Now that we’re squarely into October, I am legally allowed to speak of Halloweenie things without fear of recrimination. One aspect of this wonderfully frightening holiday that gets overlooked are those brilliant or almost brilliant TV specials. I think it’s because of that looming big brother holiday that thinks it owns television. Well, I’m here to tell ya, Rudolph and Frosty ain’t got nothing on Elvira and Combat Carl. I’m going to avoid Halloween episodes of shows, because that’s a black rabbit hole from which no one returns. So, here’s 12 of the best Halloween inspired programs.

12. Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller – I know plenty of folks who wore out this VHS during the month of October, so why not include it. Plus, I believe it was created as a TV special. The documentary is a in depth behind the scenes look at what is still the greatest video of all time. Little did we know how art would imitate life and that Michael turned into a different kind of monster when the sun went down.

11. Halloween Baking Championship – I get that this is an ongoing show, but don’t we need more sugar during this season of the witch? The true stars of this show, and really, only reasons to watch are Lorraine Pascale and the gory confections that turn us all into sweetmeat zombies.

10. The Paul Lynde Halloween Special – I guess they gave out Halloween specials like Clark bars back in the 70s. But, you had me at Betty White, KISS, and Donny and Marie. Now that’s an eclectic and interesting party that beats hanging out with my mom and Uncle boyfriend-of-the-month.

9. Muppets Haunted Mansion – If you love the ride, and honestly how could you not, you’ll enjoy this cute homage. If you don’t, then you probably are missing something vital… like a soul! But seriously folks, this is a celebration of both the Muppets and Disney’s Haunted Mansion, so it’s practically impossible to go wrong there.

8. Elvira’s Halloween Special – The bride of Halloween gets her own MTV special and fills it with cheesy fun skits and music videos. Really, that’s all you needed back in the day, we weren’t nearly as discerning. Elvira is the queen of… doesn’t feel appropriate to say dad jokes, is there an innuendo laden mom jokes option? MILF jokes maybe?

7. Scared Shrekless – I know, I know, the Shrek franchise is all about diminishing returns. But this little outlier is a funny and horrific anthology of uncanny tales. Think of this charming special as more in line with Shrek 1 and 2 than 3 and 4.

6. Werewolf by Night – Talk about your bold-ass coffee, I’m sticking this spanky new entry right in the middle of this list. It’s that damn good! I recognize that we’ve gotten to the point in the MCU where it’s “cool” to shovel globs of hate and bitterness on anything after Endgame. But I’m here to tell all you miscreants, you’re not only wrong, but you’re ugly too. That’s what a steady diet of hatred and whining does to your skin my friend.

5. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror – I am totally cheating and rolling the hundreds of Simpsons Halloween specials into one entry. Full disclosure, I haven’t seen an episode of the Simpsons since the turn of the century, but the ones I did watch were delightfully spoofy and spooky. The Shinning riff is almost as classic as the movie itself.

4. Mad Monster Party? – Rankin/Bass branched out from their Xmas comfort zone to do a stop-motion animated musical comedy starring those classic monsters we all know and love. Boris Karloff gives this instant cred, and it capitalized on how those Universal monsters transitioned from being scary to becoming children’s breakfast cereal mascots.

3. Disney’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – I get it started out as a feature film as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, but it was soon split up and shown on TV as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, so I’m making an executive decision and counting it. See what happens when you have your own site? You quickly get drunk on power and internet influence. Anyway, back to our story, Bing “Daddy Dearest” Crosby narrates this animated gem that’s one-part creepy cartoon and two-parts heady musical. Fun fact: after it made me pee my clam diggers, I became obsessed with the headless horseman.

2. Toy Story of Terror! – This is so freaking brilliant that it could only come from Pixar. Combat Carl (Weathers) steals the show, and the faux commercials feel as real as an anatomically correct life-sized doll (I’m just speculating here). It’s a worthy chapter to the Toy Story canon.

1. It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown – Of course this is number one, I’m a basic bitch at heart. It helps that this is the gold standard of Halloween specials. Really sums up what Halloween meant to kids pre-Tylenol scare. Twas all about the costumes, trick or treating, and those immaculate Halloween parties. Spawned the ubiquitous, “I got a rock” meme, though not sure if that’s a positive or negative.