Kansas City, Mo. — She’s campy, kooky, glamorous and spooky.
Midge Munster, one of the spooky community’s most iconic members, has been gracing our timelines with nothing but Halloween fun.
While shes one of the community’s newer members (especially considering some have been around since social media became “a thing”) Midge has certainly made her mark in our Halloween hearts.
Midge is a content creator who not only does YouTube videos about Halloween Hunting and DIY projects, but she also creates fall outfits and does fun photoshoots that keep the Halloween season alive all year.
I took some time to talk to the glamour ghoul to learn about how she got started and how she has seen the spooky community grow.
So let’s dive in and learn all about the Kansas City glamour ghoul.
Follow Midge Munster’s accounts: Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
Splash of Spooky: Tell me how you started. How did you come up with the name Midge?
Midge Munster: I had been doing YouTube for about four and a half years, under the name “Adventures in Vintage.” I did exclusively pinup content and tried to make that work. I wanted to come up with a name for the stage because I didn’t want to use my [real] name because there’s a lot of creepy men out there. I came up with a few and Midge Munster was one of the ones I thought of. The name came out of my love of the Munsters, and the Munsters being rooted in ‘60s horror and where retro and spooky meet.
Midge is also Barbie’s red-headed best friend and then there’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” I always fancied myself as a funny gal. I wanted a name that meant what I wanted to bring — humor and kitsch and spookiness.
I wasn’t doing YouTube under Midge until we went into lockdown and there was that “Quarantine-o-ween” trend that went around. I did a Halloween video in March 2020 and it was the most fun I had making content in a really long time.
I realized that with the pinup community, there’s a mold you have to fit to be successful. And being a plus size person made it hard because I couldn’t wear true vintage. I was trying to be rigid, true vintage and that was killing my joy because that’s not who I am.
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What was the first video/post that made you go viral and realize your big reach?
The first video to really pop off was a Bones Coffee Company review that ended up getting like 18,000 views and at the time I was excited to get 800 views, so it was a really stark shift from what I was doing.
It was the fall of 2020 that I realized something had changed. People were tagging me on Instagram and posting that they were watching my videos and all of a sudden people knew who Midge was. People were talking about it. I was in these Halloween forums because I enjoyed it and I started seeing threads talking about me. And [I remember thinking] like “OMG, something’s happening.”
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. I don’t want to sound like I think I’m a celebrity, because I don’t, but going to Midsummer Scream and not being able to go two feet without people wanting to stop and take photos, it put things in perspective to me. It made me think, “How do famous people feel? How do they go through their days?”
I love taking pictures with people, though. It’s not weird in a bad way. It’s bizarre because if you were friends with me in real life, you wouldn’t think I’m that cool.
You started working for yourself full-time. What has that been like?
Not to be depressing, but it’s kind of lonely. It’s great, but people have two misconceptions about it. [They think it’s] glamorous or people think full-time content creators just sit on Instagram all day and don’t really do work. It’s a lot of hard work.
I spend most of my days talking to a camera in my room by myself so it gets lonely and isolating. I film 20 to 25 hours a week and spend 30 to 35 hours editing those videos and that’s just for YouTube. If I do any additional content for Instagram or Patreon, it’s very time consuming and tedious work.
But every day I wake up and work for myself and get to do this thing that I love so much and not go to my corporate 9 to 5 is the best day of my life. It’s been humbling and amazing to see the support I’ve had from my community, and I really didn’t know this was an option before.
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I hope other people look at me and know that [content creation] is possible as a job and that your time and your creation is valuable because I think that’s something that the culture is still catching up to. Content creators are people who deserve to be paid for their work and they offer a lot to the world.
How many people watch YouTube at night instead of Netflix? We’re making art and we deserve to be paid for that. People don’t see that. They see the highlight reel.
How have you seen the Halloween community grow since you started?
It’s wild. I lucked out when people ask about how I got the channel so big so fast. It was pure luck when I started. It was when people were looking for stuff to watch, but now it’s crazy. Every 10 seconds there’s a new decor hunting channel or a new spooky small business. And I’ve always been a firm believer that a rising tide raises all ships so I’m excited about that fact that so many people are excited about [Halloween], because when one of us succeeds, we all do.
