What a Weird Week Halloween Special 2023: Weird-o-ween!© Fri Oct 27, 2023

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What a Weird Week is a show about the weird stuff from this week's news. Links:
1) Shownotes Page https://www.shownotes.page
2) Audio Podcast https://kite.link/weird
3) Video Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@weirdweekpod

What a Weird Week Show: Halloween Special, 2023!

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(this is an episode transcript) "Hi Friends, I'm Scott. Welcome to our What a Weird Week Halloween Special! Usually we have a Top Ten Countdown of weird news, but this episode is weird Halloween stuff. Link: https://www.shownotes.page
Now, Our Halloweird for Season 4, Episode 57 first published on Friday Oct. 27, 2023..." ...

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❿ Kicking things off with a quick check-in on our last year headline:
"Halloween costumes that will be popular this year."
First of all, that headline from WSYR Televison sounds like a legally-binding contract... you will be popular in your popular pop culture costume. The popularity contest will be won by you!!
1.) Max from Stranger Things
2) Elvis
3) House of the Dragon (either dress like a character from the show or - and hear me out - dress as an actual house with a dragon on the mailbox!!!) https://www.localsyr.com/entertainment-news/halloween-costumes-based-on-pop-culture-that-will-be-popular-this-year/
UPDATE: how'd that work out? At my work, a bunch of people dressed up, but they were mostly "Yellowstone" and ambiguous creature with horns or hat.
For 2023, Google Frightgeist says the Top Three costumes are
1) Barbie, 2) Princess, 3) Spider-Man
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-popular-halloween-costumes-2023/


❾ Some stuff from Paranormal Day that is still spooky at Halloween!
Paranormal Day by the numbers...
- 83% of people surveyed said they had some kind of paranormal activity in their home
- Most common types of paranormal activity are hearing sounds, lights turning on and off, and hearing voices
- 1 in 10 people say they sold their home after a paranormal experience
- Good News, Split Level Home owners, your home is far less likely to be haunted!
https://nationaltoday.com/national-paranormal-day/
and https://www.cinchhomeservices.com/view-blog/-/blogs/americans-report-on-their-paranormal-experiences-in-their-home-survey

(Sponsor content ...)
This Halloween, say it with Dumpkins©! Dumpkins©, the only pumpkin delivery service featuring breakup messages carved into them!
"This is the What a Weird Week Show Halloween Special . Get more at Shownotes dot page."
 
❽ a quick and careful look at Ouija Boards...
- Steer clear of those things you guys!
- Legend: Ouija boards got their name when one of the investors of the product asked it "What's your name" and it spelled out Ouija.
- Legend: when they went to get the thing registered at the patent office they had to show the patent office guy how it worked and used it to spell out the patent office guy's name... "A patent file confirms she did a demonstration and the patent was issued on February 10th 1891"
- the things sold like crazy and they had to open more factories to produce them... in 1927 one of the guys running the company fell to his death from the roof of a new factory - one he claimed a Ouija board told him to build.
- Steer clear of those things you guys!
play with whatever this is instead. safer.
 
❼ Some tips on Candy Hangovers...🍬 If you end up with a candy hangover the day after Halloween, consider eating pineapple... The article we link to says "The tropical fruit contains enzymes that aid digestion and break down proteins that usually cause bloat and also contains 180 milligrams of bloat-busting potassium per cup. Researchers have also found that pineapple can reduce colonic inflammation that may be leading to that distended stomach." https://www.eatthis.com/reduce-bloating-tips/
Other things to try if you have a candy hangover include: 1) have more candy and 2) try someone else's candy to see if it has healing properties. *citation needed*
rendering
 
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"Thanks for checking out the What a Weird Week Show. This is our Halloween Special. See more at Shownotes dot page!"
 
❻ Looking back, here are the Most Popular Pet Halloween Costumes For 2022 according to Canine Journal...
#8 Ghost
#7 Spider
#6 Lion
#5 Witch
#4 Bumblebee
#3 Bat
#2 Hot Dog
#1 Pumpkin ...
Canine Journal https://www.caninejournal.com/dog-halloween-costumes/ ...
This year, for 2023, Canine Journal updated the list to include these stats from the National Retail Federation https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/halloween-spending-reach-record-122-billion-participation-exceeds-pre ...
- Pet costume sales are projected to be $700 million in 2023...
- Pumpkin and Hot Dog continue to be a favourite dog costume... 
Here are the most popular Halloween costumes for pets in 2023 according to Canine Journal ...
#10 Witch
#9 Ghost
#8 Lion
#7 Cat
#6 Devil
#5 Spider
#4 Bumblebee
#3 Bat
#2 Hot Dog
#1 Pumpkin.
(So this year, witch and cat have moved up the list... but not much change all-in-all.)

❺ In June we talked about the Ohio lady who made news for refusing to remove a nine foot tall werewolf statue...
- Mary Simmons says Phil the werewolf has sort of become a mascot in her yard...
- it went up as a Halloween decoration but after October was over, she started to really enjoy having Phil up as a year-round decoration... 
- Mary began to dress Phil for different seasons...
- somebody complained and the city sent Mary a warning... but... then they said they're not gonna follow up or enforce the werewolf removal! So at the time, it sounded like Mary won the neighborhood werewolf fight...
* UPDATE: Still going strong you guys. Check out Phil the Wolf on Facebook!


 
 
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"Welcome back to Weirdoween, the What a Weird Week Show Halloween Special. See more at Shownotes dot page!"
 
