You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch

No, I'm not defecting to another holiday, despite the presence of the Grinch on today's post. The Grinch is such an iconic bad guy that even though I love How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I always thought it was a shame to waste him on that one feely-goody holiday. In recent years, though, I was happy to learn he wasn't wasted on just one special, but in fact has a Halloween special of his own!

Halloween Is Grinch Night premiered in 1977, eleven years after the Christmas special (which Grinch Night is a prequel to). It concerns the events on "Grinch Night," when a Sour-Sweet Wind blows through Whoville and incites the Grinch to terrorize the Whos. One little Who named Euchariah goes on a quest to stop the Grinch from bringing his Paraphenalia Wagon full of horrors to Whoville. Inside the wagon, Euchariah meets all sorts of spooky images and monsters, but he sticks it out until the Sour-Sweet Wind dies down and the Grinch must retreat to his mountain hovel.

Unlike the Christmas special, the Grinch doesn't go good at the end of this one, but his dog Max does desert him to go live in Whoville with the much nicer Euchariah. Still, like an evil Mary Poppins, the Grinch vows to return the next time the Sour-Sweet Wind blows.

Even though the show won the Emmy in 1977 for Outstanding Animated Program, it doesn't seem to have been rerun very often (at least in my region), so I didn't see it until I was an adult. I'm sure it must've scared some people as kids, though, thus its presence on this weekend's theme of scary songs from childhood. Just check out this little number called "Grinch Is Gonna Get You." I think the Grinch's heart may have shrunk three sizes the day he came up with it.