Emmy-Winning 'Widow's Bay' Creator Went Viral Years Ago With Hilarious Halloween Photo—And Fans Are Obsessed

Forget lifting the curse on Widow’s Bay. After its night at the Emmys, Katie Dippold and company might want to keep whatever supernatural forces are working in their favor.

Apple TV’s horror-comedy premiered in April and stars Matthew Rhys as Tom Loftis, the mayor of a small island town off the coast of New England. Determined to transform Widow’s Bay into a tourist destination, Loftis presses ahead despite locals warning that its sleepy seaside charm comes with some decidedly sinister baggage.

And if you’re wondering where all that comedy comes from, look no further than series creator and showrunner Dippold. With Parks and Recreation, The Heat, and Ghostbusters among her credits, she has spent years finding the funny in chaos—and clearly brought that knack with her.

So, perhaps it’s no surprise that Dippold took home the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series:

“Okay, you know, I always told myself if I ever won one of these things, I would stay humble. You know, maybe I wouldn't even display it. I would just do one of those cool Hollywood things where you keep it in the garage.”

The win was a long time coming. Dippold spent years developing Widow’s Bay, taking the pilot apart, putting it back together, and experimenting with new ideas. During trips to New York’s Museum of Natural History, she even imagined Widow’s Bay versions of its displays—an exercise that helped unlock the world she was creating.

Of course, Dippold’s plans for keeping the Emmy out of sight didn’t last:

“But standing here now, I promise all of you that no one will ever step foot in my home without seeing this thing. It will have its own spotlight. It is going to sit on a rotating turntable.”

You can watch Dippold’s full Outstanding Writing acceptance speech here:

- YouTubeTelevision Academy

It didn’t take long for the internet to dig into Dippold’s past and discover that her flair for mixing spooky with funny goes back much further. In 2016, Dippold went viral after sharing a photo of her Halloween costume as the top-hat-wearing monster from The Babadook.

And frankly, the commitment to the bit was terrifyingly good:

The shadowy boogeyman hails from Jennifer Kent’s 2014 psychological horror film The Babadook, emerging from a mysterious pop-up book to terrorize a widowed mother and her young son.

Years later, Dippold’s spooky-meets-funny sensibility paid off in Emmy gold, with Widow’s Bay taking home Outstanding Comedy Series.

Naturally, Dippold thanked one more mysterious collaborator:

“So thank you so much, and thank you to the Academy, and we'd also like to thank the evil entity on the island that trusted us with its story. Okay, serve the punch now. Thank you so much.”

I can only assume the Babadook and Widow’s Bay’s evil entity have a group chat by now.

You can watch the Widow’s Bay team accept Outstanding Comedy Series here:

- YouTubeNBC

Social media clearly saw the connection, too. As congratulations rolled in, fans resurfaced Dippold’s Babadook costume and couldn’t get enough of this particularly fitting piece of internet history.

Here’s how it unfolded:

Dippold wasn’t the only Widow’s Bay resident with plenty to celebrate. Rhys took home Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his turn as the overcompensating mayor—but his winning streak didn’t stop there.

See Rhys’ big moment here:

- YouTubeNBC

Rhys also won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for The Beast in Me, becoming the first man to win two lead actor categories in the same year.

With Widow’s Bay already greenlit for Season 2, Dippold isn’t done getting weird. Considering her spooky streak stretches back to that unforgettable Babadook costume, perhaps we should’ve seen this coming.

Turns out, the Babadook walked so Widow’s Bay could haunt.