Many endangered bats being illegally collected.

A Chinese Pipestrelle Bat Skeleton. One of the most comonly sold bat specimens. Chinese Pipistrelle or Pipistrellus pulveratus is listed on the IUCN Red list (1996) of Threatened Species.

A Chinese Pipestrelle Bat Skeleton. One of the most commonly sold bat specimens. Chinese Pipistrelle or Pipistrellus pulveratus is listed on the IUCN Red list (1996) of Threatened Species.

Notice: Dapper Cadaver will no longer be carrying authentic bat specimens as many species of bats are threatened or endangered and are being illegally collected. If you have any love of these creatures please do not purchase any more bat related products.  We love both bats and bat specimens at Dapper Cadaver and our decision to discontinue them was not any easy choice to make, but it was the right choice to make.

It is the policy of Dapper Cadaver to not trade in specimens of any threatened species, only common game, livestock, lab raised, or pest animals. All other specimens are replicas.

The plight of formerly common bats was brought to my attention by the Bat World Sanctuary. I support their efforts and have posted a copy of our exchange below.

From: Bat World Sanctuary <sanctuary@batworld.org>
Subject: bat specimens in jars
To: info@dappercadaver.com
Cc: BWCenters@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 1:51 PM

<!–#yiv378659085 #yiv1743718215 DIV {margin:0px;}–>

Dear Dapper Cadaver Owner,

I am disappointed to see your company selling real bat specimens in jars. The bats that end up in these jars are healthy, wild caught mothers collected in NM. They are harvested during baby season, leaving behind an infant to starve to death. These bats have a potential lifespan of 25 years in the wild and will eat millions of insects in their lifetime:

http://www.dappercadaver.com/specimen-jar-32oz-bat-p-746.html

http://www.dappercadaver.com/diaphonized-bat-p-568.html

Bat populations are in severe decline around the world, and free-tailed bats are listed as a species of Special Concern by US Fish and Wildlife. I hope that you will consider not selling this item. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Amanda

Amanda Lollar, Founder/President

Bat World Sanctuary

www.batworld.org

Bat World Sanctuary is a non-profit,
all volunteer organization that provides
rescue
for bats worldwide. For more
information
about bats and how they
make our world a better place please
visit
www.batworld.org

From: BJ W <customcorpse@yahoo.com>
To: Bat World Sanctuary <sanctuary@batworld.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 5:54:49 PM
Subject: Re: bat specimens in jars

The bat specimens we carry, of which there are only 2 bats and 4 diaphanous bats, were purchased from a museum specimen preparer who was retiring and selling off any remaining specimens. The age of the specimens is unknown, but they were definitely collected years ago. We have no contact with anyone else dealing in bat specimens and will not be ordering more. We have since stopped selling the mounted bat skeleton as well.

We try to make it a point at Dapper Cadaver not to deal in any specimens of rare animals, and all the real specimens we do have are common lab, livestock, or game animals. Unfortunately I am not a bat expert and was not able to positively ID the species of bat specimens we acquired.

I wholeheartedly support your work. I have volunteered at a veterinary clinic and a bird sanctuary and have been involved in several animal rescues including one bat rescue (it was trapped in a mall).

Best regards,
BJ Winslow
Owner-Artist
Dapper Cadaver
323-962-1924
www.bjwinslow.com
www.dappercadaver.com

Link to BJ Winslow.com by clipping the code below and adding it to your webpage
<a rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank” href=”http://www.bjwinslow.com“>
<img src=”http://www.bjwinslow.com/albums/graphics/bjwinslowbannerjpg2.jpg“></a>

Flag this message

Re: bat specimens in jars

Thursday, October 30, 2008 12:54 PM
From:

Add sender to Contacts

To:
customcorpse@yahoo.com
<!–#yiv378659085 DIV {margin:0px;}–>

Dear BJ,

Thank you for your response. I’ve very happy to know the specimens you have on hand are not among those that come from NM.

Sincerely,

Amanda

Amanda Lollar, Founder/President

Bat World Sanctuary

www.batworld.org

Bat World Sanctuary is a non-profit,
all volunteer organization that provides
rescue
for bats worldwide. For more
information
about bats and how they
make our world a better place please
visit
www.batworld.org

DIY Halloween: Becoming a better creature


COFFIN dead marilyn John Ganun, originally uploaded by Boju.

When I was a kid I loved monster masks. Every Halloween I wanted to have the coolest scariest Halloween costume and mask, and when I was a kid masks were great because I could get a couple and hit the houses with the best candy over and over.

As an adult though masks present some major problems. First you can’t drink. Second my glasses fog up. Third you can’t drink and Fourth it muffles your ability to talk. Solution? Ditch the mask and build a better creature with make up, prosthetics, contacts, and props.

As the owner of the Halloween shop Dapper Cadaver I’m amazed at how many people are reluctant to do any make up but still buy masks. Believe me the mask is 100 times more unpleasant to wear then some prosthetics. Plus, prosthetics transform your face without hiding it so you still look alive.

Then just add some creepy FX contact lenses like the kind they have at Lens Shopper and you go from an average joe to a creature from beyond.

Be sure to order early, I don’t sell contact lenses and I can’t tell you how many people call me desperately in the 11th hour looking for some.