People want to see what we’re putting out there, but it’s weird because it’s becoming less weird. When I tell people what I do, it doesn’t stop them in their tracks anymore. I love seeing [spooky] stuff seeping into the culture more. Miranda [of Spooky Little Halloween] and I talk about this a lot. We’re seeing the effects of that wave all over the place. Even Walmart had scary Valentine’s Day stuff out. People are starting to catch on. We’re seeing horror movies of holidays that aren’t Halloween. Just all types of yearround spooky stuff.
Let’s talk Halloween FOMO. It’s a big thing in the community. What would you tell people dealing with that?
Part of that is that we need to shift a bit as a culture. I’m working actively this year to make my content less about consumerism. Halloween content has become a lot about buying and creating urgency. There’s a lot of freedom in checking out of that thought process.
That’s why I’ve leaned into Halloween all year. You can do it anytime you want. You can enjoy the feeling of Halloween season anytime of the year. One of the ways to deal with [FOMO] is to create more opportunities for yourself to create those feelings. Right now, my biggest blessing is finding other content creators like me who want to talk about something spooky in February as well as October.
Try your best to savor it when it’s here. Don’t feel like you have to do anything if you want to just sit and take it all in. There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy something. We’ve been pitched this idea that there’s one way to enjoy things — and it’s by buying as many things as we can or going to as many events as we can. It’s good to slow down. It’ll all be back next year.
I’m trying to recenter my content about why I wanted to do things in the first place. Showing people how they can live a spooky lifestyle and create things for yourself that are unique and exciting.
Let’s talk about your podcast.
Penny Snark came in with a strong idea for “Ghouls Night In.” If you’re going to start a podcast, it needs to be unique, something that isn’t done already or if you’re doing true crime, you need something that makes you stand out.
Penny was originally going to do the podcast by herself. She filmed an episode and said, “This needs someone else for me to talk to.” When she came to me about co-hosting, I was so thankful. I had been wanting to work on a podcast for a long time but I didn’t know where to start.
She had this idea for a cozy chat show that focused on spooky history but I think the way that ours is structured, in my opinion, is unique and I think short episodes have been our friend. People have said they like to listen to it on their commute. We work hard at the structure of the research. We make sure it comes back to the research and we always have fun presenting it. I have ADHD. I can’t listen to an hour of people just talking. I can’t listen to long drawn-out people just talking over each other. When we went in, it was tight and concise.
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Where do you see your brand going in the next few years? What’s in store? Any merch coming?
I do have merch coming! I rebranded last year and hired an amazing designer, Corinne Dodenhoff, and she made all this awesome cool art that really resonates with what I want my brand to be. So I’ll be doing a really fun kitschy vintage merch drop that I’m very excited about. I’ve also been trying to write a book that’s like those old ‘50s guide to being a housewife, but being a satire of that and making it for the dissatisfied housewife who is a little murderous. I’m having fun with that. I hope it comes together before Halloween.
My biggest goal: I’d love to be designing for a store or a small business who would be interested in doing a Halloween décor line in my style because I have a lot of ideas. I’ve been filing ideas away. Hopefully I find the right partnerships and hopefully I get to show that to you guys.
Midge Munster fast facts:
- What is on your fall bucket list every single year without fail? Pumpkin patch.
- Favorite Halloween movie: “Sleepy Hollow.”
- Unpopular Halloween opinion? Ooh…I don’t like pumpkin spice. Does that count?
- Pumpkin Spice Lattes: Yay or nay? NAY. I love a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, though.
- Favorite horror movie bad guy: Freddy Krueger.
- Favorite store to go Halloween hunting? Probably HomeGoods. You never know what you’re gonna find.
- Most expensive piece of Halloween décor? Probably my Beetlejuice animatronic.
BONUS: The name Midge Munster almost went with? Katrina von Casket.
Anything else you want to say to the spooky community?
I’m really thankful that I get to do this. Keep supporting your spooky creators.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading about Midge as much as I loved talking to her. Who should Splash of Spooky reach out to next? Let me know!
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