Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 27: Fergie as Elvira and Josh Duhhamel as RiffRaff

Awesome picture of Fergie as Elvira and Josh Duhamel as Riff Raff:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 26: Halloween at Gaia Online

Gaia Online is celebrating Halloween in a big way with their Halloween 2k13: Vengeance battle. You can choose to side with Jack or the Easter Bunny (of course, I went with the former):

The shop owners are once again wearing cool costumes and handing out candy. If you collect twenty-two pieces of candy, then you can trade it for a prize (I'm was at twenty-one before the game crashed on me). Ruby is dressed up as the Black Widow from Marvel Comics but with blonde hair:

Vanessa is dressed up as the Huntress from DC Comics:

First Official Trailer For Captain America 2: Winter Soldier

The first official trailer for Captain America 2: Winter Soldier has been released and actually shows the Falcon in flight:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 24: Dead or Alive Gets Spooky

Dead or Alive is an online game at Facebook set in the Old West. I have been playing it on and off for a while now (I'm level 126) but only have two friends that are also actively playing it. Today they started their Halloween game and they are playing up the witch theme as you can tell by the cool artwork:

Here is what the introduction screen (as shown below) states:

Be brave and welcome The Necromancer by trying your luck with our Halloween game: every 6 hours you can light up a Jack-o'-lantern which will randomly grant you one of the 6 Magical Crafts collection items. Once you have one of each you can trade them for one Necromancer! If at the end you don't have a complete collection but you have gained at least 10 Magical Crafts of any kind you will be able to trade them all for one Necromancer. Read the complete rule-set on our forum: http://bit.ly/1a8iJR4

Here are the three pumpkins in the Dead or Alive Halloween game but you can only choose one (I chose the first one):

I won a broom on my first time playing:

I love when online games at Facebook do something special like this for Halloween and other holidays.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 23: Women Wednesday: Elvira's Two New Songs

Elvira's two new original songs are "2 Big Pumpkins" and "13 Nights of Halloween". The songs were written by Fred Schneider of the B-52s. They are now available on iTunes now and the 7" vinyl record (remember those?) will begin shipping this week.

You can find more information and listen to "2 Big Pumpkins" on SoundCloud here or you can purchase the vinyl record here.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 22: Dark Shadows #21

Francesco Francavilla is the cover artist for Dark Shadows #21 from Dynamite Entertainment:

While Nacho Tenorio did the great interior artwork including this possessed Barnabas Collins:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 21: Monster Head Pens

Not much information about these monster head pens are available. They were found at a local discount store for a dollar each without any kind of display. The heads can be squeezed so that their brains pop out. The labels state that they were produced by Design International Group, Inc. of La Verne, CA.

The blue monster head pen has his tongue sticking out and a bulging eye:

His/her bubble brains are green with orange at the bottom (yes, that's my thumb):

Another close up of the blue monster head pen because this one is my favorite:

The green monster head pen has stitches on his forehead and more sinister looking eyes:

Top view of green monster head pen with purple brains:

Top view of blue monster head pen with green brains:

The green monster head pen has purple bubbles (excuse my thumb again):

Both monster head pens have blue ink.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 20: Witches Free Daily Cards At Superhero City

Superhero City is celebrating Herotober by offering Witches Free Daily Cards:

I love the sexy green-skinned witch with a super large purple pointy hat that matches her cape:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 19: Zippo Shocktober Sweepstakes

Zippo is offering a chance to win the following five fiendish frighters this year (I really like the vampiress and hooded skull lighters):

You can enter the Zippo Shocktober Sweepstakes here.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 18: Elvira on TV Weekly 1982

Here is Elvira on the cover of TV Weekly October 24 to 30, 1982:

Picture courtesy of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (official)

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 17: Demons Ability Set At Superhero City

You got to hand it to Superhero City for they are one of the few Facebook games that I still play. They start the Halloween season by offering a Demons ability set that includes Hellfire, Scales of the Demon and Wings of the Demon.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 16: Women Wednesday: Elvira With Soska Sisters

This picture of Elvira with the Soska Sisters, Jen and Sylvia, plus two other unidentified women (I believe the blonde is Laurene London) is actually from Monster Fest 2012:

Picture courtesy of Monster Pictures.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 15: I, Frankenstein Official Trailer

Wow, this official trailer for I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart as Adam looks pretty cool:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 14: Elvira Maquette

I wish I could afford this:

You can pre-order your exclusive Elvira cold cast porcelain maquette (scale model) on October 25 for the special edition and on October 28 for the regular edition at Tweeterhead. The special edition is pictured above and includes the official logo nameplate, a special hand numbered backstamp on the base, signed by Chad Colebank, founer of Tweeterhead, and two Certificates of Authenticity (one hand numbered and signed by sculpter Trevor Grove and one signed by Chad Colebank).

