Louisiana, though the house it supposedly took place in was destroyed in Katrina I think. Might be good examples of ghost stories from Americans from the Goon age group. https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ewg1vr4xl8i7l6/It%20Is%20A%20Mystery.pdf Grammarchist has a new favorite as of 18:08 on Sep 22, 2020 |
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Sep 22, 2020 18:06
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Those bullshit halloween cards with a nickel lined in them in place of trick r treat candy. Those black and orange wrapped candies that i remember as being somewhere between peanut butter and caramel. The monster mash. A fog machine. Bowls of covered food meant to feel like body parts when you stick your hand in (peeled grapes, etc.) One of those jello molds that looks like a brain. A michael Myers mask and dark blue coveralls. The person wearing them never speaks and walks around the neighborhood or gathering the entire time like a creepy rear end in a top hat until it's genuinely unsettling. Get someone by the entrance dressed like one of those animatronic displays at spirit stores to jump scare people coming in. Plastic pumpkin buckets.
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Sep 22, 2020 18:19
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IC7qaNr7I Tell them every year we Americans gather around the TV dressed in our leotards and pumpkin masks and dance along with our local TV station's broadcast of our regional Pumpkin Man. Six-Of-Hearts posted:Plastic pumpkin buckets.
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Sep 22, 2020 21:16
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Gorging on tiny chocolate bars. Spoooooky movies on TV. Halloween episodes of your favorite shows, Simpsons being the best of them. That one kid who went way too far with their costume That adult that went too far on their costume Having it rain on Halloween so you have to wear a raincoat over your costume Knormal posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4IC7qaNr7I Why'd you post the inferior version of this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5F_gfaX2B4
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Sep 22, 2020 23:54
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Six-Of-Hearts posted:Plastic pumpkin buckets. Also, Tales From The Crypt
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Sep 23, 2020 00:20
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This should be one of your songs for the night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mrGdGMNsv0
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Sep 23, 2020 01:06
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https://youtu.be/-FMf8ltkCgM It's not Halloween unless you play this song! There are a whole bunch of other random old cartoons and videos that we watch exclusively on Halloween between movies like the aforementioned Scared Stupid. I'll just rapid fire a few: Last Unicorn: https://youtu.be/aV--HzX9__I Cab Calloway: https://youtu.be/bFBx3qYGxL8 Skeleton Dance: https://youtu.be/vOGhAV-84iI Edit- Christopher Lee dramatic reading: https://youtu.be/Qhe3ouqiAaM Hub Dirt has a new favorite as of 02:00 on Sep 23, 2020 |
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Sep 23, 2020 01:52
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twistedmentat posted:
At the end of Halloween's daytime, but before nighttime horror movies start, it's sacred American tradition to play poker with your friends/family and bet with your candy. Play your cards right and you dump the stuff you dislike and win your favs.
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Sep 23, 2020 01:59
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Getting drunk and watching the Thing. That might just be my people, though.
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Sep 23, 2020 05:37
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I'm loathe to admit it, but I don't think I've gone a single Halloween within memory that didn't involve at least once listening to "I put a spell on you" from Hocus Pocus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwpaA5HGo9k&ab_channel=LegionMixes
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Sep 23, 2020 05:39
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Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I'll definitely be loading up some of these. What do you guys usually eat that you can't buy in a shop. I live in Ukraine at the moment and I can't have some of those candies or paraphernalia shipped to me (but Jesus those pumpkin buckets really bring me back)
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Sep 23, 2020 06:15
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Mochiballs posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNuVifA7DSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQwPrcqtG-M
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Sep 23, 2020 06:35
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Mochiballs posted:Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I'll definitely be loading up some of these. What do you guys usually eat that you can't buy in a shop. I live in Ukraine at the moment and I can't have some of those candies or paraphernalia shipped to me (but Jesus those pumpkin buckets really bring me back) I almost always have a nice homemade dinner and carve the pumpkin that day or night and let the candle burn all the way down on its own. Sorry i can't think of anything specific that can't be store bought unless you're into making caramel apples or bobbing for apples.
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Sep 23, 2020 11:22
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You still haven't told us what your costume will be, OP.
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Sep 23, 2020 11:24
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Six-Of-Hearts posted:You still haven't told us what your costume will be, OP. I really appreciate all the contributions  Well I work with 10 year olds and I don't want to buy two costumes so I'll probably wear an M&M or something  . I was also considering doing a oujia board or something like that, but I don't know if I want to invest in it because then I'll have a oujia board forever.
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Sep 23, 2020 16:30
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I'm not seeing the downside. You'd have a costume sized ouija board which lets you summon 2 ghosts at a time, or one mega ghost.
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Sep 23, 2020 17:33
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When theme parks reopen for the last week of october and all the attractions are replaced with haunted houses and poo poo Definitely the thing I'm saddest about missing this year
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Sep 23, 2020 18:06
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My fuckin boy Sam and Trick r Treat is my favorite American Halloween thing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bGfnwCdx84  I’m happy he’s been getting love at the spirit stores for the past two years. Second runner up is Halloween Horror Nights.
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Sep 23, 2020 18:15
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They should do one where Sam and Rhonda team up to spread Halloween cheer.
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Sep 23, 2020 18:25
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Mochiballs posted:Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I'll definitely be loading up some of these. What do you guys usually eat that you can't buy in a shop. I live in Ukraine at the moment and I can't have some of those candies or paraphernalia shipped to me (but Jesus those pumpkin buckets really bring me back) Pumpkin pie is probably too obvious, but it IS harvest time and we DID just rip out the juicy innards of 8 to 12 pumpkins and carve their hollowed out bodies into crude lamps to tell the spirits not to gently caress with us. My family always had a garden, so we sometimes had cushaw squash and other early autumn fruits. Cushaw squash cookies are actually pretty nice. I guess you could try farmer's markets for food that's seasonal and local, but not something you'd generally find in retail?
