HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

GHOST STORIES NO. 3 (DELL)

How about a few ghost stories just before Halloween? These are from the third issue of Dell's GHOST STORIES. Another super ghostly cover by an as yet unidentified artist. The stories are by Carl Memling and the unique line and brush work is by Gerald McCann.

GHOST STORIES

Vol. 1, No. 3

July-September 1963

Dell Publishing Company, Inc.

Editor: Don Arneson

Cover: ?

Pages: 36

Cover price: 12 cents

SELL YOUR HALLOWEEN MASK FOR CASH

Wait! Don't toss out that old Halloween mask until you've read the story below.

Woman Thrifts ‘Dirty’ Halloween Costume for $5, Sells for Over $700 on eBay

By Alice Gibbs | October 18, 2025 | Newsweek.com

Brittany Carey, a stay-at-home mom in her 30s, said she stumbled upon the mask while shopping for a Halloween costume for her daughter at a local Goodwill. A California mother’s $5 thrift store find turned into an unexpected Halloween jackpot after she unknowingly picked up a rare vintage Ghostface mask—later selling it online for more than $700.

At first, the mask didn’t look like much. “It was dirty, had several holes, and was smushed as if it had been sitting under a heavy box for months,” Carey told Newsweek. But when she picked it up and flipped it over, she spotted something that made her pause: “Fun World,” stamped underneath the chin. “That was when I knew it was something special,” she said.

After learning from a friend on Instagram about the value of vintage Ghostface masks, Carey listed hers on eBay with a starting price of just 99 cents. “I wanted it to go to someone who would treasure it,” she said.

As bids quickly climbed to $500, then $700, Carey watched the auction unfold in disbelief. “It brought me immense joy to know that I was able to bring this mask to someone who valued it,” she said. “The earnings paid for baby diapers, groceries, and medical bills.”

The History Behind the Mask

The Ghostface mask, made famous by the Scream film franchise, actually predates the 1996 movie. Originally created by Fun World in the early 1990s as part of its “Fantastic Faces” line of inexpensive Halloween masks, it was sold under names like “Weeping Ghost” or “Peanut-Eyed Ghost.”

During Scream’s production, producer Marianne Maddalena discovered one of the masks in a Halloween store and showed it to director Wes Craven, who adopted it for the killer’s look. After the film’s success, Fun World officially licensed the design as “Ghost Face,” transforming a once-generic novelty item into one of horror’s most recognizable and collectible icons. Vintage examples, particularly those produced before Scream, can now sell for hundreds of dollars among collectors.

Carey shared the discovery on Instagram, where the video has more than 1 million views, detailing how she first found the mask and the bids as they rolled in on eBay. This isn’t the first thrift find she has shared, either. “I share my experience as a stay-at-home mom trying to avoid returning to the corporate world,” she said. “I’m overwhelmed by the reaction.”

“Oh my gosh!!! Amazing,” said one commenter. While another wrote: “I could never resell, 'cause I want to keep all the good finds for myself. I would've never given away the Scream mask.”

“I would simply die if this had happened to me lol congrats,” wrote another viewer. 

Others couldn’t believe that the mask had sold for such a high price. One commenter even joked: “You could have bought my face for that price.”

NOTE: The images shown here are not the mask that is mentioned in the article, they are from various eBay sellers, one who is asking $9,000!

NEW ARTICLE PUBLISHED!

Today I'm announcing a new article that I have published in the latest issue of PREHISTORIC TIMES (Fall #155). This time I'm covering Hammer's WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH, released on October 1, 1970. I discuss the making of the film with an emphasis on Jim Danforth's animated dinosaurs that appeared in the various scenes. Ray Harryhausen wasn't available for this one, so the producers selected Jim Danforth and brought him to England where he did quite an admirable job. And yes, there's plenty to say (and see) about the film's star, then recently-crowned Playmate of the Year, Victoria Vetri (aka Angela Dorian)!

This issue has some great stuff in it, including articles on prehistoric sharks (Jaws has got nothin' on these predators of the ancient ocean depths) and mammoths as painted by the legendary Czech artist Zdenek Burian. Plus, tons more paleo art await in the pages of the latest PREHISTORIC TIMES.

Head over to eBay and pick up a copy direct from the publisher HERE.

BOOKS I WANT ON MY SHELF

New or pending publication are a few books that I'd like to add to my shelf. Check that--my floor; my bookshelves are already brimming to the max and I've resorted to stacks on the floor here in the Mysterious Mansion. Something must be done, but getting rid of any of them is not the solution!

