Monstrous

Image by Andersedin.

Explained

Evidence

Click below to watch the trailer and a clip at Dread Central.
I still haven't gotten tired of the found-footage gimmick.

Corridor

Image by Attila Goloncser.

Trick

In the last year of his life, I sat with my grandfather on his porch steps on Halloween night. A bowl of candy between us. The neighborhood had turned and most of the elderly neighbors who kept tidy little homes were now gone, either in nursing homes or dead (he said the latter were better off). The houses were either given to grandchildren or sold to people who just didn't care what the neighborhood used to be. The manicured lawns and smooth clean sidewalks were gone. My grandfather was the last of his kind. And his clean little house was too. 

It was an exceptionally warm Halloween. And humid. We sat handing out candy to costume-less teens and loud young parents and their children who forgot to say trick or treat, or even thank you. The kids came in tiny clusters in-between long empty lulls, which suited me just fine. We didn't talk much. We never did. So when he took a deep labored breath and said that he needed to tell me something, I knew something was wrong. So I whispered ok and kept staring ahead, down the empty street. 

He told me on Halloween night when he was ten years old, he played a prank on an elderly widow up the block from where he used to live with his parents. He said it was something he heard about in school. A bag placed on a porch and lit on fire with a match. Inside the bag, the droppings of a dog - a big old dog with a big old appetite. He laughed when he told me that part. After the fire was lit, he rang her doorbell and ran. And hid. He saw the curtains flick a bit and the widow peek out. Then the door opened. She came out onto the porch and stepped right over the bag, as if she didn't see it. The robe or housecoat she was wearing caught fire. Quickly. He said she just sorta stood still while it all happened. He told me he ran in plain sight down the block, in the center of the street, and into his house. He told me the widow had died. 

But no one saw him. And he never told anyone. And he was never blamed, or even questioned. Some kids came up for candy and I watched him drop a few pieces in each of their bags. They were the last of the night. My grandfather scooped up the candy bowl and slowly stood. Before he went in the house, he turned and said that Halloween was over. 

And I guess it finally was. 

The Royal Wedding

Click below:

Nightlight

Image by julian.calderon01.

Bad Ideas

Whose idea was it to have a Bring Your Child To Work day?

This really needs to end.

Image by Tiobolasdoro.

The Wooden Word

By Dennis Forkas.


dennisforkas.com

The Churchyard

Image by neilalderney123.

Now Playing: Far Beyond The Silent Sea

By Blood Box, on the album Funeral in an Empty Room.

Click below for 9 minutes and 21 seconds of dark ambient bliss:

Then He Got An Idea. An Awful Idea.

Image by InfernoFudd.

The Mummy

Click below for a neat how-to for this great Mummy costume by artist John Sumrow.

Night Cemetery

Image by ehj630.

Xombi

Fellow yard haunter John Rozum is also the creator and writer of Xombi, a series from DC Comics. With beautiful illustrations by Frazer Irving, it's on stands now, and getting great reviews.

Click below for an interview with John:


And click here for John Rozum's blog.

Halcyon Hall

J. Philip’s New York Photo Blog.

Lawn Ghosts

Image by cbeana.

Ghost Sneakers

Image by ms smartipants.

Case Files

Been reading some of the case files from the Pennsylvania Paranormal Association, a group featured prominently on my favorite series - The Haunted.

This was a second visit to this location by The PPA. During the first investigation, a lot of physical evidence was collected to establish paranormal activity was occurring at this home, including doors opening and closing, coins being thrown in certain rooms and a shadow figure was capture on video. After an initial cleansing, the family reported a reduction in activity for some time. After a trip to Italy, the family noted a reoccurrence in the activity but different from before. The family reported having bottles thrown across different rooms, seeing black masses, hearing voices, having quarters thrown at them from nowhere, cold spots and doors opening and closing. The family was once again asking for help reducing the activity. Refer to initial investigation for more information - Case No. 10-11-047 Upper Darby.

I found it really interesting that a large number of cases conclude with no physical evidence whatsoever. The abundance of paranormal tv programs make it seem like every investigation is just packed with creepy goings on.

Click here for more case files.

What Was Your Fave?

I think I mentioned it somewhere on the blog before. I always had a last-minute and extremely disappointing Halloween costume when the High Holiday rolled around. No home-made hand-sewn dinosaur masterpiece by my mother (who subscribed to Woman's Day and Good Housekeeping, but never made anything from scratch or knitted or sewed or scrapbooked).

Thinking back. I can't say there's one costume that stands out as the year I'll never forget. A boxed Batman was fun....and there was the year I was a boxed Devil. And a boxed Casper. Birthday cakes and mashed potatoes came from boxes, so I guess it makes sense my costumes did too.

If I was forced to choose, I think the Devil would be top of the list. No particular reason unfortunately.

So what was your favorite costume?

Image by Christian Montone.

Unsolved Mysteries: Tatum's Ghost

Love that someone uploaded this two-part video.
Saw this years ago when it was first-run, and it creeped me WAY out. I think it was the first time I saw a program which treated the subject of hauntings respectfully. And the man's reaction in part two is something that has stayed with me since the first time I saw it.

Click below:

Now Playing: Immum Coeli

By Psychomanteum.

Click below:

The Tatum House Ghost

An early riser, Jim always got up hours before Kay, and when she woke, she would ring a bell if she needed anything upstairs. One day, Jim heard what he assumed was Kay ringing the bell, but when he got up there, he realized Kay was asleep.
After the third time this happened, they decided to make up a code in order to outwit the entity. Kay would ring the bell three times if she wanted Jim to come upstairs. One morning Jim heard the call, but Kay was sound asleep, and the bell was in the other bedroom. When he turned around and walked out, the bell rang again.
"I was frightened." He confesses. "My hair stood up on my neck. I told Kay then, no more bell. I'm not going to answer that bell anymore, and that bell has not rung since."


