Svengoolie & the Costume Contest of Nightmare on Chicago Street!

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Photo courtesy of Jim Roche

Photo courtesy of Jim Roche

Svengoolie was given new headquarters at this year’s Nightmare on Chicago Street, and a classier one at that. Side Street Studio Arts is yet another reason to love the city of Elgin, Illinois; providing residents an opportunity to express their creative side and a venue to display their work. Consequently, the national TV horror host would find himself sitting amid sinister, yet beautiful, works of art; all part of their Something Wicked: A Dark Arts Exhibit. The line outside to see him started forming almost as soon as the event began and for good reason as he’d only be signing for an hour before hosting the annual costume contest

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Elgin Celebrates Five Years of “Nightmare on Chicago Street!”

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I no sooner said goodbye to the ladies of Midnite Mausoleum  before earning myself a speeding ticket trying to zoom back east for Elgin’s Nightmare on Chicago Street. If you’ve ever attended one of these in the past than you’d understand my exuberance as well as all the hyperbole I’ve used to describe it over the years; both on this site as well as in the latest issue of Scary Monsters Magazine.

Picture several city blocks created to look like a zombie apocalypse; complete with militia roaming an undead “Safe Zone” while garnering inspiration from their own macabre Uncle Sam; national TV horror host, Svengoolie.  You can’t blame me for making this my favorite stop during the Halloween season, nor for having a led foot while trying to get there.

In this regard, I’m far from alone. Now celebrating its fifth year, Nightmare on Chicago Street has fast become Chicagoland’s premiere Halloween experience with last year’s attendance reaching over 12,000 people!

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“8 Little Zombies” is One Fun Book!

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While Horror Host, Svengoolie, and his predecessor may have christened Berwyn, Illinois as the epicenter of Chicago horror, that title has since been challenged by the city of Elgin. We’ve discussed their local Acme Design (who’ve carved their own Sven-legacy by creating his new coffin and MeTV set) as well as their annual Nightmare on Chicago Street . Now they can add yet another notch to their horror belt courtesy of local author & illustrator, John LaFleur and David Metzger! 8 Little Zombies is a scarier take on the classic children’s story, 8 Little Monkeys and one that us genre fans would enjoy reading to the little monster kids in our own lives (assuming you want to raise them right, of course). It’s a fun book with amazing artwork and even a forward written by the aforementioned Svengoolie himself!

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Twas a “Nightmare on Chicago Street!”

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Hey gang, I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and are looking forward to another year of horror, science fiction, super heroes, and monsters! I’m gonna kick off 2015  with a series of posts on an event that took place during the last Halloween season. Okay I know that isn’t very “New Year-ish”but I felt this story deserved to be looked at carefully and required some time that my Christmas (or Krampus had I been a local here in Elgin) season just didn’t allow. So let’s enjoy these ‘dead of winter’ days (with Dead being the operative word) and discuss an occasion that, while always amazing, is unique each year. Just curl up and forget those sub-zero temps that are plaguing a good portion of the US right now and go back to a much warmer evening WAY back in 2014.

Ah, it seems like only yesterday…

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