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Hey kids, it’s The Phantom of the Ville checking
in with a story about a truly singular new curiosity shop/oddities museum/ punk
rock venue/ cult movie showcase at 1722 Maple Street in the industrial area of
downtown Louisville. After getting a tip from a friend at the Culbertson Haunted
Mansion, I decided to see the Louisville Stigmatorium for myself.

My hearse driver drove past the creepy warehouses
and construction sites that litter this part of northwest downtown with only an
address and instructions to, “Look for a building with a boat on the roof.” We
pulled into a sketchy looking alley in front of a large industrial building, and
sure enough we found an entrance with a large outboard motorboat perched atop
the roof. A skull covered sign let us know we were in the right place. Prepare
for a bit of a climb up to the front door as the front stairs are comprised of a
huge pile of timber logs with shipping pallets on top of them to make for flat
surfaces. If that already seems weird to you, then get ready to have your mind
blown by what you’re going to see inside.

As soon as I walked in the front door, my senses
were bombarded with an incredible variety of visual stimuli.The collection on
display isn’t easy to define. You’ll find skeletons in coffins, antique medical
equipment, cultural artifacts, life masks of Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, cool
toys of our collective childhoods past like the Shogun Warriors Godzilla figure,
animal bones, various creatures in liquid filled mason jars, monster masks,
creepy dolls and many things I couldn’t identify but was too afraid to ask
about. Their motto is, “Nothing is too weird for us.”

Upon entry I was greeted by owner, Andy Harpole,
and his co-conspirator, Johny Walker. Harpole is the owner of both the space and
the majority of the objects on display and Walker is in charge of all related
programming of punk rock shows and B-movie nights, as well as being a low budget
horror film director himself. The Stigmatorium’s current museum room, which they
have plans to expand, is the front room in a large building that makes up
Harpole’s boat repair and storage business.

“At first we thought about opening a shop on
Bardstown Road,” Harpole says. “But someone brought to my attention that I not
only already have this space, but that this end of town already has the perfect
atmosphere for what we wanted to do.” Harpole says the Louisville Stigmatorium
is currently in “soft opening,” and he’s hoping for an official opening sometime
this Summer. Right now, the doors at the museum are open from 11AM until 3PM
Monday through Wednesday, but extended hours or a private showing can be
scheduled at your convenience by calling 502-544-9348.

“Not everything you see is for sale,” Harpole
says. “But we’re open to buying, selling and trading anything unusual.” Harpole
grew up in Oldham County and had an admittedly normal, comfortable childhood
before moving to the Crescent Hill area during his more troubled teenage years.

“There was this old guy who had an auction shop on
Frankfort Avenue,” Harpole remembers, “and one day I stopped in to see what he
was selling. He had all kinds of weird, old stuff and little by little I
starting collecting things. I’m fascinated by the history of Western medicine
and antique medical equipment. I think that’s where this collection started.”

While Harpole runs the museum, Johny Walker is the
event programmer who is busy generating a local following by presenting all ages
punk rock shows and triple feature B-movie nights twice a month. A low budget
horror filmmaker himself, Walker knows his cult horror stuff and sites “Plan 9
From Outer Space” as a major influence. On the week of my visit, he was planning
a show with films as obscure and insane as “Mystics in Bali” and “The Killing of
Satan.” He also regularly brings in touring punk bands from across the country,
and he’s in charge of a small gift shop that sells indie punk CDs, vinyl,
fanzines, horror magazines and other curiosities.

The Stigmatorium is the labor of love of these two
very unique individuals, and their interests & passions extend far beyond the
doors of their spooky operation. “One of the projects I’m very passionate about
is the restoration of Eastern Cemetery in the Highlands,” says Harpole, who
schedules regular volunteer days to help clean up the infamous decaying cemetery
which sits right next door to the immaculately kept, Cave Hill Cemetery.

“I’ve had meetings with the local government about
this problem,” he says. “It’s the saddest thing to me that we’re just letting
the place turn into ruins when so many people’s families and loved ones are
buried there.” The Eastern Cemetery and Crematory closed in the late 1980′s
after a scandal was exposed dating back as far as the 1920′s involving as many
as 48,000 people buried in only 16,000 graves. Vaults were filled to the top
with boxes of ashes, many containing multiple names. Since it closed, it has
been a victim of grave desecration and vandalism.

Andy and Johny welcome anyone to bring in their
weirdest stuff to show, trade or donate to the ever changing museum. New stuff
comes in all the time, and the quicker the museum overflows with weirdness, the
quicker they plan to add rooms to the tour.

Upcoming events include an all ages punk rock show
on Memorial Day, Monday, March 27^th, featuring the California
rockabilly sounds of Reverend Red and local punks, EXPO. The show starts at 8PM.
The next B-Movie night takes place on Saturday, June 8^th at 8PM. It
will showcase a triple feature of “Driller Killer,” “Basket Case” and “Beyond
the Door.” Food, popcorn and soft drinks will be available at the show. Check
out their Facebook page for more information.

Good Evening, My Loyal Friends. It’s The Phantom
of the Ville, here to tell you about one of my favorite weekends of the year
here in the land of bourbon and boos. As a longtime lurker of the creepy halls
of the Crowne Plaza Hotel during the area’s biggest Toy & Model/Sci-Fi Expo,
WONDERFEST, I have some tips regarding the guests, panels and film screenings
that might interest fans of classic horror and science-fiction that frequent
this spooky corner of the Internet.

The show takes place from Friday night, May
17^th, through Sunday evening, May 19^th, with Friday night
serving as a FREE addition to a paid admission for a one day or weekend ticket.
Adults are $25 for a one day ticket or $33 for both days. Ages 4-12 are $8 for
one day and $11 for both days. Ages 3 and under are free. You can also purchase
an Early Bird Ticket for $55 which pays for the whole weekend and gets you into
the Dealer’s Room two hours early at 8AM on Saturday morning. The
Admissions Booth will be open Friday Night from 5PM until 8PM and again Saturday
morning at 7:30AM. The Dealers Room will be open Saturday and Sunday from 10AM
until 5PM.

The biggest draw to Wonderfest is the world famous
model contest, and the show annually draws model builders from around the world.
Even though you’ll find everything from rocket ships to dinosaurs to full size
movie props and costumes from “Star Trek” to “Lost in Space” to “Alien,” there
has always been a connection to Halloween and the classic monsters of the silver
screen according to Wonderfest Head Programmer, Dave Cononver, “Sure,” says
Conover, “the modeling hobby probably began with most of us building the classic
Aurora Monster Kits of the 1960′s and 1970′s.”

The Aurora Plastics Corporation began producing
model kits for a young demographic in the early 1950′s, mostly World War I and
II aircraft models and “slot cars.” Aurora’s biggest success came when they
licensed the images of the classic Universal Monsters in 1961 and began
producing a series of monster kits based on Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man,
King Kong, Godzilla and their whole devil’s brood. I was introduced to these
plastic wonders through the haze of the smell of cement modeling glue during the
Glow-in-the-Dark craze in the early 1970′s when Aurora re-released their monster
line with glow-in-the-dark heads and hands. One of the most memorable features
of the Aurora Monster models was the moody and evocative packaging artwork by
artist James Bama.

Just a couple of years ago, Wonderfest debuted a
documentary about this whole phenomenon, featuring an interview with Bama,
called “The Aurora Monsters: The Model Craze That Gripped The World.” It was
co-directed by Cortlandt Hull, who comes from classic monster lineage. He’s the
great nephew of actor, Henry Hull, Universal’s “Werewolf of London” (1935)
himself! He has also run a classic monster wax museum called “The Witch’s
Dungeon” (www.preservehollywood.org/) in Bristol, Connecticut since
1966.

This year, Hull and his partner Bill Diamond will
be debuting a new documentary on Friday night at 9:30PM in the upstairs Theater
A at the Crowne Plaza, “The Phantom of the Opera: Unmasking the Masterpiece.”
It’s a comprehensive look at adaptions of the Gaston Leroux novel through the
years, with focus on the silent Lon Chaney Jr. version, the 1943 version with
Claude Rains and the British Hammer Horror version with Herbert Lom. It will
feature interviews with Lon Chaney’s great grandson, Ron Chaney, Broadway
“Phantom,” Hugh Panaro and Hollywood make-up wizards Tom Savini and John
Goodwin.

Then Saturday night there will be a double feature
of classic creeps and monsters starting at 9PM in Theater B with a screening of
Roger Corman’s classic, “The Raven” (1963), featuring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre
and Boris Karloff. The real treat for classic horror fans is the fact that Boris
Karloff’s daughter, Sara Karloff, will be there in person to introduce the film
and talk about some of the later films in her father’s long Hollywood bogeyman
career. Mrs. Karloff will also be hosting a panel about her father’s career on
Sunday morning from 11 – Noon in Theater A.

Directly following “The Raven” at 11PM on Saturday
night, Wonderfest will present “The Ray Harryhausen Super 8 Tribute Show.”
Master creature effects creator, Ray Harryhausen, who just passed away last week
was the man who released the Kraken in “Clash of the Titans,” brought the
Cyclops to life in “The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad” and rose an undead army
of skeletons in “Jason and the Argonauts.” Guests will marvel to the clicking
projector sounds of Super 8 digest reels for some of Harryhausen’s greatest
work. The Super 8 screening schedule follows below:

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (17 minutes)
EARTH VS FLYING
SAUCERS (8 minutes)
20,000,000 MILES TO EARTH (17 minutes)
7th VOYAGE OF
SINBAD Cyclops vs Dragon (8 minutes)
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (17 minutes)
JASON
AND THE ARGONAUTS – Talos (8 minutes)
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS – Skeletons (8
minutes)
GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD – ‘Making of’ Featurette (6
minutes)
SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (17 minutes)

Other panels of interest to horror fans include a
Saturday 4PM session with Scream Queen, Brinke Stevens (“The Slumber Party
Massacre,” “The Haunting Fear”), who will be made-up as something horrible by
special effects make-up master, John Goodwin. Lee Meriwether, who played
Catwoman in the 1966 theatrical “Batman” movie, will be giving a talk at 11:30 AM
on Sunday morning. Last, but not least, the Rondo Awards (www.rondoaward.com) will present the awards for the years’ best
efforts in the horror genre at 5PM on Saturday.

There’s much, much more going on at Wonderfest
this weekend, and I’ve only touched on the more monstrous elements of the show,
so I recommend you check out www.wonderfest.com for all the details. I’ll see you back next
week when we explore a very unique, very local and very strange new
attraction/museum/cult film/punk rock showcase that could only exist in the dark
shadows of the Ville!

This morning I received a strange email from
someone calling himself Gern Blanston, Chief Investigator for the Center for
Research of American Paranormal Activity (CRAPA). Blanston summoned me to a
press conference at the Frazier History Museum downtown at 829 W. Main Street.
In a room filled with local press, a slightly disheveled gentleman approached
the podium and began to show us photographs taken recently around the city
purportedly revealing the presence of legendary creatures in our midst: Bigfoot
in Cherokee Park, a sea serpent in the Ohio River and unicorns at Churchill
Downs.

Afterward, he took us out on Main Street to reveal
a “Bigfoot Crossing” (SEE PHOTO) sign that he claimed was intended to keep the
citizenry on “high alert.” I was then introduced to the Frazier’s Chief Outreach
Officer, Krista Snider, who ushered me quickly into an elevator which took us to
the third floor of the Frazier’s labyrinthine building. There I discovered an
amazing new exhibit that explores the roots of folklore and fables behind the
world’s most enduring mythical creatures from Asia, Europe, the Americas and
beyond.

Inside the mysterious rooms on the Frazier’s third
floor, you’ll be taken on a visual journey into the world of Cryptozoology in
search of the truth behind the legends. The tour is broken down into four themed
environments: Creatures of the Sea, Land and Air and Dragons. The first area
you’ll encounter is Creatures of the Sea, and right away you’ll discover that
most of the legendary beasts on display have been recreated “life-size” in their
full glory. The full scale Kraken’s tentacles have broken through the
floorboards and surround you as you make your way through the room. Special
lighting and sound effects make it seem like you’ve been transported 20,000
leagues under the sea.

A sense of scale is a part of the larger than life
stories behind many of these magical creatures, and Mythical Creatures: Truth
Behind the Legends delivers the intended feeling of awe. When you first enter
the 7,500 sq. ft. exhibit, you’ll encounter a 17 foot long dragon with a 19 foot
wingspan and a tremendous Chinese dragon snaking through the building overhead.
You’ll see a life-size Gigantopithecus, believed to be the foundation for the
legend behind (or at least an an ancestor of) the Sasquatch. You’ll come
face-to-face with a gigantic Roc, the mythical giant bird that Sinbad the Sailor
battled in the Arabian Nights tales. You’ll see a 10 foot unicorn in a magical,
dreamlike environment, a full sized Pegasus and much, much more.

For those with a deeper curiosity about the
cultures that spawned these creatures and the history behind them, you’ll also
find many artifacts including pre-historic fossils, textiles, paintings, stone
carvings, wooden sculptures and other cultural objects. There are also several
fun interactive stations, like one I toyed with where you turn the crank and see
a display of whale pods breaking through the ocean surface waves that could have
easily been mistaken as the humps of a sea serpent. All ages are encouraged to
touch the casts of a narwhal tusk, the lower jaw of a massive ape and the talon
of an eagle.

If you’re very lucky, and you keep your sharp
senses about you, you may even spot the legendary Sasquatch himself lurking amid
the exhibits! I spoke with the Frazier’s own, Krista Snider, about her own
experiences with the elusive creature.

“I lived in Arkansas for four years as a child,”
says Snider. “We lived in a neighborhood with a massive, dense forest right
behind it. People told lots of stories of Bigfoot sightings in the area. When I
was seven or eight years old, I had a dream of seeing Bigfoot walk right out of
the forest into my back yard in broad daylight.” At least she thinks it was a
dream. When pressed for Halloween memories from her childhood, she admits to a
classical love of traditional Halloween costumes. “I was always a black cat or a
witch. I like the classics!”

“Mythic Creatures” opens to the public on
Saturday, May 11, from 11AM until 5PM for a special Founder’s Day Celebration
which includes unicorn rides ($3 per ride) in the parking lot and animals from
the Louisville Zoo from Noon till 2PM. MozziPi will be offering authentic
Italian food and the Comfy Cow will be providing ice cream on the sidewalk. Kids
can make and take their own Medusa or Kraken headdress or their own Historical
Cyclops Magnet from 11AM to 4PM.

The exhibit will be on display through September
15 and is appropriate for children ages 4 and up. Operating hours are Monday
through Saturday 9AM to 5PM and Sunday 12PM to 5PM. Wednesdays are open extended
hours until 8PM and guests can take advantage of half priced admission every
Wednesday after 4PM! Regular admission is $18.50 for adults (18 and older),
$14.50 for students (ages 14-17 and college students with I.D.), $10 for
children (5-13) and free for children 4 and under. Discounts are available for
museum members, military, seniors and groups of 15 or more. For more information
visit www.fraziermuseum.org.

There is currently no word on whether or not the
Goatman of Pope Lick has been spotted at the Frazier History Museum, as he seems
to stick to his old haunts at the Pope Lick railroad trestle, but all this
recent cryptozoolological activity just may bring him out of his home creek to
check things out. My investigation with CRAPA is ongoing. Stay tuned for further
details.

What a week in the River City, my friends and fiends! An Orb won the Kentucky Derby, and I’m guessing some of you spook loving creeps and armchair ghost hunters might have a little extra cash in your pockets if you pick your horses by their names like I do. Now I’ve just received the word that ex-Misfits frontman and talented singer/songwriter, Michale Graves, will be returning to the Third Street Dive on Thursday, May 9th.

Currently on tour with his brand new album, “Vagabond,” Graves last stopped in the Ville last September on his solo, all acoustic tour. You can find the Louisville Halloween review here:http://www.louisvillehalloween.com/michale-graves-concert-review-third-street-dive/.  This time he’ll be bringing his entire band with their amps, guitars, drums and bass to rock out tracks from his new record along with some horror punk classics. If you’re lucky, you should be able to pick up a copy of the very limited new CD at the show. Local punk band, Dead Dick Hammer, will be opening the show which starts at 8PM.

Graves is also gearing up for a return to his horror punk roots. He has successfully fan funded an anthology of his horror punk classics called “The Lost Skeleton Returns” through Kickstarter and the CD is due for release on June 14th. Graves will be breaking out the skeleton greasepaint makeup once again for this new record which will include ten re-recorded classics like “Dig Up Her Bones” and “Crying on Saturday Night” from his time in the Misfits as well as solo material like “Earth VS Spider” and “Dawn of the Dead.” Most exciting for fans is the fact that “The Lost Skeleton Returns” will include four new horror punk songs, “Lost Skeleton,” “Zombie,” “Forbidden Planet” and “Something Wicked.” Find out how you can get a copy of the CD at the show and get the latest news at http://www.michalegraves.net/ .

The Third Street Dive is located in downtown Louisville at 442 South Third Street. The show starts at 8PM. Michale always hangs out after the show to meet fans and sign all of your CDs, shirts and other swag. This is the Phantom of the Ville, who will likely be lurking in the shadows of the dark corners of the Third Street Dive this Thursday night. Stay tuned for much more news later this week!

