BECAUSE NOTHING GETS UNDER THEIR SKIN 🎃
Okay — it's Halloween, obviously, but it is also Samhain. The Celts believed that during Samhain the veil between our world and the next was the thinnest, so it's a perfect day to leave an offering for the spirits you want to appease or hold that séance to commune with them. Carpe noctem!
Halloween wasn't widely celebrated in the US until the 19th century, when Irish and Scottish immigrants brought it here. It wasn't until the 1920s that Halloween parties became popular. As for trick-or-treating, the term was first used in Alberta, Canada in 1927 and it started to become popular in the 1930s.
If you're looking for great horror movies to celebrate the occasion here's some of our all-time favorites in no particular order:
• Pumpkinhead (1988)
• Evil Dead 2 (1987)
• Demon Wind (1990)
• Treehouse (2019)*
• Demons 2 (1988)
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• The Howling (1981)
• The House on Haunted Hill (1959)
• Phantasm (1979)
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)**
• Evil Dead 2 (1987)
• Demon Wind (1990)
• Treehouse (2019)*
• Demons 2 (1988)
• An American Werewolf in London (1981)
• The Howling (1981)
• The House on Haunted Hill (1959)
• Phantasm (1979)
• Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)**
** Halloween III is the only film in the series that does NOT feature slasher Michael Myers. It's also my fave in the series. Go figure!
The Boredwalk customer service team taking your calls today (probably).
(gif via Zurich Insurance)
*****
Want a few famous October 31st birthdays and historical facts? Of course you do!
• Born on this day: actor/comedian John Candy (1950), filmmaker Peter Jackson (1961), journalist Dan Rather (1931), Beastie Boy Ad-Rock (1966), poet John Keats (1795), and singer/songwriter Adam Schlesinger* of Ivy and Fountains of Wayne
*I was very sad when he died in the pandemic due to COVID-19 because he was truly one of the greatest pop songwriters of all-time. If you're not familiar with his instantly catchy and expertly crafted tunes, do check them out. He not only made music for his bands, but made music for films like That Thing You Do! and Josie and The Pussycats.
• On this day in 1864 Nevada was admitted as the 36th U.S. state
• Mount Rushmore was completed on this day in 1941 (after 14 years of work)
• Lastly, on this day in 1962 the horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? premiered starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Davis and Crawford were famously enemies, which led to one of the best quips ever. Regarding Crawford's death, Davis reportedly said "You should never say bad things about the dead, only good. Joan Crawford is dead... good!" Absolutely savage!
*****
Alright! Scroll on down to learn a bit about fellow Boredwalk fan Katie von Till! If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Monday email (and are a customer with some Boredwalk tees, tanks, hoodies, towels, bags, or books to show off), just reply to this and let us know, and we'll send you some fun questions to answer (along with our undying gratitude)!
We'll be back here in your inbox on Wednesday with some more random holidays to observe, historical tidbits to acknowledge, and fun links to entertaining content! Until next time...
Peace, love, and spooky fun,
Meredith
Katie letting everyone know that she does not have time for their nonsense in her Hard Pass hoodie.
1. What's your actual day job and what's your dream day job?
My actual day job is acting. My dream day job is acting. Wait a second. Is this all a dream??? Damn it!
2. What's your biggest pet peeve?
My biggest pet peeve is union busting. Is that too big to be a pet peeve? Well, I don't care. I hate it.
(Editor's note: we'll allow it.)
3. What's a life pro tip the Boredwalk community needs to know?
When loading the dishwasher, the glasses go BEHIND THE TINES! Tines? Tines. I think that's the word. Yeah. Tines. Also, learn the signs of sepsis so you don't die. Like I almost did. Twice.
4. If you could have any super power what would it be and why?
The ability to erase events and do them over. You might say that's the same thing as time travel, but it's not. Trust me.
5. You can curse your nemesis with a minor annoyance for eternity; what do you choose?
I don't have a nemesis, but if I did, I'd like him/her/them to be constantly followed around by a fruit fly. Just one. And they're never quite sure if it really is a fruit fly or just an eye floater.
6. What experience do you most want to cross off your bucket list?
I want to travel the world napping. That is not a joke. But I'll settle for seeing the Aurora Borealis from bed.
(Sounds like Getaway House needs to set up an outpost in the Arctic Circle...)
7. What is something you wish you could go back in time and say to your younger self?
You're hot. Slut it up!
(Sexual empowerment FTW!)
8. What is a surprising fact about you?
I'm the current voice of Snow White for Disney. No, seriously. I am. Look it up. Go ahead, I'll wait.
(It's true! I just did! Now...do her dimunitive pals actually whistle while they work? That's the real question!)
9. Where can the rest of the Boredwalk community find you?
Leave a comment