By John Harrison, from the Day of the Dead soundtrack.
Click below...
Friday, June 30, 2023
Thursday, June 29, 2023
Exposure
“When we got the pictures back, there was a woman in the picture standing next to me,” Ms. Martin said. “We looked at it and thought, ‘Oh … it must be a double exposure, because the woman in the photographs looked like George’s mom. We were so busy—we worked from dawn until dusk—and were so exhausted with the renovations on the house, we didn’t have time to look into it any further.”
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Evil Tree
I love that the Evil Tree prop is a thing in yard haunting. It pops up every now and again, and it's always huge and intimidating. The one below is amazing and has the coolest face I've seen on one.
Always great stuff at The Village Mire.
To Autumn
O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained
With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,
And all the daughters of the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.
Bleeding Skull
Hoping a larger version of this shows up on the At Home shelves... This one is only a couple inches high, but he's really cool.
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Dust To Dust
Laid this little guy to rest in the garden. Purchased in late September.
Was hoping he'd dry out, but then the spots started to form.
Monday, June 26, 2023
First Purchase
Giving our first Halloween purchase of the season a test run in the garden. I would have loved seeing this as a kid walking home from school in the middle of October. Also picked up some black bleeding taper candles and a small bleeding skull candle (I'll post photos soon).
Found at a At Home store.
The Harvest People
The flame-red moon, the harvest moon,
Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing,
A vast balloon,
Till it takes off, and sinks upward
To lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon.
The harvest moon has come,
Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon.
And the earth replies all night, like a deep drum.
Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing,
A vast balloon,
Till it takes off, and sinks upward
To lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon.
The harvest moon has come,
Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon.
And the earth replies all night, like a deep drum.
So people can't sleep,
So they go out where elms and oak trees keep
A kneeling vigil, in a religious hush.
The harvest moon has come!
- Ted Hughes
Friday, June 23, 2023
Evermore Park: Lore
Can't find many photo galleries online of this attraction, but the pics that are out there are pretty neat.
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Ghouls And Grinds
We hit up this spooky themed coffee shop last weekend during a road trip. If I lived nearby, I'd be in there every morning. We got their pumpkin pie latte and it was absolutely perfect. Not too sweet, but loaded with a rich pumpkin pie spice flavor that was very different than the pumpkin spice that pops up every autumn in the usual shops. I think I might have re-branded the drink as The Sleepy Hollow. It was THAT good.
If you're ever in Hanover, PA, definitely seek this shop out. I'd imagine Halloweens there are pretty rad.
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Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Summer Solstice
A whole summer ahead to cross off the calendar, day by day. Like the goddess Siva in the travel books, he saw his hands jump everywhere, pluck sour apples, peaches, and midnight plums. He would be clothed in trees and bushes and rivers. He would freeze, gladly, in the hoarfrosted icehouse door. He would bake, happily, with ten thousand chickens, in Grandma’s kitchen.
But now—a familiar task awaited him. One night each week he was allowed to leave his father, his mother, and his younger brother Tom asleep in their small house next door and run here, up the dark spiral stairs to his grandparents’ cupola, and in this sorcerer’s tower sleep with thunders and visions, to wake before the crystal jingle of milk bottles and perform his ritual magic.
He stood at the open window in the dark, took a deep breath and exhaled. The street lights, like candles on a black cake, went out. He exhaled again and again and the stars began to vanish. Douglas smiled. He pointed a finger. There, and there. Now over here, and here . . .
Yellow squares were cut in the dim morning earth as house lights winked slowly on. A sprinkle of windows came suddenly alight miles off in dawn country.
“Everyone yawn. Everyone up.”
- Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
Monday, June 19, 2023
Sunday, June 18, 2023
Nigel Kneale And Halloween III
As a huge fan of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, I've long heard the tales of the original screen writer's contempt for the project after writing a few drafts. The film's director Tommy Lee Wallace takes credit for the final version, but it's long been suggested that the version we know (and love) is very similar to Nigel Kneale's original script.
According to the article at the link below, the Kneale draft was significantly different. I sometimes (more than I'd like to admit) find myself pondering the original version, wondering if things would have been better and more mysterious. I'm now extremely grateful to discover that the Wallace version is, in my opinion, superior. Superior in a bunch of ways.
Click below to see what I mean.
Saturday, June 17, 2023
A Nightly Scouring
An opening in the trees now cheered him with the hopes that the church bridge was at hand. The wavering reflection of a silver star in the bosom of the brook told him that he was not mistaken. He saw the walls of the church dimly glaring under the trees beyond. He recollected the place where Brom Bones’s ghostly competitor had disappeared. “If I can but reach that bridge,” thought Ichabod, “I am safe.” Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him; he even fancied that he felt his hot breath. Another convulsive kick in the ribs, and old Gunpowder sprang upon the bridge; he thundered over the resounding planks; he gained the opposite side; and now Ichabod cast a look behind, to see if his pursuer should vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone. Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash—he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider, passed by like a whirlwind.
- Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Homecoming
From then on people arrived each hour. There was a flutter at the side window, a rap on the front porch, a knock at the back. There were fey noises from the cellar, autumn wind piped down the chimney throat, chanting. Mother filled the large crystal punch bowl with a scarlet fluid poured from the jugs Bion had carried home. Father swept from room to room lighting more tapers. Laura and Ellen hammered up more wolfsbane. And Timothy stood amidst this wild excitement, no expression to his face, his hands trembling at his sides, gazing now here, now there. Banging of doors, laughter, the sound of liquid pouring, darkness, sound of wind, the webbed thunder of wings, the padding of feet, the welcoming bursts of talk at the entrances, the transparent rattlings of casements, the shadows passing, coming, going, wavering.
- Ray Bradbury
Friday, June 16, 2023
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Loves Me Some Cauldron
There just can't be too many cauldrons. Regardless of a Haunt's theme, a cauldron placed off in a corner, or right next to a porch, or on some far part of a property with glowing orange and green lights would enhance the entire display. You don't even need to worry about a Witch prop. An unattended cauldron tells a neat story.
Click below to see the how-to...
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Revisiting Revenant Manor
Here's to all those folks who create a cemetery on their properties come each Halloween. Temporary undertakers, funeral directors, gravediggers, ... Morticians.
Tending to plots of unrest and horror, with unholy moans and groans, flashes of lighting, unusually thick fog... and, of course, the Undead.
Whenever I see a beautiful artificial cemetery, I am always deeply impressed with the amount of time such an undertaking must require. It's staggering to me.
One of my personal favorites is the hallowed ground of Revenant Manor. So much detail... so many beautiful props. The atmosphere is off the charts.
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