For prosthetics I usually use cinema secrets. They stick to the face easily with spirit gum / spirit glue and they can be colored with practically any make up. Don’t be intimidated by the shear variety of make up available. Unless you know you’re a make up artist go with the simple stuff. Believe me, when it’s dark out or in the club no one can see the small details anyway, what they see is “holy crap that guy really has a cut up face and creature eyes!”

My friends and I in monster make up:
Halloween 2008

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2006

Halloween 2005

Monster Mondays – Save the Water Monster, Axolotl


axolotl precioso, originally uploaded by girl next door ...

In the canals beneath Mexico City and in the lake that surrounds it lives the Axolotl or “Water Monster.” It is an ancient race of up to 2 ft long salamander that Aztecs say are the direct descendent’s of Xototl, the dog headed god of Death. I think they look more like pokemon with their cartoonish eyes and mouths and anime style external gills.

In 1998 the waters of Lake Xochimilco held 1500 axolotl per square mile, when surveyed this year it was a mere 25 per square mile. Scientists are now saying this otherworldly creature may only have five years left on the planet before it succumbs to extinction.


“What are axolotl good for?” you might ask. Well, they’re good for a lot of things. First off they’re inherently good. Then their bizarre appearance and gentle nature make them excellent pets. Or excellent tamales. Their soft flesh is apparently delicious and has been part of the Aztec and Mexican diet as long as there have been people there. The locals also make folk medicine with them.

They’re also true freaks. They become sexually mature adults while still in the larval stage, and can remain larval their entire lives. That’s like a race of polliwogs that breed and grow huge and never turn into frogs. This strange condition makes them able to regrow lost limbs, tails, nerve, heart, and brain cells. Science has long utilized these creatures in studies about regeneration, gene therapy, evolution, fertilization and the cures for certain diseases.

If we save the Axolotl we’ll be preserving a cute, delicious, wonder of nature that may be able to cure us of degenerative nerve diseases and make great pets. That should be more then enough reason to get involved.

They seam to be dying do to a combination of water pollution and the introduction of Tilapia to Lake Xochimilco. The Tilapia eat the axolotls eggs and young.

Scientists are rushing to establish Axolotl sanctuaries, most notably around the Isle of Dolls or La Isla de las Muñecas, so called because it inhabited by an eccentric old man who fishes doll from the lake and hangs them from every part of the island to ward off evil spirits. Could he be the axolotls savior?


If you’re interested in helping save the water monster, don’t eat Mexican Tilapia for starters. I’ve tried to find the organizations setting up the sanctuaries so that we can be more directly involved. If I get their contact info, I’ll post it here so everyone can help. Apparently it’s not easy to set up a wildlife sanctuary by Mexico City.

UPDATE

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has put the Axolotl on its critical Red List. The Amphibian Department of the IUCN can be reached at the info below. Please contact them if you’d like to help save the water monster.

-BJ

Robin Moore, Ph.D
Amphibian Conservation Officer
Conservation International
2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500
Arlington, VA 22202

Email: asg@conservation.org

Scariest Political Costumes

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hillraiser, originally uploaded by Boju.

The scariest day of 2008 will come five days AFTER Halloween, will we be electing the political team of an inexperienced newbie and a grumpy old man or ….wait I guess that’s both choices. If you’re feeling patriotic this Halloween, instead of just going for a rubber mask and a suit, why not do something truly monstrous with the candidates? Allow me to offer the following suggestions-

7. Hellraiser fetish robe + Hillary Clinton mask=
HELLARY or HILLRAISER
(see image above)

6. JOHN EDWARDSCISSORHANDS

“How about a $30,000 Haircut?”

5. PALIN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE
The dumbest VP ever made.

“You know the difference between a Republican VP and a brain eating zombie resurrected by people from outer space? Lipstick.”

4. BARACKULA
A mysterious creature who lure his victims with an unearthly charm.

“Fear you can believe in!”

3. McCAINENSTEIN
A living maverick stitched together from the corpses of previous Republican campaigns

“I can only lift my arms this high!”

2. The Creature from the Barack Lagoon

He doesn’t look like other men, because he’s a fish-man, and he’ll play the species card.

1. THE TEXAS McCAINSAW MASSACRE
His bloody saw isn’t just for cutting taxes…you’re next!

Dark Spots in Tinsel Town: The Haunted Valley

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Attack Boju, originally uploaded by Boju.

by BJ Winslow

As part of my quest here at Dapper Cadaver to leave no gravestone unturned I am adding a new feature to the Dapper Cadaver Blog – Haunted Los Angeles. There are over 300 different neighborhoods in Los Angeles- from out of the way spots like Aliso Village and the Yucca Corridor, and of corpse Hollywood, Downtown, Venice, and the other big deal parts of town, and every single one of them has strange specters afoot.

I’ll start with The San Fernando Valley, AKA “The Valley”

Slymar-
The northern most burb of The Vally boasts 2 paranormal epicenters that have garnered national attention. An alleged Gravity Hill in Lopez Canyon where naughty objects openly break the law of nature and apparently roll UP HILL, and a possessed statue in Glen Haven Memorial park that witness claim walks the grounds on certain nights.

Granada Hills-
Here you’ll find the home base of the independent production company Spooked TV News. We worked together on a film called Death Tunnel set in a real haunted ayslum. Best title in their catalog? “Ghouls Gone Wild”

Chatsworth-
Home of one of the largest, oldest, and most beloved Haunted Mansions in the Valley, Chatsworth is a mecca in The Valley for families looking for a fright. The attraction? Spooky House. Look for the flickering neon sign and the Bates Motel exterior. Inside you’ll find scenes of murder and insanity and more costumed actors then you can throw a pumpkin at.