Gather round the bonfire, my friends, for
Walpurgis Night is at hand! I, The Phantom of the Ville, have awoken from my
winter slumber and have returned to my old haunts in the River City with
exciting news. In early June, Louisville Halloween will be unveiling a new,
improved website with a number of new features that will better serve your smart
phones and digital devices. Expect a much bigger media presence in the Ville
this year as well. There will be more news, new haunted houses, new contests,
movie screenings and reviews, horror convention appearances and panels and much
more spooky fun.

Six months of orange & black obsession begins
on May Day, the first of May, 2013. To kick things off, I might suggest you
light a candle, pick a horror movie on Blu-ray or DVD and celebrate Walpurgis
Night, also known as Walpurgisnacht. Like All Hallow’s Eve traditionally marks
the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter in America, Walpurgis Night is a
festival celebrated in much of Central and Northern Europe that marks the end of
Winter and the beginning of Spring.

Named after an English missionary, Saint Walpurga,
who was granted sainthood on May 1, she became associated with the holiday of
May Day. The night before May Day, which is celebrated with singing, dancing and
great community bonfires, came to be known as Walpurgisnacht. It is exactly six
months from Halloween.

Like All Hallow’s Eve, there is an ancient pagan
connection to witchcraft and sorcery. In Germany, Walpurgis Night is believed to
be a night when witches gather and light huge bonfires in honor of the old gods,
and like our tradition of trick-or-treat, youngsters often play pranks on
neighbors under cover of darkness. In the Czech Republic, April 30 is known as
“Burning of the Witches Night,” and straw witches and broomsticks are burned in
massive bonfires. In Estonia, people dress like witches and indulge in large
street carnivals.

Aside from the connection to witchcraft, the
common theme in almost all celebrations of Walpurgis Night is that of the
community bonfire. Folks gather together in the still chilly night air to sing,
dance, drink and warm themselves by massive fires on hilltops all across the
land, symbolically burning away the last of Winter.

There are a couple of movies that involve the
themes of Walpurgis Night and May Day if you’re looking for something to watch
to get you through the night. “La Noche de Walpurgis” (1971), more commonly
known in America as “Werewolf Shadow” and “The Werewolf VS the Vampire Women” is
actually the fifth entry in a saga of twelve werewolf films featuring Spanish
actor, Paul Naschy, as the cursed Waldemar Daninsky. Only tangentially related
to Walpurgis Night, two college girls awaken an ancient vampire-witch queen
during the course of the night and Daninsky’s werewolf character attempts to
rescue them, but eventually succumbs to the curse of the Full Moon and gets into
a knock-down-drag-out battle with the vampire queen.

The best movie ever made about May Day and its
connection to witches covens and ceremonial bonfires is undoubtedly Robin
Hardy’s “The Wicker Man” (1973) starring Christopher Lee. In this cult classic,
a police sergeant (Edward Woodward) travels to a secluded island in search of a
missing girl only to be confronted by one of the most unusual cults ever
depicted in a horror film. A must see film for the uninitiated, the climax still
has the power to shock modern audiences.

Commence with your own Walpurgis Night bonfire or
start a new May Day tradition, but come back and celebrate with us regularly now
through October 31^st for more news, reviews, interviews and
adventures in the Louisville shadows.

Greetings, Fright Fans, this is The Phantom of the
Ville calling from regions beyond to the human year of 2013. This post will be
short and very sweet. Old school horror fans gather ’round. It’s time to start
the year off with a proper scream, and tomorrow night you can celebrate
Halloween in January with a proper sequel to Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre” (1974). That’s right, the new Leatherface film from Lionsgate isn’t a
prequel or reboot of the franchise, but an actual sequel to Hooper’s original
film set some years after the events of the 1974 narrative.

Several original “Texas Chainsaw” cast members
have returned to either reprise their roles or play new characters, including
the original Leatherface, Gunnar Hansen, as “Boss Sawyer,” Bill “Chop-Top”
Moseley (“Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”) as “Drayton Sawyer” and even the only
survivor of the original film, Marilyn Burns. Perhaps the most exciting cameo
for local horror film fans is the return of Louisvillian, John Dugan, in the
role of the corpse-like “Grandpa Sawyer,” a role he originated in “The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre” under heavy make-up nearly 40 years ago.

Lionsgate Films presents an advance screening of
“Texas Chainsaw 3D” this Thursday night 01/03/13 at 10PM at RAVE Preston Crossing 16
Theaters at 9700 Preston Crossing Blvd in Okolona. John Dugan will be there in
person to do a live introduction to the film. Advance tickets are available at
the RAVE Preston Crossing box-office or on-line at https://www.movietickets.com/purchase/perf_id/697154497/movieid/119299 . The Saw is Family!

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN, all my little face paint Frankensteins and drugstore Draculas, the time is finally here for our twilight procession into the cold October 31^st night in search of haunted yards, Jack-O-Lantern lit front porches and Styrofoam cemeteries. There are only a few short hours after dusk to fill your treat bags and plastic pumpkins with sweet loot, so you’ve got to have a game plan. There aren’t as many neighborhoods that truly indulge in Halloween night festivities as there were when I was a kid, and four years of a tough economy has reduced the number of participating houses even further.

Indeed, a lot has changed over the last 30 years with regards to the American tradition of Halloween. Some of it good, some of it not so good. Halloween has gotten a lot bigger in scope, but the significance of All Hallow’s Eve has shrunk to almost a footnote. When I was a wee Phantom of the Ville, the thirty days before Halloween were just a slow burn build up for the main event which started about 6PM on October 31^st, rain or shine. Now Halloween starts about the second week of September when the local haunted houses start to open and the big box stores start putting out their seasonal candy and decorations. The Halloween party builds throughout the first three weeks of October until it finally coasts quietly to a stop before the actual day even arrives! I would often get the Post-Halloween Blues the morning after all the excitement was over, but now that same feeling hits me almost a week before Halloween. Maybe it has become too much of good thing; too many haunted houses, scary movies and pumpkin flavored food and beverages leads me to an early Halloween hangover. But I still say Halloween night, unless it happens to fall on a Friday or Saturday, has gotten too quiet!

The most recent news reports say that even the hootenanny on Hillcrest Avenue, which has become a grassroots neighborhood tradition, will be scaled down this year. Fewer houses between Brownsborro Road and Frankfort Avenue are apparently participating this year and crowds are expected to be between 1,500 and 2,000, down from the over 2,000 Trick-or-Treaters in the shoulder-to-shoulder madness of last year. I took a stroll down Hillcrest Avenue a week and a half ago, however, and the displays already built were nearly as elaborate as usual.

What I love most about the Hillcrest Halloween tradition is that it isn’t a civic event or a for profit endeavor. Quite the opposite, some of the participants spend upwards of $1,000 on candy alone. It’s not even an officially planned or publicly announced party. It’s something that grew organically by the neighbors of those two blocks out of the love of Halloween. Many of the home owners were ex-Trick-or-Treaters themselves who wanted to keep the neighborhood tradition alive. This year, participants are asking little ghosts and goblins to come early, as the police will clear the streets starting at precisely 8:45PM. I brought my camera with me to give you a preview of the early stages of what you can expect to see on Halloween night, but these photos just can’t do justice to seeing the neighborhood lit up, animated with stunt gags & props, spooky music pumping through sound systems and creepy characters wandering the streets. It truly is something to see.

Some of the themed yards I encountered included a Wizard of Oz yard complete with Munchkin village, a whole yard dedicated to “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” with animated scenes, a Ghouly Garden with a bone-yard, a scary Tiki themed yard, a torture chamber full of “forgotten prisoners,” a clown yard, an Area 51 with aliens and a flying saucer, Hillcrest Cemetery and a crazy skeleton wedding scene including Bridezilla and the corpse of the King, Elvis Presley, himself!

Wherever you choose to Trick-or-Treat or spend your Halloween night, The Phantom of the Ville sends you his best orange-and-black wishes for wonderful, memorable nightmares to look back on for many years to come. By the way, on November 1^st, you can all start referring to me as The Christmas Spirit of the Ville! I hope to see you all again next year.

I love this town! I’ve been haunting it for a long, long time. Its city streets, neighborhoods and backyards are in my blood, and as Dracula is so fond of saying, “The blood is the life.” It’s up to all of us to “Keep Louisville Weird” in our own way. I thank all of you who’ve read and supported the Louisville Halloween website this season, as well as my own little contribution as The Phantom of the Ville, and I encourage you to continue to support all the local businesses that make this city unique. This Saturday, October 27^th, starting at Noon and lasting until every business in the Highlands area on Bardstown Road and Baxter Avenue closes, you can Trick-or-Treat  and find some great deals at shops and restaurants all along the route. Halloween costumes are encouraged and kids can get candy at all the participating locations. All those businesses officially taking part are listed athttp://www.thehighlandsoflouisville.com/BardstownBound.php .

Brought to you by the Highland Commerce Guild, this event is a great opportunity for both kids to go Trick-or-Treating in a safe and community sponsored celebration of Halloween and a chance for you to give back to the community by supporting the local businesses along the way. Eat lunch or dinner at any one of the dozens of local restaurants like the Bristol or Mark’s Feed Store. Order a local pizza at Bearno’s, BoomBozz, Impellizerri’s or Wick’s. Get some hot apple cider or a pumpkin latte at Heine Brothers Coffee.

Before I shuffled off the mortal coil, I spent a number of years living and working in the Highlands area, so I’m in a unique position to recommend a few stops that Halloween fans should check out when in the area on Saturday.

If you’re looking to rent or buy a scary movie to watch on Halloween night, I recommend Wild & Woolly Video at 1021 Bardstown Road, which just celebrated its 15^th Anniversary in the Ville with a Zombie Hike in the Jefferson Memorial Forest. The independent video store, which has one of the best Horror selections of any video store in the country, has hosted horror celebrity signings with such stars as Ken Foree (“Dawn of the Dead,” “Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw III”), Caroline Munro (“Maniac,” “Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter,” “Dracula A.D. 1972”), George Romero (director of the entire “Night of the Living Dead” series) and Rudy Ray Moore (“Petey Wheatstraw,” “Dolemite”). They’ve also hosted concerts with spooky music legends like Roky Erickson (“I Walked with a Zombie,” “Stand for the Fire Demon,” “Creature with the Atom Brain”). They always stock up on classic and cult horror DVDS in anticipation of Halloween.

WHY Louisville at 1583 Bardstown Road, a uniquely specific Louisville themed gift shop, always puts up a great Halloween display. Each year they design and sell a new local Halloween t-shirt created by a different local artist. Past years have seen a Louisville werewolf designed by Adrian Wright and a Frankenstein shirt that says, “Louisville, Gooood.” This year, WHY Louisville celebrates the local urban legend of The Pope Lick Monster with a “Goatman Lives” t-shirt (SEE PHOTO) designed by Carrie Neumayer.

Ultra-Pop at 1414 Bardstown Road is a great place to find imported vinyl monster toys and art design books. The owner is a huge fan of both classic horror and Japanese giant monster flicks, and you’ll usually find Godzilla, Ultraman and their friends playing on the big screen TV in the back. Ultra-Pop recently hosted a “Things That Go Bump in the Night” Art Show with monster and horror artwork all by local artists, and most of that artwork will likely still be on display until Halloween before they host another horror related event with the “Amigos de los Muertos” book release party on the Day of the Dead, November 2^nd.

If after a long day of shopping and Trick-or-Treating, you’d like to catch a classic horror movie in a theater, head to Baxter Avenue Filmworks at 1250 Bardstown Road on the backside of the MidCity Mall. Midnights at the Baxter presents “The Tingler” (1959) with Vincent Price at Midnight, October 27^th. This classic horror film was directed by gimmick master, William Castle, who actually rigged some theater seats to deliver mild electric shocks during the sequence when the Tingler gets loose in the movie theater during its original theatrical run. Expect some type of theatrical shenanigans from Midnight programmer, Beau Kaelin, and his tricky crew.

Treat yourself and your kids to Bardstown Bound Boofest in the Highlands on Saturday, October 27th! Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, my friends, it’s The Phantom of the Ville here, reveling in the colors of the Midwestern Autumn foliage during this beautiful last week before our favorite holiday. In the eccentric circles of horror fans, there is a tribal ritual of identification that is customary when socializing with other horror fans not unlike the similar practice of music geeks declaring themselves either a Beatles or an Elvis fan. You can like both of them, but your tastes, lifestyle and identity must loyally align with one or the other. In the horror community (particularly when discussing 80′s horror), you’re either a Jason, Freddy or Michael kind of fan. I’ve always been a Michael Myers kind of guy.

Yesterday I spoke with Fangoria writer and author of the upcoming coffee table book, “Halloween: The Complete Authorized History,” Justin Beahm, about his supervising role in new HD, 5.1 stereo screenings of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” as well as his working relationship with series producer, Malek Akkad, about the plans for bringing Michael back to theaters for the 35^th Anniversary of the original film next Halloween. “This is a whole new HD transfer,” says Beahm, “not the same transfer you’ll see on the Blu-ray, and I think fans will notice a whole new level of detail and see things they’ve never noticed before.” The screenings he is supervising with Screen Vision and Trancas International Films will be playing on over 500 screens across the country, and can be seen at three different theaters here in Louisville. Here are the participating theaters and screening times available for purchase:

October 30^th at STONYBROOK RAVE CINEMAS at 2745 S. Hurstbourne at 7:30PM

October 25^th and October 30^th at CINEMARK TINSELTOWN at 4400 Towne Center Drive on Thursday, October 25^th at 7PM, 9:30PM and 12:01AM and on Tuesday, October 30^th at 7PM

October 30^th at RAVE PRESTON CROSSINGS 16 at 9700 Preston Crossing Blvd. at 7:30PM

You’ll also be treated to the exclusive short film, “You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween,” also produced by Justin Beahm, which takes a look at how Michael Myers has infiltrated the mainstream Popular Culture and become a cultural icon over the last 35 years.

Growing up in perhaps the most Midwestern of all Midwestern states, Iowa, Beahm was born with the Heartland of America beating in his chest. Its hills, valleys and vast farmlands pump Harvest blood through his veins. “My earliest memories are of the Fall season, the Halloween parties in elementary school and all all the festivities and decorations of Halloween,” he says. “I think the first movie I ever loved was James Whale’s “Frankenstein” with Boris Karloff.”

Beahm and I both share a common gateway to John Carpenter’s original “Halloween.” Both of us were just a year or two too young to see the film during its original theatrical debut, but we were both frightened by and curious enough about the TV trailer to seek out the paperback novelization by Curtis Richards who expanded the mythology set forth in the film to include a prologue set in Celtic Ireland detailing an ancient murder and a curse placed upon the descendants of the Myers family.

Beahm’s obsession with the “Halloween” franchise has ultimately led to his work on “Halloween: The Complete Authorized History,” which is a coffee table sized tome similar to the “Camp Crystal Lake Memories” book by Peter Bracke from 2006. Scheduled for release to coincide with the 35^th Anniversary of the original film in the Fall of 2013, the book will feature interviews with nearly every living person ever involved with the entire “Halloween” franchise. “I’m giving equal care and space to every film in the franchise from the original through Rob Zombie’s films,” says Beahm. “I’ve spoken to thousands of “Halloween” fans and every film in the series in somebody’s favorite sequel. That includes “Halloween III,” which was intended to spin the franchise off into different directions.” The third, infamous entry in the series was John Carpenter’s attempt to kill Michael Myers once and for all by introducing a new series of films which would debut in theaters each October with the only requirement being that the stories had to take place during the Halloween holiday. Evil would not die, however, and disappointed fans demanded the return of Michael Myers in the next franchise entry.

Even though the 35^th Anniversary of “Halloween” isn’t until next year, Beahm says fans should rejoice in all the recent activity in Michael Myers related screenings, collectibles and Blu-ray and DVD releases. “Bob Weinstein originally announced last year that we’d have “Halloween 3D” in theaters this season, but for a number of different reasons, that didn’t happen. I thought we should offer something to the fans to see in theaters as a replacement this year, and that’s why I worked to make this new HD, 5.1 stereo release of the original happen.”

“It’s an exciting time,” says Beahm. “There are new Blu-ray and DVD transfers of “Halloween II,” “Halloween III,” “Halloween IV” and “Halloween V” on store shelves now. There are new Trick-or-Treat Studios Michael Myers masks on novelty store shelves at this moment. You can get the new poster for the re-release for $17.99 at the official series website at http://halloweenmovies.com/, and we’re currently secretly plotting the next franchise film for a hopeful 2013 release.”

It was time for me to squeeze poor Justin for all the top secret information about the direction of the “Halloween” franchise that I could muster. Would the next film be in 3D as originally announced? Would it follow Rob Zombie’s story thread or would it completely reboot the series again? “All options are still on the table. A number of different story-lines are still under consideration,” admits Beahm. “These days films can be shot, edited and ready for theaters fairly quickly. The plan is still to have a new “Halloween” film in theaters by October of 2013 as a 35^th Anniversary tribute film. Everyone just wants to make sure we get the story right, and that the fans will be pleased with the end product.”

