7th Annual Halloween Haiku Challenge 2025

Halloween Haiku Challenge 2025
#Halloweenhaikuchallenge2025

Share your most original or haunted Halloween Haiku on October 31st for a chance to win a Haunted prize pack.

SUBMISSIONS

You must be a WordPress follower to particpate and a US resident. Post your haiku in comments section below. All comments must be approved first so it may not show up right away. I’ll do my best to approve as soon as I see them.

Only 1 haiku are permitted per contestant, US residents only. If I see more than 1 haiku from the same participant or a foreign entry, while I thank you for joining our challenge, these entries won’t qualify for a prize.

PRIZES

Grand Prize – 1st Place Winner will receive Haunted prize pack, which includes Drew Rausch vintage cat postcard print, Disney’s Haunted Mansion collectible pin, and their choice of either The Conjuring I & II Blu-rays, Annabelle Blu-ray film set, or It 2-Film Collection on Blu-ray. This prize pack is worth well over $50.

Second & Third Place Prize: Winners will have a chance to pick a small prize from the prize pool (typically pins, patches, and Halloween stickers).

DEADLINE

The contest starts and ends midnight to midnight Pacific time on October 31th through November 1st, 2025. Winners will be announced on November 2, 2025, here and social media.

Please see Contest Rules and Eligibility page more details.

Have a Happy Halloween season, everyone! Be safe out there!🎃

Timeless Thursday – Fave Horror Soundtracks

It’s Timeless Thursday and we’re jamming out with the greatest horror soundtracks of all time.

It should be no surprise that the three most recognizable horror themes are “Halloween Theme – Main Title” by John Carpenter followed by Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” from The Exorcist, and the “Jaws” score by John Williams.

But, did you know the best selling horror soundtrack of all time is Dracula 2000? According to Loudwire Dracula 2000 soundtrack earns an estimated $1.7 million in royalties from 445 million plays on Spotify, thanks to the headbanging power songs from System of a Down, Saliva, Disturbed, Static-X, Powerman 5000, Taproot and the biggest driver of them all ‘One Step Closer’ by Linkin Park.

The second best selling horror soundtrack is Tim Burton’s Nigtmare Before Christmas with music by Danny Elfman. The best song off that album, is “This is Halloween” by Danny Elfman.

Rumor has it that Kiefer Sutherland originally turned down his role in 1987’s vampire hit The Lost Boys, but changed his mind upon hearing INXS and Jimmy Barnes would be doing music for the soundtrack. There’s so many cool songs on this soundtrack, it’s easily one of my all time faves. Who can forget Tim Cappello’s I Still Believe which he got to perform on the boardwalk for a scene in the movie.

Another of my favorite spooky songs comes from the 1992 Candyman soundtrack. It’s carnival fervor dream turned nightmare and the epitome of the sound of innocence being stolen by evil forces.

Lots of folks love Italian disco rock band Goblin’s score for Dario Argento’s supernatural thriller Suspira, and it is an amazing soundtrack for certain, but my favorite score from them actually comes from George A. Romero’s zombie masterpiece Dawn of the Dead from 1978.

No theater goer will forget the opening scene of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which featured one of the most memorable scores in movie history with a segment from “Dies Irae” from “Symphonie fantastique” by Hector Berlioz, performed by composers Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. Omnious and haunting, the music immediately sets the tone of one of the greatest horror films ever produced.

I hope you have a chance to check out one of these great horror films. Happy Halloween!🎃

Songs copyright by respective owners. No copyright infringement intended. This is fan appreciation and critique. Reposting video under the “fair use” privilege of U.S. Copyright law. These videos still could be removed at anytime. Please email me at Halloweenkristy@gmail.com to report broken links.

Wicked Art Wednesdays 2025 – Tiki Art by Doug Horne

Happy Wicked Art Wednesday! I was feeling a like need a little more tiki artin our lives so today’s artist is the world renowned tiki creator Doug Horne.

Artist: Doug Horne
Company/Studio:

Where to Purchase Goods: Several tiki sites sell Doug Horne’s tiki art and exclusive tiki mugs. https://www.etsy.com/shop/DougHorneArt

Why we love it: Phoenix born Doug Horne, who now resides in Long Beach, CA, has been creating tiki art and tiki mugs for generations. We love his pop culture monsters tiki mash ups. Doug also creates art for tiki bars around the globe. Chances are you may have seen his work up close while sipping on Mai Tais

https://mytiki.life/tiki-mugs/zombie-king-fifth-edition-green-yellow-by-doug-horne-for-strong-water-anaheim

Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/doug_horne_art/?hl=en

Trick or Treat Tuesday Best of Haunted House Horror

We’re 3 days away from Halloween and for a big treat on this Trick of Treat Tuesday, I’m sharing my favorite Haunted House Horror.

The Changeling, 1980
Poltergeist, 1982
Hereditary, 2018
House of Haunted Hill, 1959
13 Ghosts, 1960
The Innocents, 1961
The Haunting, 1963
The Amityville Horror, 1979
Legend of Hell House, 1973
Burnt Offerings, 1976
The Others, 2001
Woman in Black, 2012
Stir of Echoes, 1999
Crimson Peak, 2015

It’s always hard to put together these lists. All the films are so good. There are a lot of classic horror films from the 60s and 70s on my list and I hope people will give them a watch.

I personally feel The Changeling starring George C Scott from 1980 is one of the scariest haunted house films ever made.

Scott plays composer John Russell grieving the death of wife and son. He moves from New York to Seattle to start over and moves into a house haunted by the ghost of a little boy who died mysteriously.

These movies will certainly spook anyone staying in on Halloween night and films like House on Haunted Hill or Poltergeist play nicely in the background at parties too.