North Hills-
At James Monroe High School witnesses have heard loud footsteps and opening and closing of doors when the halls are lonely. The girls gym room is haunted. Students have heard lockers open and close when no one is present.

Mission Hills-
At the Mission San Fernando Cemetery a apparition of a lady in a white dress and a white scarf on her head has been seen praying in the front row of the chapel. She has appeared both ghostly, or solid at first, then vanishing in the air.

Pacoima-
Pacoima was home to Etta Smith, an otherwise normal professional who made the news in 1980 in a very unusual case.
From CNN.com
“A nurse named Melanie Uribe vanishes on her way to work without any suspects or physical evidence. Los Angeles detectives are searching without a map for the missing woman. But one woman, Etta Smith, feels she knows exactly where Melanie Uribe is. How? A psychic vision supplied her with the exact location of the missing nurse…

Etta doesn’t know Melanie Urbie, but she’s sure that the images flooding her mind are connected to her disappearance. Detective Ryan knows that every second counts in the hunt for a missing person. Could Etta Smith’s psychic clues give them a much needed break in the case? Etta Smith’s vision becomes a reality, when she sees the exact location flash in front of her eyes.

Now, investigators left to make sense of a bizarre chain of events. A woman goes to the remote canyon and finds the body of a murder victim she claims she’s never met. It seems like an improbable feat. So improbable, that Etta Smith becomes suspect No. 1 in the murder of Melanie Uribe.”

For the rest of the article visit CNN.com here

Shadow Hills-
Despite its ready for horror sounding name, I could find nothing spooky about Shadow Hills. Correct me if I’m wrong Shadow People!

Sunland-
Something must be happening in Sunland, because in the past few years both Ghost Ride Productions and UFO Magazine moved their shops elsewhere. What’s going on there that’s scaring off the spookies?

Tujunga-
The Eastern end of the San Fernando Valley features a famous UFO sighting and a famous haunted house. Good job Tujunga!
For Ghosts it’s The Bolton Hall Museum. Investigative groups have documented paranormal phenomena on numerous occasions at Bolton hall over the past few years here. Supposedly, six spirits haunt this now historic museum. A W.W.II soldier, a blonde haired woman dressed in a Victorian style dress, a young girl with red hair, two older gentlemen with white hair and beards, one is missing and eye and
the other is missing a leg and in addition, a tall well dress man is also seen.

The book Situation Red documents a 1975 UFO sighting over Tujunga. The article can be found here

Sun Valley-
Quite probably the most unusual spot in the whole valley. Paranormal and Haunting things you can find in Sun Valley-
Michael J. Kouri, famous ghost seer, spirit communicator, TV Ghost expert, and paranormal author.
A 13th degree Rosicrucian mother who can send telepathic roses to her children.
A mall that a plane crashed into and is now haunted.
A haunted power plant.
And, my personal favorite, a man who is tying to sell his haunted house for $400,000 Lets see if the price comes down. Does a house in need of an exorcism count as a fixer upper?
Here’s the description-
“I lived grew up in that house, and I can tell you from first hand experience that there is something there. We would hear footsteps at night, we would feel like we were being followed down the hallway to the bedrooms to the right of the house. We would see shadows at night and we would also have things fall off of shelves for no apparent reason as if they were pushed. We were never hurt by the energy, but our family did tend to fight more when we were in the house. We always wanted to get a priest in there to bless it but we never did. Then we moved. If you are considering buying this house, please make sure to bless it.”

_______________________________

That’s it for the Dapper Cadaver tour of the Haunted Valley…for now. I’ll be going through the neighborhoods of Los Angeles one by one hunting for hauntings and other unusual apparitions between now and Halloween 2008. Halloween parties, Haunted Houses real and man made, horror movies, spooky stores and all things gory are on the menu. If you have a ghost story to share, let me know.

Monster Mondays: Too Many Bigfoots

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yeti-sasquatch_low, originally uploaded by Boju.

Dapper Cadaver is going to to be visited by the Believe It Tour on Friday, Sept 26th as part of their ongoing quest to teach and learn about the all mysterious of the universe, but mainly Bigfoot.

In honor of the ambassadors of Sasquatch, I’m using Monster Mondays to shine some light on the whole Bigfoot clan. Cause there’s lots of bigfoots, or bigfeet as their known to “science.”

Think you can tell a wookie from Harry and The Hendersons? Take this quiz and find out. I’ll send something weird to the first person who get all the bigfoots correctly identified.

1. This Bigfoot lives in Brittish Columbia. It is 12 feet tall with bizarre long arms that end in yellow paddles. Unlike most apes, it only has 4 toes on its feet.

2. Native to Australia, Aborigines see this creature as part lizard, part ant, but the Brittish colonists saw it as a gorilla-size ape man resembling an orangutan.

3. Another 4 toed bigfoot, this one is from Malaysia. It resembles a black orangutan but walks like a man. It’s name means Snaggle Toothed Ghost.

4. This beast is believed by locals to be an ape-demon who converted to Buddhism. For this reason, they keep evidence of its existence enshrined in their monasteries.

5. A native to Vietnam, this bigfoot is only 6 feet tall. He’s covered in fur except for his noticeably bald knees. He eats fruit, leaves, monkeys, and bats.