NOTE: One minor gripe -- of all the images available to use for the cover of THE WEREWOLF FILMOGRAPHY, the publisher chose to use what I think is a bit of a cheesy image from MONSTER PARADE #3 (1958).

From the horrific to the heroic, cinematic werewolves are metaphors for our savage nature, symbolizing the secret, bestial side of humanity that hides beneath our civilized veneer. Examining acknowledged classics like The Wolf Man (1941) and The Howling (1981), as well as overlooked gems like Dog Soldiers (2011), this comprehensive filmography covers the highs and lows of the genre. Information is provided on production, cast and filmmakers, along with critical discussion of the tropes and underlying themes that make the werewolf a terrifying but fascinating figure.

In 1932, The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff, introduced another icon to the classic monster pantheon, beginning a journey down the cinematic Nile that has yet to reach its end. Over the past century, movie mummies have met everyone from Abbott and Costello to Tom Cruise, not to mention a myriad of fellow monsters. Horrifying and mysterious, the mummy comes from a different time with uncommon knowledge and unique motivation, offering the lure of the exotic as well as the terrors of the dark.

From obscure no-budgeters to Hollywood blockbusters, the mummy has featured in films from all over the globe, including Brazil, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, and even its fictional home country of Egypt--with each film bringing its own cultural sensibilities. Movie mummies have taken the form of teenagers, superheroes, dwarves, kung fu fighters, Satanists, cannibals and even mummies from outer space. Some can fly, some are sexy, some are scary and some are hilarious, and mummies quickly moved beyond horror cinema and into science fiction, comedy, romance, sexploitation and cartoons. From the Universal classics to the Aztec Mummy series, from Hammer's versions to Mexico's Guanajuato variations, this first-ever comprehensive guide to mummy movies offers in-depth production histories and critical analyses for every feature-length iteration of bandaged horror.

Midnight, 1954. A striking woman in a torn black dress slinks down a cobwebbed, candelabra’d corridor. She stops, shrieks hysterically into the camera, then solemnly says, “Good evening, I am Vampira.”

Her real name is Maila Nurmi and she was the first in a long line of television horror movie hosts, commonly seen on independent stations’ late-night “grade Z” offerings dressed as some zany ghoul or mad scientist.

This book covers the major hosts in detail, along with styles and show themes. Merchandise tie-in and fan reactions are also chronicled. The appendices list film and record credits.

In October 1957, Screen Gems made numerous horror movies available to local television stations around the country as part of a package of films called Shock Theater. These movies became a huge sensation with TV viewers, as did the horror hosts who introduced the films and offered insight--often humorous--into the plots, the actors, and the directors. This history of hosted horror walks readers through the best TV horror films, beginning with the 1930s black-and-white classics from Universal Studios and ending with the grislier color films of the early 1970s. It also covers and explores the horror hosts who presented them, some of whom faded into obscurity while others became iconic within the genre.

What kid doesn’t like dinosaurs? And movies about dinosaurs are even better, as the continuing popularity of the Jurassic Park series proves. In the 1960s the big dinosaur movie was One Million Years B.C. and even bigger than the movie was the leading lady, Raquel Welch. Her famous pose in a fur-skin bikini made her an icon of the decade and an enduring star. Here is the story of the making of One Million Years B.C. and all the caveman vs. dinosaurs movies that came before and after it.

Foreword by Martine Beswick

From 1950 to 1977, the Aurora Plastics company of West Hempstead, NY made and marketed plastic models of just about every subject under the sun. In 1961, the company hit lightning in a bottle with a figure model of Universal Studios’ Frankenstein monster just as the classic horror films were released to television and a new magazine called Famous Monsters of Filmland was gathering steam on newsstands all over the country. The kit was a sensation with kids everywhere! More monsters followed, as well as other pop culture figures, spaceships, automobiles, and submarines from films and television. The story of Aurora is the story of American popular culture during the 1960’s and 1970’s, and author Anthony Taylor has finally aggregated the company’s full-color sales catalogs from the two decades of their heyday. Aurora Plastic Models Catalogs Volumes 1 and 2 capture the excitement felt by hobbyists and collectors everywhere for the vintage models.

Volume 1 includes Catalogs from 1960 through 1969 as well as an introduction by Aurora historian Anthony Taylor.