By NPR

This Halloween season, the cereal monsters are on the loose. Count Chocula, Boo Berry and Franken Berry have consumers in their grasp — for a limited time only.

General Mills’ line of “Monster Cereals” originally hit the market in the early ’70s, but the company decided in 2010 they would only be available during the Halloween season.

“That was bad news for some people,” says Dan Pashman, host of Sporkful food podcast.

Cereal fans found ways to get by. One of Pashmn’s podcast listeners turned her sister in Tuscan, Ariz., into a “Boo Berry mule” by making her cross the border into Mexico to get the cereal.

“This artificial scarcity has kind of galvanized a cult following around this time of year for these cereals,” Pashman tells Weekend Edition host Rachel Martin.

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