Halloween 2014: The Spooky & the Ghastly

Halloween Masks
If you’ve been stuck pondering what costumes to pursue and/or avoid this Halloween — depending upon your desire to conform and/or stand out — the Internet has figured out what it is the world will be wearing, and has set about filling us in.

Yahoo has shared its list of the year’s most searched for Halloween costume ideas; and as is being widely opined, it ain’t exactly scintillating stuff. BUT, this is all the same the stuff folks will most likely be wearing at this autumn’s assorted fancy dress balls, masquerade cotillions, and haunted hayrides.

Looking it over it seems we’ve got some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, some Hunger Games, characters from Disney‘s Frozen, and such and such.

But, why tell you when we can show you. Here are the lists.

Top “buzzing costumes”:

1. Ninja Turtle Costume – up 5,225 percent from the previous week
2. Pirate Costumes – up 4,045 percent
3. Star Wars Costumes – up 2,828 percent
4. Poison Ivy Costume – up 2,222 percent
5. Superhero Costumes – up 1,328 percent
6. Catwoman Costume – up 1,163 percent
7. Monster High Costume – up 1,113 percent
8. Olaf Costumes – up 1067 percent
9. Elsa Frozen Costume – up 985 percent
10. Tinkerbell Costume – up 951 percent
11. Pocahontas Costume – up 931 percent
12. Minnie Mouse Costume – up 928 percent
13. Alice in Wonderland Costumes – up 875 percent
14. Little Red Riding Hood Costume – up 798 percent
15. Great Gatsby Costumes – up 702 percent
16. Minion Costume – up 609 percent
17. Maleficent Costume – up 460 percent
18. Wonder Woman Costume – up 162 percent
19. Frozen Anna Costume – 150 percent
20. Katniss Everdeen Costume – up 85 percent

And if that’s not specific enough, here you go:

Top-spiking Halloween costume searches based on recent movie characters:

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – up 356 percent
2. Great Gatsby – up 293 percent
3. Black Widow (The Avengers) – up 243 percent
4. Anna (Frozen) – up 240 percent
5. Deadpool (upcoming X-men movie) – up 148 percent
6. Maleficent – up 143 percent
7. Star Lord (Guardians of the Galaxy) – up 138 percent
8. Elsa (Frozen) – up 117 percent
9. Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy) – up 113 percent
10. Katniss (Hunger Games trilogy) – up 97 percent
11. Captain America (The Avengers) – up 54 percent

Top-spiking Halloween costume searches based on classic movie characters:

1. Red Riding Hood – up 466 percent
2. Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland) – up 404 percent
3. Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz) – up 399p ercent
4. Thing 1 and Thing 2 (The Cat in the Hat) – up 188 percent
5. Batman – up 184 percent
6. Joker (Batman) – up 98 percent
7. Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland) – up 73 percent
8. Mary Poppins – up 56 percent
9. Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland) – up 50 percent
10. Cleopatra – up 36 percent
11. Catwoman (Batman) – up 34 percent

And finally, and frankly this is kind of what it all should be about anyway (well it SHOULD be about ghoulies and goblins and zombies and ghosts, but we’re not going to get into that), here’s the list of kids costumes:

Top-searched Halloween costumes for kids:

1. Frozen
2. Star Wars
3. Monster High Costumes
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
5. Captain America Costume
6. Transformers Costumes
7. Disney’s Maleficent Movie Costumes
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Lalaloopsy Halloween Costumes
10. Skylanders Halloween Costumes

Okay, that’s what folks are looking for and inquiring about. Amazon has released a list of the costumes folks are actually purchasing.

Women’s costume purchases seem consistent with the searches; Catwoman, Wonder Woman, and Maleficent topping the bunch. What the men are buying, however, throws a bit of a curveball; a Superman t-shirt, a cheap banana costume, and fake lederhosen topping their list. And the kids? Well, it’s all about that danged Frozen and those darned Ninja Turtles again.

So, do with this insight into the All Hallow’s zeitgeist as you will. Also, remember to drink responsibly, and to brush and floss after eating all that candy, and to use PeekYou if you’re searching for someone who you believe might have a presence on the public web.