Death Warmed Over: Funeral Food, Rituals, and Customs From Around the World is a new e-book that teams up two subjects that fascinate almost everyone: food and death. Filled with historical background and recipes for 75 different funeral ceremonies around the world, Death Warmed Over also serves up a nice helping of insight into the customs of each culture from the Irish to the Amish, the ancient Etruscans to the modern-day Hmong.

When Death Warmed Over was first released in 2004 it became an instant cult classic that Publishers Weekly called “amusingly informative.” While a few dishes — like the bearded seal flipper prepared by grieving Eskimos — might not be everyone’s cup of, er, blubber, most are slightly less exotic. Who can resist a cookbook that not only offers a recipe for the perfect chocolate cake, but also details the correct Ghanaian method for pouring water down a dying man’s throat to ensure he will travel well to the afterlife?

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Warmed-Over-Funeral-ebook/dp/B00EO8LEB8/

The author, Lisa Rogak has written a number of other books including a New York Times bestseller and a Stephen King biography that was nominated for an Edgar. Her resume includes selling vintage funeral equipment as well as driving a number of hearses — for pleasure — through the years.

(Lake Forest, Calif.) – This fall OC Parks and Heritage Hill Historical Park are pleased to present a full calendar of events to get your family into the autumn spirit.

Friday, October 18 welcomes the 6th annual Haunt at Heritage Hill. Be the first to dare tour the haunted schoolhouse. Are you brave enough to experience “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and the all new “La Carnivora” scream zones? Will you be able to enter “The Joker’s Side show?” Don’t worry there will also be a DJ, dancing and a special movie screening of the Universal classic horror film “Dracula” starring the legendary Bela Lugosi. Celebrate the legacy of Bela Lugosi with Bela Lugosi Jr. who will be at the event signing autographs and answering questions.

On Saturday, October 19 OC Parks and the City of Lake Forest present the annual Autumn Harvest Festival “The Adventure Continues…” Heritage Hill Historical Park will host an adventure-filled festival with family fun attractions that include trick-or-treat stations, adventure mazes, the haunted school house, American adventure story telling and a Halloween costume parade. Be one of the first to explore and see the all new “Department of Jurassic Parks & Recreation.” This new attraction will bring to life the legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex and other surprises. Games, face painting, a balloon artist, the ever-popular glow party, a Princess Pumpkin Patch and a movie screening add to the festive holiday tradition.

Visit Heritage Hill Historical Park October 18-19 in costume, with your trick-or-treat bag in hand and with your family and let the seasonal adventures take you places beyond your imagination.

Heritage Hill Historical Park

Event Cost: $5


Parking: FREE
(Recommended for 12 years and up)

Event Cost: $4 Adults, $3 kids ages 3-12

Attractions Cost: $.25-$2 per game


Parking: FREE

(Recommended for all ages)

OC Parks manages nearly 60,000 acres of parks, historical and coastal facilities and open space for the County of Orange as part of OC Community Resources. http://www.ocparks.com

[Long Beach, Calif.] – The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor is known for horrifying creatures, mazes, and attractions, but the annual event goes beyond the realm of the undead. Live entertainment, radio station takeovers, and special events fill the calendar this Halloween season. Dark Harbor guests are immersed in an interactive experience that offers full bars, extensive food options, VIP packages, DJ performances, live bands, drag shows, Halloween costume contests, and special events that keep fright lovers coming back for more.

Screams and radio waves compete for air space beginning Friday, October 11, when Power 106 FM invades the ship’s grounds at Dark Harbor. Southern California’s premiere hip-hop station will take over the event and give listeners a chance to hear the havoc of Dark Harbor on air as DJ J Cruz broadcasts live from inside the Dark Harbor gates. The Power 106 street team joins the fun with giveaways in tow.

The antics of The Rhythm Coffin band possess the main stage on Saturday, October 12, dressed to impress at the infamous event. On Sunday, October 13, elaborate costumes fill the outdoor stage for the annual drag show, hosted by Jewels Long Beach and supported by a wicked set from DJ George Figares.

