Witches On Switches

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Now Playing: Sink Slower

By Underwater Sleep Orchestra.

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Wicked Ways

Halloween was the time she figured most prominently in our thoughts. First because she was a witch, of course, and second because of a time-honored ritual among the neighborhood children concerning her and ourselves and that evening of the year.

- Gahan Wilson, Yesterday's Witch

Image by thescarefactor.

Blobfest 2023

We had the wonderful opportunity to partake in a local tradition since the year 2000.  For twenty-three years, the town of Phoenixville, PA has celebrated the 1958 film THE BLOB.  The movie theater scene in that film was shot at the Colonial Theatre in downtown Phoenixville.  And the town is extremely proud of that fact.  A plaque in the theater reads:

Through this wall in the year 1958, Shorty Yeaworth’s The Blob brought the monster into the movie theater and Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre into the annals of film history.

During the summer months, the main street through town is blocked to prevent traffic from entering.  Neat shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants abound.  During Blob Fest, loads of vendors and artists fill the street and it ends up being the horror convention you've always wanted - with no overpriced admission fee.  

We had tickets to a daytime showing of THE BLOB.  If you're up for it, you can choose a nighttime viewing where you can be part of the annual Run Out:  movie patrons run screaming from the theater lobby reenacting the famous panic scene at the end of the film. 

Similar to the time when we saw Friday the 13th in the town of Blairstown, there was a party-like atmosphere in the theater.  People were energized, and every little corny moment in the film was met with laughter and cheers and applause.  We had a blast.  I laughed so many times.  There's a scene in the film where the blob starts pouring through the small square windows of the projection room.  The effect still looks really neat, and it was hilarious to observe as half the theater turned around to look back at those windows.  Stuff like that was pure gold.  And it felt really nice to be a part of it.

Below are a few photos from Blob Fest 2023.  I'd highly recommend it if you're ever near the town of Phoenixville in July.  Tickets go on sale early every year as they are quick to sell out.

And click here for a fun fan trailer

Now Playing: The Devil Must Kill

By Cintecele Diavolui.  Such a weird and wonderful song.  

Click on the ancient photo of me as Old Scratch to listen to it.  

Thinking back over the years, I'd have to say this was my favorite costume.  I mean, it's pretty much the ultimate in Halloween horrors... the top of the food chain in the world of monsters I suppose.  I'm betting I was a very subdued Satan.  One could say 'bashful' (a label often assigned to me by my parents when I was a kid).  There's dignity in silence, I suppose.

I love that the costume designers felt the need to put the Devil's face on the chest.  So the Devil is essentially wearing a Devil t-shirt.  Sorta garish, and not subdued or bashful at all.  Maybe they did that in the event someone wanted to go maskless?  But then it would still look like a kid with a Devil t-shirt on and not the actual Prince of Darkness.  

Halloween.  What a holiday.  A small raised-Christian boy out in the streets on a cold last-of-October night, collecting candy from complete strangers.  Dressed as Satan.  Accompanied by a Ghost and a Ghoul.  

Just nothing at all like Halloween.

Silver Shamrock Shake

To us, it was a way of controlling our environment. It's not so different now... it's time again. In the end, we don't decide these things, you know; the planets do. They're in alignment, and it's time again.

- Conal Cochran, Halloween III

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Anise & Clove

Time to stock up on my personal favorite Halloween candle, from the soyNsuds Etsy shop.  We plopped a bunch into our jackos last year and that sweet smoky clove scent was everywhere.

Click below and select Anise & Clove from the dropdown menu.

Trailer: Talk To Me

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The Trash Bags I Didn't Know I Needed

Also, Blog Rock-Bottom.

Trailer: The Exorcist - Believer

No no no no no.

NO no no.  No, no no no no NO.

No.  No... No no no no no and no.

Click below to see everything that's wrong with Hollywood all in one place.

Of Monasteries

Full fifteen hundred years have wound

Since cenobite first harboured here;

The bones of men, deemed martyrs crowned,

To fossils turn in mountain near;

Nor less while now lone scribe may write,

Even now, in living dead of night,

In Saba's lamps the flames aspire —

The votaries tend the far-transmitted fire.

- Herman Melville

Image source.

A Lambertville Halloween: Part II

100 days until Halloween...

In this blog post from June, I talked about a trip to Lambertville, New Jersey in late October.  We discovered that Halloween Town was a real place, where the High Holiday was being celebrated everywhere you looked.  After a packed day of slowly working our way to see the Lambertville Halloween House, we stopped at a small local tavern to wait for the sun to set so we could see the House in all of its glowing glory.  We quickly dubbed the tavern the Halloween III Bar, as it felt like we could bump into Dr. Challis at any minute ('Drinking and Doctoring' was kindof his thing).

This bar was amazing.  Quaint and Old School and decked out in so many wonderful Halloween decorations.  Classic Halloween decorations... stuff I remembered from my childhood.  This was the Friday before Halloween so the atmosphere in there was exactly like a Halloween party.  They were playing all of the usual classics as well and The Monster Mash never sounded so good.  We drank our drinks and wondered what it'd be like a few blocks away at that strange, elegant House.

As we walked out into the chilly Autumn air, you could tell something significant was happening.  The night air was charged with a feeling that we had somehow mixed up the dates and this was, in fact, Halloween night.  It felt like prime Trick-or-Treating hours... there were children in costumes and excited people everywhere heading in the direction of the House.  But then we noticed that the Lambertville Halloween House was just a voice in a choir.  There were blocks and blocks of decorated homes.  So many lights.  Tons of unique decor and props.  So much Halloween.

We asked a resident walking her dog if this is how it always was...and if the town was heavily into Christmas as much as Halloween.  Her answer was a little on the glorious side:  she said "We really just get into Halloween here...  Christmas, not so much." 

Amazing.  A town devoted to the Love of Halloween.

Below are some photos from that magical evening.  A night that made you feel like a kid on Halloween... excited that there were hours ahead of you, and there were tons of homes waiting for you.  Homes with pumpkins and witches and ghosts and bones and every haunted creepy thing.  And on this one night, they really didn't care that it wasn't Halloween just yet.