A Haunted Place

More images by chuk_hell here.

The Art Of Edward Delandre

More works here.

Mischief

Saw an excellent post over at K.O.'s The Skeleton Key blog regarding October 30th - that night before Halloween.  You know the one... where kids are supposed to roam the streets late at night, looking for houses to soap up and trees to bomb with rolls of toilet paper.  That night where crimes are committed in cities across America, and the orange glow of vandal fires can be seen for miles (like in The Crow).  

In her post, K.O. mentions there are different expressions for this night depending on where you live in the country:  Trick Night, Mischief Night, Gate Night, Cabbage Night, Devil’s Night, or Goosy Night.  In some parts of this country, it's not even a thing.  In the town where I grew up, we called it Mischief Night.  And we feared it.  When I was in grade school, we used to talk about it a lot as the Halloween season approached.  We imagined older kids targeting our houses, or even us (if we happened to be out on the streets that night).  Then we would talk about what WE would do if WE were the bad kids.  "We should go soap up some car windows!" (How did that even get invented?)  Then we'd discuss toilet-papering someone's tree.  "Maybe that old couple on the block?!"  (I once heard someone comment that you immediately endorse capital punishment when you find a tree on your property covered in toilet paper.)  And then, of course, the throwing of eggs.  That one always felt so gross to me and was the most feared.  To be Egg'd seemed like the worst possible assault to suffer.  But we talked a lot about that one as well... whom we should Egg...  and what porch or what car should be bombed.  

So we made all of these elaborate plans and talked at length about the dangers of Mischief Night, but we never followed through with any of our plans, nor did we ever hear about any actual mischief or vandalism carried out on some poor homeowner.  It's a very strange notion:  to worry about something when there is no historical data to support it occurring.  I suppose that's the nature of worrying, but then again it IS a known "holiday" after all... a prank holiday.

One time when I was in eighth grade, my brother and I must have appeared bored on Halloween Eve, the 30th of October.  My mother observed this listlessness and placed an egg on the kitchen table.  She suggested we take it outside and find a target on this night of nights.  Keep in mind my brother and I were the antithesis of mischief.  And keep in mind my parents were both extremely cheap, so wasting an egg in this fashion was as shocking then as it is now to write about.  

Even more shocking was how thrilling this concept was to us.  It was instant exhilaration.  And even more shocking still was that all of us knew the target, without ever saying a word.  For, you see, there was this one house up the block, and inside that house was an older couple, probably in their sixties.  This couple hated everyone and everything.  And during any given day of any given year, they MUST have been sitting by their window perpetually, since the reaction time to stepping on their grass and them screaming out their front door was almost simultaneous.  

The old couple lived next door to family friends of ours and we'd play in the backyard and pray the ball wouldn't bounce over the fence and land in their yard - which it of course did, many times. And each time, literally every single time, this crazed woman would fly out of the back door and scoop up the ball and take it into the house. And my friend's parents would never say anything to get them back.

Well, the plan was set.  My brother would ride me up the street as I stood on the back of his bike.  We would go way past the house and make some loops and figure eights and give the appearance of having casual harmless fun.  Upon our return back down the street, we would launch the egg at their wooden garage door, which was below their living room windows.  All the row homes in our neighborhood were like this - three stories, with a garage on the ground level.  

The figure eight part worked like a charm.  

As we swung around and drove by the house for our bombing run, I dropped off the back of the bike so I could throw the egg from a stabilized position.  I threw this thing as hard as I could without smashing its delicate shell in my hand.  The egg took off towards the garage.  As we both watched the white streak in the air, it did something that looked like those cheap 3D movies where something is flying and bouncing on an invisible string.  The egg wobbled and swooped up really fast at the last moment and hit the center window above the garage.  The window shook with the loudest thud I've ever heard.  Praise the gods of this horrid holiday that the window didn't break.  But the egg sure did.

My brother fired off down the street on his bike with me running as fast as I could behind him (I think at one point I was running next to him).  We had never been so scared.  We dropped the bike on the lawn and shot inside our house.  I think we waited for those awful old people to show up at the front door demanding some kind of justice for our crime.  

Thankfully, no one ever showed.  And that Mischief Night was the only Mischief Night in our street's history where such a prank occurred.  It's weird to ponder that my own mother (not me) essentially was the reason Mischief Night continued to cause anxiety in these parts.  I'm sure that mean elderly couple ranted to neighbors about the assault on their home.  And I'm sure folks looked at the yellow and white mess on the window and in the driveway and were thankful they survived another Mischief Night unscathed.

Click here for the Mischief Night post over at the awesome Skeleton Key blog.

Capsicum Annuum

Or, rather, Wicked Ornamental Peppers.

We put these devil-horned guys in the ground this weekend.  They remind me of Tim Curry's demon creature 'Darkness' from the film LEGEND.

Trailer: The Manhattan Alien Abduction

Click below...

Now Playing: Tubular Bells

By Book of Love.  

