Michael Jackson and Halloween went together perfectly. So it’s no surprise that in 2009 he was cooking up something special for the holiday. What is surprising is how close it came to happening, and how little most fans know about it.
The plan was a Halloween television special, set to air on CBS on October 31, 2009. Michael had agreed to host it. It was being put together by Ken Ehrlich, the man famous for producing the Grammy Awards for decades, so this was no small, thrown-together idea. It was a real network event.
And it was built around one of Michael’s own creations.
The “Ghosts” short film the special was built around
This is the spooky short the whole show was going to grow from. Watch it and you’ll see why it was perfect for Halloween night.
The centerpiece was going to be “Ghosts,” Michael’s 39-minute horror short, paired with his classic “Thriller.” The idea was to film a “Thriller” and “Ghosts” medley while he was already rehearsing for his big London concerts. Those rehearsals were the ones later shown in the movie “This Is It.”
So the pieces really were coming together. There was a host, a network and a date on the calendar.
The deal was firmed up at a meeting at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 24, 2009. That was the day before he passed away.
Michael rehearsing “Thriller” for the London shows
Here he is during those very rehearsals. This is the energy that would have carried the Halloween show.
The special never aired, of course. But the story didn’t vanish completely, because a few remarkable things survived.
Among them are Michael’s own handwritten notes for the show. In his handwriting, you can see him working through the details, the little practical worries any producer would have. One of the notes simply asks, “Who’s doing sculpture for Halloween special?”
Read that line again. It’s an ordinary question about props and set pieces, the kind of thing jotted on any to-do list. But knowing it was for a show that never got to happen, it lands softly.
It’s a window into a man who was still dreaming up ideas and still excited about giving his fans a wonderful Halloween.
This Halloween, you can watch the short film that would have been at the heart of it all. The clips above show exactly what Michael was building toward for that October night in 2009.
Give “Ghosts” a watch, and picture the show that almost was.