Halloween Cardboard Die-Cut Gallery: Creatures of the Night

Posted on October 29, 2015 by The Big Scare

The Big Scare is proud to announce the final installment of this year’s Halloween Cardboard Die-Cut Gallery. We hope you have enjoyed all of the frightening images you have seen here. We will be back with even more images next year. Until then, take in the terror-ific sights of these Halloween frights. We’ll be back in two days with another post.

Eureka Vampier

Skeleton in Window

Beistle Grim Reaper

Glow-in-the-Dark Skeleton

Jointed Skeleton

Beistle Werewolf

Beistle Vampire

Beistle Flying Dracula

Owl and Moon

Halloween Cardboard Die-Cut Gallery: Jack-O’-Lanterns

Posted on October 25, 2015 by The Big Scare

Greetings, Boils and Ghouls! Today we continue our series on The Big Scare featuring images that will bring the Halloweens of Yesteryear to electric life! Today, we highlight the magic of the Jack-O’-Lantern. Enjoy these boo-tiful creations.

Beistle Scarecrow Head

Beistle Jack-O’-Lantern

Eureka Skeleton, Bat, and Pumpkin

Jack-O’-Lantern

Happy Halloween Sign

Halloween Cardboard Die-Cut Gallery: Witches

Posted on October 23, 2015 by The Big Scare

They call it the season of the witch, so what better Halloween character to feature in today’s gallery than that of the Wicked Witch!

Evil Green Witch

Today’s gallery features depictions of the craftiest old crones in the history of Halloween. The images seen here were produced from the early 20th century through the 1980s by a variety of manufacturers. There are certain traits that most of the witches share. Green complexions, long noses, warts, and capes appear on several of the witches in the gallery, and nearly all of them are seen riding brooms. (The association between witches and brooms stretches back the Dark Ages where the first images of witches riding brooms were depicted on elaborately illustrated manuscripts.) And while the broom is but one of a series of similarities, there’s really only one thing that all of the images truly have in common: the tall, pointy hat. That conical hat was first associated with witches in the early 18th century; it became popular in Victorian storybooks, was donned by the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, and, as such, has remained a staple of the witch’s wardrobe ever since.

Now that you have been educated on the origins of these witches’ outfits, feel free to delight in the devilment of the delightful die-cut art!

Witch and Moon

Witch and Cauldron

Eureka Witch

Beistle Witch and Moon

Eureka Witch and Moon

Beistle Green Witch

Halloween Cardboard Die-Cut Gallery: Bats and Ghosts

Posted on October 5, 2015 by The Big Scare

Welcome back, foolish mortals, to our haunted mansion of the macabre! Today we continue with our series on vintage Halloween decorations! Our ghastly line-up today features die-cut images of bats and ghosts!

Beistle Ghost

Halloween cardboard cutouts reached peak popularity in the second half of the 20th century. There are a few companies that were quite well-known for manufacturing these paper masterpieces. The most renowned of these is The Beistle Company. Beistle was founded in 1900 and, since then, has produced some of the most iconic images of the Halloween season. Beistle is still in business today, and remains a giant in the party products industry, but the company’s current output pails in comparison to what was produced in the last century. That being said, they offer a limited line of vintage reproduction products called “Vintage Beistle”. The line-up is rather small and doesn’t delve too deeply into the massive catalog of products released from the 1920s through the 1980s.

Eureka Haunted House

Pumpkin Ghost

Beistle Flying Bat

Another manufacturer of macabre images is Eureka! Eureka created dozens of die-cuts that defined October in the 1970s and 1980s. Enjoy today’s images, many of which are of Beistle and Eureka products, and stay tuned for more devilishly delightful die-cut art!

Ghosts, Bats, and Pumpkin

Ghost and Haunted Tree

Ghost and Tombstone

Ghost Reading with Black Cat

Ghost and Cat

Ghosts and Haunted House

Halloween Cardboard Die-Cut Gallery: Black Cats

Posted on October 3, 2015 by The Big Scare

Greetings, Boils and Ghouls! Today we begin a new series on The Big Scare featuring images that will bring the Halloweens of Yesteryear to electric life!

Beistle Jointed Black Cat

We have created several galleries of vintage Halloween cardboard die cut decorations for your booing pleasure. In the 20th century, these paper cutouts adorned windows and walls in homes and schools during the month of October. The earliest ones started appearing in the 1920s. By the 1950s, they were staples of the season. Nowadays, there aren’t that many being produced, and the ones that are being created are nearly all computer-generated. Fortunately, we have nearly 100 years of cardboard die-cuts to draw from for our galleries. What’s more, every die-cut that will be featured in our galleries is hand-illustrated, designed by an artist or team of artists who captured the spirit of the season with old-fashioned ink and paint.

We launch our Halloween die-cut gallery series with images of one of Halloween’s foremost icons: the black cat! Enjoy! And come back in two days for more devilishly delightful die-cut art!