Ghoulish Things

More works by My Ghoul Friday here.

Haunted Railroad

Images by Low Light Mike.

And The Award For Best Halloween Decoration Goes To...

We spotted this gorgeous decoration last night on a drive through the local neighborhoods.  We were hunting for home haunts and cool decor, turning up dark, unfamiliar streets when we spotted any kind of orange or green or purple glow.  

As we were working our way home, we came down a street that didn't have very much going on by way of Halloween.  Then, on our right, was this simple and elegant movement, bathed in flickering orange light.  Not sure if this is sold in stores, but I found some tutorials online calling it Hovering, Dancing Ghosts.  

It was perfection.  We stood watching these dancing spirits for so long... they floated above their faux fire, swaying and shifting in the wind.  It was bliss.

The photos don't do it justice, so click HERE to see them in action.

The Woods

"[When] we got home, we immediately called our local sheriff… a few days went by, and he showed up to let me know that we were not imagining things, and someone really did chase us. I asked what they found and who it was. He looked down at the ground and then looked up, and said, ‘I'm not going to tell you what we found or who it was because if I do, you will never hike anywhere again. What we found was not normal and will not happen up here again.’ I never found out what they found or who it was. I never hiked that section of the trail again, and it completely burnt last year."

Image source.

Text source.

Memories Of Halloweens Past

The next entry for this nostalgic blog series comes from my gal Jenna.  I've had the pleasure of seeing this neat item up close, so it was really wonderful hearing about its backstory.

Jenna writes "Over the years people have often asked me, 'Why do you like Halloween so much?' or 'Why do you like such scary things?'  I don't really have an answer for them. Truthfully, I have always found myself drawn to darker interests. Poe and R.L. Stine in grade school. The Twilight Zone and heavy metal in middle school. But when thinking about my favorite memory of Halloweens past (thanks to Mr. Macabre), my thoughts kept coming back to a very non-scary subject: My Grandmother, from now on referred to as Grandie (a nickname of her own creation). She is decidedly not spooky, or scary, and does not relate to my love of horror movies and dark art, but she was formative for my love of Halloween. 

Grandie and my Grandfather lived out in the country, not far from the previously mentioned Hex Hollow. In fact, my first haunted hayride as a kid was the local fire hall hayride that took you though Hex Hollow the week or so before Halloween.

She was Martha before Martha - making loads of homemade candy, Golden Grahams smores bars, and soft pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting in the days leading up to the High Holiday. The house was filled with decorations - a sound activated laughing witch (long gone), tons of paper Hallmark party goods, and a unique ceramic pumpkin that she would save for me to put together (once I was old enough to be trusted not to break it). 

This particular decoration encompasses all the imagery I love and associate with Halloween - ghosts, a spooky tree, a cemetery, and a jack-o-lantern. Each year, I would arrange the ghosts around the tree, always in the same places, like a ritual. The tombstone and the jack-o-lantern were my absolute favorites, and would go in the very front, so that I could take them out and hold them whenever I wanted.  It wasn't truly Halloween until this pumpkin was on display. 

Grandie is still with us and turned 98 this year. Knowing my love of Halloween, she handed down her recipes and decorations over the years as she downsized and moved into a retirement community. I think the ceramic pumpkin was the first decoration she gave me when she moved - she knew how much I loved it. Now I am the one decorating and hosting for Halloween, and though she doesn't always understand the darker decor, she loves seeing how we spend our holiday, and will forever be an important part of my Halloween."

For anyone interested in submitting, you can email me at pumpkinrot @ gmail . com (remove the spaces, of course!)

And click here to see past entries!

Sweetbriar Studio Art

Some neat designs here.

Click here for the Etsy shop.

The Order Of The Halloween Tree

A photo series tribute to Ray Bradbury's classic tale.

Chapter 2:  George Smith

In the west, the sun, smothered and dying in clouds, sank. Moundshroud hooted his delight:

“There it goes, boys. The heart, soul, and flesh of Halloween. The Sun! There Osiris is murdered again. There sinks Mithras, the Persian fire. There falls Phoebus Apollo all Grecian light. Sun and flame, boys. Look and blink. Turn that crystal spyglass. Swing it down the Mediterranean Coast a thousand miles. See the Greek Isles?”

“Sure,” said plain George Smith, dressed up as fancy pale ghost. “Cities, towns, streets, houses. People jumping out on porches to bring food!”

“Yes.” Moundshroud beamed. “Their Festival of the Dead: the Feast of Pots. Trick-or-Treat old style. But tricks from the dead if you don’t feed them. So treats are laid out in fine banquets on the sill!”

The Pumpkin Ghost

 

Screaming

I have often heard it scream. No, I am not nervous, I am not imaginative, and I never believed in ghosts, unless that thing is one. Whatever it is, it hates me.

Text source.

Image by Haunted Skull.

Porch Ghost

Image by John "Mike" Smith.

Phantasma

Daytime Sighting

Some ghost hunters believe that darkness helps to draw out ghostly entities. Yet even a casual review of ghost reports reveals that this is not true: most sightings do not occur in darkness. People have reported seeing ghosts in broad daylight, in the morning, and at all times of the day. Well over a century ago, it was recognized that ghosts were not necessarily associated with the dark—popular perception notwithstanding. Educator and researcher Eleanor Sidgwick of the Society for Psychical Research concluded around 1885 when analyzing hundreds of eyewitness ghost reports that “ghosts may be seen in daylight or in artificial light, at dawn or at dusk, and in various parts of a house or outside in the yard,” according to Michaeleen Maher.

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Halloween 2019: The Ghost