This year’s pumpkin features a “lost” Columbo episode from 1976: “Case of the Killer Copy.” I’m not a fan of gore or violence, so it’s unusual for me to portray murder. But we’d been hooked on watching Columbo episodes all year, and the decor and the mysterious music from this series drew me in right away.
We loved the show so much I even made a Columbo-themed bingo game (you can download it here) designed to be played while you watch it with up to five people. The center square “Columbo arrives in rickety ride” functions as the “free space,” since he almost always shows up in it when he arrives at the murder scene.
There’s no blood in this pumpkin…just a mysterious death potion!
This is one of my top-five favorite pumpkins. I got the Sculpey out to make Columbo and the victim. In the TV show, Columbo’s car is comically dilapidated. I ordered the mini 1959 Peugeot Cabriolet car on eBay (I think it was $10, which is one-third of my entire budget) and painted it primer gray.
The pumpkin itself is a TV, complete with UHF/VHF dials made from Parmesan containers we got from the pizza shop that night. A tiny camera is rolling as Columbo shows up. Being Columbo, he intuitively already knows who committed the crime.
Look at this 1970s star-studded cast! It’s a story of life imitating art–a murder inspired by a novel, complete with the trappings of a Southern California lifestyle.
This year’s pumpkin turned out pretty close to my original idea.
Nimble Narrative 