❹ We had a pretty fantastic Halloweenish story the other day when that Chucky Doll was placed in handcuffs, arrested, and booked for crimes in Mexico...
- At the time I wholeheartedly supported this move because if the scary Chucky movies have taught us anything, it's that you cannot trust evil Chucky...
- icymi, here's the story we had in a past episode... there was a series of attempted robberies in Mexico and authorities traced the crime back to a couple of suspects... one was a Chucky doll and the other was the owner of the Chucky doll.
- witness reports seem to indicate that the human suspect got arrested after making Chucky hold a large knife to scare people into handing over their money...
- suspect is believed to have been high at the time...
- at the time, media reports said that the police officer who put Chucky in cuffs got in trouble for not taking their job seriously...
- *UPDATE* There's not a lot of followup, still unanswered questions... the human suspect has been released but it doesn't seem like Chucky was released, and now the doll's whereabouts are unknown! This is how it all starts you guys. We need a Chucky BOLO!!

❸ A little while back we sent out congratulations to Steve from Missouri who broke the Guinness World Record for longest journey by pumpkin boat! It took almost 11 hours to paddle his 1200 pound pumpkin 38 miles on the shark-infested* Missouri River. (*citation needed. River may not be shark-infested. Sounded good though.) 
*Update to this one... it's fairly recent but the update is that it turns out the Missouri River is not shark-infested. It is home to thousands of piranha though. *citation needed.

 
 
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"This is the What a Weird Week Halloween Special. Thanks for being here!"

❷ A few episodes ago we talked about that Big Ol' Pumpkin that broke the world record... over a ton!
- 2749 pounds!
- a farmer from Minnesota and his enormous pumpkin won the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off in California...
- congratulations to Farmer Travis and the pumpkin he named Michael Jordan... (Travis is also a horticulture teacher at a college in Minnesota)
- btw, Farmer Travis says it cost about $15,000 to raise up Michael Jordan the pumpkin... but he won $30,000 in prize money...
- also btw, Farmer Travis has grown prize-winning pumpkins before, and last year's pumpkin got into the Guinness World Records book as the world's largest jack-o'-lantern... #Halloween!- ever wonder how competitors get their giant pumpkins to the weigh-off in California? Travis and his driving team of his dad and his father-in-law drove 35 hours to California inside the pumpkin! JK, they used a pickup truck you guys.
- *UPDATE* Travis and the giant pumpkin are back in the news... not because of some giant pumpkin scandal either, thank heavens. During a special city council meeting the other day, the mayor of Travis' hometown in Minnesota (Mayor Phil Rice) declared Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023 "Travis Gienger Day." https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/10/25/oh-my-gourd-anoka-declares-travis-gienger-day-after-recordsetting-pumpkin
artist rendering. actual ceremony will be fancier.
 
❶ Headline from @GWR "Farm celebrates Halloween with giant Jack Skellington pumpkin mosaic" ...  it's a giant mosaic using different colored pumpkins on the side of a hill and these pumpkins form a scene from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas.
It's almost the size of a tennis court... 2081 square feet in case you want to get going on beating that record... they think there's around 10,000 pumpkins in that thing! 
 

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"Happy Halloween from the What a Weird Week Show!"

Bonus Halloweenery! Some more Halloween World Records... 
 
- Most people dressed in certain costume... largest group of zombies was 15458 zombies... scarecrows was 2495... then there were the 2018 skeletons... and the 1607 witches... 1580 superheroes... 1369 vampires... 1275 angels... 878 fairies... 560 ghosts... and 252 dinosaurs.
*editor's note: what if a zombie apocalypse broke out while you were trying to set the zombie record?
world record attempt. artist rendering. or zombie apocalypse?
 
- Fastest pumpkin carving record belongs to Stephen Clarke who carved one regulation size pumpkin in 9.4 seconds... and also carved a ton of pumpkins in 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 49 seconds!
 
- most pumpkins smashed in a minute is 52!

- The oldest ghost in the world is a little bit controversial because... some people don't believe in ghosts... but the oldest ghost, unofficially, is 220 million years old. There's a ranch in New Mexico where people reported seeing this sort of snake-like ghost... people reporting sightings... then in 1947 a paleontologist discovered fossils of an animal that looks like the ghost. The animal is phytosaur.

Even more Halloweenish records to terrify you... 
 
- Most TP Mummies within a 3 minute time limit... In 2015, in London, 51 people got wrapped as toilet paper mummies in three minutes.
 
- Largest collection of haunted dolls in the world is at the Island of the Dolls, Mexico. Imagine thousands of broken, scary-looking dolls and doll pieces hanging from trees. The article I read says it started in the 1950s and the dolls were placed around the island to appease a ghost... also the legend is that these dolls come to life at night... I will not be investigating that one so no need to hit up our patreon for that.
nope
 
- Largest Ouija board in the world was 3158 square feet... record was set in 2019... unveiled in Salem, Mass. they called it "Ouijazilla"... the planchette alone weighed 400 pounds! 
This Halloween, eat candy instead of summoning spirits. Fewer curses.
 
And finally... not sure what you're expecting for Halloween this year... but the National Retail Federation says spending for Halloween 2023 will surpass pre-pandemic numbers... we'll spend $12.2 billion on Halloween this year. Great news! Right?
 
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That's the What a Weird Week Show! For Shownotes and more go to ShowNotes Dot Page. A big thanks to you friends on the stream... every weekend we are one of the things you can hear on Fun House Radio. Ask your smart speaker to play Fun House Radio or see the link on our Shownotes Page. See you next Friday for another countdown of weird news on What a Weird Week!

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