The results are in… After receiving and reviewing the submissions it is time to announce the winners. It was very difficult to select three winners out of all the entries because everybody came up with a variety of solutions to Ben’s hypothetical situation that were funny, clever and very creative. We would like to give a big thank you to everyone who entered the contest. And congratulate those of you whose submissions were selected. Below are the winning entries. The original scenario has been re-posted for your convenience. Enjoy!

Scenario:

After a hard day’s work at Fright Rags, Ben has just drifted off into a very sound REM sleep when all of a sudden he’s jolted awake by loud noises that sound like they’re coming from the storage area where the all the printed shirts are stored. Ben immediately springs out of bed, grabs a baseball bat, and cautiously goes to investigate the disturbance. As he makes his way toward the room, the strange sounds are getting even louder. When he reaches the storage area, an eerie blue light can be seen from underneath the door. Those unrecognizable noises now appear to be a series of growls and tortured groans, like something from a horror movie. Ben’s heart is really pounding now. He pauses for a few seconds to collect himself and then, after gathering up enough courage, he begins to slowly turn the door knob. Upon opening the door, Ben sees a truly shocking sight: all the characters from his printed T-shirts have somehow come to life. So, what do you think Ben should do?

Kim Smith

Thinking quickly and knowing he is highly outnumbered; Ben lobs his baseball bat at the throng of creatures. He misses them all, instead hitting a large, 80s style boom-box. Static crackles and the CD begins to play Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” The characters are amused by the irony of the situation and start dancing to the beat. Ben shrugs his shoulders. “If you can’t beat them, join them,” he thinks, falling into step. Ben and his new-found friends dance well into the night. That is, until a new song begins and the monsters turn on their creator.

Ben’s screams of terror cannot be heard over the wailing tones of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.”

Jason Crampton

“Holy Crap,” Ben says. “I should have made more shirts with good guys on them.” With all the chaos happening in the room, nobody seems to have taken notice of him just yet. Zombies fighting Jack Torrance fighting the Wolfman fighting The Thing fighting Ash—wait, “Ash!” Ben hopefully calls out.

Ash looks up from chainsawing the head off of a giant shark that was thrashing about in the corner, just in time to catch a pick axe to the face from Harry Warden. “Oops,” Ben mutters, and slowly lets his baseball bat slip from his fingers to clatter loudly on the floor. He has now gathered the attention of more than a dozen horrible monsters, and as they slowly inch closer to him, he can only think that Ash may have been his only hope. But then he hears the unmistakable sound of the M41 Assault Rifle from Aliens. “Bill Paxton!” Ben remembers. “I mean, Pvt. Hudson!” “Game over man!” Hudson yells as Cujo is mauling him.

“Game over!”

“Oh, right. Great.” Ben scans the room for anyone else who might be able to help him. No sign of the Brothers Frog, but then again, they were like twelve years old or something. Ben feels bad for dragging them into this mess. As Ben starts to accept his now inevitable fate, he can only hope that it will be quick, and not a slowly eaten kind of death. The unstoppable Jason Voorhees is at the head of the pack, and Ben starts to think a well placed machete to the brain might not be a bad way to go. Then he hears a chainsaw, and assumes it must be Leatherface. Wait. He thinks, I haven’t made a Leatherface shirt! Then, the blade of a chainsaw bursts from Voorhees’s chest, and he is tossed aside, to reveal a bloodied Ash. “Thank God I made two of you!” Ash gives him a quizzical look.

“Come again?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ben says. “Let’s just get out of here.” Ash carves a path to the door, and they quickly shut it behind them. Ben trips on a severed arm that made it through the door. He falls, but when he lands, he’s not on the floor. He’s in his bed. A dream! He is relieved, but also a little disappointed that Ash isn’t in his house. He decides to prepare for the future, and heads straight to the drawing board to create even more Ash shirts. An Army of Ash’s!

Jim Tomarchio

Ben bursts into the room and proclaims “NOT TODAY!” He then rushes towards the various horror characters who are now growling, snarling, and poised to attack him. Ben started to flail his baseball bat at the monsters and other various creatures in an insane and violent manner then very quickly stopped. He realized they were not attacking him, nor doing any damage to his AMAZING printed shirts. Ben blurted out “What are you doing here!?” The monsters then turned and pointed. Simultaneously they roared… “BEER!”

Ten minutes later, Ben and his horde of horrific creature friends were all seated around a table laughing and cracking jokes on each other. The characters from his shirts had to go back to the stellar shirts from which they came and with them they took beer, new jokes and a box of fabric softener.