"Booing"

October is finally here. Yay!

And, you’ll soon start seeing everyone setting up their houses. Yet, in some neighborhoods, you’ll start to see “booing” as well.

I first encountered “booing” as a Christmas thing. Doorbell rings, no one there, a little plate of treats and a poem that amounts to a chain letter attached, telling you YOU now need to go treat someone else and hang a picture on your door so you don’t get it a second time.

Eventually, it translated to Halloween as well.

If there is one thing I loath about the season, it is this practice.

Don’t get me wrong, I PERFECTLY UNDERSTAND there’s a good intention behind the thing. And, I even can understand some people who lack the time, the ability, or the desire to build their own decorations may want a little something to help them feel the ‘spirit’ of the holiday.

However, here we are. My wife works. I work. We work opposing shifts so the kids are at daycare a minimized amount of time. If you are here, you can see I am putting a tremendous amount of effort into the holiday as it is. WE ARE BUSY.

We don’t really have the time to make a treat to go “booing” people. It’s just another little chore in an already crowded schedule.

So, for those wanting something to get them in the spirit of Halloween, why don’t you try Trick or Treating?

I’m sure you’ve heard the “evil” origins of the Halloween holiday. “Wicked” Druids building bonfires in the dark on Samhain and dressing in animal furs and skulls. You might even be able to gather how close that description can describe my yard…

However, did you know about where trick or treating comes from?

In the weeks leading up to Samhain, the children in the town would go to each house, and ask for wood for these bonfires. Now, some houses had wood to give. Some did not have enough wood for the coming winter, and could not. In these cases, those children would help chop the wood of those in need, and ensure they were set for the winter.

You want to help feel in the spirit? Don’t go “Booing” me. Instead, go out into the world Trick or Treating. Go out and find someone to help. Treat them to a meal, clean their yard, or whatever help they’re in need of.

My boys and I have gone Trick or Treating each year, collecting wood for the scarecrows. Neighbors and strangers who had felled trees that needed clearing from their yard have become our Scarecrows each year. Join with us in a much more rewarding tradition than ‘booing’ people, and help spread the real spirit and tradition of Halloween.

Back to school…

So….my mother-in-law asked me to do a room for her school’s Halloween carnival.

Now, this is a very special opportunity for me, as it harkens back to the days of my childhood. Days when I was just a lad, trying to find his Halloween way.

It was the same year when my brother was sick on Halloween, dad out of town, and mom not able to leave my brother, or have me wandering the streets alone. The first year I started staying home and handing out candy.

Mom sat and talked, some kids thought she was a dummy, she moved, they spooked, and I thought it was COOL.

However, the first inklings of how to go about making our house into a proper ‘spooky’ house came later in the year. At school.

I don’t know WHAT the assembly was SUPPOSED to be about. I just remember encountering a few things for the first time in my life. Tesla Coils, Jacob’s Ladders, and Black Lights.

They weren’t really being used in a halloween way in the assembly, more of a teaching, hey this is such and such, and it does this because of this way. It didn’t matter. As I sat there, I SAW Frankenstein’s lab. See, I had been to haunted houses before, but this was back in the times when these things were rather pricey. Not the under $20 they are today.

I was hooked. So much that Santa brought me a Tesla Coil lightning ball that year. I SOOOOOOOOO loved that thing. 2nd best present I ever got (best being a fish tank). Made me sad when it became a little…unsafe… 3 years ago.

That following year, I was going to make our porch into a science lab. I had the lightning ball, and I went out with my own money and bought me some makeup, and a ‘blacklight’.

That was a lesson in ‘buyer beware’. “Blacklight” my ass. It was a purple lightbulb. An expensive purple lightbulb packaged to say blacklight. So, I sat in the dark with my little lightning ball, burns on my face and hands (the makeup worked good), and a crappy purple lightbulb on the porch light.

Essentially…it sucked, and I had been ripped off in the process.

It would be years before I was able to purchase a real blacklight. And, by that time, we were doing more hide in the dark and go boo things at the house.

So, when asked to help the school, the Lab was FIRST on my list of ideas. Heck, I still have a habit of collecting things for use in a lab setting even though my theme doesn’t even approach allowing me to use them.

So, more than 20 years (man I’m getting old) after the original idea came to me, it’s time to start building my lab. So, here’s a little teaser with the test video. We’ll get a video of the full thing at the carnival.

Happenings around Utah.

It’s that time of year.

Time to start planning what excursion to take in celebration of Halloween.

First thing that comes to my mind is the Ghost Tours. The fun of hearing all the local legends, and seeing the places that are “really haunted” is quite fun in and of itself. You even get to learn something along the way. Great for the kids, if they can stay up late, good stories, good fun. Who knows, you might photograph a ghost.

Then there are the more traditional Haunted houses.

Castle of Chaos was fun, and would rank high on my list had we not been there earlier in the year.