Image source.

Text source.

Apropos

From an old favorite.



More wonderful images by surlycorvid.

Halloween Nation

Included within the book are tons of wonderful commentaries by an enormous amount of Halloween buffs. One in particular:

"...In the city, there was a lady - she had her kitchen upstairs - and we'd knock on the door, trick-or-treating, and she'd throw pennies and nickels down. We'd run and grab them. But she was up there putting them on the stove. She was a nasty, nasty lady. We got an empty milk bottle and passed it around and all the boys donated a bit [of pee] and we left it at her door. Next morning the bottle was gone. We like to imagine that some time that day she opened the door and the bottle tipped in."

Tom Landry, retired Halloween prankster.


Click here to order.

Please Don't Feed The Trash Clowns

Image by Rusty Boxcars.

6 Must Die

I made Blake to be photographed almost completely in shadows, but I thought this shot came out pretty neat.



Experimenting here with red lights in his eyes.

400

Got a heads up from Craig of 400 Lonely Things about an interview they did at Musique Machine. I'm even mentioned in there.

So cool.

Absolutely LOVE their music.

Click below for the interview:


And click HERE to listen to the track "Tonight" from their album Tonight of the Living Dead, and HERE for the track "It Begins."

400lonelythings.com

Easter Candy: Lick It

Fire Pot

More images by PanterGirl012 here.

Now Playing: KAB 1340

Click below (just added audio bookends to the playlist):


Thanks, Randy. This was a terrific idea.

Halloween Nation

I managed to get my Halloween hands on Halloween Nation, the latest book by Lesley Bannatyne. Started reading it last night and love it. It felt like I was watching a Halloween special made by someone who understands what Halloween means to people like us.

Click below:

Blake

December 9: Met with Blake this evening for the first time. He stood in the shadows to prevent me from getting a clear look at his face. What a vile disease this is. He is a rich man with a cursed condition, but this does not prevent him from trying to better his situation and that of his comrades at the colony.

December 11: Blake's proposition is simple, He wants to move off Tanzier Island and re-locate the entire colony just north of here. He has purchased a clipper ship called the Elizabeth Dane with part of his fortune and asks only for permission to settle here. I must balance my feelings of mercy and compassion for this poor man, with my revulsion at the thought of a leper colony only a mile distant.

April 20: The six of us met tonight. From midnight until one o'clock, we planned the death of Blake and his comrades. I tell myself that Blake's gold will allow the church to be built, and our small settlement to become a township, but it does not soothe the horror that I feel being an accomplice to murder.

Happy [Early] Birthday, Antonio Bay

Tonight, at midnight, it will be the 21st of April...

Just sayin.

And They Took Me Out Of The House.

The most striking physical feature are the eyes, I think. They're frightening, they're black, almost liquidy. That's the first thing that I've noticed. And then, the skin's white. They look very frail to me, like you could hurt them if you were able to, but you're not able to.



Text source.

Saw

Image by blended with havana.

There Was Just Something About Her Eyes

A bunch of great pics by osenator here.

The Smurl Poltergeist

The Smurls said they tried several times to obtain support and action from the church. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton said it would consult with experts but official involvement would be unlikely. At one point in time, Janet thought she was getting help from a priest named Father O'Leary but discovered no such priest existed. The Warrens brought in Father (now Bishop) McKenna, a traditionalist priest who refused to abide by the changes in ritual mandated by the Second Vatican Council. He said mass in Latin and had performed more than 50 exorcisms for the Warrens. He conducted the ancient rite which did nothing but infuriate the demon.

Windy

Image by badobaz.

Half Way

Thanks, Mike!

Hemocyte

He lay there on the bed and took deep breaths of the darkness, hoping for sleep. But the silence didn’t really help. He could still see them out there, the white-faced men prowling around his house, looking ceaselessly for a way to get in at him. Some of them, probably, crouching on their haunches like dogs, eyes glittering at the house, teeth slowly grating together, back and forth, back and forth.
And the women ...
Did he have to start thinking about them again? He tossed over on his stomach with a curse and pressed his face into the hot pillow. He lay there, breathing heavily, body writhing slightly on the sheet. Let the morning come. His mind spoke the words it spoke every night, Dear God, let the morning come.

Slightly Mean

Image by runintherain.

Now Playing: Digging Montage

My favorite track from the film score to The Chumscrubber, by James Horner.

Click below:

The Lake Of The Dismal Swamp

Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds,
His path was rugged and sore,
Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds,
Through many a fen where the serpent feeds,
And man never trod before.

By Thomas Moore


Image by theharv58.

The Lost Cemetery

More images here.

Take Off

Image by elyur.

Now Playing: Oneironaut [Samples]

Just ordered the debut album by PSYCHOMANTEUM on Cyclic Law Records (love that company). The samples are amazing. It's the sort of stuff that got me into Dark Ambient tunes.

Click below:

Fire In The Sky

I had become aware of a barely audible sound coming from the ship. I could detect a strange blend of low- and high-pitched mechanical sounds. There were intermittent high, piercing, beeping points overlaid on the distant, low rumbling sound of heavy machinery. The strange tones were so mixed that it was impossible to compare them to any sound I could remember ever hearing.

"Travis! Get away from there!" Mike yelled to me.

Image by ranjit.