If you’d like the opportunity to squeeze Justin Beahm for additional information about his book or the next “Halloween” franchise film, he’ll have a booth at the HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis on November 16^th through November 18^th celebrating the biggest “Halloween” gathering ever assembled, featuring the FIRST and ONLY horror convention appearance by Jamie Lee Curtis!

You can also meet the original Michael Myers (as well as prolific screenwriter and director), Nick Castle, and “Halloween III” director, and fellow Kentuckian, Tommy Lee Wallace. Other actors who’ve worn the white mask include Dick Warlock (“Halloween II”) and Brad Loree (“Halloween: H2O” and “Halloween: Resurrection”). Other “Halloween” franchise stars appearing include Charles Cyphers (Sheriff Brackett in “Halloween”), Lance Guest and Leo Rossi (ambulance drivers in “Halloween II”), Brian Andrews (little Tommy Doyle in “Halloween”), Tom Atkins (heroic, but probably alcoholic, Dr. Dan Challis in “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”) and Gloria Gifford and Tawny Moyer (nurses in “Halloween II”). Rounding out the guest list are John Carpenter’s ex-wife and frequent leading lady, Adrienne Barbeau (“The Fog,” “Escape from New York”), Jamie Lee Curtis’ “Terror Train” co-star, Timothy Webber, and Curtis’ “Prom Night” co-star, Michael Tough. More guests are still being added.

It’s a great season to be a fan of “The Night He Came Home.” Evil is coming back to your own suburban neighborhoods, Blu-ray & DVD players and multiplexes this year. Indeed, it was the Boogeyman, and he lives still.

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The wait is finally over for millions of kids across America. The prime Trick-or-Treating season is at hand! When I was still a wee Phantom, we had to endure the long 30 days of October, watching each twilight as the shadows grew longer and longer and the dusk came earlier and earlier, until the night of All Hallow’s Eve finally arrived to indulge in two or three hours of neighborhood candy plundering. Thanks to the Louisville Zoo at 1100 Trevilian Way, today’s little ghosts and goblins can get a much earlier start on their Trick-or-Treating adventures, and “adventure” is exactly the right word to describe the huge experience waiting for them on a nighttime trek through the entire Zoo.

It’s The Phantom of the Ville here, reporting in with a preview of the wild and woolly, family oriented Halloween hootenanny taking place over the next two weekends at the Louisville Zoo. The party will be in full swing tonight, Friday October 19^th through Sunday October 21^st, and next weekend from Thursday night October 25^th through Sunday October 28^th. You can enter the Zoo anytime from 5PM until 8:30PM. Regular Admission is $8, but discount tickets are available at local Meijer Stores for $6.50. This year the Zoo is also offering a special Adventure Ticket for $13 that includes one ride on the Haunted Carousel and one ticket to “Dora and Diego’s 4-D Adventure” at the 4-D Theater. For Zoo Members, the Regular Admission price is $4 and the Adventure Ticket is $9. Parking in the Zoo lot is $5, but there is FREE parking available at the Cyril Allgeier Community Center at 4101 Cadillac Court with FREE shuttle service back and forth.

This is an extremely popular Louisville Halloween event. I was there on Thursday night, October 19^th, and the parking lot was nearly full when I arrived at 6:30PM. I passed the Zoo’s entryway to find the whole park buzzing with excitement. My first stop was the display of hundreds of lighted pumpkins carved with images of every Pop Culture subject imaginable from Rock & Roll icons to classic monsters to Disney characters. My second stop was at the feet of the Great Pumpkin himself. A giant, talking pumpkin greets kids as they arrive in costume before they set off on their Trick-or-Treat adventure. Then it was off to the Trick-or-Treat path which winds its way all the way through the Zoo through 15 different themed areas, each with its own treat station.

First you pass through the doorway of a classic style haunted house and find yourself in Fairy Tale Land filled with storybook characters, highlighted by a giant enchanted castle with thrones fit for little princes and princesses. Next you’ll pass a Western Town inhabited by the “Toy Story” characters before arriving at Hogwarts where you’ll meet the characters from the “Harry Potter” series. In perhaps my favorite Louisville Zoo Halloween tradition, next you’ll be given the chance to encounter the Headless Horseman from Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Since the Zoo trains are still closed, they’ve opened up the Gorilla Trail as a great winding path to find the Headless Horseman, and some really wonderful actors will perform as storytellers, taking guests through the classic Halloween tale before meeting the headless specter.

Next you’ll enter Classic Video Game Land, decorated with scenes from Super Mario Bros., Pac Man, Donkey Kong and a really cool Tetris display incorporated into the treat booth! Then your sweet tooth will be indulged in Candy Land as giant lollipops and bags of popcorn surround you. Then every dinosaur loving kid will encounter a couple of giant inflatable prehistoric animals in Dino Land. The Zoo’s newest, multi-million dollar Arctic exhibit, Glacier Run, is where you’ll find all the classic monsters of the silver screen. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love the classic Universal Monsters, and I was as ecstatic as all the children around me to see Dracula, Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man and the Mummy represented in this amazing attraction.

The second leg of this amazing journey will take kids and kids at heart through a huge disco dance party area down into the rabbit hole and into the world of Alice in Wonderland presented by Louisville’s own Halloween headquarters, Caufields Novelty Store! Then it’s down under the sea to visit with Disney’s “Little Mermaid,” but watch out for the great white shark while you’re down there. Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Emerald City for a great photo opportunity with Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion from “The Wizard of Oz.” Then Spider-man towers above the City of Superheroes as you enter The Islands. Into the home stretch, the big finale will be an encounter with the rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” including a pirate ship docked by the Zoo’s lake. I enjoyed all the themed music pumped into each scene along the trail and was especially pleased to hear “A Whale of a Tale” from one of my favorite fantasy films, Disney’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in the pirate themed climax.

Trick-or-Treat adventures don’t get much more epic than the one the Louisville Zoo has in store for you and your kids this Halloween at The World’s Largest Halloween Party. Don’t miss this adventure, and stay tuned as I’ll be back soon with more Halloween and Trick-or-Treating news in the days ahead.

Making Candy for 121 Years, Schimpff’s Confectionery in Jeffersonville is Your Local Trick-or-Treat Stop for the Most Unique Handmade Halloween Candy in the Kentuckiana Area.

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Good Evening, Trick-or-Treaters young and old, it’s The Phantom of the Ville reporting in from the Candy Museum in the back of Schimpff’s Confectionery at 347 Spring Street in Jeffersonville, IN. The museum here is like a time machine that transports visitors back through the history of the candy business, including a section devoted to vintage Halloween candy (SEE PHOTOS). You can see the World’s Largest Gummi Bear amid the region’s best collection of vintage candy containers and advertising memorabilia. It’s not just the museum that’s full of nostalgia, the 1950′s soda fountain and vintage steel ice cream equipment can serve up the best pumpkin milkshakes in town. You can also watch Schimpff’s candy being made on turn-of-the-century equipment during frequent candy making demonstrations.

During my visit, Warren and Jill Schimpff were making these AMAZING Red Hot Devil suckers (SEE PHOTO) using one of Schimpff’s most famous recipes for Cinnamon Red Hots. These Red Devil lollipops are made EXCLUSIVELY for the Jeffersonville High School Red Devils girl’s basketball team and are sold ONLY by the cheerleading squad at Jeffersonville girl’s  basketball games. I can’t think of a better reason to attend a Friday night girl’s basketball game this Fall!

A family owned and operated business for 121 years, Schimpff’s in Jeffersonville was started by Gustav Schimpff, Sr. on April 11, 1891 and has been passed down through four generations of the family, but they actually started making candy on Preston Street in Louisville in the 1850′s. Twelve years ago, Warren and Jill took over ownership of the business which has since been featured on the Food Network, Paula Deen’s show and the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels,” the episode of which can be purchased on DVD at the shop. They actually live upstairs over the shop!

Originally from the Chicago area, Warren was a chemist who nows applies his knowledge of chemistry to making candy and Jill was a college English teacher who now applies those skills to giving history lessons and tours to visitors on a daily basis. “My favorite Halloween treat as a child would have to be homemade caramel apples,” says Jill Schimpff. “I always sought out the houses giving those away on Halloween. Warren has an interesting theory on Trick-or-Treating,” she continues. “He grew up on the streets of Chicago and went Trick-or-Treating in large groups of Chicago neighborhood kids. One Halloween, Warren suggested they all go to the rich neighborhoods to get candy, and one kid with a little more experience said that was a terrible idea! He said, “Poor people give out much better candy! Rich people got rich by not giving away anything!”

If you’re looking for the best Halloween candy around for your own little Trick-orTreaters, you won’t find it at the big box stores, but Jill admits that most folks buy their big load of give-away candy there. In fact, Halloween is actually only Schimpff’s fourth biggest sales holiday. Christmas is their biggest season, with around seven busy weeks of brisk sales followed by Easter which is their second busiest week, but their single biggest day every year is Valentine’s Day, when customers are looking for something really unique for that special someone.

If it’s something unique you’re looking for, check out some of the pictures I took of the Halloween candy on display at Schimpff’s. You’ll find white chocolate bones, bats, jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, rats (!), haunted houses and bloody hands as well as handmade candy corn, pumpkin face taffy and Peanut Butter Kisses wrapped in orange and black paper. Schimpff’s is also famous for it’s caramel-covered marshmellows, known as Modjeskas, and it’s Hard Fish Candy. Don’t forget their most famous candy, Cinnamon Red Hots, made from the ingredients and instructions found in Gus Schimpff’s hand-written recipe book from the 1880′s. It’s this very recipe used in the Cinnamon Red Devil Suckers sold exclusively at Jeffersonville High School girl’s basketball games!

Schimpff’s Confectionery is open Monday through Friday from 10AM until 5PM, during which lunch is served at the Deli from 11AM until 3PM. They’re also open on Saturday from 10AM until 3PM, with lunch served between 11AM and 2PM. They are closed on Sunday. Tours can be booked in advance at (812)283-8367. Although there is no set production schedule, as they make candy when needed, you can always call in advance to see if candy is being made when you plan your visit.

Hello, kiddies, it’s The Phantom of the Ville here amid the beautiful Fall foliage of New Albany, IN with a haunt preview of Literally, a Haunted House located in the Carriage House outside the Culbertson Mansion at 914 East Main Street in New Albany, IN. Like the Haunted Hotel in Louisville, this haunted house has a lot of history with the Kentuckiana area. It has been spooking the folks of this region since 1987. The mansion itself, which you can read about here ,http://www.louisvillehalloween.com/welcome-foolish-mortals-to-new-albanys-haunted-mansion/  , has been spooking folks even longer.

I spent the afternoon yesterday at Harvest Homecoming in New Albany, leaving just before twilight to attend the Caufield’s Halloween Parade in the Ville, but something drew me back across the bridge again to visit Literally, a Haunted House at the Culbertson Mansion. My old friend, Holly Crisler, has been working this particular haunt for many years now. Holly and I graduated from Ghoul School together many moons ago and she has been bringing her special witches’ brew of love for Halloween to this haunt every year since then. She told me months ago that this year’s theme would involve spooky kids and creepy toys, and after my experience last night I can tell you without question that the kids ARE NOT alright!

Some of the things I love about this haunt are the spirit of FUN and the sense of community it evokes. Many haunts sell themselves as the sickest, goriest freak show in town, attracting throngs of jaded, cynical teenagers looking for something depraved and sadistic enough to jolt their overstimulated attention. This haunt attracts an entirely different crowd, and puts on an entirely different show. Families and teens alike are found screaming and clutching each other as the AMAZING line characters walk up and down the queues taunting and entertaining the crowds, but they’re here to have fun with their fears. The Culbertson crew injects the ancient magic of the joy of Halloween into their haunt. This haunt isn’t meant to leave guests disturbed and physically upset by graphic imagery, but instead to give them an adrenaline shot of Halloween fun and send them off with a smile.

At least this is my theory, but that doesn’t mean the Culbertson crew doesn’t take pride in scaring the beejeezus out of people. In fact, they keep a chalkboard handy to update their score. Categories include Personal Dampening, Quitters, Pukers, Criers and the dreaded Craptastrophies! I saw them personally add to their tallies in a couple of different categories last night.

Even though there are indeed a couple of mildly gory spots and lots of scares inside the house, I would highly recommend Literally, a Haunted House to parents wishing to take their kids to their first haunt. I’m not saying this would be a walk in the park to an easily frightened child by any stretch, but if your kid shows any interest in spooky movies and/or the trappings of Halloween, this would be the perfect gateway haunted house to get them interested. It’s easily the best lit house in the region, and there are no completely dark areas to grope through, just wildly decorated chambers filled with lots of detail and colorful creepy characters.

Your adventure begins at the creaky gates of a fog enshrouded cemetery. You’ll have to make your way past open graves and coffins to escape the Monster Mash of living dead rising from their graves. Then you’ll make your way up the stairs and into the Carriage House itself where you’ll finding yourself standing atop a giant Ouija board! A ceremonial procession of possessed children will encircle you, chanting ancient spells and incantations that will open the gateway to the chambers beyond.

Your journey will take you past rooms full of creepy dolls, possessed toys and the dreaded giant Jack-in-the-Box. Ghostly children roam the halls beckoning you to come play with them. You’ll climb all the way to the attic, which is haunted by a creepy clown, and back down again until you reach “the end of the line” when one of your group will be singled out for a coffin ride while the rest of the unfortunate party will take the spinning vortex chamber to Hell! It’s not over yet. When reunited with your separated member, you’ll have to exit through the bedroom of a big kid who has grown large but never grown up, and he’s not happy about you trespassing through his playroom.

Literally, a Haunted House at the Culbertson Mansion is open every Friday and Saturday night in October from 7PM until the last screaming guest comes running out the exit. Admission is $13 and all proceeds go towards the restoration and upkeep of the mansion itself.

Welcome to the wildest weekend of the Halloween season, my friends and fiends, this is The Phantom of the Ville with a rundown of some of the major Halloween events taking place between Friday, October 12^th, and Sunday, October 14^th. As a mystical phantom with the powers of astral projection, I plan on attending as many of these events as I possibly can either in body or in spirit. I only wish you could also be in two places at the same time because all of these spooky events are worth checking out. Where to begin?

CAUFIELD’S 9^th ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARADE: On Friday evening at 7PM in the Highlands, the Caufield’s Halloween Parade will roll down Bardstown Road from Rosewood Avenue onto Baxter Avenue ending at Lexington. The parade ends directly at the gates of The Baxter Avenue Morgue which will be open to accommodate guests. This family oriented event gets bigger every year and has taken on Mardi Gras style aspects with many floats and Halloween decked out vehicles throwing treats into the crowd. Bring your trick-or-treat bags.

THE DRIVE-IN OF TERROR: A HALLOWEEN EXPERIENCE: The Georgetown Drive-In at 8200 State Road in Georgetown, IN is hosting a unique series of Halloween weekends that include a family friendly haunted trail and a number of classic, Drive-In horror films all for the price of $15 per person. This Friday the Georgetown will be offering chili cooked on an open campfire while you watch the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974) at 8:15PM followed by a real Drive-In  obscurity, “Meatcleaver Massacre” (1977), at 10PM which is hosted by classic horror icon, Christopher Lee! Counter, family friendly, programming will be offered on the Drive-In’s second screen with Tim Burton’s new “Frankenweenie” at 8PM and “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” at 9:45PM. Saturday offers homemade bean soup accompanying two screenings of the original “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) at 8PM and 9:45PM followed by “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” at 11PM. (Stay tuned the following weekend for a Michael Myers Marathon of the original “Halloween” (1978), “Halloween 4” (1988) and “Halloween 5” (1989) as well as “The Shining” (1980) and a SUPER RARE screening of the demonic possession flick, “Ruby” (1977), staring Piper Laurie and directed by cult film director Curtis Harrington.

WILD & WOOLLY IN THE WOODS: This event, which takes place Saturday night, October 13^th from 7PM until 11PM, includes both a zombie hike through the Jefferson Memorial Forest at 11311 Mitchell Hill Road (see Wild & Woolly Video’s event Facebook page for detailed directions) and an outdoor screening of the cult Spanish zombie classic, “Let Sleeping Corpses Lie” (1974). According to Wild & Woolly Video owner, Todd Brashear, this event is a celebration of the 15^th Anniversary of the locally owned cult video store. “When we first opened our doors,” says Brashear, “we only had 100 VHS tapes and ‘Let Sleeping Corpses Lie’ was one of them.” This isn’t a haunted forest attraction, but more like the annual Louisville Zombie Attack that took place in August, only in the woods. Everyone is encouraged to make themselves up as the living dead and shamble through the forest trail. Along the way, there will be a trivia quest where you’ll stumble upon props from various horror films that you’ll have to identify and answer questions about. The winners of the Trivia Contest will win prizes provided by Wild & Woolly Video. There will also be a Best Zombie Costume Contest. The film starts at approximately 8PM. The hike is expected to take 30 to 45 minutes. You’re welcome to bring flashlights, blankets and chairs for the event. Food will be provided by Taco Punk and beer will be provided by BBC. You must be 18 years old to participate.

