Happy Halloween, Average Joes!

Nerdoween 2026 continues, and after our first stop on the Passport to the Paranormal World Tour, we're heading back to the '90s to dig up something buried deep in the dusty corners of our childhood:

Bone Chillers.

Before we had streaming libraries full of horror at our fingertips, the '90s were an absolute golden age of spooky stuff made specifically for kids. Goosebumps. Are You Afraid of the Dark? Eerie, Indiana.

And somewhere in the middle of all of it was Bone Chillers, a series that somehow gave us 23 books, an ABC Saturday-morning TV show, Edgar Allan Poe High School, giant frog teachers, Linda freaking Cardellini...

and, of course...

FRANKENTURKEY.

So where did Bone Chillers come from?

How big did this thing actually get?

And if it was big enough to make the jump to network television...

why the hell did so many of us forget about it?

Grab your Scholastic book order and come dig through the second shelf of '90s nostalgia with me.

🎃 NERDOWEEN SCHEDULING NOTE

Week 2 of Nerdoween may look a little different than originally planned.

I'm currently on vacation with my family, and some unexpected circumstances back home changed the amount of time I had to get everything finished and scheduled before we left.

Nerdoween isn't going anywhere, we may just shuffle the release schedule around a little bit.

Thanks for bearing with me, Average Joes. We've still got plenty of spooky stuff ahead of us.

IN MEMORY OF TROOPER HAYDEN PHILLIPS

At the end of this episode, I take a moment to remember Kentucky State Police Trooper Hayden Phillips, Unit 369, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty on September 28, 2026.

Trooper Phillips leaves behind a family now facing the unimaginable.

The Kentucky State Police Foundation is accepting donations to support his family. According to the Foundation, 100% of donations designated through its giving page will go directly to Trooper Phillips' family to assist with meals, household bills, and other everyday necessities.

Money can never replace the husband, father, son, friend, and fellow officer they lost. But if you're able and feel moved to help, maybe together we can take one small piece of weight off their shoulders while they navigate what comes next.

Support Trooper Hayden Phillips' family through the official Kentucky State Police Foundation:

https://kspfoundation.org/

Rest easy, Trooper.

End of Watch: September 28, 2026.

Come hang out with us in The Lobby, the official Average Joe Nerdcast Discord, and tell us what forgotten piece of '90s horror we need to dig up next.

Link to Discord: https://discord.gg/4Cx7FZw3Q

Stay Gold. Nerd Bold.

#AverageJoeNerdcast #Nerdoween #BoneChillers #90sKids #90sNostalgia #90sHorror #KidsHorror #Halloween #HalloweenNostalgia #BetsyHaynes #SaturdayMorningTV #RetroTV #RetroHorror #Podcast #Nerdoween2026

© 2026 Average Joe Nerdcast. All rights reserved.

Average Joe Nerdcast, Nerdoween, and associated original audio, commentary, graphics, branding, and written material are the property of Average Joe Nerdcast unless otherwise noted.

All third-party names, titles, characters, trademarks, images, clips, and other referenced properties remain the property of their respective copyright and trademark holders. Their use in this program is for purposes of commentary, criticism, discussion, education, and review.

Average Joe Nerdcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by the creators, publishers, broadcasters, rights holders, or other entities associated with Bone Chillers.

Nerdoween is back. And this year, we're leaving home.

Welcome to Nerdoween 2026: Passport to the Paranormal, a four-week journey around the world chasing the stories people tell when the lights go out.

Our first stop: Japan.

We begin aboard a train in January 2004, where a person posting online as Hasumi claims their familiar ride home suddenly stopped being familiar at all, eventually leaving them alone at a station nobody could seem to find:

Kisaragi Station.

But that's only where tonight begins.

Around our first international campfire, we're traveling from the haunted well of Okiku at Himeji Castle to the late-'70s panic surrounding Kuchisake-onna, the Slit-Mouthed Woman. Then we're passing the flashlight to people who claim they've had their own unexplained encounters in Japan before returning to Kisaragi Station to discover what happened after Hasumi stepped off that train.

Finally, we'll turn the lights back on and explore how Halloween found a home in modern Japan, from early celebrations in Harajuku to Shibuya and the absolute insanity of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Japan.

Welcome to Nerdoween 2026.

GOT A PARANORMAL STORY OF YOUR OWN?

Send it to averagejoenerdcast@gmail.com or join The Lobby and drop it in the Nerdoween channel. Your story might make it around the fire before October is over.

Link to Discord: https://discord.gg/4Cx7FZw3Q

A QUICK NERDOWEEN SCHEDULE NOTE:

Week Two of Nerdoween may look a little different from our normal release schedule. Everything's okay on the AJN side, we're just giving a little room to something important happening outside the show.

Stay tuned for Thursday's episode for a brief explanation and an update on what to expect next week.

Thanks for bearing with us, Average Joes. The Passport to the Paranormal isn't finished yet.

Stay Gold. Nerd Bold.

© 2026 Average Joe Nerdcast. All rights reserved.

#Nerdoween #AverageJoeNerdcast #PassportToTheParanormal #KisaragiStation #JapaneseGhostStories #JapaneseFolklore #KuchisakeOnna #OkikusWell #UrbanLegends #GhostStories #Paranormal #Halloween #Halloween2026 #HorrorPodcast #NerdCulture

Remember when October seemed to take over the entire television?

This week on Average Joe Nerdcast, Nate fires up the CRT and heads back to Halloween TV in the ’90s, when TGIF felt like an appointment, sitcoms went spooky for the season, and one random creepy episode could permanently lodge itself in your childhood brain.

We’re remembering the Wereman from Dinosaurs, Tim Taylor’s completely unhinged commitment to Halloween pranks, Boy Meets World turning into a full-blown slasher movie in “And Then There Was Shawn,” and Sabrina the Teenage Witch doing what Sabrina did best: making every week feel a little like Halloween.

Along the way, Producer Steve returns from wherever the hell he’s been to correct one very important childhood memory, Nate discovers that his internal television calendar is apparently based entirely on vibes, and we get into why TGIF, SNICK, Disney Channel and those old seasonal TV traditions meant so much in the first place.

Because maybe what we really miss isn’t just the shows.

Maybe it’s who was sitting on the couch beside us.

Happy Halloween, Average Joes.

Nerdoween 2026 is officially upon us.

Stay Gold. Nerd Bold.

#AverageJoeNerdcast #90sKids #90sNostalgia #Halloween #HalloweenTV #TGIF #BoyMeetsWorld #HomeImprovement #SabrinaTheTeenageWitch #Dinosaurs #Nerdoween

© 2026 Average Joe Nerdcast. All rights reserved.