Luminous Spooks Sugar Puffs cereal promotion in 1965
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Loading ...Do you remember the Luminous Spooks, a set of ‘glow-in-the-dark’ ghostly figures given away with Quaker Sugar Puffs breakfast cereal in the UK in 1965?
There were eight of them to collect and they could be mounted in a ‘Super 3-D Haunted Manor’ (as a comic advert put it) constructed from the cereal packet.
The Luminous Spooks were special to me, not only because they were the first glowing items I’d ever seen, but also because of the ghostly theme, reinforced by the spooky artwork on the cereal box and by an atmospheric TV advertisement.
The thrill of seeing them glow in the dark is one of the enduring memories of my childhood. Just occasionally I’ll get a fleeting memory of exactly how it felt at the time. Pure magic!
There was a writing competition organized by the local library, or a bookshop perhaps. My entry was entitled ‘The Most Luminous Spooks Ever’. It appeared in a printed booklet along with the other entries and I had a copy of that.
At some point, I imagine the Manor become just a tatty box and so was binned. The Spooks were probably consigned to a drawer for a few years and thrown out when they just became bits of plastic to my eyes. What a mistake!
They made a HUGE impression on me at the time and for a few years now, I’ve been developing a website dedicated to them (http://sites.google.com/site/hauntedmanor/Home). If you can add to the information there or just have memories to share, I’d love to hear from you.
This post was submitted by Matt B.
I’m amazed that anybody remembers these things. But when I was 10, they were the centre of my Universe for several weeks. I still have a couple of these stashed away in a draw somewhere.
There were a similar series of luminous ‘deep sea’ fish that came before the spooks, but I never owned any of these.
Glad to hear from you! As you indicate, the Spooks made a big impact at the time – what puzzles me is that so few people seem to remember them. Any chance of some pictures of your Spooks? If so, I’d love to see them – please send to: retromat ‘at’ btinternet ‘dot’ com. Thanks.
I was 9 at the time and loved these. Once I had a packet withiout one in and with my parents’ help I wrote to Quaker and they sent me some in the post. I still have 4 of them and it is part of our Christmas ritual to hang them from our tree!
Hi Tom – great to hear from another spooks fan! Any chance of some pictures of your spooks? If so, please send to: retromat@btinternet.com. There were variations depending on the moulds used and yours may well differ from the ones shown on my website (http://sites.google.com/site/hauntedmanor). Spooks at Christmas! Well, why not – it is *the* time of year for ghost stories, after all. If you want to give them a ‘home’, you can download a copy of the haunted manor from the back of the packet, from my website. Finally – if you remember any details from the TV ad, please let me know. Cheers, Matt.
Looks like my earlier reply has disappeared
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Anyway – always glad to hear from another spooks fan. Any chance of pictures of your spooks, please? It’s possible that yours may be subtly different from the ones shown on my website, because of differences between moulds. Spooks at Christmas – why not? It is *the* season for ghost stories after all. Cheers, Matt.
Amazing! I don’t know why it came to mind to search these things out but I am glad I did. I recall clearly collecting and building the setting from the box. Did anyone else share the disappointment of rummaging through the cereal only to pull out the “Grandfather Clock” – the unspookiest of the spooks. Whoever designed the bat clearly had no idea what a bat actually looked like. We kids did as we were all batman fans at the time and the luminous bat was just wrong! I remember the suit of armour was called “Algernon” so I assume the others also had names but I don’t recall what they were. Someone, somewhere must still have these little bits of glowing plastic. Lucky them!
Indeed, the bat was odd: an unusual shape and like the skull, lop-sided. Algernon’s helmet was unconvincing as well. Still they marvelous for all that.
Yes, the Spooks all had names. The others were: Alf the Apparition, Bertie the Bat, George the Grandfather Clock, Sidney the Skull & Crossbones, Tilly Tudor, Whitie the Black Cat, Winnie the Witch.
George may not be very spook-like, but is nicely detailed, and along with Algernon and Tilly made this a haunted house set rather than a halloween set. Also, I’m told ‘he’ was the rare one to make completing the set more difficult.
Yes, some people have kept onto theirs and there are some more pictures and a lot more information on the website mentioned in the original item.