“CURSE OF THE DEMON” (1957) MIDNIGHT MOVIE AT THE BAXTER AVENUE THEATERS: The Baxter Avenue Theater’s Midnight Movie Halloween Series continues this Saturday night with a 35MM screening of Jacques Tourneur’s 1957 horror classic, “Curse of the Demon.” If you’ve never seen this masterpiece of suspense and terror, I highly recommend you attend this incredibly RARE theatrical screening of one of my personal favorite classic horror films. Based on M.R. James’ “Casting of the Runes,” the film stars Dana Andrews as supernatural skeptic who attends a paranormal conference with the intent of exposing Satanic cult leader, Julian Karswell, as a fraud. Karswell places a curse on Andrews by slipping him a piece parchment with ancient runes that he claims will cause Andrews’ death at a specific time. Niall MacGinnis’ portrayal of the charmingly evil Karswell is one of the most interesting and seductive performances in classic horror history. Although director Tourneur hated the addition of an onscreen demon to his psychological thriller, the resulting monster is one of the coolest and iconic demons ever put on the silver screen. You’ll see hypnotism, seances, spirit possessions, clowns and giant horned demons before it’s over! Don’t miss this!

HARVEST HOMECOMING: This year is the 45^th Harvest Homecoming Festival in downtown New Albany, IN, a charming, family friendly event that takes place all weekend long just over the bridge from downtown Louisville. One of the largest festivals of its kind, Harvest Homecoming attracts hundreds of thousands of folks every year. Encompassing several city blocks, this is great place to find locally made Halloween arts & crafts, food, music, rides and pumpkins.

“SCREAMER” (LOCAL HAUNTED ATTRACTION DOCUMENTARY) PREMIERE: Premiering Saturday, October 13th, at the Sheraton Riverside Louisville in the 2^nd Floor Ballroom located at 700 West Riverside Drive is a documentary about the folks behind the screams of the local haunted attraction business. The film follows haunters Matt Kemp and Phil Granger as they risk life and financial ruin for the love of haunted houses and Halloween. They were the creative force behind the dearly departed Psychomania in New Albany. Doors open at 7PM and there will be a haunted attraction exhibit and reception before the film starts at 9PM. Tickets are $12 at the door.

Good Evening, Haunt Fans, it’s The Phantom of the Ville reporting in from the back of my Phantom Hearse at an undisclosed location near the downtown area. Actually, I wish I could tell you my exact location, but my hearse driver apparently took a wrong turn somewhere in the Shively area and I’m desperately thumbing backwards through my Danger Run clue book trying to get us back on track. I’m sure it wasn’t my interpretation of the cryptic clues in Danger Run’s wonderfully whimsical clue book that got us lost. It must be the fault of my hearse driver, Bartholomew Ozias Blackwood III ( I call him Bob *The Phantom), and his apparent inability to follow simple directions.

While Bob gets us back on track, let me tell you about one of my favorite annual Halloween traditions in the Kentuckiana area, Danger Run! The history of the Ghost Run or Spirit Race is unique to the Louisville area, taking inspiration from an old college road puzzle game called Midnight Madness and adding a Halloween twist to the late night fun. If the only Midnight Madness you’ve heard about in this town involves basketball, let me recommend the film, “Midnight Madness” (1980), staring David “An American Werewolf in London” Naughton and Michael “Teen Wolf” J. Fox. If you’re more of a Burt Reynolds type, think of it as “The Cannonball Run” (1981) with haunted houses. Either way, the concept is that you gather the gang together in your own Mystery Machine, choose one of three starting locations and attempt to solve rhyming riddles that are actually encrypted driving directions that will lead you to two major haunted attractions in the Kentuckiana area. You’ll keep track of your exact mileage and the Top 25 groups that come the closest to the actual mileage (“Damn you, Bob! Turn Right! Right, I said!”) over the next four weekends in October will compete in the Danger Run Finals for huge prizes that can be read about on the Danger Run website at www.dangerrun.com/danger-run-includes.

The starting locations this year are all at Lowe’s Home Improvement stores; in the East End at 501 S Hurstbourne Pkwy, in the West End at 6651 Dixie Hwy and to our North at 1350 Veterans Pkwy in Clarksville, IN. You can register to start your haunted road adventure on Friday and Saturday nights in October at any of the above locations from 7PM until 11PM. Enough time has been allotted so that you’ll be able to solve the clues (“It’s a one way street, Bob! Why are you asking ME which way to turn?”), brave the haunted houses and reach your destination before closing time. You will need your own hearse driver, as no single person cars will be allowed to enter, but if you have at least four friends in your hearse you will receive $10 in FREE GAS from Speedway! I recommend someone in the car bring along a flashlight or pen light to read the clue book so the driver can concentrate on the road and not have to turn on the interior lights while driving.

With your $18.95 per person ticket you’ll also get Buy-One-Get-One-Free cheeseburger coupons from Dairy Queen, because you’ll need to fuel up your body in order to keep your mind sharp enough to follow Danger Run’s breadcrumb trail through the many sites and iconic landmarks of the Ville to the haunts. Lastly, you’ll also all get a pair of vampire fangs (“Left, Bob! Your other left!”). I already have my own.

Let me catch you up on our night’s adventure so far. The identity of the haunted attractions participating in Danger Run is TOP SECRET, and I’m under contract not to disclose their names, but they are among the haunted attractions that I have previewed (or will soon preview!) here on the Louisville Halloween website. After deciphering most of the early clues perfectly, we arrived at the first haunt to be greeted by local Louisville radio and television broadcasting legend, Jim Bulliet, who has also been known under his pseudonym, “Danger Boy,” on FM radio channel WQMF. Jim’s brother, Joe Bulleit, has been Danger Run’s head honcho since 1994. Jim helps out every year with media and promotions.

“When we were kids,” says Bulleit, “we had a tree-house that faced the New Albany Drive-In. My brother was somewhat of an electrical wizard and he wired a couple of huge speakers in our tree-house to the sound system wires of the Drive-In just past the woods, and we actually had better sound than the people watching movies in their cars! It was real stereo, man!,” he recalls.

“We had couches and everything up there,” says Bulleit. “We loved getting together and watching horror flicks from the tree-house. That’s where all this probably started.” When Bulleit, his brother and their friends were watching drive-in movies from their tree-house in the woods, it was the Golden Age of drive-in and grindhouse horror. “I remember watching ‘The Exorcist’ up there, and after it was over, everybody was too afraid to climb down and walk through the woods back to the house, so we just spent the night up there.”

After hearing Jim Bulleit’s amazing childhood drive-in/tree-house story, we put on our brave faces and entered the first INCREDIBLE haunt. We were frazzled by creepy clowns, roared at by giant monsters, shocked by lunging specters leaping from their tombs and chased out by the sons of Leatherface. (“Didn’t we pass this same Dairy Queen three times already?”) Then it was time use our FREE $10 in gas at Speedway and start trying to find our way to the second haunt.

That brings us to where we are right now, and I wish I could tell you where that was, but Bob has gotten us completely lost. I think I just saw an armadillo cross the road in front of us and I’m pretty sure that armadillos aren’t native to the Kentuckiana area. In any case, I can still recommend Danger Run as one of the best uniquely Louisville Halloween events for friends and family to share this Halloween season. If I fail to report in later this week with more haunted attraction previews, please file a Missing Phantom report with the local authorities.

Alllllright, Halloween Fans, You Wanted the Best. You Got the Best! KISS for Halloween! This is The Phantom of Ville coming to you from the ear-X-tacy graveyard with a review of the new KISS album, the appropriately titled, “Monster.” After 40 years in the music business, the Demon, the Starchild, the Spaceman and the Catman still have a little fire left in their bellies to breath into the October night on their 20^th studio album in stores October 9^th.

KISS and Halloween have always gone together for me like peanut butter and molasses taffy in Mary Jane’s black-and-orange wrapped Peanut Butter Kisses. Maybe it’s the memory of the 1976 “Paul Lynde Halloween Special” in which KISS played three songs as the special musical guest. Maybe it’s the memory of watching “KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park” on October 28, 1978 with a group of KISS obsessed kids who just got home from a local haunted house and spread across the living room floor of my stepsister’s house to watch their Rock & Roll heroes do battle with the forces of evil. In that cinematic masterpiece, the band fought robotic versions of the classic Universal Monsters, Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man in a haunted castle theme park attraction! Maybe it’s the fact that KISS injected their own blood into the red ink of their Marvel Comics magazines. Maybe it’s because collectively they breath fire, spit blood and shoot laser beams out of their guitars in Halloween make-up. Or maybe it’s just because they rock.

Peter Criss and Ace Frehley parted ways with the band years ago, but fans have eventually warmed up to Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in their roles as Catman on the drums and Spaceman on lead guitar. This is their second studio album with the band following 2009′s, “Sonic Boom,” also released in October just in time for Halloween. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have been the backbone of the band since it was formed in New York City in 1973, and Stanley is the solo producer of the new record. Simmons, the band’s unholy Demon, remains the band’s Halloween hook and non-stop marketing machine.

In the works for well over a year, the “Monster” has finally been unchained, preceded a little over a month ago by the album’s first single, “Hell or Hallelujah.” Easily the fastest paced track on the new album, “Hell or Hallelujah” recalls the energy and spontaneity of the hungry 1970′s KISS on tracks like “I Stole Your Love” and “Love Gun.” Like the previous record’s “Modern Day Delilah,” it was clearly written and positioned up front on the new album as a concert opener. It’s followed immediately by what I think is probably the second best track on “Monster,” the the Gene Simmons’ sung rocker, “Wall of Sound.” Clocking in at just under three minutes, “Wall of Sound” is everything a great rock song should be: simple, short and hooky. It’s meat and potatoes rock. It comes on strong, gets the job done and gets outta here before it overstays it’s welcome. The chorus says it all, “It All Comes Down to the Wall of Sound.”

Simmons’ Demon persona also shines on “The Devil is Me,” thematically recalling songs like “Unholy” from 1992′s “Revenge” and “God of the Thunder” from the classic 1976 “Destroyer.” I was less enthused about his other major vocal lead on the album, “Back to the Stone Age,” but he delivers better returns on “Eat Your Heart Out,” which begins with a barbershop quartet harmonization from all four members. Here’s a new Trick-or-Treat line for you; “Eat Your Heart Out Baby, Won’tcha Give Me Something Sweet.”

Paul Stanley gives his vocal chords a workout on the album’s second single, “Long Way Down,” which is a solid mid-tempo rocker, but I prefer the energy he brings to the album closer, “Last Chance.” Stanley’s vocals have rarely sounded this good in recent years, and recent surgery on his vocal chords seems to have repaired some of the damage done from 40 years spent shouting it out loud to Rock & Roll arena crowds. He lends his lead vocals to the catchy, “Freak,” “Shout Mercy” and one half of “Take Me Down Below.” Stanley shows great restraint as a producer here, giving all band members equal share of the spotlight and not allowing himself to front all the best tracks.

Tommy Thayer is given his second chance to provide a theme for his Spaceman character on “Outta This World,” following his similar spacey, “When Lightning Strikes,” from “Sonic Boom.” It’s a rather comfortable, familiar sounding Ace Freheley tribute, but Thayer more than fills the Spaceman’s boots. Eric Singer is a dead ringer for Peter Criss’ raspy voice on the anthemic, “All for the Love of Roll & Roll,” a bluesy, lazy Summer evening ode to Classic Rock. He can thank Paul Stanley for providing a couple of clever turns in the lyrics: “I was Thinkin’ Life Would be so Pretty, It was Pretty Mean.”

“Monster” is a solid jolt of needed Rock & Roll perfect for playing in the car on the way to any haunted house, Caufield’s Halloween Parade on Friday, October 12^th, or just cruising around checking out the Autumn foliage. You’ll find an Exclusive Best Buy version for $11.99 that includes a 3-D cover and a FREE KISS ARMY membership which will get you a free membership card, key-chain and wristband in the mail. WalMart is carrying a Special Edition for $14.99 that includes a 64-page mini-magazine, but don’t forget Gene Simmons’ mantra that it really “All Comes Down to the Wall of Sound.”

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Good Evening, Haunt Fans, it’s The Phantom of the Ville here with a preview of one the best haunted houses I’ve ever experienced. Several years ago I had the opportunity to spend a weekend at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights where professional theme park designers build big budget haunts inside actual film stages, and it’s my opinion that among all the local haunted attractions, Fear Fair comes the closest to delivering both the scale and the creativity of those mega-budget haunts. Somehow they do it with an all volunteer cast and crew, even using part of the profits to build school playgrounds and help the local community.

I first visited Fear Fair three years ago on a whim. I think I saw their booth at a local horror film convention. Located in The Freeman Municipal Airport at 800 A Avenue in Seymour, IN., Fear Fair is a little bit of a drive from Louisville. It takes about an hour to make the journey from the lights of downtown Louisville to the sleepy little town of Seymour, so not everyone in the Ville is aware of the this haunt fan mecca, but it’s more than worth the drive. Ever since I came running out the exit into the parking lot three years ago, I’ve been trying to get the word out about this haunt, and this year a massive new addition puts Fear Fair over the top.

Back in August, I sat down with Fear Fair’s own Dr. Frankenstein, Brett Hays, to talk about the history and inspiration he had for the haunt which is located inside an old WWII Army Barracks. You can read about it here:http://www.louisvillehalloween.com/learn-what-it-takes-to-actually-haunt-a-house-at-fear-camp/  .

Fear Fair has always incorporated local history into their haunt and this year they’ve decided to use the WWII barracks as Hangar 19 to kick-start your amazing journey into terror. You’ll be immediately dropped into a war zone as soldiers are battling a giant, roaring monster right out of a scene from “Cloverfield” just as you pass the sliding entryway door. The adrenaline starts pumping as automatic gunfire and mortars explode around you. You’ll be rushed onto an awaiting train (an actual historic train car) and then put through decontamination before you’ll even be able to wrap your mind around the experience. This is just the first act in Fear Fear’s interactive scream-play. Be prepared for a physically active experience because the twisted maze you’ll traverse is like a living M.C. Escher lithograph. You’ll go up and up stairs, down into tunnels, outside, inside, through tight spaces and low ceilings and back up again before it’s over.

The second act has you coming across the theater marquee for “The Fear Fair Film Festival.” You’ll pass the ticket booth and the concession stand to enter a movie theater full of creeps and ghouls watching a horror movie projected on the silver screen. In one of Fear Fair’s signature creative scenes, you’ll pass right through the movie screen into a bright white light and when you come out on the other side, you’ll be inside the movies themselves. A lot of haunts pay homage to the horror movies we love, but no other haunt I’ve ever seen puts as much work into re-creating the actual film sets from each movie. Before each scene, you’ll find a clapboard slate telling you which movie set you’re about to enter as well as information about the film’s director and year of release.

The first scene you’ll be transported to is a cornfield where you’ll encounter the Creeper from “Jeepers Creepers” before being chased through the school bus seen in the sequel. Then you’ll hear the strains of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” score as you enter the childhood home of Michael Myers. This is Rob Zombie’s version of “Halloween,” and you’ll pass through the early scenes of the movie right through the climatic old house set. You’ll pass through the Insane Asylum scene from “The Wolfman,” including the sadistic chair used to plunge patients into ice water for “treatment” before encountering the beast itself. You’ll find some of the horror movie classics here too, including the most elaborate Frankenstein’s Castle and lab set I’ve ever seen. All kinds of gizmos flash and buzz, and when Dr. Frankenstein flips the switch you’ll see the largest Tesla Coil ever built for a haunted attraction. This contraption is around twelve feet tall and shoots huge lightning bolts that light up the room.

You’ll then pass through a series of scenes from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series from bedrooms to classrooms with “endless hallways” to one infamous bathroom scene all the way to Freddy’s boiler room. You’ll be threatened by Jigsaw as you pass a number of unfortunate souls in deadly traps from the “Saw” series before you must face Jigsaw’s judgment in one of Fear Fair’s signature scenes. In this scene, groups will be split up into boys and girls for an experiment involving a one-way mirror that I can’t spoil here!

Next you’ll go outside into a Summer Camp scene past the Camp Crystal Lake sign where you’ll find trees, cabins, canoes and tents as the refrains of Henry Manfredini’s “Ki, Ki, Ma, Ma” theme echoes in the distance. I must give Fear Fair props for re-creating an infamous sleeping bag gag from the 2009 “Friday the 13th” remake. You’ll have to pass through the incredibly realistic mine shaft from “My Bloody Valentine” and face the killer miner before entering a fun-house type of maze full of dummy Ghostface killers (Are they all dummies?) from the “Scream” franchise to the refrain of Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand.”

It’s not over yet. This year’s new addition to the movie & TV scenes includes a tribute to AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Most other haunts across the country also include a Walking Dead scene, usually involving a gaggle of actors in zombie makeup. Not all other haunts BUILD THE ENTIRE CITY OF ATLANTA in their backyard! This massive set-piece will take you through the zombie infested city streets of Atlanta as seen in the first season of “The Walking Dead,” from abandoned pawn shops and clothing stores through a hospital where you’ll find Rick Grimes battling Walkers, and then into the graffiti covered back alleys. Brett Hays went as far as buying in an actual fire escape from a building planned for demolition and bringing it back across country to make his mock buildings look more realistic. It worked!

Even after fleeing the city and escaping the Walkers, you’re not out the woods yet. You’ll find you’re only escape is through Pinhead’s puzzle box which leads straight through the boondocks of Travis County, Texas and an encounter with the infamous Sawyer clan.