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 13: Thrift Store Finds: Frankie McDonald In Haunted America

Yesterday's thrift store hunt netted me two interesting items for only a buck fifty plus tax. The first is a book entitled Haunted America by Michael Norman and Beth Scott (Tor; October 1995). I had to pick it up since it was only a dollar.

From the back of the book:

"Flying Dutchmen, poltergeists, vengeful wraiths, child ghosts, phantom trains, houses of evil, headless horsemen...

Haunted America takes you on a grand tour of ghostly hauntings through the U.S. and Canada, sweeping from terrifying battlefield specters at Little Bighorn to a vaudeville palace in Tampa, from ghostly apparitions in President Garfield's home in Ohio to the White House in Washington, D.C."

The second item was Ronald McDonald wearing a Frankenstein monster costume. The costume itself is in two parts with a hole for his eyes. This was part of the Halloween Happy Meal toy set from 1995 that also featured Grimace as a ghost, Hamburglar as Dracula and Birdie as a pumpkin. Unfortunately, I didn't find those three figures.

I think Ronald McDonald is scarier without the Frankenstein costume:

I really love the Frankenstein costume even if he does have a goofy grin:

What makes the costume is the details like the spider, hole and patch on the back:

Not a bad Halloween toy find for fifty cents.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 12: How To Carve A Halloween Pumpkin With Elvira Video

I have yet to buy a pumpkin for Halloween this year and I don't know if I will since most stores are still selling them for five dollars. I tried growing pumpkins and never had much luck with them. The closet pumpkin patch farm is still a good thirty minute drive away and tend to be priced even higher. At least I know how to carve a Halloween pumpkin thanks to this video featuring Elvira:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 11: Fanta Halloween Instant Win Game

While I was adding a few codes earlier at My Coke Rewards, I earned a free entry to the Fanta Halloween Instant Wind Game. Each entry is normally three Coke points. I snagged some screenshots so I could share them here. The first screen features a kid wearing a vampire cape and fangs hanging upside down from a haunted tree while drinking Fanta:

The second screen features a girl dressed up as a witch along with a black cat and a party going on at a haunted house:

I also found out that I could trade in Coke points for cool Fanta Halloween collectibles including party plates, glow in the dark can cooler, pizza cutter, inflatable pumpkin cooler and party bowls:

The actual game itself a bit of a disappointment mostly because I didn't win:

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 9: Women Wednesday: Elvira Look-A-Like Contestants

Here is a group shot of the contestants that participated in Saturday night's Elvira Look-A-Like Contest:

All the women were winners as well as the guy that dressed up in costume. You can check out the video at The Real Elvira Facebook page.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 8: Scooby-Doo #38's Horror Hosts

Daphne appears on the cover of Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #38 from DC Comics. She looks very much like a favorite horror hostess but with red hair. Shame that she doesn't actually appear like this within the book.

Instead, we are introduced to Nocturna, Mistress of Midnight:

"Creature Feature" is the first story in Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #38: She looks like an offspring of Dracula and the Bride:

Shaggy and Scooby try their hands and paws as horror hosts, Count Shaggula and Mummymutt

The second story is "Ghost to Ghost TV" and spoofs Dick Clark with a character named Clark Barr, host of the original American Grandstand. It's a fair romp but no where as much fun as the first story.

Countdown to Halloween 2013 Day 7: PCH Lotto Gets Spooky

I have not found any Halloween related lottery tickets yet but I did find that some of the PCH Lotto online tickets are a little spooky:

Unfortunately, I have yet to win anything from Publishers Clearing House either online or through their countless mailings over the years.