We here at THS Fright-A-Thon like to keep it real spooky. So when you’re on the lookout for spooky items, spooky paraphernalia, or just that doormat you need for Halloween season, Spirit Halloween is usually the place to go. Unless you’re spoiled like we are here in Los Angeles and you have TWO basically all-year-round Halloween stores (HalloweenTown you rule, Dark Delicacies is fantastic), your option is either a regional Halloween store or Spirit Halloween. This is already sounding like a press release for Spirit Halloween, but it’s not. They might be the Blockbuster Video of Halloween Stores (go local when you can), but they serve a purpose and hold a special place in this horror hound’s heart.

Take yourself back, imagine a Halloween season from your youth. Leaves are changing, the air is cooler and crisp, it’s Fall. Halloween is coming around the bend and you need a costume. You could always make one, but it’s really hard to get that Anakin Skywalker look perfect at home. So what are you to do? You head out with your family and see this logo off in the distance:

That ghoul that greets all who seek the terror of Halloween is none other than Jack The Reaper. He’s been the mascot for the company as long as I can remember, and is a faithful sign of Halloween to come.

A Generational Horror Experience For All

Courtesy of: Spirit Halloween

That logo echoes generations of feelings depending on who you ask. For me, this store is a mecca of all things scary and spooky. As a kid, I was frightened to see the various animatronic and horror themed costumes. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. Now, it’s like going to a Toys R Us for horror. Looking at all the costumes, the decorations, the new costumes, and even better, the older costumes. That old stock is like a time machine to Halloween’s past. If you get lucky you might see three different Harley Quinn costumes (Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad) This year, I made my first of many likely visits to a Spirit Halloween in search of the elusive “Spirit Halloween Michael Myers Statue”. Spoiler alert, I had to buy one on eBay.

Spirit Halloween took on a different kind of feeling in 2020. The store represented the Halloween that many kids and people were robbed of last year. So instead of getting to go out and Trick Or Treat, this was the next best thing. This year, we might not be fully back to normal in regards to Halloween, but it’s a whole lot better than what we had last year.

For countless people, including me, Spirit Halloweens showing up in closed down department stores, old Borders books, or just big vacant buildings means that Fall is near. It means that the ghosts, ghouls, killers, monsters, spirits, and other things that go bump in the night are back. Like Fright-A-Thon it seems that Spirit Halloween came a little earlier this year than normal.

An Aside About Pricing And Less Than Tasteful Costumes

Like any brand or store, everything isn’t going to be rosy. Spirit Halloween does have distasteful costumes at times. I’m not condoning those costumes or how bad they make certain sections of the population feel. Their prices might be on the higher side of things. Especially for certain animatronics or costumes. They do have coupons routinely, but I can understand how buying a certain expensive decoration and having it crap out on you, might feel.

So you take the good of Spirit with the bad.

If You Haven’t Been Out To A Spirit Lately, Just Go

There’s something special about feeling like a kid again. Most of those businesses that we had as kids that we loved aren’t around any longer: Blockbuster, Toys R Us, Gamestop (in it’s old form), arcades, and more. Spirit Halloween is one of those things that feels like it will never die. Buying a costume online seems like a fools errand. Sure, there might be a lot of places that sell Halloween decorations, but there’s something heading into a store to find that perfect decoration for the year.

As a kid, there were few things that were as exciting and scary as going to buy a Halloween costume. If you’re missing that feeling in 2021, Spirit Halloween might give you some of that back.

For more on Horror, check out THS Fright-A-Thon, or stay tuned to That Hashtag Show.