Years ago, on one of my first yard sale trips, I stumbled across a tabletop pumpkin blow mold for one dollar. I had no idea what it was, but I knew I had to have it. So began a decades-long obsession with Halloween decorations.

A few well-placed internet searches later, and I realized I had purchased the diminutive cousin of those big, plastic Christmas figures people light up in their front yards. Hell, I even owned a Santa and Frosty myself! But a pure orange, pumpkin and cat blow mold? It was like my inner self had awakened and manifested as a window display.

There’s something hypnotically beautiful about these glowing beacons of Halloween delight. Despite not having grown up with them as part of my own childhood decorations, they felt distinctly mine. So much so that I now own far too many to display, and so have to pick and choose each season as I begin to transform my house into a netherworld playground.

As time went on and I perused more lawns and flea markets, I discovered another Halloween obsession to add to my ever-growing collection: Motion-ettes. Like blow molds before them, I was aware of the Christmas version of these slow-moving figures, but had no idea there existed a variety of the darker persuasion. Witches, warlocks, vampires, and even Universal Monster versions are out in the wild just waiting for me to find them.
 

The smaller battery-operated motion-ettes are often plagued with broken gears and audio malfunctions, making them a dangerous gamble to purchase if the price is above a couple bucks. But the large, plug-in variety display no such ill effects. In fact, out of a dozen such wonders in my collection, only one has a problem (a giant gorilla if you must know), and even that one partially works.

Although I like to leave out a few choice pieces all year, it isn’t until September hits and I begin to place my favorite haunted apparatuses around the house that my Halloween spirit truly soars. In addition to the three-dimensional decorations, I also hang ‘80s die cut decorations of the kind we regularly saw in school and on neighbors’ doors. These, unlike the other spooky paraphernalia, were most definitely part of my childhood.

Another childhood favorite is the “melted popcorn” decoration. These are nothing if not pure nostalgia distilled into a festive witch’s brew. Colorful, textured, and abstract in a fashion.

There are so many other Halloween tchotchkes and knickknacks that find their way into my display (squeaky pumpkins, pocket screamers, animatronics, tombstones, large scale blow molds, and more), but the aforementioned dark adornments are among my favorite.

For me, this is what Halloween looks like.

www.antonyjrapino.com