6. This bigfoot stands anywhere from 5 to 10 feet tall and is covered in red fur. He lives in an enchanted part of China where rates of albinism amongst animals runs unusually high.

7. This is the bigfoot of the Southeast United States, a swamp dweller who smells like rotten eggs.

8. This bigfoot was found dead in Pennsylvania. Witnesses say it had large eyes, human features and was mask-like in appearance; large muscles, flat buttocks, 13 inch-long feet, a 6 inch-long penis, and smelled like a damp dog

9. This bigfoot looks like a man covered in fur but is only 3 feet tall. He lives in Sumatra.

10. This is an allegedly extinct prehistoric ape that stood over 10 feet tall and ate tough plant matter. It’s jawbones and skull fragments have been found in China.

11. This Scottish bigfoot is tall and lanky, covered in gray fur, and said to have a ghost like presence.

12. This is a bigfoot from Ontario Canada that looks like a normal bigfoot, except its head and mane are blond.

13. This ape man from Pakistan and Afghanistan sometimes is seen wearing crude animal skin clothing. He also has a nasty habit of kidnapping local women and attempting to mate with them.

14. This Missouri bigfoot is notable for it’s pumpkin like head.

15. Apelike descendants of australopithecines, the first human species. This group diverged and remained a hairy, bipedal ape that some believe may still exist as bigfoot.

16. An Ohio bigfoot found more in the grasslands than the forests.

17. This Mongolian ape-man is speculated to be a relic tribe of Neanderthals. Stories of them have them somewhat successfully interbreeding with humans.

The QUIZ has been won. The Answers are below

1. Pitt Lake Giant

2. The Yowie

3. Orang Mawa

4. Yeti

5.Người Rừng

6. Yeren

7. Skunk Ape

8. Pennsylvania creature

9. Orang Pendek

10. Gigantopithecus

11. Grayman/ fear liath

12. old yellow top

13. Barmanu

14. Momo the Monster

15.Paranthropus / robust australopithecines

16. Grassman

17. Almas

Monster Mondays: Wisconsin Weirdos

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hodag_capture, originally uploaded by Boju.

This edition of Dapper Cadaver’s Monster Monday’s is dedicated to my lovely Wisonsonian wife, Eileen.

Wisconsinites are a weird breed. As well as the beer basket of America, they’re also the home of Barnum and Baily, the House on The Rock, The Forevertron, and the only company in America that still makes straight jackets for use in mental institutions. Likewise their monsters fall a bit on the strange side. The following beasts are only visible to Wisconsinians.

Hodag –
The beast pictured above. A small rhino/dragon like beast that is the earthbound soul of Minnesota’s Babe the Blue Ox. The hodag had risen from the ashes of the ox. It was born when Paul Bunyan’s ox, Babe, was burned for seven years to cleanse its soul of the profanity hurled at it by lumberjacks and its master. The cleansed part of the oxes soul went to Heaven, and from the earthbound ashes rose the foul smelling Hodag. The hodag is now a popular team mascot for various Wisconsin teams.

Hoopsnake-
Rather than slithering, the hoopsnake bites it’s tale and rolls down hill like a hula hoop.

Birdman-
Spotted on a farm near Highway 82, the birdman is described as being 6 ft tall, with an enormous beak, and covered with yellow feathers. Farms where the birdman was seen recovered large yellow feathers. Young children in the area said they saw Sesame Street’s Big Bird outside their window.

Gallinipper-
A man lay in bed sleeping when her heard 2 droning voices. He opened his eyes without moving to see 2 mosquitoes over 1 feet long standing on his chest discussing their meal.
Mosquito 1: Should we eat him here or carrying him out?
Mosquito 2: We’ll eat him here. If we carry him out he might get stolen by one of big ones!
The Wisconsin mosquitos over 2 feet long are Gallinippers.

Agropelter-
The Argopelter was rarely seen, and no distinct description exists. However, it was said to inhabit hollow tree trunks in the forest. From this vantage point the creature would await any unwary person and hurl wooden splinters and branches at him or her. Although the human could sustain serious injury, there is no record of assault past this initial bombardment.

Whatsit-
A small gray rodent like creature unlike any found in Wisconsin. The Whatsit was found in 1939 on a farm in Elkhorn. Since everything on the farm was black and white, the farmer didn’t want a creature around messing up his color scheme so he gave the whatsit to a man named Adams. Adams found the Whatsit would eat only bananas and soon it gave birth to 2 little whatsits. The whatsit is now believed to be a Vesper Rat from Costa Rica.

Gillygaloo –
The gillygaloo is a large bird that lays square eggs on the sides of hills so they don’t roll away. It’s eggs can be hard boiled and used as dice.

Wolfman – Beast of Bray Road
Wisconsin is home to the most well documented werewolf in the world, and the only wolfman Cryptozoologists take seriously- The Beast of Bray Road. While it’s not believed to be Larry Talbots Wisconsin cousin transforming into a wolf, it is believed to be a six foot tall bipedal wolf, or if that’s too far fetched, then a wolf-like bigfoot named Eddy. Others think it’s a furry in costume pulling pranks. Others think it’s a regular wolf and people are hallucinating the walking around part.

Cheese Heads
These strange creatures are half-man half-cheese. They only come out from September to January. The young ones squeek. And most terrifying of all, they are unkillable

Decorating a Halloween Party

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halloween greetings, originally uploaded by Boju.