I’ve enjoyed all the local haunted attractions that Kentuckiana has had to offer this year, and any haunted house you choose to visit will offer its own unique charms and scares, but the overwhelming experience created by Brett Hays and his amazing crew goes above and beyond the call to scare and entertain and takes the homage of horror cinema to another level. I can fully endorse Fear Fair in Seymour, IN as my favorite haunt of 2012.

Fear Fair will be open this weekend from Friday through Sunday, October 12^th through the 14^th. Friday and Saturday the hours are from 8PM until 1AM. Sunday the hours are from 8PM until 10PM. The following two weeks they will be open from Thursday through Sunday, October 18^th through the 21^st and October 25^th through the 28^th. Thursday night shows will be known as “Myctophobia,” which means a lights out journey carrying only a glow stick! The hours for Myctophobia are from 8PM until Midnight. The Friday and Saturday hours are from 8PM until 1AM and the Sunday hours are from 8PM until 10PM. They will also be open on Halloween night, a Wednesday this year, from 8PM until 10PM. The cost of entry is $15, $20 for a front of the line Fast Pass or $25 for admission and a Fear Fair t-shirt.

Greetings, Halloween Fans of All Ages, it’s The Phantom of the Ville reporting in to tell you about an extremely cool and unique Halloween attraction right here in the Ville that might have easily slipped your attention amid all the haunted houses, parades and parties happening this month. Don’t miss the visually spectacular “Fright Light” laser show at the Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium located within the University of Louisville campus at 106 West Brandeis Ave.

Opened on April 24, 2001, the Rauch Planetarium’s structural design is based on a six pointed star surrounded by a circular, sixteen foot wall punctuated by eight-inch vertical slits inspired by Stonehenge. A massive concrete cone encloses a fifty-five foot diameter hemispherical dome that serves as a theater for the Audio Visual Imagineering Omniscan Laser Projection System which when combined with the digital multi-channel 15,000 watt surround system gives guests a 360 degree audio-visual experience like nothing else. All of this technology is put into service in celebration of our favorite spooky holiday in “Fright Light”!

Laser Light shows have become popular on college campuses over the last decade or so as late night, Rock n Roll psychedelic “trip” experiences with Laser Led Zeppelin, Laser Pink Floyd and Laser Beatles being among the most popular shows. You’ll get a taste of that type of experience in a few of the trippier segments in “Fright Light,” including sections devoted to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” Prodigy’s “Firestarter” and Pink Floyd’s disturbing “Another Brick in the Wall.” Like those seasonal Halloween CDs that pop up every year featuring a strange menagerie of different musical styles from a wide variety of artists with similar spooky themes, “Fright Light” is a Halloween Rock Show with enough different beats to please just about everybody.

It all starts with what is likely the most popular homage to spooky cinema ever written, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” during which you’ll be treated to an extremely colorful journey into a haunted house that includes all the classic, iconic Halloween imagery you could hope for including spinning ghosts flying across your entire horizon, three dimensional jack-o-lanterns and the classic Universal Monsters. You’ll also get a chapter devoted to Japan’s favorite giant, city smashing lizard during Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a Halloween Rock show without the classics, so you’ll watch a 60′s monster cocktail party version of Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash,” see Sheb Wooley’s “Purple People Eater” come to laser life and join Danny Elfman’s Oingo Biongo “Dead Man’s Party.” Other music artists featured include The Who, Black Sabbath, the Charlie Daniels Band and several others. The show closes with the King of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper, and an animated rampage of one of horror history’s most famous monsters during “Feed My Frankenstein.”

I spoke with the Ranch Planetarium’s “Fright Light” programmer, Kaet Barron, about the Halloween parties scheduled to accompany some of the screenings. “Kids and parents can come dressed in costumes, and the whole lobby area will be filled with games and places to get non-sweet treats. Once the party starts, every hour on the hour there will be another screening of the 45 minute ‘Fright Light’ show.” Two Halloween parties will take place on Sunday, October 21^st starting at 3PM and on Friday night, October 26^th starting at 7PM. Regular screenings of “Fright Light” will happen all October on Fridays at 9PM, Saturdays at 2PM and on Sunday, October 14^th at Noon.

“I was a bit of a troublemaker as a child,” says Barron. “As a result, I often got grounded from going trick-or-treating on Halloween, but my favorite memory is the year I put a lot of work into my costume and finally got to go out and get all the candy I wanted. I was a genie that year.”

Barron is still granting wishes to Halloween fans across the Ville with “Fright Light.” I recommend this unique audio-visual experience to all of you looking for something different this year. The seats at the Rauch Planetarium are extremely comfortable and you’ll be nearly lying down and staring up into the darkness while bright, colorful and sometimes hallucinatory images fill your field of vision. It’s a very dreamlike experience that won’t soon be forgotten. Trick-or-Treaters of all ages should definitely check it out.

Greetings again, Haunt Fans, this is The Phantom of the Ville back with a preview of a very unique haunt known as Nightmare Forest in Otter Creek Park. I’ve always believed that when it comes to scaring someone, or when it comes to getting scared myself, atmosphere is half the battle. The proper setting is critical. Old houses, abandoned amusement parks, dark hospitals and graveyards all have a psychological impact on us both because they have a connection to death, decay and the great unknown and because we’ve been exposed to these places in dark fairy tales and horror films all our lives. However, when we get down to primal fears, we all share an ancient, inherited fear of the unknown terror awaiting us in the dark. Primitive humans gathered around campfires in the night trying to keep the unspeakable horrors of the wilderness at bay.

The forest, still to this day, is a place far from our safe and comfortable civilization. Dense with living things, during the day the woods may seem like a tranquil place, but at night it takes on another countenance. If you’re accustomed to living in the city or the suburbs, where all of the artificial lights of civilization keep the darkness at bay, you may be shocked at just how black that the dark can really get as you drive along the winding road into Otter Creek Park. Just off the highway, nature takes back the night and the trees begin to reach out over the road with their spindly branches. When you reach the parking area for Nightmare Forest, it’s so dark that you can hardly see the ground beneath your feet. Strange sounds, maybe even distant screams, echo through the trees as you make your way to the start of the trail, but mostly it’s quiet. Disturbingly, uncomfortably quiet. The scene is set for real fear to emerge.

That’s when the spookmasters of Nightmare Forest take over, using the primal elements they already have at their disposal, and building an elaborate series of incredible haunted structures that guests will encounter and have to explore as they make their way through the dark woods. I met with head spookmaster, Jason Weber, to talk about the history of Nightmare Forest and the challenges of operating an outdoor haunt. Weber and his partner, Jeff Howlett, have been in the haunt business for 11 years. He started with Nightmare Forest as an actor, but his real first experience running an outdoor haunt started much earlier.

“I really loved Halloween as a kid,” Weber says. “I wanted to keep trick-or-treating forever, but when I reached 12 or 13 years old, I knew I was getting too old to go door-to-door with a costume on. I still wanted the candy, though, so a friend and I built our own haunted trail in the neighborhood and charged the other kids pieces of candy as an admission fee to go through.”

Weber’s haunted trail has gotten a lot bigger. This year, Weber had a 10-15 person crew working through the last half of the Summer building all the castles, crypts and cabins that guests will encounter on the trail. One of the most impressive features along the trail is the mood lighting. Colored gel lights and carefully placed LED lights give the scenes just enough light to make the props and sets visible, but not so much light as to chase away the darkness. There are 40-45 paid actors working on any given night plus a varying number of volunteers.

“One of the biggest challenges we’re still facing,” says Weber, “is trying to let people know that we’re actually open! When the city closed Otter Creek Park during the Recession, everybody assumed that would be the end of us as well. But we’re still here.”

It was time to face the darkness, and my adventure began at Nightmare Harvest, a corn maze added to the original trail this year. This part of the trail is anything but straight ahead. You’ll likely be re-tracing your steps more than once as you encounter scarecrows and hillbillies while the strains of Dueling Banjos (the theme from “Deliverance”!) plays in the distance.

Once you finally find the exit to Nightmare Harvest, you’ll find yourself in the parking lot of The Nightmare Forest Drive-In where horror movies are playing all night on a big screen on the side of a barn while creeps roam among the cars. You’ll pass directly under the silver screen into the horror movies themselves on the main Nightmare Forest Trail.

The main trail takes you from one horror movie set to another. You’ll pass through Camp Crystal Lake where Jason Voorhees will be waiting. You’ll make a stop in Haddonfield, so keep an eye out for Michael Myers, but the thing I was most impressed with was the huge structures Weber and his crew built in the woods. Imagine walking down a dark trail and coming upon a huge Hellraiser puzzle-box just sitting there. You don’t have to imagine it because it’s there at Nightmare Forest! You’ll enter a huge Gothic vampire castle filled with spitting demons. You’ll explore the Mummy’s Tomb!

The long journey isn’t over yet. When you’ve reached the end of Nightmare Forest, you’ll go right into The Trail of Terror, which is all zombie themed this year. It’s just as detailed as the main trail with huge graveyards, hospitals and morgues. The make-up and performances of the actors are particularly good here. These brilliant actors know that real zombies don’t run! The finale is quite shocking, but I’m not going to spoil it here. You need to make the drive out to Otter Creek Park to experience it for yourself.

Before you leave, I recommend checking out Hawthorne’s Circus of Oddities, a sideshow of strange and unusual objects found in and around Kentucky. For only $2 (one of the best you’ll spend this Halloween), Hawthorne will take you behind the curtain and into his tent of oddities. He’ll tell you stories about each of the weird objects on display, and you’ll get to see “IT”! IT was found on the bank of the Ohio River and has been examined by medical professionals who have claimed that IT was organic and was once alive. You must see IT to believe it.

Nightmare Forest is open every Friday and Saturday night in October from dusk until 1AM.

Welcome back, my friends from Louisville and other regions beyond, it’s The Phantom of the Ville reporting in with a preview of Louisville’s latest labyrinth of terror, The 7^th Street Haunt, located at 2900 South 7^th Street Rd in the same building complex that houses the Expo Five. I believe this is the only major haunted attraction opening its doors for the first time in the Kentuckiana area this year, but just because it’s new doesn’t mean it lacks experience in the horror biz!

I stopped in on opening weekend to chat with with the mad scientist behind this new creation, Travis Boling, and his dead-icated crew. Boling told me that The 7^th Street Haunt was built and is mostly run by the same crew responsible for the sadly lamented, Psychomania: Theater of Terror, which burned down in Clarksville, IN during the off season after four years of success in the haunt business.

“I had to do something for the crew of Psychomania,” says Boling. “So many of the actors there loved scaring people and working in the haunted house so much, and they were really heartbroken by the loss of that attraction. I know because I was one of them.” Boling got his start in the haunted attraction business as an actor about 8 or 9 years ago working for Phil Granger of Fright Night Productions and the Nightmare Network, whom Boling considers his mentor in the haunt biz. “The 7^th Street Haunt is a combination of the best actors and the best surviving props from Psychomania, as well as a lot of blood, sweat and tears put to work to create something new.”

Boling has been a hardcore Halloween fan all his life. “My favorite memory of Halloween was when I was five years old, my parents helped me dye my hair black and I got dressed up as a vampire with plastic fangs and all. We went way out to the country to my Great Aunt’s house, who lived in the middle of nowhere, and my mother rang the doorbell and we hid. I came running out and nearly scared her to death.” Boling’s love of all things scary continues to this day and he sites “Child’s Play” as his favorite horror film.

Before being thrust through the INFECTED ZONE doors, which were saved from Psychomania, we had our pictures taken in the electric chair and took a quick look around the concession stand and Halloween gift shop where we ran into an old friend. The 7^th Street Haunt has the same lovely and mysterious Psychic and Palm Reader that told fortunes at Psychomania! Although I must admit that I forgot to get this haunting lady’s name, I can tell you that her palm reading at Psychomania was shockingly accurate.

It was time to stop delaying the inevitable and face the horrors that lie beyond those intimidating doors. I took a deep breath and passed the point of no return. Of all the haunted houses I’ve visited so far this year, this one reminds me the most of the classic haunted houses of my youth. For me, this haunt recalls the locally created haunted variety mazes of WAKY, the Louisville Jaycees and The Haunted Hotel. The 7^th Street Haunt presents a cornucopia of Halloween themed rooms that run the gamut from clowns and dark carnivals to an incredibly detailed crypt set to a dusty old mansion to a haunted mine shaft to a snake worshiping church and everything in between.

I could tell a lot of creativity and hard work had been put into the set design. The crypt scene, designed by Travis Boling’s mom, is everything a Phantom could ask for. I don’t want to spoil everything, but I was incredibly impressed with the Crematorium set which features a flaming cremation machine blasting the hide off of a poor soul whose skeleton is still trying to escape his burning doom! For a second I thought real flames were licking his scorched bones! I was even more impressed when I found out the whole contraption was handmade from scratch and not purchased from a haunt industry catalog.

The 7^th Street Haunt also has around 30 actors working inside who are really, really intense and will absolutely get right in your face. These are the best of the best from Psychomania, so if you miss that Clarksville haunt and its crazy cast, you’ll find them all here doing what they do best.

The 7^th Street Haunt is open every weekend in October from Friday through Sunday. It will be open on Friday and Saturday nights from 8PM until 2AM. On Sunday nights it will be open from 8PM until 10:30PM. Come out and experience Louisville’s brand new haunt and celebrate the memory of Psychomania with the wide variety of classic Spookhouse thrills on 7^th Street!

The originators of horror punk rock, The Misfits, invented the genre in the late 1970′s through the early 1980′s and recorded a coffin full of classic, catchy Drive-In influenced songs like “Halloween,” “Horror Business,” “Teenagers from Mars,” “Astro Zombies,” “I Turned into a Martian,” “Vampira” and many others. The short lived lifespan of the popularity of the punk rock genre saw the band split ways in the mid 80′s when lead singer/songwriter, Glenn Danzig, left to pursue a solo career. For 15 years, the band ceased recording new material as personal conflicts and law suits between members stalled any musical progress, but the band’s Crimson Ghost logo and legacy of material continued to generate new fans.

In 1995, founding member, Jerry Only, resurrected The Misfits and eventually recorded two new big budget records on major record labels (Geffen and Roadrunner). By this time Glenn Danzig had moved on to Satanic Heavy Metal stardom and the call went out for a new leader singer with song writing talent to continue the B-movie, horror punk concept that fans demanded. Enter Michale Graves. At 25 years old, he was pulled from obscurity and placed into the spotlight as the front man for the biggest horror punk band of all time, playing shows all over the world and appearing in movies like George (“Dawn of the Dead”) Romero’s “Bruiser.”

Last night Graves played the last night of his War of Information solo tour at the Third Street Dive downtown at 442 S 3rd Street before an intimate group of hardcore fans. This wasn’t the rowdy, mosh pit type of show you might expect from a modern punk rock legend. Instead fans were treated to an all acoustic set that included a number of songs from his recent solo projects punctuated with a fistful of horror-centric hits he wrote for The Misfits. There was no backup band, no skeleton face make-up, no Halloween costumes or props; just one man and his guitar. Minus the horror facade he projects at bigger shows, Graves’ unique, soulful voice and the quality of his lyrical content proved that these songs work even without the bombast of the punk/metal hybrid of framework they were originally recorded on top of.

When his original recordings with The Misfits were released, “American Psycho” in 1997 and “Famous Monsters” in 1999, old school fan reaction was mixed mostly due to the fact that Graves sounded absolutely nothing like Glenn Danzig, yet he was still expected to belt out the classic era songs during live shows. If you can remember back far enough to when Sammy Hagar originally took over as lead singer for Van Halen and the band didn’t yet have enough new material to fill a 90 minute arena show, Sammy was forced to sing David Lee Roth era hits to mixed results. No matter what Michale Graves sounded like live, he was never going to sound like Glenn Danzig, and as a result some fans could never see the new Misfits as anything but a cover band.

Graves’ post-Misfits career has gone forward to see him develop as both a songwriter and performer. After about five years of trial and error with a couple of different bands, he released his own solo horror punk records, “Punk Rock is Dead” (2005) and “Return to Earth” (2006), and recorded an album he co-wrote with Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three while Echols was still in prison. Recently freed and found innocent of the murder of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas in 1993, Echols was the subject of the “Paradise Lost” documentaries and the upcoming documentary, “West of Memphis,” produced by Peter (“Dead Alive”) Jackson. Michael Graves supported Echols during his imprisonment and mounted a tour to contribute to his legal defense.

Last night, Graves joked that he owes his voice to Tiger Pops, which he enjoyed between songs. Tiger Pops, as I learned at the show, are cheap lollipops that can be bought in bags of 120 suckers for only a buck at Dollar Stores across the country. “Tiger Pops!,” he would exclaim in a New Jersey accent after completing a song if it seemed to go particularly well.

The set list included Misfits favorites “Shining,” “Resurrection,” “Witch Hunt,” “Fiend Club,” “Scream,” the catchy sing-along, “Don’t Open ‘Til Doomsday” and his biggest hit with The Misfits, “Dig Up Her Bones.” The highlight of the set list, at least for me, was the 1950′s doo-wop inspired, “Saturday Night,” before which Graves pulled back the magic curtain by first playing the opening verse-chorus of “Tears on My Pillow,” originally recorded by Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1958. Clearly, he wrote “Saturday Night” right on top of the hook for that timeless classic, which strikes me as perfect for a song about murder, the Drive-In and exaggerated teenage emotion.

