3 reasons Halloween owes South Jersey a debt of gratitude. Michael Myers is involved

Halloween season is upon us.

It’s time for haunted houses, pumpkin patches, holiday costumes, school parades, hayrides and trick-or-treating.

It's also time for a big thanks - from the spooky "holiday" to South Jersey.

Here are three reasons why:

Iconic Halloween movie has ties to Haddonfield

The original Halloween film, a 1978 nightmarish classic, was set in a fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois, and that was in part inspired by screenwriter Debra Hill’s ties to the Camden County borough.

Hill, a Haddonfield native, produced various works of director John Carpenter and co-wrote four of his films, including “Halloween” and “Halloween II.”

“Haddonfield was a place that I loved,” she told the Courier-Post in a 1999 interview. “It's really a beautiful community.”

You ready to be scared? Let’s revisit some of South Jersey’s haunted places if you dare

After graduating from Haddonfield Memorial High School in 1968, she became a script supervisor and production assistant on documentaries in the early 1970s before getting her big break by co-writing “Halloween” with Carpenter.

Cancer claimed Hill's life at just 54 in 2005.

Deranged killer Michael Myers wreaked havoc on the fictional town of Haddonfield, slashing away at teenagers and eventually returning for murderous sequels.

The original classic starred Jamie Lee Curtis. Re-watch it this Halloween if you haven’t seen it in a while.

And think of South Jersey.

Spirit Halloween is headquartered in South Jersey

You know those Halloween stores that seem to pop up just about everywhere this time of year?

The company, Spirit Halloween, is headquartered in Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County, where the retailer’s flagship store is located.

It calls itself the No. 1 Halloween pop-up shop and sells costumes, décor and accessories and more.

Spirit Halloween, in business for 40 years, says it is the largest Halloween retailer in the country with more than 1,500 seasonal locations across the country. The company employs more than 30,000 people, seasonally.

Spirit Halloween was acquired by Spencer’s in 1999.

The companies in May announced a massive expansive project in Egg Harbor Township.

The project will add 81,000 square feet of office space and amenities to the current campus, increasing the footprint to 24 acres or the size of five baseball fields, according to a press release. New amenities will include a state-of-the-art fitness center, outdoor meeting spaces, solar paneling, a one-mile walking path and EV charging stations in a new 400-unit parking lot.

South Jersey ties to horror Inside New Jersey's spooky connection to a horror movie classic, 'Halloween'

“For 46 years, we've called Egg Harbor Township home and this expansion of our corporate campus will further strengthen our commitment to the community and our associates for years to come,” Steven Silverstein, the companies' CEO, said in a press release.

Well-known costume store is based in South Jersey

Runnemede-based Rasta Imposta Costumes supplies major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Party City.

The firm opens its Halloween Costume Outlet, selling directly to the public, during select dates in the fall.

Its website says it also offers unique costumes that can be shipped directly to customers from the company's online store.

“Our products are also available to wholesalers, stocked in specialty shops and merchants around the world," the website states.

“It's a true, old-fashioned factory outlet store,” Robert Berman, president and CEO of Rasta Imposta, said in a previous Courier Post story. The company has designed hundreds of costumes and accessories since launching with rasta hats in 1992.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Why does Halloween owe South Jersey a thank you? We'll tell you