By Pumpkin's Light

Britta Peterson, the creative force behind Eerie Elegance, joins us to discuss her decades-long passion for Halloween entertaining. We explore her earliest Halloween memories, how iconic spooky intellectual property inspired her theatrical approach to displays, and why she deliberately chooses creative spectacle over shock and gore. 

Britta walks us through her creative journey, from sharing party con...

Josh Spero and TT Hernandez, the creative duo behind the Hall-Lore-Ween series, join us to discuss their passion for Halloween and how they're carrying the torch of beloved spooky book series like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Goosebumps. We explore their childhood Halloween memories, their Halloween aesthetic as adults, and how they collaborate across Josh's lightly eerie storytelling and TT's illustrations. P...

Rick West, co-founder and creative director of Midsummer Scream, joins us to discuss his lifelong passion for Halloween and the haunt community. Rick shares his earliest Halloween memories, what sparked his dedication to documenting the themed entertainment and haunt scene through Theme Park Adventure, and how he celebrates spooky season by visiting dozens of attractions across the country. We also dive into this year'...

Jenn Vasquez, the vampire enthusiast and goth Mexicana behind Vamp Jenn's Corner, joins the lair to share her deeper connection to Halloween and the dark, macabre world she explores through her writing. Jenn talks about her childhood Halloween memories, how her love for gothic literature shaped her relationship with October 31st, and her year-round traditions that keep the spooky spirit alive. We dive into the intersec...

Chelsea Celaya returns to celebrate In the Secret Spider Garden, her hand-illustrated children's picture book that was published this spring. We dive into the story behind the 32-page hardcover featuring four magical spiders tending to a whimsical garden, each nurturing a different childhood gift. Chelsea shares why she chose to hand-illustrate with watercolors and acrylic markers, the symbolism behind her spider chara...

Artist, publisher, and event planner Ellen Gee shares her lifelong dedication to Halloween and how it manifests in everything she creates. We explore her childhood goth identity, what Halloween truly means to her soul, and how she celebrates year-round. Ellen digs into the creation of Autumn Brilliance Magazine — her passion project showcasing handmade Halloween art — and reveals how she curates the magazine's content a...

In our first Afterglow episode, we welcome back Jason McKittrick and Sam Heimer to celebrate year 10 of The Order of the Thinned Veil, their decade-long collaboration that treats Halloween as a year-round lifestyle, not just a day in October. Jason and Sam take us back to the beginning of their project, sharing how an idea between friends evolved into an annual membership experience beloved by the Halloween community, ...

Brandon Redenius, founder of Black Mast, a merch company mixing the glamorous and gothic with camp and drag, joins the lair to share childhood Halloween memories from Northern California, his favorite spooky season activities, and how his love for Disney villains and pirates inspired the Black Mast name and aesthetic. He also shares what sets his bold, spooky, campy designs apart, his collaborative process creating mer...

In this episode, we welcome writer, actor, musician, and producer Sean Keller to discuss his lifelong love of Halloween and the creative projects that keep him in the spooky realm year-round. Sean shares childhood Halloween memories, reveals how he and his wife, Chelsea Stardust, plan their killer couple's costumes, and dives into his work writing horror for companies like Blumhouse and Hulu, getting original songs placed in films ...

If you haven't heard of the Ghouldaddies yet, you're about to become a fan. Matthew & Paul, the LA-based duo taking the spooky corner of the Internet by storm, join Mike and Miranda to chat about their love of Halloween and horror, how they built their brand, and some of the incredible opportunities it's brought their way — from Knott's Scary Farm ambassadorships to horror movie premieres. Plus, they're shari...

In this episode, we welcome Mike and Matt — part of the team behind Halloweeniacs, a podcast celebrating all things spooky on the 13th and 31st of each month. The guys share their childhood Halloween memories, discuss whether year-round Halloween culture is diluting the season's magic or making it better, and reveal their October traditions. We dive into how they connected to create Halloweeniacs, their famous "R...

Welcome award-winning author Culliver Crantz to the lair to discuss his middle-grade horror series, "FrightVision," where each book connects to a larger mysterious experiment. Culliver shares his childhood Halloween memories, reveals the truth behind his origin story involving "cursed screws," and explains how spooky stories hook reluctant readers — including his work with young writers through FrightStorming workshops and "E...

Claire Dunlap, event producer behind Spooky Swap Meet and co-producer of Midsummer Scream, joins Mike and Miranda in the lair to share how Spooky Swap Meet was born during the pandemic, why Heritage Square Museum's Victorian manors are the perfect setting, and how she creates inclusive events for families and haunt fans alike. They also discuss Claire's childhood Halloween obsession, life as a self-described "decor hoa...

Today, Mike and Miranda welcome John Brhel, the artist behind Spooky Shake Studios, to the lair to discuss how he turned his year-round Halloween obsession into a thriving business creating spooky-cute art that celebrates all things October 31st. John shares childhood Halloween memories from New York, reveals how he makes every day feel like Halloween, and the surreal experience of having Jennifer Love Hewitt tattoo his artwork on ...

In this episode, we welcome Julia Halina Hadas, the magical mixologist behind Witchcraft Cocktails, to discuss how she blends her witchcraft practice with craft cocktail expertise. Julia shares her journey from San Francisco bartender to author, explaining how she transforms recipes into spells and why ingredients like herbs, crystals, and intention matter. We also dive into her latest book, Mystical Mocktails, her Hal...

Jason McKittrick, the artist behind The Cryptocurium and co-creator of the beloved Order of the Thinned Veil, joins Mike and Miranda in the lair to talk about Halloween, horror, and the art of handmade monsters. Jason shares stories from his childhood Halloweens, his love of vintage autumnal nostalgia, and the eerie inspirations behind his "handmade horrors," including his longtime fascination with Lovecraftian creatur...

Meet the wildly creative Spooky Professor, a professional cosplayer known for bringing iconic horror characters, and her own original creations, to life at SoCal's biggest Halloween and horror events. From childhood Halloween memories and dream costumes to the painstaking process behind transformations like Poe and Gilly Anne Phibian, she shares what fuels her love of spooky cosplay. It's a fun, fang-filled look at Hal...

Meet Ben Farthing, a horror author whose love of Halloween and storytelling began in childhood and now fuels a body of work steeped in liminal spaces, nightmares, and eerie imagination. He joins the lair to explore his earliest Halloween memories, the traditions he keeps today, the writers and weird tales that shaped him, and the inspirations behind his viral books — including The 31st Trick-or-Treater and the "I...