Unlike a Haunted House, where the decor is the event, when decorating a Halloween party you’ve got the added challenge of needing to set up the normal party places – a bar, a dance floor, a buffet, social space, bathrooms, but give them a twisted edge. Here are some tips for decorating a killer Halloween party or event, and where to find the supplies.

1. Decorating a Halloween Bar.
Mad science just works in the bar. Set up black lights or black light spotlights around your bar area. Stock up on tonic water. Tonic water contains quinine which is naturally black light responsive. So gin and tonic is going to glow like radioactive spider venom. Add some small bits of dry ice to get it fully foamy. Brown liquors and wine can be dyed red with food coloring to look like blood. Add vintage labels for effect. Serve drinks in laboratory glassware. Spice up the booze bottle collection by adding assorted specimen jars.
Laboratory glassware is available for rent here anf for sale here
Specimen Jars are available for rental here and for sale here
Oh and one more thing Skull Beer Bong!

2. The Dance Floor.
All the best Halloween parties have a dance floor. The biggest thing you’ll need is just a large space where people can dance without running into things. That leaves props for either high above them, or on stage. For hanging props nothing is more impressive than a hanging skeleton cage or gibbet, especially hung from a lamp as a chandelier or in the cross beams of some spotlights. Either way your going to get great creepy shadows. BJ Winslow.com in Los Angeles rents gibbets that are life size but made of light weight plastic that can be hung anywhere. For the stage a great backdrop can really set the mood. The backdrop should be large and colorful enough to stand out. If your performer is a DJ or keyboardist, a casket is a great prop to set up their turntable or keyboard in. Smoke machines are important to dance floors year round. For added creepiness, try getting your fog cold so it clings to the floor like cemetery mist. Avoid low lying fog machines with small chill chambers. The best fog chillers have a refrigerator cooling element built in. A budget version is to feed the fog machine into a cooler filled with ice or dry ice and a small fan to push it along.

3. The Halloween Buffet.
Great Halloween buffets make people think twice about eating the meat. Try setting up your kitchen as a Cannibals Meat Locker and mix severed heads and skinned bodies in with your cold cuts and melon balls. Autopsy bodies make great cake pans Drizzle deserts with delicious Butterscotch blood Shape both deserts and dips into human organs with Body part molds After all, you are what you eat! For snacks, use leech jars as cookie jars.

4. Halloween Party Social Space.
Nothing helps people relax more than torture gear. Get a couple of electric chairs set up for people to sit in, maybe a stocks, and plenty of safety weapons so people can wail on each other while they chat. Plant a few decoy corpses in the space to encourage people to congregate there. People can also sit on autopsy tables, wheelchairs and hospital beds, but not caskets. Casket lids aren’t designed to take the weight and will break.

5. Smokers lounge.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and where there’s fire, theirs Hell. Make the smokers lounge a lair of fire and brimstone with smoke machines, candles, and randomly flickering orange and red lights Add some devil props and your Halloween Party is smokin’!

6. The Bathroom.
Bathrooms are fun because they’re an opportunity to get people alone, so a nice horrific scare can be really effective here. They’re also great because glass, tile, and porcelain surfaces are hard to stain, so get as bloody as you want. Dry ice is activated by water, so try hiding some in the toilet reservoir.

Top 14 Mad Scientist of Real Life

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laboratory essentials, originally uploaded by Boju.

WARNING: This article contains images and material that may be upsetting to some readers. While Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the epitome of the movie Mad Scientist, his experiments in reanimating the dead are positively tame compared to some of the real life beaker jockeys who earn the title. For starters, Dr. Frankenstein’s victims were already dead, and were criminals to boot. The most common victims of mad science are innocent animals.

With that said, let’s get mad!

14. Dr Jose Delgado

Dr. Delgado invented a radio controlled mind control chip he called the stimoceiver which could be used to stimulate emotions and control behavior. It produced a variety of effects, including pleasant sensations, elation, deep, thoughtful concentration, odd feelings, super relaxation, colored visions, and other responses. Delgado stated that “brain transmitters can remain in a person’s head for life. In a famous demonstration he stood in the path of a charging bull and caused it to turn away with his stimoceiver.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Delgado: Brains, stuffed monkeys in cages, brains in jars, miscellaneous remote controls and circuitry, brain plasma ball.
13. Dr. Thomas Park.

Dr. Thomas park studies unusual sensory perception amongst mammals, which means his research is dedicated to the creepiest of creatures – Bats and Naked Mole Rats. While we all know bats are the air born form of vampires, many people have not been exposed to the shivering pink mass of flesh and teeth that live like a termite and look like an abortion.
MAD SCIENCE EXPERIMENT: Mole rats cannot be burned with acid.
“”Their insensitivity to acid was very surprising,” Park told LiveScience. “Every animal tested — from fish, frogs, reptiles, birds and all other mammals — every animal is sensitive to acid.” Was Park just throwing acid on a random assortment of creatures to test his theory that they hate it? And what did he do once he discovered mole rats couldn’t be burned? He genetically engineered a cold sore that would make them burnable again.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Thomas Park: Laboratory glassware full of colored fluid labeled “Acid,” dry ice to make them bubble and smoke, habitrails, bats, naked mole rats.
12. Dr. Warren Thomas

Warren Thomas is a scientist who did a lot of acid in 1962. So much so that he thought it would be a good idea to dose an Elephant with LSD. The elephant, named Tusko, died almost immediately. He claimed in his defense he didn’t expect that result, saying he had done plenty of acid himself with no ill effects. What he did expect was the elephant to fly into a psychotic rage, much better right? Warren Thomas remains the only person who can positiely claim to have done enough LSD to kill an elephant.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Warren Thomas: A video projector of “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo. Glass flasks labeled “Acid”
11. Dr. Robert Cornish

Robert Cornish is a scientist who, in Berkley, CA, 1930, managed to resurrect 2 dead dogs by placing them on a seesaw to circulate the blood and injecting them with a mixture of adrenalin and anticoagulants. Not surprising he was able to find a human volunteer for his experiments with a man condemned to be executed, and the state denied him permission for fear he could do it.