Sister act Pixi Kill takes the stage on Thursday, October 17 to ignite Dark Harbor with their alt-electro sounds. The incredible Fartbarf will be performing live on Friday, October 18, followed by a bewitching performance by Post Mortem Grotesque Burlesque at 10:30 p.m. Sounds from the bands Move, Slant, and The Black Lantern fill the remaining Dark Harbor dates with live entertainment. DJ sets by DJ Dennis Owens and DJ Abel are peppered throughout the entire hair-raising month of madness.

The Inland Empire’s top pop station slips into the event on Saturday, October 19, when 91.1 KGGI brings along DJs and street teamers to immerse themselves in the depths of Dark Harbor.

As the final nights of The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor draw near, the celebrations only intensify. On Thursday, October 31, Dark Harbor welcomes guests to wear costumes without masks and mingle with over 200 monsters. The bash attracts spirits of all sizes, starting with the Little Monster Halloween Costume Ball that takes place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The children’s costume contest offers $200 in prizes and features magic shows, face painting for $3, and trick-or-treating from the Dark Harbor monsters. Full-grown spirits can participate in The Halloween Costume Ball from 7 p.m. to midnight. The Ball allows participants to mirror the ghouls of Dark Harbor and compete in a costume contest for prizes totaling $1,000. Both costume contests require pre-event registration. DJ Manny Lehman will be providing music for the Halloween event, and Jewels Long Beach returns for the final drag show of the Dark Harbor season.

Friday, November 1, and Saturday November 2 welcome two nights of celebration in honor of Día De Los Muertos. DJ Abel provides the beats, and guests are once again allowed to slip into their costumes without masks or props and relish the final nights of The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor.

In addition to spine-tingling general entry, guests can opt for VIP entrance that includes a GA ticket, Fast Fright line priority, drink tickets, and admission into the R.I.P. lounge. The R.I.P. lounge rivals any VIP setting, where guests can enjoy the ghost-eye view of the event, full bar, and made to order taco station.

Dark Harbor will be open October 11-13, 17-20, 24-27 and Oct 31 – November 2 from 7 p.m. to midnight with special events and entertainment nightly. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit www.queenmary.com/dark-harbor.

October 11: Power 106 Night

October 12: The Rhythm Coffin / DJ Dennis Owens

October 13: Drag show hosted by Jewels Long Beach

October 17: Pixi Kill / DJ Dennis Owens

October 18: Fart Barf / DJ Dennis Owens

October 19: 99.1 KGGI Night

October 20: Move / DJ Dennis Owens

October 24: DJ Dennis Owens

October 25: Slant / DJ Abel

October 27: The Black Lantern / DJ Abel

October 31: Costume Contest / Drag Show / Trick or Treating / DJ Manny Lehman

November 1 & 2: Celebrate Día De Los Muertos with DJ Abel / Costumes encouraged

Here’s an oldie, but a goodie. The Miller Group developed the Goodwill Halloween campaign in 2008 and it’s still going strong, year after year: http://www.millergroupmarketing.com/portfolioitems/goodwill-industries/

“The ultimate Halloween adventure.” – Professor Grimmgraves..

From a distance, the town of Autumnville never seemed quite right – the area being picturesque while at the same time haunting. It was a quiet, peaceful place to live, but there was a strange feeling that permeated the town and its people as Halloween approached. An eerie feeling that descended upon Autumnville, and no one knew why… until now.

Jason Myers, a 12-year-old boy who enjoyed all things monsters, discovers through a mysterious Halloween blog that monsters may be very real. On the blog is a video of a witch flying on a broom sighting. While showing it to his three best friends, they come to the horrible realization that it was filmed in the very town they live in.

The four friends will have to face a host of ghosts, witches, scarecrows, and other terrifying nightmares that have invaded Autumnville for a dark and sinister purpose. The boys will have many terrifying encounters and ultimately uncover the real secret behind Halloween. But Jason is not completely helpless, for he has the unwanted aid of a monstrous ally, and of course, Jason’s own incredible secret!

Check the trailer and blog out at http://onedarkhalloweennight.com/

Universal Studios Hollywood Announces General Admission, Front of Line and Premium VIP Experience Tickets Now On Sale for its Highly-Anticipated ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ Event, Taking Place on 21 Select Nights, from September 20 to November 2, 2013

Universal City, California—Tickets are now on sale for “Halloween Horror Nights,” Southern California’s premier Halloween event, taking place at Universal Studios Hollywood on 21 select nights from September 20 through November 2, 2013.