It's not every day Tubular Bells can be sassed up with a fresh beat, but this actually works really well.  

Click the sweet girl below...

Memories Of Halloweens Past

The next submission for this fun blog series comes from author Karen Joan Kohoutek.  It's a special memory as it demonstrates those rare moments when we were young that helped form our love for this strange holiday.  

She shared "I wrote an entire book about my Halloween memories, but in fact, one of my earliest memories is of trick-or-treating. The other is going to a small-town carnival, so obviously I had a Bradbury-esque childhood! I couldn’t have been more than four years old, and we lived in a very small town, on a short street with maybe four houses on each side. My mom made me an Underdog mask, drawing it on a paper bag and cutting it out, and I carried another paper bag with Halloween pictures drawn on it.

One of my older sisters took me to the houses on the block, and I was absolutely dazzled to be outside after dark, walking in the mysterious night air. I don’t remember any other kids, just the two of us in a nearly silent world. Just the trees, and the neighbor houses that all seemed unlike themselves, like we were in a new dimension where nothing was normal. I assume there were lit jack-o-lanterns on the steps and fallen leaves on the sidewalk, because I don’t remember that, but when I see them at night, or certain images of them, I feel a jolt from this memory.

It probably took less than a half hour to go to all the houses and get me back home with my candy, but in some ways I’ve never gotten over that night. The experience somehow imprinted on me, and everything Halloween still fills me with a poignant joy."

Image source (Figured it was appropriate for this story).

Click here for her book.

and click here to see all the Memories of Halloweens Past!

And thanks again, Mr. Macabre, for suggesting this series.  It's the gift that keeps on giving.

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

The Living Dead Museum

After taking some photos of the zombie on the outside of the Monroeville Mall, we ventured inside to The Living Dead Museum.  Walking through the same spaces where Dawn of the Dead was shot was a very neat experience.  I tried to imagine Romero filming in those giant empty spaces.  And tried to picture motorcycles driving through there at some point back in 1977-78.  And of course - the zombies.

The museum is at the far end of the mall, right above Romero Square.  Tickets were reasonably priced and the items within were fantastic.  Loads of historical facts and artifacts relating to Romero's films, and other zombie-centric movies.  And a wall of autographs (and bloody handprints from their signers) - the Maul of Fame.

If you're ever in Pittsburgh, this museum is definitely worth the trip.  

Click here for the Museum's IG.

And click here to see some more photos that Jenna took over at her IG.

Harold

So Thomas and Alfred went back to their old ways. Each morning they put Harold out in the garden, and each night they brought him back into the hut. When they felt playful, they joked with him. When they felt mean, they treated him as badly as ever.

Then one night Alfred noticed something that frightened him. "Harold is growing," he said.

- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Wonderful prop by wendigo_oddities.

Harvest Chews

You know what's amazing?  These guys:  Caramel Apple, Candy Corn, Pumpkin Spice, and Cinnamon.

The Rose Of Jericho

A perfectly seasonal-appropriate plant.  Found over at the awesome The Skeleton Key blog.

Click below to learn about this odd little thing...

When There's No More Room In Hell

They're after the place. They don't know why; they just remember. Remember that they want to be in here.

- DAWN OF THE DEAD

We couldn't visit Pittsburgh without taking a zombie along to the shooting location of George Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead - the Monroeville Mall.  

Now Playing: Ehoes

By Eternal Dystopia.

Click below...

Grim Glen Cemetery

Such a beautiful Haunt.

More images here.

Now Playing: The Locust Accord

From the new album by Espectrostatic.

Click below...

And click here for youtube.

Haunt Photography

Some beautiful shots by Wim Dekens.

Click below...

ScarePros Halloween World

Turns out this store is within an hour from here and it's open all year long.  Definitely planning a visit.

Click below for a tour.

Legend Of The Tall Man

Image source.

Middle School Halloween

I wanted to make a blog post out of a neat blog comment that was left tonight. 

A comment from someone in the Halloween community who is keeping the torch burning and helping to create nostalgia in the classroom.

The old post is here and it featured the below photo.

VenomStorm commented:

You will be happy to know that I have the smaller version of that skeleton and that exact witch hanging in my 6th grade classroom on the 1st of October. That witch is part of a nice package that Beistle sells. I love using the retro decorations combined with modern LEDs in my classroom. The kids get a kick out of them. Certainly helps with building up the hype to Halloween. I want to start playing the Silver Shamrock countdown this year. As much as I need to be home setting up the house, there is something really fun and magical about being in a middle school on Halloween. Even these modern kids who grew up too fast because of the internet can still experience the wonder and excitement of that day and night, at least in my corner of the world.

Now Playing: Sleep Now

By Hughes Hall.

Click below...

Porch Decorations

Started the first phase of the porch decor yesterday after work.  We drank pumpkin beer and listened to spooky tunes.  And a neighborhood Halloween cat even stopped by to check it all out.