Old Scratch And The Pumpkin King

In our earliest days of Haunting, my brother and I built a pumpkin-headed cloaked figure for the middle of the porch.  We used the flour and water recipe for the mache and dipped strips of newspaper into it (not the glue, water, and paper towel approach I use today).  The photo below is from 2001, but I know this guy was standing on my parents' porch on Halloween night for years before that.  I was using black and white film as a goof that year, but I really dig how this one came out.  

The Devil was something I wanted to build to capture the feel of an old Haunted House on some lonely boardwalk somewhere.  

The Haunted Chamber

    What are ye, O pallid phantoms!

        That haunt my troubled brain?

    That vanish when day approaches,

        And at night return again?

    What are ye, O pallid phantoms!

        But the statues without breath,

    That stand on the bridge overarching

        The silent river of death?

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Image by mike machian.

Now Playing: Malus

By Hollan Holmes.

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Land Of The Dead

Images by shallowgrave.

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By Apoptose.

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Sleepy Hollow, New York

In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town.

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW...

- Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Spent yesterday in Rye, New York and the beautiful Hudson Valley.  Got to see some original artwork from Charles Addams and Edward Gorey at the Rye Arts Center.  We then headed to Sleepy Hollow and visited the Old Dutch Church and Cemetery and checked out some local taverns.  In the evening we visited with friends, and as we pulled away to head home, we heard hundreds of Spring Peepers in a local marshland.  Ichabod's mind would have gotten the best of him.

Now Playing: Imaginarium

By Angus MacRae.

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Spring

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

- Emily Dickinson

Now Playing: Leukopenia

From the new release by Void Stasis.  Some really great tracks on this album.

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Hypnagogic

Denise Stoner was 2½ years old the first time she remembers the alien taking her. She was at home in Hartford with her grandfather. Her mother was at the hospital giving birth to her younger sister. She remembers staring out a large picture window and seeing an egg-shaped object in the sky, hovering over some power lines. “What’s Humpty Dumpty doing up in the sky?” she asked. She remembers the fear in her grandfather’s face when he suggested it was time for bed. 

Later that night, as she lay staring at her nursery rhyme-themed wallpaper, an entity walked through her wall. 

Text source.

Image source.

Workshop Photo

From right before the big day...

Disclosure Statements

...The Supreme Court ruled in Milliken v. Jacono that Pennsylvania’s seller disclosure law does not require disclosure of stigmatizing events to a potential buyer. In the case, the court determined that a murder-suicide occurring in the home was not a required disclosure under the law.  

In one often-referenced case from New York, Stambovsky v. Ackley, Jeffrey and Patrice Stambovsky put a down payment on Helen Ackley’s home. While visiting the property, they heard of the rumors of the haunting. Ackley herself claimed in interviews to have seen ghosts, but didn’t mention it to the Stambovskys.

Text source.

Image by an old favorite - Scare Fx.

Containment Protocols

Image by mrusc96.

Seasons

Amazing works by artist Paul Evans.

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