The Nightmare Before Halloween

October 31, 2023 12:20 AM

Southampton farm's Tim Burton-inspired pumpkin mosaic sets Guinness World Record
posted by chavenet (6 comments total)

Being English, it's so odd to me that I remember when Guising was a bigger thing than Halloween, yet it suddenly exploded to the point where I doubt anyone knows what a guy is, outside of maybe Lewes. Not to uphill it both ways, but I remember carving out a turnip and using bin bags as a witch costume to go trick-or-treating, then a week later the bigger lads dragging round vaguely human-shaped stuffed old clothes to the bonfire on the common. Penny for the guy?

Thinking on - I am glad our autumnal celebration is non-sectarian now, and I love that it travelled from these islands, to America, and back again, and I think it's a lot more fun for kids now than it was when I was small hundreds of years ago.
posted by sarahdal at 2:56 AM on October 31, 2023 [6 favorites]

I visited that farm years ago for an open evening. Lovely people running it and trying to make a living outside of supplying supermarkets.
posted by dowcrag at 5:26 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who saw that (amazing) creation and immediately imagined Danny Elfman walking up to it singing, "What's this? What's this?"
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 8:33 AM on October 31, 2023 [4 favorites]

I've seen white squashes, but was wondering about the grey and black (they're actually pale blue and very dark green, apparently). Not that it would take anything away if they had ended up painting some of them, but it's very cool that they worked so well within a natural pallette.
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:50 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

Brilliant!
posted by doctornemo at 12:02 PM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

That's not in Southampton! It's in Totton. (misses the point)
posted by paduasoy at 6:04 PM on October 31, 2023