Tickets to this year’s event are available for purchase at www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com/hollywood, including a Front of Line ticket option that enables guests to enjoy priority access at each maze and theme park attraction, as well as a premium VIP Experience ticket offering guests an enhanced guided tour of “Halloween Horror Nights.” Advance purchase is recommended as event nights will sell out.

This year, the contemporary urban city streets, towering skyscraper, brick-faced facades and industrial exteriors that make up Universal Studios’ world-famous production facilities will serve as a backdrop location for “Halloween Horror Nights” as Universal Studios Hollywood creates elaborate maze settings from iconic movie sets and soundstages never before used in this popular, award-winning event.

“We’re thrilled to be working with today’s leading horror movie, television and music properties to bring another bone-chilling ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ to life at Universal Studios Hollywood,” said John Murdy, Creative Director, Universal Studios Hollywood. “Our collaboration with renowned filmmakers, producers and artists contributes immensely to the event’s authenticity. The limited amount of Front of Line and VIP Experiences tickets available to our guests provides great options to enhance this special experience.”

“Halloween Horror Nights” 2013 brings together the sickest minds in horror to immerse guests in the living, breathing, three-dimensional world of the most notorious and terrifying creatures. Featuring a slate of unparalleled film production quality mazes, fright-filled scare zones, compelling new backdrop maze locations and a new “Terror Tram” experience, uniquely themed to today’s most definitive horror properties, “Halloween Horror Nights” will taunt, terrorize and torment guests with incomparable spellbinding and horrifying haunted attractions.

AMC’s Golden Globe-nominated and Emmy Award-winning TV series returns to “Halloween Horror Nights” and will feature an all-new disturbingly real maze, inspired by Season 3 of the cult favorite television blockbuster. “The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven” maze will place guests at the core of the show’s once impenetrable prison, the West Georgia Correctional Facility, now overrun by decaying walkers. The disturbingly real haunted attraction will send them cowering through the walker-infested wilderness that surrounds the prison and into the seemingly utopian town of Woodbury where gruesome secrets are concealed.

Other haunted attractions will include “Evil Dead: Book of the Dead,” based on Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s chilling remake of the cult classic; “Black Sabbath: 13 3D,” inspired by the darkest lyrics from the legendary rock band’s 43-year history of Heavy Metal music, and “Insidious: Into The Further” based on the disturbing “Insidious” film franchise that explores the darkest corners of the paranormal experience.

“El Cucuy: The Boogeyman,” a startling, terror-filled maze based on the Latin American legend of the mythical, shape-shifting monster, will feature chilling narration by prolific actor and producer, Danny Trejo, and “Universal Monster Remix: Resurrection,” will complete the lineup with new sounds from acclaimed artist/DJ Figure, and all-original monsters inspired by fan-generated character competitions along with a legion of Universal’s legendary monsters re-defined for the 21st century.

A new reign of terror in new scare zones based on Universal Pictures’ blockbuster movie “The Purge” and Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s upcoming Blu-ray release of “Curse of Chucky,” will also come to life to terrify “Halloween Horror Nights” guests.

The highly-entertaining and edgy “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure” returns in an all-new production, adding to the already dynamic “Halloween Horror Nights” event, while such theme park’s favorites remain open throughout the event: “Transformers: The Ride -3D,” “Jurassic Park® In the Dark,” “The Simpsons RideTM” and “Revenge of the Mummy – The Ride.”

Maze announcement videos are available on Halloween Horror Nights’ YouTube Channel. Updates on “Halloween Horror Nights” are available online at Halloween Horror Nights, on Facebook at: “Halloween Horror Nights – Hollywood,” on Instagram at @HorrorNights and Twitter at @HorrorNights as Creative Director John Murdy reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information. Join the conversation using #UniversalHHN.

“Halloween Horror Nights” kicks off on Friday, September 20, 2013 and continues on 21 select nights through Saturday, November 2, 2013. Event dates are: September 20, 21, 27 and 28, October 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 31 and November 1 and 2.