DIY laboratory of Dr. Robert Cornish: 2 dead looking stuffed dogs, a seesaw, scary large syringes, laboratory glassware, dog skeletons, dog anatomy charts and models, an electric chair.

10. Beaurieux

During the head chopy frenzy of the French revolution, Beaurieux decided to test the hypothesis that the head survived the blade for about half a minute. He discovered that immediately after decapitation the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. In another experiment he yelled at the severed head, it apparently opened it’s eyes in response to it’s name.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Beaurieux: A guillotine, severed heads.

9. Dr. Vladimir Demikhov

In the words of Roky Erickson, “2 headed dog, 2 headed dog, I been working in the Kremlin for a 2 headed dog.” Demikhov is famous for the first successful head transplant in which he severed the head of a puppy and attached it to the neck of a full grown dog. Both heads survived and were hungry.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Demikhov: stuffed two headed dog, two headed anything, tubes, laboratory glassware, cages, a copy of the song “Two Headed Dog” by Roky Erikson.

8.Dr. Giovanni Aldini

Most famous for inventing the Galvanizing process for metals, the good Dr. also experimented on galvanizing human and animal corpses as a spectacular public show. An eyewitness reported: “Aldini, after having cut off the head of a dog, makes the current of a strong battery go through it: the mere contact triggers really terrible convulsions. The jaws open, the teeth chatter, the eyes roll in their sockets; and if reason did not stop the fired imagination, one would almost believe that the animal is suffering and alive again”. In another show, Aldini pioneered electrocuting the brains of the mentally ill as a means of supposedly helping them.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Aldini: corpses, body parts, plasma balls, electrodes, autopsy instruments, electric chair, straight jackets.

7. Dr. Sergei Brukhonenko

Many of us owe Dr. Brukhonenko a life debt for his invention of open heart surgery procedures, but along the way to saving human life, he discovered the means to keep a dogs head alive without a body.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Brukhonenko: Stuffed dogs head, laboratory glassware, dog skeleton, canine anatomy charts and models, open heart body, heart models.
6.Guy Ben Ary

Guy Ben Ary is a modern day creator of living and dying robots. In one, he cultured a disembodied rat brain and hooked it up to send bluetooth signals to a robot arm half a world away. The arm held colored ink markers and could watch what it was doing and the people around it. Soon, the disembodied rat brain robot learned to draw. Another project is the “Living Screen” “Which “explores what occurs when we cinematically engage with a living screen and employs film theory to understand Bio-Art as a Freak Show’. The Nano-Movies are projected on Living Screens made from skin, blood, sperm or cornea cells that transform, react and change over time and eventually die. Therefore, it contorts the projected Nano-Movie in – unknown ways, and confront the spectators with issues such as life, death, virtuality and reality.”

DIY Laboratory of Guy Ben Ary: robot arms, mice, habitrails, robots, human skin.

5. Dr. Gunther Von Hagens

Another contemporary scientist pushing the boundaries of art, science, and performance. Von Hagens invented a way of turning human corpses to plastic so he could exhibit them in surreal, statuesque dissected poses which he is currently touring the country with. He was also once arrested for doing an unauthorized pubic autopsy exhibition.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Von Hagens: Skinned bodies, laboratory glassware, severed limbs, specimen jars, autopsy table, shovel, autopsy instruments, embalming pumps, corpses.
4.Jack Parsons

Also known as Satans rocket scientist, Parsons is a founding member of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and follower of Occultist Aleister Crowley. He had little formal education but was instrumental in developing jet and rocket fuel. He was known to engage in bizarre orgies and invoke the great god Pan before launches. He officially died in his garage when a fuel he was mixing exploded, but conspiracy myths abound.

DIY Laboratory of Jack Parsons: Necronomicon, human skulls, occult objects, laboratory glassware, model rockets, globe, moon model, star map, pentagram, black robes, astronaut suit.
3. Johann Dippel

Lord Dippel worked in the most famous laboratory in the world, Castle Frankenstein. Yes, THE Castle Frankenstein. It’s real and so is he. His experiments in anatomy, immortality, alchemy, and alleged grave robbing may have inspired the tale of another famous resident of Castle Frankenstein.
DIY Laboratory of Lord Dippel: Autopsy tables, laboratory glassware, vintage laboratory glassware, corpses, severed body parts, gravestones, specimen jars, plasma balls, autopsy instruments, a shovel.
2. Thomas Edison

What makes a mad scientist? Some are crazy, some are angry, many are both. Thomas Edison falls into the middle category, the angry scientist. After inventing DC electricity, his rival Westinghouse came out with AC electricity (invented by Tesla see #1). Determined to show just how dangerous Westinghouse’s product was, Edison invented the electric chair and went on an electrocution tour – using Westinghouse’s AC current to kill people. That would be like Henry Ford getting into a Chrysler and running people down to show how dangerous Chryslers are. The word electrocution hadn’t been coined yet, so he called death by electricity “Westinghousing.” His finest achievement from this period was when he Westinghoused a rampaging circus elephant. with a custom elephant sized electric chair headpiece.