The Third Street Dive would like you to know that if this kind of music is your “thing” then upcoming this month you can catch Forbidden Dimension and The Commies on October 12th, Dead Dick Hammer and Scumbelina on October 19th and The Nulydedz and Doombuggy Attack Battalion on October 26th.

UPDATE: Michale would like thank all his fans for coming out on Sunday night! He wanted me to tell you all about his next CD, “Vagabond,” which is being released by Kickstarter. You can support his music and pre-order the “Vagabond” CD at the same time at the following web address:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/631131991/michale-graves-vagabond-limited-edition-cd

Welcome back again, Haunt Fans, it’s The Phantom of the Ville with another preview of another massive haunted theme park within city limits! It just doesn’t seem possible that one city could offer so many first class Halloween attractions, but Louisville seems to love the spooky season more than any other. I’m not complaining, and if you’re reading this then I’m guessing that you aren’t either. This time my enchanted compass is pointing South, and my hearse driver has just taken the Gene Snyder Freeway to the Stonestreet Exit and turned right to arrive at 3101 Pond Station Road. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I realize we’ve arrived at the Asylum Haunted Scream Park.

Most of the calendar year, this facility serves weekend warriors as the premiere paintball tournament arena in the Kentuckiana area, but from late September through late October it becomes something else entirely; something much more sinister. As soon as I passed through the front gates on a chilly late September evening, I was greeted by a huge burst of flames rolling across the sky. When the smoke cleared, I recognized my old friend, Midian, the fire-breather from the Carnivale of Lost Souls! In the circles of horror conventions, cult video stores (with good horror sections!) and haunted houses, you often run into others with the same haunted interests time and again, and Midian and I have bumped into each other on many occasions over the years.

The Carnivale of Lost Souls, a FREE dark carnival sideshow, performs shows every 30-45 minutes at the Asylum Haunted Scream Park. For no extra charge, you’ll see the Human Blockhead nail sharp objects through various parts of his body, you’ll witness the Fire Dancers dazzle you with hypnotic flaming dance routines, you’ll swoon for the alluring Belly Dancers and you’ll warm up to Midian as he breathes fire into the night sky. You can also get your fortune told by an authentic psychic who will look into her crystal ball or divine your future through Tarot cards. If you really, really hate the walking dead, you can grab a paintball gun and unload on the poor chained up stiff in the Shoot-A-Zombie booth. This is a great way to blow off stress while waiting for Season Three of AMC‘s “The Walking Dead” premiere broadcast!

If you like the idea of Shoot-A-Zombie, then you’re going to love Xterminate: Zalien Attack based on the locally produced horror comedy, “Overtime,” starring WWF & WWE professional wrestler, Al Snow, and upcoming Louisville actor, John Wells. You’ll be given a machine gun that flashes a bright light every time you squeeze the trigger and sent into a massive warehouse filled with corpses that have been infected with nasty little aliens that have turned them into flesh eating monstrosities. Your mission is to find and shut down three power stations while fending off the zalien hordes, then defeat their hideous Queen (“There’s always a Queen.”) and escape with your life. This experience is like a live, interactive version of a first-person-shooter Xbox 360 video game. Actors playing zaliens will try to attack you, but will fall to the ground when you fire your weapons at them.

Since I had never been to the Asylum Scream Park before, I was a bit nervous about this attraction because I thought it might involve paintball guns, and I didn’t want to ruin my best black robes or red puffy shirt. I can assure you that you need not worry about this. All the guns used in Xterminate: Zalien Attack are light guns and do not use paintgun pellets. One cool thing this attraction does have is a pre-show video starring Al Snow and John Wells that sets up the story for the mission ahead just like the pre-shows you would see at big budget theme parks like Universal Studios and Walt Disney World.

After surviving the zalien assault in Xterminate, we met with Asylum spookmaster, Richard Teachout, for some insight into the mad genius behind these attractions. “We’ve got 40 acres of space here to use for the Haunted Asylum Scream Park and this year we’ve grown 400%,” says Teachout. When asked about why he became interested in the Haunted Attraction business, Teachout said he was taken to The Darkness Haunted House in St Louis, Missouri when he was 8 years old and was totally hooked. The Darkness, owned and operated by legendary haunter, Larry Kirchner, is consistently ranked in the top two or three haunted houses in America.

It was already a busy night at Asylum, so we let Richard get back to the business of scaring people while we took a tour of Zombie City! Whatever you might be expecting, this attraction is probably not like any haunted attraction you’ve experienced before. The focus is taken off traditional jump scares and placed more on atmosphere and story. Zombie City is an interactive theatrical experience where you travel through a zombie infected town and run into various characters who will chat with you and forward the plot as you go forward. You’ll meet mad scientists, jumpy sheriffs, trigger happy hillbillies and battle hardened soldiers, and someone in your group will get to blow up a zombie!

It was getting late, nearly two hours past the witching hour, when we arrived at the last, outdoor attraction at Asylum known as Darkness Falls. Nothing I had seen all night could have prepared me for the incredible one mile journey into darkness I was about to take. Darkness Falls is one of the most elaborate haunted forests I’ve ever hiked through, rivaling the very best years of Nightmare Forest in Otter Creek Park. This is just my opinion, of course, but I think that if you have to choose just one attraction at Asylum Haunted Scream Park, you must take the hike into Darkness Falls.

You’ll pass outdoor graveyards and a colorful, Tim Burton-esque Halloween Town while occasionally coming upon heavily themed structures you must work your way through. Darkness Falls is somewhat of a full contact haunted obstacle course. You’ll have to navigate your way over bridges right out of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” through twisted, giant mazes and into claustrophobic tunnels. One of my favorite scenes had us careening down a giant slide into a spongy foam pool! When I first pushed off into the dark downward tunnel, I had no idea how long the slide would be or how soon (and how possibly hard) I would hit the bottom. As I picked up speed, vertigo set in and I let out a scream for the history books! That’s what Halloween is all about, wouldn’t you agree?

Asylum Haunted Scream Park is open September 28^th and 29^th from 8PM until 2AM. It’s open every Friday and Saturday in October from 8PM until 2AM.

Welcome, Haunt Fans, this is The Phantom of the Ville here, deep into my dizzying tour of Kentuckiana’s best Haunted Attractions of 2012! After my restless stay at the Haunted Hotel, my hearse driver made a deadly beeline course over the blackness of the Ohio River to arrive at 835 Spring Street in Jeffersonville, IN. Neon green slime dripped from the gargoyle covered rooftop above an already crowded parking lot full of roaming monsters (SEE PHOTO) as my driver parked in my reserved spot right next to the Industrial Nightmare hearse.

Before joining the legion of other ghouls and maniacs in one of Industrial Terrorplex’s four haunts, I stopped briefly to chat with Industrial foreman, Todd Moore, who has been in the haunted attraction business since 2002. Although I wouldn’t exactly call it a “cruel streak,” Moore clearly enjoys his job terrorizing others every Halloween season. “When I was a kid, my favorite thing to do on Halloween was to follow other kids who were carrying a big sack of candy, and take a pair of scissors and cut a hole in the bottom of their sack. Then I would follow behind them and pick up all of their candy as it leaked out of the bag.” Clearly, Moore enjoyed the “trick” aspect of Halloween as much as he enjoyed the “treat.” Afterward, he enjoyed YOUR treats!

After our conversation, Moore sent us off to explore the haunts, starting with the Terrorplex’s anchor haunt, Industrial Nightmare. This is a big budget attraction that includes headless beasts, forty foot animatronic monsters, moving bridges over water and even underwater lizard-men! The single most spectacular illusion in this attraction is still Industrial Nightmare’s signature swamp scene where guests can actually feel themselves sinking into the bog.

We next entered Dementions, which starts in a “Saw” inspired elevator scene before heading off to dozens of scenes of madness, one of which features the Greek mythological creature, Medusa, and some extremely realistic boa constrictors. They seemed so real that I leaned in for a closer look at their slithering tongues and got a face full of venom! At the climax, you’ll have to navigate a very confusing pitch dark maze that may have you going in circles.

Dementions exits right at the doors to Carnevil 3-D where you’ll be given a pair of 3-D glasses that will make passage through the spinning warp tunnel even more disorienting as you cross into Carnevil’s world of dark circus scenes and Killer Klowns. I’ve been through Carnevil before, and I’d say this year’s clown-centric haunt is nearly twice as long as previous years.

Finally, if you climb down the stairs to Terrorplex’s basement where the old elevator shaft disaster scene used to be, you’ll find their newest attraction, Infested, which is a plague ravaged, zombie overrun zone. Some of the set design reminded me of The Devil’s Attic with it’s elaborate, cave-like tunnels covered in skulls and crypts. Infested has a Gothic and mysterious atmosphere about it that isn’t necessarily trying to take you to intensity Level Ten right away, but instead builds a slow-burn tension towards a crazy finale.

What Industrial Terrorplex delivers is a total package of terror that includes a great variety of themes, each haunt being a completely different experience than the last, and a lot of time spent in the haunts. We spent over an hour inside the haunts not including any wait times. Unlike some other similar multi-haunt attractions I’ve experienced in the past, each attraction here is a FULL SIZED HAUNT. Often you’ll get one full sized attraction and a couple of other shorter sideshows that are much less detailed and/or thought out. That is not the case at Industrial Terrorplex.

Industrial Terrorplex is open September 28-29 from 8PM until 1AM and Thursdays through Sundays in October (except Sunday, October 7th). Thursdays and Sundays from 8-11PM and Fridays and Saturdays from 8PM until 1AM. I fully recommend getting the $28 value ticket which gets you into all four haunts for an entire evening of Halloween entertainment. That’s one of the best best bangs for your buck you’ll find this season.

Other than the long lamented WAKY Haunted House from Louisville’s Silver Age of Haunted Houses, no other haunted attraction in the Ville has yet earned the right to be considered “legendary” other than the one and only Haunted Hotel. The WAKY Haunted House, which was my first haunt experience as a wee Phantom, built a schoolyard reputation that no haunted house built of ordinary brick, papier-mache and black plastic could ever live up to. There were lunchroom rumors of gouged out eyeballs, tales of kids that went in only to never be seen again and one outrageous story about a trapdoor that dropped unsuspecting visitors fifteen feet onto a bed of foam nails!

I don’t remember much about my single trek through the WAKY Haunted House. My eyes were sealed firmly shut most of the way through, as my poor dad dragged me forward by my Mighty Mouse jacket collar. But I do remember fragments of the first of my many expeditions through The Haunted Hotel, which still sits alone at its original 3000 S. 4th Street location 23 years later. Strobe lights; Boney fingers grabbing my bell bottom pant legs; Caged maniacs on both sides of me, clutching at my clothes; An escaped werewolf threatening to rip my throat. Terror incarnate.

The Haunted Hotel was the true successor to the WAKY Haunted House’s crown, and it has held the title of Louisville’s Favorite Haunted House for 23 years with a number of memorable gimmicks and themes. Who can ever forget the tunnel of thousands of live roaches? Or the year when visitors came face-to-face with infamous urban legends? This year, as usual, The Haunted Hotel offers some unique and unusual thrills created by its new owners, true “Brothers of Blood,” Kevin and Brian Stich!

Before I checked into the Hotel this year, I went to see Kevin and Brian to find out more about what they had in store for this iconic building on 4th Street. “You’ve got to see our Nazi room!,” boasted Kevin. Uh-Oh. The Stich Brothers were the former owners and operators of Wolf Creek Haunted Forest in Shepherdsville. They’re both looking forward to not having to deal with the unpredictable problems with weather that can plague an outdoor haunt, and they’re both very happy to be getting a crack at running one of their favorite haunts growing up.

“It was really Danger Run that made us want to get into making our own haunted house, and back in the day, The Haunted Hotel was always part of Danger Run,” says Kevin. “It was our love of horror movies too,” says Brian. “My favorite horror movie is ‘Silent Hill,’ but I love ‘The Amityville Horror’ too.”

Soon enough, Kevin and Brian handed me my room key and sent me off to the check-in desk. I was put in with a group of three cheerleaders from Eastern High School (SEE PHOTO), so I already knew I was in deep trouble. There’s nothing crazed haunted attraction actors (especially chainsaw maniacs) enjoy more than terrorizing cheerleaders, so of course, we were savagely assaulted right from the first room all the way through the longest clown and chainsaw maze ever to occupy the outdoor section of The Haunted Hotel.

Touring the Hotel is like slipping into a favorite pair of house shoes. The building’s structure is familiar, and many of the classic rooms remain, but there are plenty of new gags to surprise even the most experienced fan. For some reason, I’ve always loved climbing the stairs to the second floor and this year there were snapping plant monsters chomping at our heels as we raced to the top. Actually there are quite a few impressive animatronic monsters in the haunt this year.

The dreaded “Nazi Room” is something I just can’t spoil here. It’s something that has to be seen to be believed. It’s sure to frighten some and offend others, but it certainly can’t be said that the Stich Brothers have not pushed themed rooms to their limits.

The Haunted Hotel will be open September 28-29th from 8PM to 2AM, and will be open in October from Thursdays through Sunday nights. Thursdays and Sundays hours will be 8PM to 12AM. Fridays and Saturdays hours will be 8PM to 2AM.

Take a deep breath, Haunt Fans, and follow me as I take a terrifying whirlwind tour of all the best Haunted Attractions in the Louisville area over the next two weeks. On Friday, September 21st, the floodgates of Hell were opened in the Ville, and a skeletal fistful of attractions opened their doors to the unwary populace. Join me, The Phantom of the Ville, as I attempt to hold onto what’s left of my mortal sanity as I plunge myself head first into every nightmare created by the twisted masterminds of these haunts.

Here at the Louisville Halloween website, we don’t like to start in the shallow end of the pool, so we’re climbing all the way up to start in the attic, The Devil’s Attic! Located at 647 West Hill Street in the old Jobson Paint Company building, which was built in 1914, The Devil’s Attic offers 10,000 square feet of terror. This is the third year in the Ville for this haunt, and it has doubled in size every year so far since its humble beginnings in a strip mall in Jefferson County.

Spookmaster, Jason Besemann, is 100% hands on with his mad creation, having done all of the electrical work and painting himself. Raised in a strict Southern Baptist family, Jason wasn’t allowed to celebrate Halloween as a child. It wasn’t until his early teens that he began sneaking away to friend’s houses where he saw movies like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Exorcist” that fired his imagination and set him down the road that eventually led him to open his own haunted house.

It was the horror films he saw at an impressionable age that started the germ of the idea that Besemann had about creating his own house of horrors, and it is his continued love of modern horror cinema that drives the themes and scenes in The Devil’s Attic. It all begins in a Gothic chamber ruled by the Devil himself, who warns those that are about to pass through the fiery gates of his domain to “abandon all hope” if they are to proceed. The group that I was with lost one member in the very first room; a 6 foot 6 six inch, muscularly built gentlemen (SEE PHOTO/CENTER FRAME) was left bent over, gasping for air after the first shocking scare and had to bypass the rest of the tour. Gracefully, he posed for a photo with the “braver” members of our group after we made it out alive!

The passages through the Devil’s Attic are detailed with walls covered in skulls and ancient crypts, creating an oppressive atmosphere filled with dread. I was thrilled to see scenes from classic American Halloween tales like Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” alongside moody British horror classics like Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” You’ll also see great scenes from contemporary horror films, like the 2001 version of “13 Ghosts” with it’s amazing “glass house” set. If I had to pick one scene that really blew me away, it would be the “Exorcist” scene influenced by some of the recent films about demonic possession. Besemann has gone as far as to hire a professional contortionist to play the possesed girl in the scene, twisting and bending her body into postions that don’t seem humanly possible! She really, really creeped me out.

You’ll also be challenged by a room of many doors where you’ll have to choose a door to proceed in the hopes of finding the right passage or be forever lost in the twisted maze of dead ends and paths that lead right back to where you started. I don’t want to spoil all of the other surprises you’ll find deep in the dark corners of Devil’s Attic, so that’s all I’m going to warn you about. The rest of the Attic’s secrets you’ll have to either learn for yourself or be included with my group’s faint of heart gentle giant and end up just one of the many victims unable to survive the terrors of The Devil’s Attic!

The Devil’s Attic is open September 28-29 from 8PM-12:30AM and in October every Thursday night through Sunday night. Thursdays and Sundays the hours are from 8-11:30PM and Fridays and Saturdays the hours are from 8PM-12:30AM. The Devil’s Attic will also be open on Halloween night (a Wednesday this year) from 8PM-12:30AM. The official website can be found at www.thedevilsattic.com/.

Stay tuned to www.louisvillehalloween.com for many more Louisville Haunted House previews to come over the next two weeks. The first person to post a picture of yourself outside of The Devil’s Attic alongside one of the Attic’s wandering ghouls to The Phantom of the Ville’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/louisvilleafterdark/ wins a FREE Halloween gift of a classic horror DVD mailed directly to your own haunted house!

