JASON WALCOTT
As a kid growing up in the mid-1970s and 1980s in northern New Jersey, I always loved Halloween.
Everything about the season was wonderful…
The crisp Fall air, the leaves changing color and the weekend excursions to get apple cider and donuts from the local orchard.
I can remember how exciting it was come every October, to see all the Beistle decorations and costumes go up on the shelves in K-mart.
I would inevitably convince my parents to buy me something new each year!
My folks were always generous with allowing me to decorate our house as long as I didn’t put any tape on the wallpaper.
That love of Halloween and decorating for it stuck with me and only grew as I got older.
When I moved to southern California in 1997, I continued to decorate my apartment (and now my house) each Halloween with many of those same decorations I had collected as a child.
However those were all mostly things I had bought new in the store in the late 70s and through the 80s.
The strange thing was even though I had always loved decorating for Halloween and had a nice amount of items, I always felt like there was something “missing”.
But I couldn’t have told you why I felt that way.
It was just by chance in September of 2000, while searching for ‘retro Beistle die cuts’ online, I happened across a website called Spookshows.com.
It was (and still is) run by Richard Miller, and is all about vintage Halloween decorations.
The minute I saw that website, I had an epiphany and knew then and there,
THAT’S what had been missing!
I have been an avid collector of vintage Halloween material ever since, and I feel blessed to have been able to collect the items I have over the past 22 years.
My collection continues to grow and one of the best aspects about this hobby that I never expected when I began, is all the wonderful people I have met and the good friendships I have made with fellow collectors!
Here is a link to Jason’s presentation
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ACH9tSWwFH7zEOGizVEXKYpKn8JXOTB/view?usp=drive_web
Here is a link to Jason’s presentation on Genuine Vintage Pulp Lanterns vs Reproductions
https://www.facebook.com/groups/477886123886035/permalink/542740254067288
