Club Haunt: Is collecting vintage Halloween memorabilia expensive?

Richard Miller: Collecting Halloween can be as expensive as you want it to be. You can make a great collection consisting of vintage diecuts, antique Halloween postcards, or small vintage trick or treat bags for a very reasonable price. Many wonderful cardboard die cuts can be purchased for $5 to $20 each. And if you have the budget and desire, you can spend thousands of dollars for some of the rarer Halloween pieces.

CH: Can you tell us about your web site Spookshows.com? When was that started and what has been the feedback from other collectors?

RM: Before the website was called Spookshows.com, it existed as “Halloween Collectibles” and was the first website online dedicated to antique Halloween collecting. This was in 1995. The name changed to Spookshows.com several years later. I intend to expand the site to include an even more obscure interest; the memorabilia related to “Spook Shows” which were sort of public “fake séance” put on by magicians from the early 1900’s through about 1960. There is a book called “Ghostmasters” by Mark Walker which covers the phenomena of Spook Shows in depth. The book is out of print, but can be found used on Amazon.com and often on eBay as well.

Reaction to my website; Spookshows.com, has been overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic. I had no idea how many others love Halloween. I regularly receive email from people who were touched by my website and want to share their own Halloween experiences with me.

CH: Are there any good books out there for the beginner interested in collecting?

RM: Yes, several! The first books were “Halloween in America” by Stuart Schneider, and “Halloween Collectables” by Dan and Pauline Campanelli. There are also several good books written by Pamela Apkarian-Russell, and the newest book by Mark Ledenbach contains some of the rarest pieces in the best condition that I’ve seen. All of these books can be purchased through Amazon.com.

CH: If you only had one piece of advice for the beginner, what would it be?

RM: Buy what appeals to you. Buy what you like and make sure the item is in reasonably good condition for the price.

CH: Lastly, do you still dress up for Halloween?

RM: Sometimes. If we are having a party at our house, or if I am going to a party, I tend to transform from Richard Miller to “Sir Wretched Miller"; a 448 year old vampire. It’s also a bit more fun to dress up as an adult, especially with the quality of costumes available here in Hollywood. I started as a four year old with a plastic mask and one piece printed costume and today I can afford to wear black velvet vampire capes, etc. The costume budgets got better for me as I got older!

CH: Good answer.

-Richard Miller, the creator of Spookshows.com can be reached from his website for additional questions and comments.

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