One of the biggest Horror/Paranormal Conventions in the country, ScareFest, is happening again this year in Lexington, KY on the weekend of September 28th-30Th. The show brings together horror celebrities like Malcom McDowell (“A Clockwork Orange,” Rob Zombie’s “Halloween”), Tony Todd (“Candyman”) and cast members of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” with paranormal investigators like Josh Gates (“Destination Truth”) and members of the casts of “Ghost Hunters”and “Ghost Adventures.” For a full lineup of guests, see ScareFest’s website at www.scarefestcon.com. The whole event takes place at the Lexington Convention Center. The show hours are Friday, Sept. 28 from 5-10PM, Saturday, Sept. 29 from 11AM-9PM and Sunday, Sept. 30 from 11AM-4PM.

I sat down recently with ScareFest Programming Director, Lee Kirkland, to discuss the secret witches brew of ingredients that go into making ScareFest such a unique event. Lee is also the co-founder of SHOCK (Spirit Hunters of Central Kentucky). Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Lee.

The Phantom of the Ville: Good Evening, Lee. First tell us a little about the history of ScareFest and how long you’ve been involved with the event?

Lee Kirkland: Thanks, Mr. Phantom, I have been involved with ScareFest since day one. We are currently going into our fifth year and are extremely proud of the rapid growth of the event. It has become the largest Horror and Paranormal Convention in the nation.

TPOTV: One of the things that sets ScareFest apart from all the other horror conventions out there is that you also focus on real world paranormal phenomenon and investigations into cryptozoology and the unknown, and not just horror movies. How did this aspect of the show come about?

LK: Exactly. We wanted to be different. Both genres have very loyal and dedicated fans. We are all involved in investigating different aspects of the paranormal. With the explosion in popularity of the paranormal shows, including UFOs, cryptos and possessions, there is an abundance of celebrities that fans are interested in meeting and talking with.

TPOTV: Would you say that Kentucky is a hotbed of paranormal activity?

LK :Absolutely! I’ve been involved in research of paranormal activity for many years now. I’ve had the luxury of traveling all over the country to investigate some of the most haunted places out there. I have to say that there’s no place like Kentucky’s own Waverly Hills, Bobby Mackey’s, the Perryville Battlefield, Octogon Hall, Rocky Point Manor, and the list goes on and on. All which have been seen featured on national television shows.

TPOTV: I’ve noticed that Buffalo Trace is sponsoring ScareFest this year. What’s the connection between the paranormal and Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey?

LK: I love the fact that we’ve joined forces with Buffalo Trace. There are two major products in Kentucky, and Bourbon is one of them. We want to expose our fans to the best the state has to offer. It’s fantastic bourbon whiskey and it’s manufactured in the oldest active distillery in the state. With all the history of the distillery, there seems to be two different types of spirits on the grounds! Last fall the distillery was visited by SyFy’s own Ghost Hunters for an investigation.

TPOTV: One of your cryptozoology guests this year, Lyle Blackburn, is the lead singer and primary lyricist of one my favorite creepy Texas bands, Ghoultown! What do you know about Count Lyle’s work in cryptozoology?

LK: I love Lyle’s band! He is one of the top experts in the country on Bigfoot, and the main guy of intelligence on the Fouke Monster of Arkansas. This is the creature that the movie “The Legend Of Boggy Creek” was based on, which happens to be one of my favorite classics! His new book about the monster is very well written and delves into more in depth encounters and recent reports.

TPOTV: You’ve got some great horror guests coming this year. Who are you most excited to meet that you haven’t met before?

LK: There are so many, it’s really hard to decide. I’m very excited for Malcolm McDowell. I am a big fan of his and love talking with him. I may actually remember our conversation this time. The first time I met him was at another event and he invited me to sit with him at his booth and talk. The only thing I could think was, “Holy shit, I’m talking to Malcolm McDowell,” over and over! Malcolm will be doing an intro before and Q&A after a showing of ” A Clockwork Orange” for the event. I really wish I would be able to attend this, however, I won’t be able to stay off the convention floor for that long. I also love talking with Derek Mears, one of the funniest guys you’ll ever meet!

TPOFTV: You also have some big music acts, film screenings and professional magicians coming. Tell us a little about that.

LK: We are VERY EXCITED to have former Misfits lead vocalist, Michale Graves, performing. And for our paranormal fans we are having the debut performance of Ghost Adventures star Nick Groff. The movies will be running all weekend and we really have several awesome screenings. We are proud to partner with the SyFy channel for the WORLD PREMIER of the SyFy original “American Horror House.” All these will be showing in the FEARnet sponsored film room. And for extra entertainment, we’ve brought in an all horror themed magician to do a free show for the fans! We’re having back one of the world’s finest escape artists and Guinness Book of World Records holder, Aron Houdini. He is deemed the last living Houdini and will be attempting to break more world records again this year!

TPOTV: What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered over the years programming and pulling off such a large show?

LK: Keeping as many people happy as possible has to be one of the biggest challenges. We have to worry about celebrities, fans, staff, volunteers and even the community. We like to treat everyone with respect and try to provide an environment in which every single person has a positive experience.

TPOTV: In your position, I’m sure you see some pretty strange things. What’s the weirdest/craziest thing you seen so far while working for ScareFest?

LK: I have to admit, the absolute craziest thing was seeing a young lady have a seizure after Ghost Adventures star, Zak Bagans, said “Hi,” to her. We had to call paramedics to attend to her and she ended up fine, only really embarrassed over the whole situation. It was a definite first!

TPOTV: Lastly, on a personal note, what’s your favorite childhood Halloween memory?

LK: I grew up way out in the country, so I always remember going into town to neighborhoods. I just loved the decorations, the sounds of other kids screaming and having fun and hearing spooky music from loud speakers. I was always a little afraid when walking up to a decorated house, wondering what was going to happen when I knocked and waiting to see who or what would open the door. And hoping I would get the good candy!

Greetings, Haunt Fans. I am the Phantom of the Ville, and I welcome you to the first in Louisville Halloween’s series of haunted house previews for 2012. It seems that Halloween is truly in the blood in this town. Louisville has more haunted attractions per square mile than almost any other city in the country, and two of them opened on September 14th this year, The Field of Screams in Brandenburg (www.thefieldofscreams.net/ ), which I will visit as soon as possible, and The Baxter Avenue Morgue (www.baxtermorgue.com/ ). Many more haunted previews are coming in the following weeks.

The Baxter Avenue Morgue is located in the Highlands at 451 Baxter Avenue on the corner of Baxter and Hull Street, just two blocks down from Cave Hill Cemetery. The building itself was the real location of the Vanderdark Morgue, which opened its doors for business in the early 1900′s, but closed under mysterious circumstances in 1940. Narrowly escaping demolition in 1976, the morgue sat abandoned until 2001 when long lost relatives Reginald Andrew Mortimus Vanderdark, aka Rig A Mortis, and Warren & Lillian Vanderdark suddenly emerged from hiding and reopened the morgue for seasonal tours.

I was invited by Warren Vanderdark himself to tour the newly renovated tunnels beneath the historic building. The labyrinthine maze of passageways underneath the historic building are a large part of what makes the Baxter Avenue Morgue such a unique attraction. You will travel down into the very bowels of the earth to discover the dark secrets of the Vanderdark family. Tight passageways and low ceilings will give unsuspecting visitors a sense of claustrophobia, and then suddenly the path will open up to vast open caverns and crypts. You’ll also come across grotesque embalming rooms that still seem to be in operable condition and living chambers still decorated in turn-of-the-century decor.

If you’ve visited the Baxter Avenue Morgue before, don’t expect to know exactly where the tunnels lead. New passageways have been excavated and new rooms have been added for a longer and more disorienting experience. New characters have been added too. You won’t find Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees here. This is an all original creation injected with all local mythology by all local talent.

The entertainment begins as soon as you pass through the Gothic gates on your way to the ticket booth as creepy doormen and mutilated freaks immediately begin jangling your nerves. As you wait in line, a local dance company engages in continuous performances of the Michael Jackson “Thriller” music video which always ends with zombies wandering into the line.

This season lots of new characters have been added to the haunt, but you will see some old friends as you begin your tour. Warren Vanderdark and his lovely wife, Lillian, will meet you in the waiting room to offer some advice on your best chances for reaching the exit alive. They’ll also familiarize you with the infamous “chicken doors” labeled with painted chickens that those who prove to be less than stout of heart can take during the experience if they need to “check out early.”

This year the actors have gone through extensive “scare training” and it shows. In one room, we were relentlessly pursued by a girl with long black hair right out of a Japanese ghost flick that made the most disturbing, guttural clicking sounds I’ve ever heard. If there’s one word that describes this Highlands haunt this year, more than any other year, it’s “relentless.” I’ve never seen this many ghouls working in the morgue before. I’m telling you that this year the Baxter Avenue Morgue is filled with wall to wall FREAKS! And they WILL touch you, grab you and torment you with their agonizing screams.

This haunt is all about its characters and their interaction with the foolhardy tourists. The Baxter Avenue Morgue does not rely on animatronic and pneumatic props or prefab, haunt industry built sets and monsters. Almost everything you see was built from scratch by local artists and craftsmen, and the main focus is on the amazing location they have to work with and the make-up and intensity that their effects crew and actors bring to the table.

As you leave to go home, don’t forget that the abandoned Eastern Cemetery is right next door with its boarded up Louisville Crematorium just over the hills past broken monuments and crumbled gravestones. This notorious cemetery has a dark past of its own, and is the final resting place of many angry spirits who were buried in mass graves and forgotten. As you pass, you may recall the performance of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” you enjoyed earlier, or even “Return of the Living Dead.” Is that a chill in the air that’s making your neck hairs stand up, or something else?

Our final destination after escaping the Baxter Avenue Morgue was Spinelli’s Pizzeria just a block down the street at 614 Baxter Avenue. For a great Halloween experience, stop in for a pizza and check out their amazing Zoltan Fortune Telling Machine (SEE PHOTO) where for only a dollar the Great Zoltan will look into your future and give you a keepsake fortune card to take home. If you’re really nervous about your trip to the morgue, maybe you should go see Zoltan first just to make sure the fates are on your side!

The Baxter Avenue Morgue is open September 21-22nd and 28-29th from 8PM-Midnight. In October they will open every Thursday night from 8-11PM, every Friday & Saturday from 8-1AM and every Sunday from 8-11PM. They will also be open Halloween night (a Wednesday this year) from 8-11PM. General Admission is $20, but $5 OFF discount coupons are available at local participating Circle K stores.

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“When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still. That is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!”

The Haunted Mansion (Disneyland)

When was the last time you took a tour of a haunted mansion? I don’t mean sitting in a “doom buggy” that follows a predetermined path through a ride building past animatronic spooks. I mean a real haunted mansion of the French Second Empire style built in 1867 and haunted by spirits of our colonial past. If you could, would you be willing to spend the night? Such a place exists just across the river from the Ville in New Albany, and it’s open daily for tours. It’s called the Culbertson Mansion.

The Culbertson Mansion State Historic Site sits at 914 East Main Street in New Albany, IN. Visiting hours are from 10AM-5PM Mondays through Saturdays and 11AM-5PM on Sundays. A donation of $5 goes to the ongoing restoration and upkeep of the mansion’s three stories and grounds. Historic tours are available, but you’re also free to wander the halls alone if you choose. For this tour, I’ll be your host, your ghost host, the Phantom of the Ville.

Arriving at the mansion, I approached the massive, ornate door and rang the doorbell. Moments later I was ushered into the incredible front parlor with antique portraits of William Culbertson and his wife on the wall to my left, a beautiful crystal chandelier above me hanging from the frescoed ceiling and a view of the spiral, three story rosewood-grained staircase in front of me. It’s like a scene right out of a 1930′s “old dark house” movie.

The first floor of the mansion features incredible marble fireplaces in a large ballroom, fancy dining rooms, grand pianos and a study with an antique library. The second floor features several beautiful bed chambers with vaulted, painted ceilings, a sewing room and tea rooms. Continue up the spiral staircase to the third floor and you’ll find stained glass windows, children’s rooms filled with antique toys and baby carriages as well as a museum room filled with historical facts and artifacts. If you descend the second spiral staircase on the other side of the house you’ll find the basement area with the servant’s quarters, the laundry room, the work shed and, across the exterior walkway, the giftshop.

It’s a breathtaking journey into local history in a 150 year old mansion that holds its share of secrets and stories, but the tours close at 5PM. What would the house look like at night and what would it be like to spend the night in a, literally, haunted mansion. If you’re brave enough, you can find out during one of Culbertson’s Ghost Watch Undertaking Sleepovers! The next sleepover takes place on September 21st from 6PM-6AM. Reservations are required and no one under 18 will be admitted. You’ll enjoy a candlelight dinner, a ghost tour and a scavenger hunt through the mansion’s dark halls before attempting to make it through the night. The cost is $100 per person and reservations can be made at Culbertsonmansionshs@indianamuseum.org or by calling (812) 944-9600. If you can’t make that date, the next sleepover takes place three days after Halloween on November 3rd.

If you’re interested in hearing the many ghost stories of Culbertson Mansion, you can take one of the Ghostly Happenings Tours this Halloween season. Reservations are required and no one under 12 years of age will be admitted. The cost is $15 per person and tours will take place on October 9, 11, 16, 18, 23 and 25.

A family friendly Halloween Tea event will also take place on October 28th from 2PM-4PM. This includes finger food and Victorian Tea with the Queen of Halloween who will be on hand to tell stories. Costumes are welcomed. Reservations are required, and the cost is $15 per adult, $8 per child 3-8 years of age and kids under 3 are free.

Outside of the mansion sits the Carriage House, which is the location of one of Kentuckiana’s longest running seasonal haunted attractions. Since 1985, Literally, a Haunted House has been scaring the wits out of foolish mortals with a dead-icated all volunteer crew of fiendish freaks! All proceeds go the restoration of the mansion itself. Head Haunter, Holly Crisler, tells me that this year’s theme is centered around scary toys. If your hair stands on end at the thought of creepy baby dolls and mechanical monkeys that play cymbals, then you should be an easy target for Holly and her twisted crew.

Literally, a Haunted House opens on the weekend of September 28-29th, the doors creak open at 7PM and don’t close until the last victim runs screaming from the exit. It’s open every Friday and Saturday night in October. Admission is $13 per person, but $2 off coupons are available in the Culbertson Mansion giftshop.

A visit to the Culbertson Mansion in New Albany for any of these events gets my highest recommendation this Halloween season. There’s an atmosphere found within the mansion that no haunted attraction, no matter how elaborate, can ever replicate. For only a $5 donation you can experience the real thing. There are no store bought props or characters wearing white sheets inside. Everything you see and experience is real. If, after your journey into the haunted past of Culbertson Mansion, you still crave the traditional scares of a great seasonal haunted attraction, stop by the giftshop to pick up your $2 off coupons and come back for the haunted Carriage House. If you think about it, that’s only $16 for BOTH unique experiences, which is still less than most Halloween attractions charge for one.

If, however, you are one of the brave souls who rises to the challenge of actually SPENDING THE NIGHT in Culbertson Mansion, we’d love to hear about your experience in the comments section below or see your photos on the Louisville Halloween Facebook Page. The first person to send a photo of themselves outside the Culbertson Mansion to my Phantom Facebook page at www.facebook/#!/louisvilleafterdark wins a secret prize package from me, The Phantom of the Ville!

Do you remember the Golden Age of Trick-or-Treating? I don’t mean the Golden Age of Halloween, which can be traced back as far as the Celtic festival of Samhain, and I don’t mean the traditon of going from door to door begging for treats which also has roots going back several hundred years. I’m talking specifically about the American tradition which has been documented as having its roots in the early 1900′s, but not really becoming a widespread phenomenon until the 1930′s.

I consider the Golden Age of Trick-or-Treating to be roughly from the mid 1950′s through perhaps the mid 1980′s. The Baby Boomers were the first hardcore generation of trick-o-treaters. By the mid 50′s, the concept of going from door-to-door looking for treats or mischief had grown. Most typical American families had a televison set in their homes, and by the mid 1960′s the classic horror pictures made by Hollywood in the 30′s and 40′s started playing in people’s homes on Saturday nights via programs such as Shock Theater. Characters like Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man became cultural icons and were ready made for Halloween dress up play.

That’s about the time that the retail industry saw an opportunity to sell cheap, disposable Halloween costumes to beleaguered parents to save them from having to cut holes in good bed sheets or from having to spend a lot of time and mess on junior’s one night outfit. Kids didn’t seem to mind much either because the colorful artwork and designs of these factory made costumes were cooler than what they could make with a paper bag, an old sheet and some pipe cleaners. They also looked like the characters from the scary movies they loved. The costumes typically consisted of a plastic, vacuformed mask held on by an elastic band and a vinyl smock with an image of the character on it.

Two companies rose above the crowd to become the kings of the boxed, dime store Halloween costume, Collegeville and Ben Cooper, Inc. The Collegeville company generally produced mostly unlicensed, generic costumes like ghosts, witches, skeletons, devils and monsters as well as cowboys, astronauts and princesses. This isn’t to say that Collegeville’s generic costumes were less interesting than Ben Cooper’s costumes. In fact, many of their classic designs are the very icons we first imagine when we think of this era of Halloween costumes.