DIY Laboratory of Thomas Edison: electric chair, light bulbs, knobs, switches, plasma balls, human skeletons, human skulls, charred corpses.

1. Nikola Tesla

No living man has ever been closer to a comic book super scientist then Nikola Tesla. He pioneered the radio and radio control technology which seamed like magic at the time but we now take for granted. He also invented a number of things that will always seem like magic, including the spark shooting Tesla Coil, light bulbs that glow from no known power source, and a pocket sized device that could create devastating earthquakes. His eccentric mannerisms and bizarre vaguely Austrian (actually Serbian and trans-European) accent lead to the iconic german Mad Scientist of film, television and cartoons.

DIY Laboratory of Dr. Tesla: Tesla Coils, plasma balls, anything that sparks or glows, switches, knobs, wires, and tubes.

Top 40 Female Monster Costumes of All Time

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Everyone knows Freddy and Jason, Frank and Drac, but ask anyone who the greatest female monsters are, and they’ll likely draw a blank (or maybe the Bride of Frankenstein and Elvira). Which is too bad, because female monster are amongst the scariest and hottest creations around, and they make kick ass Halloween costumes for women who want to mix scary with their sexy.

I’ve compiled a list of the top 40 lady monster costumes of all time. 40 because I don’t mess around with puny top ten lists when the topic is this important. Pictured above is the beautiful Ingrid Pit as a vampiress in The House that Dripped Blood. She didn’t make the cut for top 40 because her costume appears to be a 99 cent cape and 25 cent fangs and this list is for the best costumes.

40. Gozer from Ghostbusters

Costume: New Wave Eye Make up + Butch Lesbian Hair cut + Body Stocking + cotton batting.
Coolness Factor: “When Someone asks you ‘are you a god’ you say YES!”

39. Terminatrix from Terminator 3

Costume: Leather jacket + perfect hair + cyborg makeup or prosthetics.
Coolness Factor: Doing the robot on the dance floor. Kicking The Governators ass.

38. Baby Jane from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Costume: Tattered baby doll clothes, bad whore make up, puffy facial appliances.
Coolness factor: Acting infantile, harassing the handicapped.

37. Morticia Addams from the Addams Family AKA Vampira AKA Elvira

Costume: Long black hair, tight black dress, pale skin, cleavage.
Coolness Factor: It’s 3 costumes in one!

36. Bloody Mary from Urban Legends 3

Costume: Half skull make up or appliance.
Coolness Factor: You’ll appear whenever someone orders 3 bloody mary’s at the bar.

35. Columbia from the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Costume: New wave make up, flapper hair cut, yellow top hat and tails, madonna corset and hot pants. Everything bedazzled to hell.
Coolness factor: People will be yelling lines at you all night.

34. Sadie Frost from Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula

Costume: Fangs, white face, doilies piled on top of doilies.
Coolness factor: being the weirder than thou love object of 3 men and a vampire.

33. The White Witch from Narnia

Costume: 2 swords, a full length chainmail dress, fur shoulder pads, a gold eagle for a hat.
Coolness factor: Offering people turkish delights.

32. Luna from Mark of the Vampire

Costume: Long black hair, white robe with sleeves down to the floor.
Coolness factor: Those sleeves!

31. The Nurse from Kill Bill

Costume: Nurses outfit with matching eye patch. Syringe.
Coolness factor: Can you whistle that creepy theme music?

30. Ilsa from Ilsa She Wolf of the SS

Costume: Puffy directors pants + riding crop + Nazi uniform + cleavage.
Coolness factor: Offensive to everyone

29. Macarena Gomez in Dagon

Costume: golden princess dress with a crown that looks like a golden sea shell covered in spikes.
Coolness factor: doing the macarena

28. Angela from Night of the Demons 3

Costume: Blue fright wig, facial prosthetics, werewolf teeth, fishnet gloves.
Coolness factor: Ordering martini’s with 2 eyeballs instead of olives.

27. GoGo from Kill Bill

Costume: Japanese schoolgirl outfit, big freaking ball-chain mace.
Coolness factor: being the ultimate object of geek fetishes for japanese school girls and huge weapons.

26. The Snake Vampire Woman in Lair of the White Worm

Costume: Blue body paint, huge fangs, chain mail yarmulke.
Coolness factor: Doing the cobra dance in and out of baskets.

25. Lilly Munster from The Munsters

Costume: Goth make up, white streaked hair, the vampires house dress.
Coolness factor: doing something original with the Elvira idea.

24. Alice from Alice Sweet Alice

Costume: One of those creepy transparent masks, yellow raincoat with cinched hood, knife.
Coolness factor: being inherently the creepiest person in the room even if know one knows the context. Especially if no one knows the context.

23. Dracula’s Daughter from Dracula’s Daughter:

Costume: The Morticia dress with a cape and gold trim.
Coolness factor: Calling Dracula Daddy.

22. Voodoo Lady from Pirates of the Carribean

Costume: Victorian dress, fx contact lenses, bones and flotsam tied up to every inch of you. Dreadlocks.
Coolness factor: Ordering Malibu Rum in the same cheesy accent as the commercials. Cursing people.