Honorable Mentions:

Paranormal Activity
House of Usher
Horror House
We’re Still Here
House, 1985
The House that Dripped Blood
House by the Cemetery

Happy Halloween! Stay safe out there!

Monday Macabre, Week Four 2025

Happy Halloweek! Posting a special Halloween haunted haiku for Monday Macabre.

voices on the wind
spooky scares all week long
thin spirit veil

Sinister Saturday – Halloween (Box)Cake (Nailed it?)

Sinister Saturdays are turning out to be a showcase for my failed baking attempts.

And, this Saturday is no different!😄

Yes, I used box cake. Middle finger to the haters. But the box cake wasn’t the reason why my Red Velvet Tombstone Cakes were a little well done, it’s just my inability to pull pan out of the oven when the box says!

They looked alright, but were dry as a bone and when I flipped them over, the cakes didn’t retain the pan designs.

I did however manage to bake another cake in my my lovely Wiltern pumpkin pan and it turned out kinda nice.

First thing you need for box cake is box mix and I prefer Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Red Velvet cake mix. This is the easiest cake mix, only 3 other ingredients are needed to bake the cake, 1 cup of water, half cup of oil, and 3 eggs.

Follow the instructions and you’ll get a nice fluffy red velvet cake.

Next, you add 4-5 drops of orange food coloring into buttercream frosting to get that nice classy orange color. If you want it brighter, I suggest using 2-3 more drops of orange and 1 drop of red. Next, spread frosting all over your cake.

Lastly, you add Halloween style sprinkles and viola, Halloween Cake!

It was a bummer the Red Velvet Tombstone Cakes didn’t turn out, but I was happy with the pumpkin cake pan version.

Happy Halloween!

Friday Fright Nightcaps – Blue Ghost Margarita

Happy Friday! Tonight’s Friday Fright Nightcap is a Blue Ghost Margarita.

I love the taste of Blue Curacao and I’m disraught over the demolishment of the people’s house. That’s our White House goddamit! It doesn’t belong to stupid conmen! Haunted. Haunted. Haunted. That is how I describe our great nation as it descends into authoritatian chaos, so yes, this is a fitting cocktail to end the week.

Ingredients

2 oz blanco tequila
1 oz blue curaçao liqueur
1 oz fresh lime juice
½ oz simple syrup
½ oz Grenadine syrup (opt)
ice to chill (opt)

Garnish/Rim:
Course Salt
Lime wedge

Pour ingredients into a glass and mix well.

This is a sweet margarita, so I recommend using course salt to rim the glass as opposed to sugar. Also, using Grenadine is optional. It doesn’t make that much difference.

Whether or not you like your margaritas chilled is also very much a preference. You’ll notice the little pumpkin ice in my pics. I live in SoCal, it’s always hot. We like chilled drinks, but to each their own.

Sorry for venting earlier, obviously I need another drink. Big party weekend. Please don’t drink and drive. Be safe out there.

Happy Halloween!

Timeless Thursday – My Fave Witchy Songs

It’s Timeless Thursday and we’re walking down memory lane with my favorite witchy songs. I had so much fun making a Youtube playlist of Halloween 80s songs that I decided to make one for witchy songs.

Again, I had trouble getting my playlist to post to WordPress. So here is the link:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw-pyzpxGDXnX_hMm3errCaCq4iJGitFr&si=OiR5w0aQ55JKKK8C

That Old Black Magic by Frank Sinatra
I Put a Spell on You by Nina Simone
Black Magick Woman by Santana
Swamp Witch by Jim Stafford
Witch Queen of New Orleans by Redbone
Devil Woman by Cliff Richard
Witchy Woman by The Eagles
Spellbound by Siouxsie and thr Banshees
Mummer’s Dance by Loreena McKennitt
Crystal by Stevie Nicks
Seven Devils by Florence and the Machine
Black Magic by Little Mix
Burn Your Village (Same Old Energy pt. II) by Kiki Rockwell

These 13 songs are not in any particular order of preference. Honestly, if I had to pick one absolute favorite though, it would have to be Swamp Witch by Jim Stafford. Man, do I miss the good old days of musical storytelling and concept albums.

Released in 1973, Swamp Witch was a song off his debut album “Jim Stafford” The Southern crooner who also often performed on the Smother Brothers Comedy Hour, was known for his lyrical talent and humor. Stafford wrote most of his own songs and had a follow up hit “Spiders and Snakes” another good song for a Halloween playlist.

Happy Halloween!🎃

Wicked Art Wednesdays 2025 – Roman Dirge

Today’s Wicked Art Wednesday artist is goth legend Roman Dirge. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to pay a tribute to the amazing creator of comic book series Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl and his own unique creepy gothic cute style.

Artist: Roman Dirge

Where to Purchase Goods:

US- https://tinyurl.com/USA-orders

Lenore reboot The Time War, variant issue #1 from January 2025

Why we love it: Magician turned goth artist and comic book creator who never gave up on his dreams on being an artist… we all should admire anyone who pursues their passions and creates a lane for themselves.

Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/taxidermied/?hl=en

Happy Halloween! Be safe out there!

Trick or Treat Tuesdays – Candy Corn Guessing Game

Another Trick or Treat Tuesday in October and today’s candy corn guessing game is a treat!

There are between 1 and 75 candy corn candies in this jar. Guess how many and win a prize!

RULES: First person to post the correct number or closest to the exact number of candies in the pictured 4 oz. jar, here on WordPress before 12am on Friday, 10/24, wins some Halloween stickers.

Hint: The jar is not exactly filled to the top. Right after I took this picture, the lid rolled off the counter and shattered into pieces, along with my plan for photos. Ah well, Halloween mischief!

Please see Contest Rules and Eligibility Page for more details. Sorry, contests only open to US residents this year.