Ben Cooper had been in the Halloween costume business since the late 1930′s and he had a knack for acquiring great, popular licensed characters to use for his costumes, the first of which was the Walt Disney cartoon characters. If you ever wore a Spider-man or Batman costume in the 1970′s, you were wearing a Ben Cooper costume, while Collegeville was stuck creating charming knock-offs like The Spider and The Bat. Cooper was the guy who licensed the Star Wars franchise from 20th Century Fox and sold a million Darth Vader costumes.

There was a time in the early to mid 1970′s, before the urban myths about razor blades and candy apples and the wild paranoia of overprotective parents put an end to trick-or-treating the way I knew it, that the coming of dusk on October 31st was something wondrous to behold. Just as the sun began to set, you could look out your front window to witness the emergence of a sea of little ghosts and goblins coming out of their suburban houses to claim the night. Homemade hobos joined with bargain bought Batmans from dusk until about 9 PM (with a hard closing of 10 PM), ruling the streets of their neighborhoods and amassing a haul of sweet treasure in the process.

If you were there, and you ever wore a Collegeville or a Ben Cooper costume, then you’re part of a collective, now nearly forgotten and secret club with the same shared memories. You remember the smell of the plastic mask as perspiration built up on your cheeks while running from block to block, the elastic band that held the mask on pulling at your hair and irritating the skin around your ears. You remember the sweat gathering under the hot vinyl smock which may or may not be covered with a rain jacket or a thick winter coat depending on the weather and the demands of your parents.

I remember my first Halloween costume, chosen by me at the dime store and purchased by my mother without much of a fuss. It was a Collegeville H R Pufnstuf costume based on the psychedelic 1969 Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning children’s program (SEE PHOTO). It was the first of three store bought costumes I wore, intermixed with costumes I made myself like the Pumpkin-headed ghost made out of a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream bucket and an old sheet, that made up the core of my Golden Age trick-or-treating adventures. The second was a Collegeville Ultraman costume based on the 1960′s Japanese science fiction series that played every afternoon during Funsville on WDRB-41 in the early to mid 1970′s. The last store bought costume I used, and probably one of my last great trick-or-treats, was a Ben Cooper Darth Vader costume. That particular costume wasn’t quite as memorable, as every doorbell I rang also played host to at least two or three other “fake” Darth Vaders that year, all of us breathing heavy to stay in character or from carrying a heavy bag of loot too far.

Now 35 years later, and about 20 odd years after the demise of the Golden Age of Trick-or-Treating and the boxed dime store Halloween costume, the Collegeville and Ben Cooper costumes of that era (at least the ones that survived) have become hot Halloween collectibles. Some mass produced characters can still be found for relatively cheap on ebay, say $10-$20, while more obscure costumes like my H R Pufnstuf can go for hundreds of dollars.

This Halloween has already been a special one for me and it’s still only September. Recently, I found and now own something I never even knew existed as a kid. If I had known about it, I would certainly have wanted to wear it in place of almost every other costume I ever coveted. In order to understand my enthusiasm, you need to understand the impact one man had on my life and my imagination in my formative years. The man’s name is Ray Harryhausen.

Ray Harryhausen was a special effects craftsman and stop-motion animator that did the work of what would later be done by crews of dozens or more all by himself. He sculpted and brought to life some of the most memorable mythological creatures and magical monsters ever projected onto the silver screen including the Medusa and the Kraken from the original “Clash of the Titans” (1981) and the spectacular skeleton army from “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963). But it was his Arabian tales of the great swashbuckling hero, Sinbad, that really fired my imagination as a small child.

I remember a teacher in the fifth grade, while talking about movies in the lunchroom, telling me that he never missed a James Bond movie. I told him I never missed a Sinbad movie. Harryhausen made three Sinbad movies: “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958), “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1973) and “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” (1977), all distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Just a few weeks ago I stumbled onto this Collegeville Sinbad costume (SEE PHOTOS) while searching ebay for vintage Halloween goodies. I had never seen one before and neither had any of my fellow Halloween and/or Harryhausen fan friends. It turns out that Collegeville licensed the character from Columbia Pictures and released the costume for the Halloween of 1976. This is significant because “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad “ had come out three years prior and “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” wouldn’t be released until the next year. As far as I’m aware, this costume represents one of the only pieces of licensed Harryhausen merchandise made for the retail market before “Clash of the Titans” in 1981. Not only that, but careful examination of the artwork on the vinyl smock reveals an enigma. Sinbad is wearing the medallion that is a piece of the map that leads to the Fountain of Destiny as seen in “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad,” but behind him stands two images of the gold plated Minoton from “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” which hadn’t even come out yet! So this Collegeville costume represents a collectible from both films and an extremely rare piece of Ray Harryhausen memorabilia.

Sharp eyed Harryhausen fan and hardcore Golden Age trick-or-treater, David Conover, who also happens to be the Programming Director for Louisville’s own fantasy/sci-fi/toy and model convention, Wonderfest, recognized the drawing of Sinbad as a likely copy of the Marvel Comics adaption of “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.” The cross over mystery deepens!

I hope all of you Golden Age trick-or-treaters out there find something equally amazing in your treat bags and plastic pumpkins this year. This is the Phantom of the Ville, hoping that the magic of Halloweens past give rise to new traditions in the present that will be worthy of another similar article in 20 or 30 years. I’d love for you to post any pictures you’ve saved of you and your friends in your old Halloween costumes on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/#!/louisvilleafterdark.com!

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Greetings, my friends! It’s the Phantom of the Ville here, just settling back into my favorite easy chair after returning home from a weekend at the Horror Hound Convention two hours North of us in Indianapolis. I saw a lot of creepy, but friendly faces at the show including Louisville Halloween’s own Pumpkin King and the amazing crew of the Movie Meltdown Podcast show ( www.moviemeltdown.com ). This post is obviously intended to be less news oriented and more “show and tell” for those of you who were unable to be there in person, so let’s start the tour, shall we?

There was an incredible assemblage of cast members from both the “Aliens” and “Terminator” franchises including, from the “Terminator” series, Linda Hamilton (Sarah Conner), Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese), Edward Furlong (John Conner), Kristanna Loken (The Terminatrix from “T3”) and others. From the “Aliens” franchise, Horror Hound brought out Lance Henriksen (Bishop), Carrie Henn (Newt), Jenette Goldstein (Vasquez), Mark Rolston (Drake), Ricco Ross (Frost) and Cynthia Scott (Dietrich).

Other horror celebrities included Timothy Balme, star of Peter Jackson’s “Dead Alive,” Cassandra Peterson (better known to us as Elvira Mistress of the Dark!), “Nightmare on Elm Street’s” Heather Langenkamp and Jenny Wright, star of “Near Dark” and “I, Madman.” All of the monsters from “The Monster Squad” were there except the Gillman. Tom (“Manhunter”) Noonan was the Frankenstein Monster, Duncan (“Zorro”) Regher was Dracula, Michael Mackay was the Mummy and Carl Thibault was the Wolfman.

I had the opportunity to visit with an old friend, Ken Foree, star of George Romero’s uncontested zombie classic, “Dawn of the Dead.” Foree has been to Louisville before, signing autographs and meeting fans both at Wild & Woolly Video and at Louisville’s best fantasy and toy expo, Wonderfest. He told me that he still has and loves the Louisville Slugger baseball bat with his name on it that I gifted him on his first visit to the Ville and that he wants to come back soon and see his Louisville fans.

One of the most exciting moments for me at the show was meeting the Chiodo Brothers! You may not immediately recognize the names of Stephen, Edward and Charlie Chiodo, but you’ve likely seen and enjoyed a lot of their special effects work. These guys were the creature designers of the “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” and the little furballs with razor teeth in the “Critters” franchise as well as the puppet supervisors for “Team America: World Police.” I surprised them with the DVD cover for “King Cobra” (1999), for which they built the giant snake used in the movie. They had never seen the DVD box for that obscure monster flick before! Should I have been surprised?

The greatest joy for me at big horror conventions like this one is just wandering around the dealers room and the Artist’s Alley checking out all the amazing toys, props and monster masks on display. This year the show was co-sponsered by the Halloween Mask Association ( www.thehma.net/hma/forum.php) and there was an entire, gigantic room filled with monster masks and Halloween displays. My favorite display was put on by the Universal Monster Army ( www.universalmonsterarmy.com) who set up an elaborate tribute to the history of both Topstone and Don Post masks. Skeletal hands down, the absolute coolest thing on display was the heads and hands of two figures used for advertising the release of “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” from 1943. Theatrical ballyhoo for movies from this time period is extremely rare, and these Frankenstein and Wolf Man heads are amazing to behold because they have a direct link to the theatrical releases of the classic Universal Monster series that started it all! I’ve posted a photo of the figures from the 1943 premiere and also a photo of the heads as they appear today for comparison. And, yes, the Wolf Man’s eyes still light up!

Also found in the HMA room were Trick-or-Treat Studios news masks for 2012, including two licensed masks from “Halloween II” (1981), one of which depicts Michael Myers with the “blood tears” as seen from the end of the film after Laurie Strode shoots his eyes out in the hospital operating room. (Apparently, Michael grew his eyes back 10 years later for “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers”!)

I saw the three new officially licensed Universal Monster masks, two of which will be available to purchase at Caufield’s before Halloween. Frankenstein and the Creature from the Black Lagoon can be pre-ordered now at www.caufields.com, but the Wolf Man won’t likely see release until 2013.

I also had a chance to catch up with Edward Douglas of Midnight Syndicate (www.midnightsyndicate.com) who continues to release symphonic Halloween CD’s used in many haunted attractions across the country. The band is currently promoting their latest CD, Carnival Arcane, based on turn of the century carnivals and “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury.

Check out the photos for an idea of the things you could see at a show like Horror Hound, and don’t forget that a similar show called Scarefest (www.scarefestcon.com) is taking place in Lexington from Sept. 28- 30. Maybe you’ll find me there!

Happy September, my fellow Halloween fanatics! It’s the Phantom of the Ville here, thumbing through the DVD collection in my secret underground home theater. It’s less than two weeks now until many of the local haunted attractions will be open for business, but if you’re like me, you’re already hungry for some Halloween horror.

I’ve sorted through the good, the bad and the grizzly to come up with a list of locally related horror films to feed your Halloween craving until well into October. Some of these films might be pretty hard to find, while others will likely be playing 24 hours a day on cable the last couple of weeks before Halloween. Some of them are certified horror classics while others should be certified insane, but all of them have a Louisville and/or Kentucky connection. Without further ado, let us commence au festival!

10. Dead Moon Rising (2007) None of the the films on this list are more grassroots, 100% Louisville created than Mark Poole’s low budget zombie opus. This was the film that made a local celebrity of star, Jason Crowe, who has gone on to become a force in the low budget horror film business. The production infamously amassed it’s massive zombies VS bikers climax by inviting thousands of local horror fans to show up in zombie makeup to appear in the downtown Louisville zombie apocalypse. These very extras ultimately became the customers for the first wave of DVDs pressed, all of who wanted a copy of the movie they appeared in! Genius on the Roger Corman level, if you ask me.

9. The Death Tunnel (2005) The Booth Brothers sick love song to the scariest literally haunted building in Louisville, the Waverly Hills Sanitorium, and even more specifically to Waverly’s infamous “Body Chute.” Personally, I’m not a fan of this film and it’s crazy, scatterbrained editing. It’s the kind of film where the first thing the “hot” girls do when visiting a supposedly decades abandoned sanitorium is to strip and take a hot shower in the basement. Good thing the hot water heater has been maintained all these years! On a positive note, the cinematography of Waverly’s massive and scary structure is very good and the film also features scenes shot at the University of Louisville and at Phoenix Hill Tavern.

8. The Legend of Pope Lick (1989) Local filmmaker Ron Schildknecht’s 16 minute short film is based on one of Eastern Jefferson Counties’ most infamous urban legends, the Goatman of the Pope Lick Railroad Trestles. Historically, this film has been difficult to see if you missed the original theatrical premiere and festival screenings. For years only Wild & Woolly Video owned a VHS copy, but now there is apparently a DVD loaded with special features available here: www.ronschildknecht.com/films/popelickmonster.html. I wrote about the history of the Pope Lick legend recently here: www.louisvillehalloween.com/the-goatman-blues-the-legend-of-pope-lick-then-and-now/.

7. Overtime (2011) Local director Matt Nieoff’s recent hitman/zombie/alien/action/comedy genre blender mostly works on all those levels! Two bumbling badass hitmen who only kill “bad guys” played by local wrestling legend, Al Snow, and upcoming actor, John Wells, are sent on a routine hit only to stumble into a horrorific situation where human hosts have become infected with nasty little aliens that turn them into flesh eating Zaliens! Limited quanities of DVDs were sold this year at Fright Night Film Fest, and a national DVD release is due this January. For a live action, interactive “Overtime” experience don’t miss “Xterminate: Zalien Attack” at the Asylum Haunted Scream Park which opens September 21st.

6. Dummy (2011) David Buchert, a Prospect naitive come Nashville filmmaker is someone whose horror film career I feel is worth watching. His debut film, “Blood Oath (2007),” which was written by Louisvillian David Meier Smith, is available on the Troma films label. It’s a throw back to 80′s slasher cinema, and it’s worth a look too, but this new 30 minute short film made the list because it shows Buchert’s great maturity as a horror filmmaker. It’s also a slasher film, but it has more in common with the Italian Giallo genre. The beautiful, smooth camera work and long tracking shots bare a resemblance to the work of Italian Master of Horror, Dario Argento. I bought a copy of the DVD on a two film compliation called “In the Dark” at Fright Night Film Fest. UPDATE: “Dummy” can be purchased on DVD for $10 at http://www.scarymerch.com/ and it will also screen at Scarefest in Lexington which takes place Sept. 28-30.

5. Race with the Devil (1975) It’s “Easy Rider” VS Satan! Kentucky native, Warren Oates, who went to high school in Louisville and attended the University of Louisville before becoming one of Hollywood’s greatest character actors teams up with Peter Fonda in this road movie /horror flick from the 1970′s. Oates and Fonda are on a road trip vacation with their wives in a new winnebago when they stumble across what they think is an orgy going down in the desert only to realize to their horror that they’ve witnessed a human sacrifice performed by a Satanic cult! To make matters worse, the cult members know they’ve seen them and now Oates and Fonda must fight their way to safety in a chase across the desolate back country. For more wild Oates, I also recommend one of my favorite episodes of Boris Karloff’s “Thriller” TV series, “The Hollow Watcher.”

4. Abby (1974) “Exorcist” knock-offs like “The Possession” continue to this day, but this is the only one shot completely in Louisville! William Girdler’s controversial blaxplotation demonic possession thriller stars the legendary Shakespearean actor, William Marshall (That’s Blacula himself!), as the exorcist who must confront a possessed Carol Speed in a long closed Louisville Jazz club! Lots of great Louisville locations are on display here amid the demonic shenanigans, and the movie is a lot of fun. Highly recommended!

3. Dracula (1931) The original bloodsucker and the first of the classic Universal Monster series was directed by Louisvillian, Todd Browning. Bela Lugosi and his odd Hungarian accent (he spoke English phonetically at the time) made such an impact on the popular culture that his image is now the defining image of the Transylvanian Count despite appearing nothing like described in Bram Stoker’s novel. Although the film is a bit creaky by modern standards and lacks a musical score, the first fifteen minutes set in Dracula’s castle does showcase marvelous, massive cobwebbed sets and plenty of creepy atmosphere. Browning went on to also direct the infamous, “Freaks (1932),” which would also make perfect Halloween viewing.

2. Halloween (1978) The most obvious choice on this list, Kentucky raised director John Carpenter’s masterpiece of shadow and suspense could easily be swapped with Number One on any Top Ten Horror Films list, not just a locally connected one. Its influence on Modern Horror Cinema is undebatable, and there’s very little about “Halloween” that can be said that hasn’t already been said. Carpenter’s Bowling Green, KY roots seep into every frame to the extent that even though the film was shot in Los Angeles (and palm trees occasionally slip into frame), it FEELS like the MidWestern neighborhoods we’re all familiar with in the Ville. If you turn on your television set anytime in the month of October, this film will likely be playing on more than one channel at any given time.

1. Return of the Living Dead (1985) Dan O’Bannon’s (“Alien” screenwriter) punk rock zombie masterpiece is still, and will likely remain, the favorite theatrical screening experience of my mortal life. Opening night at the legendary and much missed Showcase Cinemas on Bardstown Road was as much an impromptu celebration of Louisville youth as it was a movie screening. When the film’s curmudgeon Army general announced to his superiors that the Trioxin 245 zombie canisters had turned up in LOUISVILLE, KY someone in the middle of the audience threw their popcorn into the air and ran up the aisle screaming, “Nooooooo!” Production Designer, William Stout, told me that his wife was from Louisville and he believes that fact somehow encouraged O’Bannon to set the film in the Ville. Stout’s EC Comics influence gave us one of the greatest zombies ever created for the silver screen, Tarman, and a phenomenal cast of great character actors pulled off a miracle of low budget horror cinema.

Please feel free to add your own favorite local horror gems in the Comments/Reviews section below, and don’t be afraid to debate my own choices! See you next week!