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Sep 23, 2020 23:12
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Oh and let's not forget Sexy _________ costume.
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Sep 24, 2020 00:42
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Six-Of-Hearts posted:At the end of Halloween's daytime, but before nighttime horror movies start, it's sacred American tradition to play poker with your friends/family and bet with your candy. You know, I have never seen this.
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Sep 24, 2020 00:48
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twistedmentat posted:You know, I have never seen this. We did it up through high school (at which point we were just bringing candy to play for tradition.) The idea was to end up with the candy you wanted for the movie marathon. This thread is great and put me in the season.
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Sep 24, 2020 00:56
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I had three sisters with very different tastes in candy so we always dumped our hauls in one big communal pot and sorted it based roughly on everyone's favorites. Nobody ever ate the candy corn, and to this day I don't know if our parents ate it, threw it away, or if there's a metric ton of melted candy corn hidden between the floorboards.
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Sep 24, 2020 01:14
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It's too bad that Covid is going to kill off trick or treating this year. I'm still going to make some care packages at the end of the driveway if kids do come around. If the candy is in little bags there's less contact. I'm also planning on standing without moving in the dark as if I'm a decoration wearing a plague doctor costume then frightening kids if any kids do come out. Old guys used to do that all the time when I was a kid. They'd sit on their porch looking like a stuffed scarecrow. They'd shove straw into their cuffs and their shirt so they looked like a pile of stuffed clothes. They wouldn't move until a kid reached for the bowl of candy then they'd leap up and scare the crap out of us. It was fun.
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Sep 24, 2020 11:19
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Collecting for UNICEF before trick r treat starts.
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Sep 24, 2020 16:08
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This 12 foot tall plastic skeleton https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Accents-Holiday-12-ft-Giant-Sized-Skeleton-with-LifeEyes-5124738/312513260
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Sep 24, 2020 16:17
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Six-Of-Hearts posted:Oh and let's not forget Sexy _________ costume. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rUiV_Hh74
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Sep 24, 2020 16:58
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Grammarchist posted:Pumpkin pie is probably too obvious, but it IS harvest time and we DID just rip out the juicy innards of 8 to 12 pumpkins and carve their hollowed out bodies into crude lamps to tell the spirits not to gently caress with us. My family always had a garden, so we sometimes had cushaw squash and other early autumn fruits. Cushaw squash cookies are actually pretty nice. I guess you could try farmer's markets for food that's seasonal and local, but not something you'd generally find in retail? Yeah! I'm friends with someone who owns a little cafe and does a lot of baking so maybe I'll ask her to learn how to make pumpkin pies and learn how to make pumpkin spice lattes. We don't really do them in California, but I've heard Midwestern people talk about hay rides? I might just make a powerpoint to teach everyone about these more local traditions. It could be a good excuse to teach them about hell houses and haunted houses.
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Sep 25, 2020 08:22
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Roast some pumpkin seeds! Big fake spiderwebs that are annoying to clean up.
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Sep 25, 2020 08:46
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Mochiballs posted:Yeah! I'm friends with someone who owns a little cafe and does a lot of baking so maybe I'll ask her to learn how to make pumpkin pies and learn how to make pumpkin spice lattes. Oh yeah, hayrides are pretty big, or at least they were in the 90's still. Put a bunch of kids on a hay-packed trailer and take them on a spooky tour of a wooded road, or through a corn field. Usually have some older kids volunteer to jump out in costume to try to scare the little ones and/or throw candy. It also used to be pretty common for kids to hide in cornfields and throw kernels at passing traffic, but that seems to have fallen off. Toilet papering houses is obviously still a thing. Flashlight tag in cemeteries is pretty common as well, especially in old pioneer cemeteries that nobody visits except for kid shenanigans. Older residents get pretty excited about ghost tours in various communities, even if the ghost stories themselves are generally tame. It's basically an excuse to visit older Victorian and Queen Anne homes in the area during nice fall walking weather.
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Sep 25, 2020 17:34
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it's this, OP https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Accents-Holiday-12-ft-Giant-Sized-Skeleton-with-LifeEyes-5124738/312513260
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Sep 25, 2020 22:37
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My dad says soaping window screens was all the rage in his youth, if you're interested in bringing back the classics.
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Sep 26, 2020 04:29
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Six-Of-Hearts posted:We did it up through high school (at which point we were just bringing candy to play for tradition.) The idea was to end up with the candy you wanted for the movie marathon. That's great. And its good for when you don't like coffee crisp, but your friend does, so you can get all their kit kats in exchange for them. Also these are the worst halloween candy 
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Sep 26, 2020 04:40
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Six-Of-Hearts posted:My dad says soaping window screens was all the rage in his youth, if you're interested in bringing back the classics. There were, at least theoretically, 3 nights leading up to Halloween, Egg Night, Soap Night and Mischief Night (which was really just Egg and Soap Night).
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Sep 26, 2020 05:01
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twistedmentat posted:That's great. And its good for when you don't like coffee crisp, but your friend does, so you can get all their kit kats in exchange for them. Such great art for such bad candies 
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Sep 26, 2020 05:51
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 11:09 |
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Show them the Disney cartoon version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It's only about a half hour long and the music's great (it can be found online if necessary). For food I would add popcorn balls or kettle corn. And did anyone suggest playing Monster Mash by Bobby "Boris" Pickett? That's the quintessential Halloween song to me.
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Sep 26, 2020 06:11
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