Continuing our tribute to the once-traditional stroll through the Springfield Cemetery that launched each Simpsons Halloween special in the show's early years, let's take a look at the macabre delights on offer in the opening sequence to "Treehouse of Horror II". This episode first aired on 31st October 1991, as the world remained haunted by everything from the bizarre legacies of its rock and animation juggernauts to the eating habits of the preceding decade.
Bambi's Mom: Since its debut in 1942, Walt Disney's feature animation Bambi has caused no shortage of childhood heartbreak with its stark and upsetting depiction of the death of the titular character's mother (Bambi's coming of age, and the death of his mother, was first depicted in the novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten, but it is the Disney adaptation that gave this shocking narrative moment its indispensable cultural legacy). Bambi's mother (who was voiced by Paula Winslowe) has no name of her own, or at least none is ever given - she is simply a force of maternal benevolence, tender, knowledgeable and nurturing, and the viewer comes to feel as reassured by her presence and guidance as does Bambi, making her death a terrible blow on both counts.
After enduring a harsh winter, Bambi and his mother are relieved to finally stumble across spring grass in the thawing snow, with its promises of regeneration and new life. Fate, however, has played a particularly cruel trick on them, for it is in stopping to eat the supply of grass that they leave themselves vulnerable to attack from offscreen hunters, whose presence Bambi's mother senses too late. Bambi himself escapes, but his mother is not so fortunate. Significantly, the sequence where his mother dies is the last point in the story in which we see Bambi as a fawn, for her death is an indication that his childhood has come to an abrupt halt. Spring is still on the way (the grass didn't lie about that much), but things will never be the same again. The fade-out at the end of this sequence is followed by a startling transition, in which we discover the forest in full spring mode, with a lot of twitterpated birds eagerly singing about the joys of romance and procreation - a symbol of life going on that nevertheless seems disturbing in its indifference to what the viewer has just witnessed. That life carries on after The End, oblivious to one's personal suffering, is perhaps the very harshest lesson to be learned. The tombstone seen at the start of "Treehouse of Horror II" is an unsettling reminder of everything this character death symbolises, both for Bambi and for the viewer - the carcass of this benevolent Disney doe lies six feet under at the Springfield Cemetery, and our childhood innocence lies dead and buried along with her.
Jim Morrison: Lead vocalist of psychedelic rock band The Doors, who joined the infamous "27 Club" after suffering heroin-induced heart failure on 3rd July 1971. In actuality, Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris; his grave was initially unmarked, and only received an official headstone in 1981, on the 10th anniversary of his death. This was courtesy of Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin, who also supplied a bust of Morrison. The depiction in "Treehouse of Horror II" shows the famous tombstone adorned with graffiti, and with a couple of hippie types camped out beside it - Morrison's grave swiftly became a popular place of pilgrimage for fans, many of whom wished to leave their own unorthodox tributes in the form of tags, which also spread to adjacent cemetery features (so Bambi's Mom's tombstone probably wouldn't look so spotless). Mikulin's bust was stolen in 1988, and in 1990 the grave underwent renovation, during which Mikulin's then heavily-defaced tombstone was destroyed and replaced - so the appearance at the start of "Treehouse House II" is as much a tribute to the lost tombstone itself as to Morrison and his cultural legacy. This website contains a visual history of Morrison's grave over the years.
Cajun Cooking: America went through something of a "Cajun Craze" in the 1980s, inspired largely by the popularity of Louisianian celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme. His recipe for blackened redfish became a hit and led to Cajun-style restaurants opening up all over the country, many of whom apparently knew little about what constituted authentic Cajun cuisine. The craze had died down by the 1990s, although not without leaving a critical dent in the wild redfish population.
Walt Disney: Not far from the resting place of his most notoriously ill-fated character lies the big D himself. Walt Disney's tombstone has icicles hanging off it, an allusion to the urban legend that Disney, on being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, had himself cryogenically frozen so that he could be revived and treated at such a time when medical science had caught up with his condition. I love this legend as much as the next person (and whatever your feelings on Disney as a person, the notion of him being frozen in an underground ice chamber beneath the Pirates of The Caribbean ride at Disneyland is all kinds of rad) but in reality, Disney died on 15th December 1966 and all evidence points to his body being cremated two days later. The cryogenics rumor goes at least as far back as 1969, where it was mentioned in a publication of the magazine Ici Paris. It was later promoted by Leonard Mosely's 1986 biography Disney's World, and later still by Walt Disney - Hollywood's Dark Prince by Marc Eliot in 1993, both of which suggest that Disney had an interest in cryogenics, although neither is considered a credible source.
Other aspects of Disney iconography adorn the grave - a pair of Mickey Mouse ears can be discerned at the top of the tombstone, and the engraving is done in the famous Disney script (often thought to be a recreation of Disney's own signature, although that too is dubious).
Lose Weight Now Ask Me How: The marketing slogan of Herbalife Nutrition, a company specicalising in dietary products and supplements. The slogan was worn on pin badges by Herbalife distributors as an open invitation to the public to approach them and ask them about subjects related to their product. The gag here is obvious, in that the peddler, in this case, is dead. So good luck getting answers.
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