The title of the episode is a reference to the 1963 horror film The Haunting, as well as the 1981 werewolf film The Howling.
The idea of an ominous phrase which only makes sense when viewed in a mirror is a reference to The Shining where Danny writes "redrum", which spells "murder" when seen in a mirror. The number that Bender sees, 1010011010, is the binary value for 666.
The painting with the moving eyes is that of a robot named Commodore LXIV. The Commodore 64 was a popular early home computer.
The will reading scene is a tribute to a 1971 (approx.) Volkswagen Beetle TV ad showing a long funeral procession of relatives, all of whom the wealthy deceased gentleman deemed to be unworthy of receiving anything from his estate with the exception of his nephew, who examplified his thriftiness by buying a Beetle. The deceased declares in the closing voice-over, "And finally to my nephew... to whom I leave my entire estate of $10,000,000".
The ominous scary theme in the castle is actually the default boot-up sound of Windows 98.
Fry's comment "Hey, Project Satan! Over here! I'm a blind pedestrian! 20 points!" refers to a cult-film from the 1970s, Death Race 2000.
The werecar that runs Bender down is modeled after Christine (a 1958 Plymouth Fury) from the Stephen King novel and 1983 film of the same name.
Bender's werecar form is styled after the titular, George Barris designed monster from the 1977 movie The Car.
Bender's transformation into his werecar form is similar to the 1984 animated television series Turbo Teen.
The scene in which Bender is in the living room of the castle, seated with his knees positioned upright and teeth chattering, is a reference to the 1942 animated short Jasper and the Haunted House.
Calculon's speech about being a 1000 years old, changing his identity, upgrading his appearance every few decades to avoid suspicion, and being all of history's great acting robots is a reference to the character Flint, from the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Requiem for Methuselah", who was also ancient and claimed to be many of Earth's greatest men.
