The Mausoleum of Madness, Part II!
Welcome to Dinosaur Dracula’s MAUSOLEUM OF MADNESS, PART II! Every day through Halloween, check back for another vintage creepy collectible – everything from deep cut toys to ancient store displays to at least one totally insane costume. Probably ten cereal boxes, too.
I won’t be plugging this on social media much, so you’ll have to remember to visit on your own. Maybe stick an orange Post-It on the fridge. (Yes, it must be orange.)
PS, if you missed last year’s Mausoleum of Madness, it’s over here.
#20: Horror Movie Prism Stickers! (1980s)
Available in vending machines at department stores and supermarkets, horror movie prism stickers had an outsized impact on our lives. There was an army of these in the late ‘80s, covering not just the huge films starring icons like Jason and Freddy, but some pretty obscure titles as well. I even have a prism sticker for Zombie Nightmare, of all movies.
I’m not sure if any of the stickers were properly licensed, but given how generally infringing the prizes in vending machines were back then, I doubt it. They certainly looked professional enough, with beautiful, colorful art that only added to the ghastly imagery’s punch.
You didn’t need to be a kid who’d seen The Howling or Return of the Living Dead Part II to realize that shiny stickers based on them were way cooler than gumballs. Blowing quarters on these was not an exercise limited to horror fans.
In fact, I dare say that for some kids, the stickers were a gateway drug towards horror movies. If you dropped 50 cents on a Jason Lives sticker on the way out of Kmart, you were probably gonna become more curious about the movie, right?
The vintage stickers are now hideously expensive, and the market is full of scamsters selling undisclosed repros. If you decide to start collecting them, just know that the hobby breaks people, and should only be pursued by those who truly cannot live without prismatic stickers representing The Gate and Monkey Shines.
#19: Monster Match Store Display! (1991)
This is an extremely rare photo of a genuine Pepsi / Frito-Lay “Monster Match” store display, crammed into a convenience store back in 1991.
That year, the companies involved teamed with the Universal Monsters not just for cool packaging upgrades, but also a sweepstakes wherein customers would receive halves of Monster Match cash to try to piece together for fabulous prizes. (The top prize was a million bucks, and I think getting rich by eating Doritos is absolutely the best way to do it.)
Even if you won nothing, and most didn’t, you still got chip bags and Pepsi boxes adorned by the faces of Dracula and Frankenstein. So I guess everyone did kinda win something?
The best part of the brouhaha was the EIGHT-FOOT cardboard Monster Match display shown here. These were shipped to gobs of stores and were a common sight during the 1991 Halloween season. For a whole month, every 7-Eleven looked like Six Flags Fright Fest.
I’ve written about the Universal Monsters renaissance of the 1990s plenty of times before, but it’s only now occurring to me that Pepsi and Doritos were arguably responsible for it. You can blame the postage stamps or Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but I don’t think many eight-year-olds were gonna get into the old school boo crew without the assistance of salt and sugar.
#18: Spooky Leaf Bags! (1990)
Like tissue ghosts and plastic spider rings, decorative leaf bags are timeless staples of the season. They’re traditionally pumpkin-themed, which makes sense given the general shape of trash bags filled with leaves, but many companies have tried to work more variety into the gimmick.
For example, take this box of “Spooky Leaf Bags,” made by Sun Hill. What great art! There’s something so delightfully ghoulish about kids bringing a giant disembodied Dracula head to life by feeding it dead leaves. It’s very Tales from the Darkside. Needless to say, I bought this for the box, not the bags inside.
By the way, if you’re in the market for a Halloween leaf bag because you actually want to use it, going vintage is the best bet. Most of today’s bags are ultra-thin, quick to rip, and look like they came from Dollar Tree even when they didn’t. The older ones are usually rougher and tougher, and sometimes you get bonus art of kids practicing the dark arts in broad daylight out of the deal.
#17: Garfield Halloween Pencils! (1991)
I don’t see how a pack of pencils could be more perfect. Let’s start with the visual of Garfield as a vampire. Easily his best look ever, and it contrasts so well with the yellow background and those friendly fonts. The fact that they included TWO images of Vampy Garfield on one small baggie was so unnecessary and yet so incredibly right.
The pencils, adorned with pictures of Garfield dressed as various monsters, were meant to be given out to trick-or-treaters. While I love me some candy, longtime readers know that I’m a big proponent of trick-or-treaters getting inedible goodies, too. Whether we’re talking about McDonald’s gift certificates, little boxes of stickers, or yes, even Garfield pencils, they add variety to the spread.
These came out during a time when Garfield was on top of the world, with a popular Saturday morning cartoon, multiple holiday specials in annual rotation, the newspaper strip, and all of those adorable rectangular books. If there was ever a time to try to grab a piece of the coveted pencil market, 1991 was it. Read More…
Dino Drac’s Envelope of Evil VII!
Surprise drop! Dino Drac’s Envelopes of Evil are BACK FROM THE GRAVE. If you missed the memo, these are special, limited edition packages filled with creepy collectibles that are offered exactly once and then never spoken of again.
(These have nothing to do with the Funpacks, by the way. Totally separate thing!)
For the Envelope of Evil VII, a handful of flat (or flattish) items conspire to make your Halloween season just a little bit grander. The cost on this one is $40, and that includes shipping to anywhere in the United States.
Jump to the bottom for ordering info, or keep reading to learn about everything inside the Dino Drac’s seventh Envelope of Evil! Read More…
Dino Drac’s 2025 Eerie August Funpack!
Dino Drac’s Eerie August Funpack – the first of three all-spooky Funpacks for the 2025 Halloween season – is here!
This one is LOADED with all sorts of creepy treasures – everything from old toys to old cards to old stickers to old Ghoul-Aid. (Yes, you read that right.)
Here’s the scoop: All subscriber boxes have already shipped as of last weekend, and are either on the way or already delivered. As of this writing, I have *very* few spares leftover for any non-subscribers who want one.
If you’d like to get one, send me an email, and if I have any left I’ll send you the deets. As always, they’re $25, and that includes shipping to anywhere in the United States. UPDATE: Sorry, they are now sold out!
Now, let’s see what’s in the box! Read More…