Airdate: Monday, October 18, 2004
In this "scary car-toon" adventure from 1937, The Homestar Runner and his old-timey friends try to capture a ghost for a 27-cent "ree-ward", while Strong Bad and his lackeys try to beat them to the punch.
Tropes:
- Absurd Phobia: Marzipan is afraid to look in the pumpkin patch.
- Anachronism Stew: Deliberate. The Homestar Runner catches Fat Dudley sneaking some hooch. Prohibition ended in 1933, four years before this toon was "made".
- Bad "Bad Acting": The entire toon, but especially The Homestar Runner and Strong Bad "saying" their screams when they see the ghost.
- Bedsheet Ghost: The ghost wears a long black cloak.
- Bones Do Not Belong There: When the characters get scared out of their skins, we see that Marzipan has bones in her pigtails and Strong Bad has them in his mustache.
- Buried Alive: Happens to 1930s Bubs and Sickly Sam. In the latter's case, he willingly does this to himself on Tuesdays.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Homestar Runner is so hungry he tries to eat a moth.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Sickly Sam is referred to as "[their] worst friend."
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: "Criminy crickets! Foiled again!"
- The Great Depression: In full swing for this toon. Food is so scarce that The Homestar Runner (who tries to eat a moth), Marzipan and Fat Dudley haven't eaten in weeks. The reward for capturing the ghost is a mere 27¢ but according to Strong Bad, that's enough to buy gold pants.
- Haunted House: Subverted with the Old Pietimer Place. Instead of finding the ghost, The Homestar Runner is disappointed to see "just a bunch of gross aminals."
- MacGuffin Super-Person: Non-living example in the ghost.
- Meaningful Release Date: Parodied in-universe. Strong Bad mentions buying Rockefeller's monocle with the reward. The cartoon was "released" in 1937; John D. Rockefeller died in May of that year.
- Portrait Painting Peephole: A painting's eyes in the Old Pietimer Place follow The Homestar Runner, making him suspicious. He takes off the portrait only to see two one-eyed crows.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The Stinger has a skeletal Strong Bad trying on gold pants only to find that none of them will fit his frame.
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: Inverted. The reward for capturing the ghost is a mere 27¢, which in real life would have only been worth $3.92 after inflation from when the toon released, but is apparently enough to buy gold pants.
- Self-Deprecation: Implied by the page title: "Bury me deep I'm cold and clammy!"
- Shout-Out: Marzipan says "We should split up," to which The Homestar Runner answers, "We can do more damage that way".
- Skewed Priorities: Marzipan thinks searching the graveyard will be less scary than the pumpkin patch.
- Tempting Fate: The Homestar Runner asks where the real ghost is... and he appears.
- Title Drop: Parodied in the opening scene.The Homestar Runner: I read that a ghost.
Marzipan: You read that a ghost what?
The Homestar Runner: I read that a ghost is.
Marzipan: You read that a ghost is what?
The Homestar Runner: I read that a ghost is here in town and there's a 27-cent ree-ward for its capture. - Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The Homestar Runner doesn't seem too fazed by the two one-eyed crows behind the Portrait Painting Peephole.
- Wild Take: The Homestar Runner and Strong Bad do this when they see the ghost, their skeletons literally jumping out of their skins.