Nightmare on 13th always rates high with folks. But, last time we were there, it, well, sucked.

The Haunted Hollow is one of the best around. And, given the distance and ease, the leading candidate for me and the boys this year.

The Haunted Forest is the Haunted Hollow’s big sister, but a much further drive.

However, one haunt has really captured my attention with a CLASSIC advertising angle. The Dreaded Grove claims to be “THE SCARIEST VENUE in Utah”.

Yeah, yeah, they all say that. But, Dreaded Grove goes further. It’s SOOOOO scary, they “Sell Depends at our concessions stand”. That’s right. It’s SOOOOOO scary, you’ll soil yourself. “But there’s much more to do than just walk through thw woods, WET YOUR PANTS, and leave.” Claims their website, and references bonfires, live entertainment, and movies all for free.

It claims 66 ACRES of forest to wander through, while wetting yourself, remember. Yet at the same time, they say it should take you 30 minutes for the actual haunt, but hours for the “full experience” (meaning the movies, games and all). 30 minutes and 66 acres is just plain untapped potential…

There is a mild ‘spooky woods’ on site for wee ones as well. So, presumably, you send your kids over there while you go wet yourself at the “real” haunt.

It also references a hay ride and a swamp ride, live bands, and food.

It is a drive, and it’s unlikely I’ld be able to make it. However, I LOVE the advertising. Brings back memories of classic B movies where they would claim the movie SO disgusting they would hand out barf bags. It was typically a clue the movie was going to suck…my gut tells me it’s likely true of the haunt as well, but I gotta give em credit for the approach.

Finally, for something a bit different, Odessy Dance Theater is putting on Thriller.

And, more graves.

I’m to a point where I’m needing to prioritize things a bit.

And, while I’m waiting for some things prior to starting a super secret project, Project Nightfall is taking center stage.

The grave mounds, last seen, were just a bunch of joint compound mushed into some fabric and stretched over some chicken wire.

From Project Nighfall

2 of them fell victim to poor weather, and I’ve had to redo them.

The other 5, however, were given a coat of joint compound watered down and mixed with sand to give them some texture, and have been colored with some wood stain.

From Project Nighfall
From Project Nighfall
From Project Nighfall

They will finally be given a coat of Thompson’s Water Seal to help mitigate any water damage, though I don’t exactly plan on leaving them in the rain.

In other news, I’ve begun work on the little challenge from Dan to turn the faceplate into a Halloween prop.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

If you are a serious collector, or an employee of 2K, or otherwise sensitive to the mutilation of plastic, you may want to avert your eyes…NOW.

For, S/N 0203 of 2000 has begun it’s transformation into a bunch of beads to go with my skulls on a new necklace.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

And, with all the fun in the household, Talia has rather taken to this mask. Would not leave it alone in the store when shopping, and is rather happy to put it on and bounce around…till it slips, anyway.

Why don’t they make toddler sized versions? Ah well, not a bad toy for $1.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween
From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Cemetery

Ya know, one thing I’ve never quite understood about the more normal Halloween traditions, is the inclusion of a Cemetery into the decoration.

They have never been a place of fright or danger to me. Perhaps that has to do with vacations that sought out strange cemeteries, or wandering them in search of names for my mom’s writing. Taking rubbings for fun…

I understand the history of Halloween with the stories of the spirits returning and dressing up to hide from them. I also understand this tradition still exists in some cultures, where the spirits of the dead can cause harm to the living, if not properly cared for. Project Nightfall even bases it’s construction on such a belief.

And yet, I’ve always personally felt it much closer to the Dia De Los Muertes tradition where the spirits come back to visit, and should be welcomed. And, there is something in the air around the equinox that makes feeling thos spirits a bit easier.

This morning, we took my mom and Grandma out to visit some graves that they did not get to see on memorial day.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

I’ve always been open to feeling spirits, I believe, and it was nice to revisit family I had not been to see since my childhood. Plus, it helped my Mom and Grandma in the process.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

We had so much fun there, we decided to head out to a more local cemetery this afternoon. Originally to get some pics of some more halloweenish tombstones.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

This is a gorgeous new one. I love the ones that are all statuesque.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Then, you can’t take a trip to the cemetery here without noting some of the more prominent ghost stories. Here is the statue standing over the WWII memorial. Legend has it that if you drive your car around it a number of times (vary according to which version), the statue will begin to watch you.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

And, as long as we were right there, Jen’s grandparents were buried near by. So, she went off looking while I got the picture of the statue. I got done with and went over to show her where the grave was after I finished, and she had still not found it. As I said, I’ve always been open, and I just KNEW where it was despite having never been there before.

Alec was rather interested to see family there.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

And, with Alec being so interested, I figured we may as well go see my grandparents.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

There is also a purported witch buried in the cemetery, and I’m certain I could have found it to get a picture, but with Talia off wandering and the shadows growing long, we didn’t have time to go looking before getting dinner.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween