The New Bus Driver Seemed So Nice

At least one Mid-South parent is concerned about what she says is a satanic symbol on a school bus.
The Cordova, Tennessee parent snapped a photo when she noticed the shape of an upside down, five-pointed star outlined in the brake lights of a school bus that was stopped in Cordova.
"Anyone who fears a God, if not God and Jesus Christ, should be outraged," she said.

Image source.

Bobby's Last Halloween

No clue what year this was, but it's definitely not one of my finer moments.  A small trick-or-treater, wearing a Casper mask, surrounded by zombies (where one of them has the boy's pant leg in its teeth).  

I recall kids and visitors really enjoying the humor element, but I think I was bothered by the stillness of it all.  The fact that this moment, which should have movement and flailing and horror, appeared frozen in time really detracted from the point of it all.  I think that was where I started to process just how does a person make a static prop appear to be something other than a snapshot of a moving object?  And that's where building a prop that appears to be at rest is the key - a creature that has momentarily paused.  Maybe a better presentation would have been if a bunch of the zombies were cradling a dead or unconscious child.  Like a bunch of hyenas protecting a fresh kill?  I kind of like the idea of seeing all those boney arms and hands clasping a motionless figure.  

Some observations about the photograph...  You can see a standing zombie in the background.  I hung it from a rope and made the limbs very loose so it would sway in the breeze and appear to be a reanimated corpse.  The wind never came.  

You can see me to the right, standing up (dressed as Michael Myers).  If I had to guess, I was rising to tell my mother to stop taking flash photos, as she was ruining what little atmosphere there was.

And my dad's garage door desperately needed some paint (though that definitely was adding back the atmosphere my mother was destroying).

The Haunting Of Rot House

We learned to coexist.  I didn't react when it moved my belongings.  When it hid my keys or wallet.  I remained calm when I found the cord across the stairs.  And when the ceiling fan came down.  I pretended not to hear its unholy howls from the closets.  The scratching behind the walls.  

And that terrible smell.

Secrets

My grandfather was the first one to arrive at the second crash site. He said he saw their bodies. Called them 'little people.' He knelt next to the smallest one, only three feet long, and scooped it up and wrapped it in a blanket or a towel. He placed it in the jeep. The driver just stared at the crash debris. And the bodies.

He said he kept it in his footlocker, wrapped up. Never looked at it again.

After he died. My grandmother told me the story. Said that he wanted her to tell me after he passed. I asked if they still had the trunk. She said "Oh yes. It's in the cellar."

And she handed me the key.

Halloweekend USA

Saw this on Instagram and it instantly chapped my posterior.  The proposition is to OFFICIALLY/NATIONALLY move Halloween to the last Saturday in October via petitions and awareness.

Probably will never happen, but nowadays, who knows?  And a quick internet search revealed that this has been a years-long debate with more articles supporting the move than opposing it.

Imagine altering an ancient holiday's calendar date because you find it inconvenient for your fun.  Imagine claiming to love a holiday, and then wanting to change it to serve you.

Though there's something appealing about setting up my Haunt on October 31st for a handful of hardcore trick-or-treaters and their parents who reject this crazy notion.  And then turning the porch light off on that last Saturday in October.

Here's the site: