Catching Up

Still playing catch up from a busy Halloween week.  Currently working on the photo gallery and hope to have that posted to the blog very soon.  

Despite the unseasonably warm weather, the big night was pretty perfect.  The regional drought continues, so rain wasn't a threat this year.  The warm air and low winds created the perfect conditions for the fog machines (we used two this year).  The fog was creeping like a Hammer horror film for most of the night.  

The Haunt was very well received, despite being a little on the dark side this year... though there were quite a few parents who decided to move on to the next house, rather than bring their small children up to the porch for candy.  The ones that made it to our front door were greeted by an unseasonably warm Michael Myers.  One trick-or-treater was nice enough to shout in Myers' face "MICHAEL MYERS, YOU'RE SWEATY!" (Well, in his defense, I was leaking water from the neck of my mask.)  

Speaking of Myers... for some reason it was bugging me that Michael Myers was in the same universe as this ancient Witch, with her strange triangular sigils.  It occurred to me that the terrible sixth film in the franchise (Halloween 6:  The Curse of Michael Myers) involved the Cult of Thorn.  Sure, it was terrible writing, but it involved a small, somewhat-triangular rune which appeared on the wrists of those who served the cult.  Apparently, this rune gave Myers immortality and a compulsion for killing.  An hour before trick-or-treaters arrived, Jenna drew the rune on my wrist.  Hopefully someone saw it as I handed out candy (they probably didn't).  

Inside the house, we had a wonderful turnout for our Halloween party.  Great music, wonderful food (thanks to Jenna), and a load of laughs.  

Click here to listen to the wonderfully witchy and party-appropriate playlist curated by Jenna.  It's pretty awesome.

Feeling incredibly grateful to her as I write this post.  We had an amazing Halloween season once again, as we visited haunted attractions, unique taverns and restaurants with autumnal offerings, and the glorious Halloween town that is Lambertville, New Jersey.  We worked really hard this year to make this one look as creepy as it did, and it wouldn't have looked half as dark had it not been for her ideas and her hard work.  

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Halloween 2024: HAXAN

The Oldest Witch.

The First Witch.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Wishing you all a wonderful and magical holiday.

Supposed to be 82 degrees here today, but it's better than rain!

Some photos below from our photo shoot last night.

Will be adding more pics to this gallery over the days to come.

Memories Of Halloweens Past

I received another submission for this nostalgic blog series.  This one was perfectly timed for these short magical days before the High Holiday of Halloween.  It's very comforting to know that there are so many of us out there who really do keep that torch burning all year long, remembering those special moments and formative years where Halloween became something larger than life to us.  Something way more than just another holiday.  

Joseph Mello writes, "I remember as a kid (I was born in the early 70s) we would trick or treat for what felt like hours. It was usually my older sister, me and my younger brother, and some of our cousins, and various neighbor kids would slip in and out of the group. We would cover street after street. We had plastic pumpkins as little kids, but as we got older (and greedier) we would take pillowcases. And we would walk until we filled those bad boys.

One house one year took Polaroid photos of each kid and gave them to us in little folders to keep. Another lady used to make popcorn balls and give them to us with little bags of candy. She was really nice.

I remember people trying to scare each other. Making up stories about houses that seemed okay during the day but a hundred times scarier at night. One house had a lady we never saw and someone made up a story about her creeping out only at night to clean her yard.

Another house had what, in retrospect, was some strange piece of art, I'm sure. But my brother and I convinced ourselves it was a man who sat with his back to the window and NEVER moved. Frozen, staring into the room. Creeped ourselves out.

One Halloween, a cousin convinced us all to go into the cemetery. Our house shared a property line with a cemetery, and when we were kids it was open, like we could walk from our yard and it just slowly became cemetery. Eventually, the cemetery built a chain link fence around the property to keep troublesome kids out. But that Halloween, we went in, all scared but determined. We made it through to a place where they had left a lot of open land and built a statue with religious figures and a giant cross. My cousin then proceeded to act like she was possessed and writhe around on the grass. We all took turns scoffing at her and totally buying into it. Was a freaky walk back home, in the dark, with leaves crunching under our feet. Creepy night and it was just what we wanted, deep down.

Back home those nights, we would spill out our bags and do the trading of likes and dislikes with the others. Fun to try and get what we loved and ditch what we hated. 

All in all, good memories. Those years felt endless at the time, and now feel like a lifetime ago. Was good to relive the experience second-hand through my kids, but even they are grown now. I am just the candy giver now. Hope there are some kids getting the spooky Halloween night experiences."

Thanks, Joseph!  This sounds a lot like what the Halloweens of my youth were like!  Thanks so much for sharing these memories.

(Photo by me.)

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

And thanks, Mr. Macabre, for the suggestion to do this blog series!  It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Click here to see all submissions.

The Skeleton Key

A final plug for a favorite Halloween blog...  K.O.'s The Skeleton Key.  Loads of terrific entries this season.

Click below...

MISSING CHILD

Memories Of Halloweens Past

The next entry in this fun blog series is really something special.  It comes from MikeC(jasonv123), and I'm really grateful that he shared this one with us.

"I’ve been meaning to write my submission for Memories of Halloweens Past, and after last night's events I just had to write this up. Years ago, when I was young, we would go out trick or treating, and I was typically a vampire in those days.  After my parents took me out trick or treating, we would stop by my grandmother’s house as my last stop. She always had these old vintage pumpkin lanterns along with ceramic jack o lanterns that she would decorate with. She would always give me a zip lock bag with candy and a few dollars in it. What I wouldn't give to go back in time and see her and her decorations one more time!  Years ago, you posted the same pumpkin lantern she had and after some research on eBay I found one for 40 bucks.  After my grandmother had passed away some years back, we couldn’t find her Halloween decorations.  Well, last night, we went to a Halloween party of my mother’s friend Helen.  Her parents and my grandparents were best friends.  After some time checking out Helen’s Halloween ornaments and decorations, I noticed a small skull lantern like my pumpkin lantern. I picked it up and was checking it out when she walked up and said, 'That was your grandmother Martha’s.'  I started to tear up and I was thinking of something to say.  She said, 'It’s yours now.'  I immediately cried!  I thanked her over and over.  After we got home, I took the old batteries out that have pretty much destroyed the internals, but that’s OK - I’ve got a small flicker led tea light powering it now."

Thanks, Mike!  This was great to read on the week of Halloween!  Thanks so much for sharing!

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

An Unholy Place 2024

Todd's Yard Haunt in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

Always a dark treat.