21. Varla from Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Costume: Pants suit, cleavage, switchblade, motorcycle.
Coolness Factor: Getting into bar fights, chosing “What’s new Pussycat” for Karaoke but adding “KIll! Kill!” to the chorus.

20.Japanese Ghosts from The RIng, The Grudge, etc, etc,

Costume: Long black hair, baby doll dress, corpse make up.
Coolness factor: Standing in front of TV’s, sneaking up on people and making faces at them. Handing out video tapes to trick or treaters and saying “you gotta watch this, it’s so good you’ll die”

19. Prom Queen Carrie from Carrie

Costume: Prom dress, blood. Bug eyes and telekinesis helps.
Coolness factor: Appropriate outfit for slow dancing, revenge, and covering your dirty pillows.

18. The Evil Queen AKA Elisabeth Bathory from The Brothers Grimm

Costume: red queen dress with spikey fan collar, huge gold horn things.
Coolness factor: Bathing in blood will keep you young. Hunting virgens.

17. Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

Costume: Black and purple robes with jagged flame like edges. Horned headress. Staff and crow.
Coolness factor: Being the scariest thing ever shown in a Disney Cartoon.

16. The Borg Queen from Star Trek

Costume: Black body suit with tubes and gizmos everywhere. Bald head, corpse make up and tubes stuck to head.
Coolness factor: using the royal “We” when referring to yourself.

15. Mystique from X Men

Costume: Yellow eyes, red hair, blue scaly skin, nudity.
Coolness factor: If you’re feeling modest you can transmogrify into some pants.

14. Mother from Dead Alive

Costume: See Baby Jane but add open wounds that ooze blood and goo.
Coolness Factor: Eating dogs and shouting “Where’s my Pudding!”

13 Creature from Darkness Falls

Costume: Freddy Krueger face + zombie body + vintage dress.
Coolness factor: Being as gory as possible and still being in a dress.

12. Cherry from Planet Terror/ Grindhouse

Costume: Tube Top, daisy dukes, machine gun leg (don’t ask me how)
Coolness factor: Puns galore! Fully loaded, legs that can kill, etc.

11. The She Creature from She Creature

Costume: Gargoyle face + The Thing rock suit from Fantastic Four + Boobs made of rock.
Coolness factor: A rack of rock!

10. Regine from Fright Night

Costume: Some kind of vampire bat creature with pointy nipples. When doing this costume it helps if you know Rick Baker or someone like him.
Coolness factor: Seeing if men notice your hideous face first or if they still stare at your hideous chest.

9.Amanda from Saw

Costume: regular clothes, with some kind of bear trap on your head. A severed pigs head would make a great prop.
Coolness factor: setting up death traps for your friends.

8. Vampirella

Costume: A cape collar attached to 2 red bandages strategically concealing your nudity. Nudity.
Coolness factor: Vampirella holds the record for wearing the smallest costume for the longest time, since the 60’s! If she wasn’t a Vampire she’d be a grandmother in a red bikini.

7. Sil from Species

Costume: some kind of sexy alien exoskeleton.
Coolness factor: If you can make this costume you are too amazing for everyone.

6. Julie from Return of the Living Dead 3

Costume: shredded 80’s punk clothes, spikes sticking out of everything. Brains to munch on.
Coolness factor: being the punkest zombie chick ever.

5. Bride of Frankenstein

Costume: White robes, bee hive with stripe.
Coolness factor: The most celebrated of all lady monsters.

4. Robot Maria from Metropolis

Costume: Art Deco 1930’s German Expressionist Female Robot. I’m sure the corner costume store can help.
Coolness factor: Being a champion of Women-Robot’s rights.

3. The Tooth Fairy from The Tooth Fairy

Costume: Have yourself rotoscoped out of the Halloween party and replaced by a CG eyeless corpsy fairy with huge leathery wings.
Coolness factor: Offering people a dime for their teeth.

2.Angelique from Hellraiser

Costume: Latex fetish dress. Calvarium cut in head. Corpse make up. Support rods hooked into shoulders and head. Blood. Hooks in flesh. Hellraiser cube.
Coolness factor: The pinnacle of scary sexy with some fetishy weirdness thrown in to boot. Also a great sexy costume that doesn’t require a mile of cleavage.

1. Regan from the Exorcist

Costume: A girls night gown. Blood, puss, and corpse make up.

Regan gets top billing for having a supremely scary and iconic costume. It can be done simply with blood and corpse make up, or you can go all out and get fx contact lenses and where your clothes backwards so it appears your head is spun 180. She’s also incredibly fun if you get in character, vomiting on priests, shaking the bed, using your “Satan voice” to tell friends “Your Mother sucks c*cks in Hell!” and your friends can dare you into dumb stunts with “The power of Christ compels you!”

Honorable Mention

Bride of Chucky
Dracula’s Brides – In Francis Coppola’s Dracula, in Van Helsing, in Bat form in Van Helsing
Queen of the Damned
Porcupine Lass from Nightbreed
The Unnamable
Barbara Steele in Black Sunday
Nancy in The Craft
Ingrid Pit in The House that Dripped Blood
Zombie Form Regine from Fright Night
Alessa from Silent Hill
High Tension
Miho in Sin City
Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmations
Ms. Lovett from Sweeny Todd
Xenia Onatopp from James Bond
Sally From Nightmare Before Christmas