History – An Unorthodox Halloween

Farewell Jack.

June 2006, a dark shape took form in the back yard…

Soon, a head.

The hope was always to hook up fog to the head, but I was never sure I could get the fog to climb the pipe 6 ft into the head in our cold temperatures. It had me dancing in the dark when it actually worked.

Jack was named Jack Jackula by the boys, and we made trips around the neighborhood collecting “ugly sticks” to build him in October. It was Jack that started the whole thing…not only was this guy crazy lighting fires on Halloween, but what the heck is he gonna build NEXT?

Designed as an entrance from day one, he quickly became a photo op that year.

2007, Jack didn’t fit in, and soon found himself cast to sentry duty on a little corner of grass between my house and the neighbors.

By 2008, however, Jack had made his way back to the haunt proper, fitting the opening in our fence PERFECTLY, as if inspired so long ago.

He served the role well, my little niece here among those refusing to pass behond his glaring stare into what lay beyond.

It should be no surprise, then, that Jack was first among the things placed in ’09.

Good bye Jack. You will be missed….

Looking back, to look forward.

As everything has reached it’s resting place for the ’08 season, it’s time to reflect on what worked…and what didn’t.

First, the struggle with the totems may be over.

ORIGINALLY, these were a TEST ONLY. Maybe be used one year, testing to see if the paper mache would hold up for the “real” project. (which was abandoned as I have no way to store it)

It was at my son’s Boy Scout Blue and Gold Banquet that the concept struck me. The kids had made these little totems out of brown paper bags and drawing faces on them for center pieces on the tables.

That got the wheels turning. Remembering how cool the old pumpkin totems were in the neighborhood growing up. And, as we sat for dinner, I sketched the idea out on a napkin.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Then began the construction. PVC pipe frame, chickenwire skeleton, and paper towel mache with 50% wood glue 50% water mixture. (this was before my power grab mache)

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Totem 1 went well, and was tested in early spring…to the confusion of folks driving by at the time.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Totem 2, however, was nothing but trouble from the get go. A new roll of chicken wire that, while the same guage and hole size, was softer. Then some trouble with the glue application that resulted in my sprayer actually filtering out the glue and applying more water. (it was a good idea at the time) The thing went soggy when I tried to apply a hardening coat with more traditional newspaper.

This led to the application of Monster mud over both to shore up Totem 2.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

Finally, they arrived at a completed state.

From An UnOrthOdOx Halloween

These things have single handedly resulted in more intimidation than most anything else. Especially coupled with the music. As one little Indiana Jones put it this past year, making it through the field of skulls, past the scarecrows, and being faced by the totems. “I’m NOT going in THERE!”

The Totems have become as much an icon of the yard as the skulls out front. Yet…the rain Halloween evening may have finished off Totem 2 for good. It may be time to re-envision the Totems in a more permanent fashion. Fiberglass is in the back of my mind, yet, that powergrab mache should do the trick cheaper, and survive a fair bit of weather.

The Grave Mounds have suffered a similar problem. Though only one fell victim due to the rain (well, more a victim of a bookcase falling on it the week prior to halloween to be fair), they all collapsed in the center due to weight in the weeks prior. They will be needing some re-thinking. Not to mention plans in store for them need them LIGHTER anyway….

Another in the ‘works, but didn’t work’ category are the bead curtains.

From Halloween 2008

Yes, you could KINDA see through em, but not well, PRECISELY as I wanted. I could hide in there unseen by approaching people just fine, yet see out perfectly thanks to the optical illusion they presented. However, their loop design caught on every pixy wing, every little mask, every wheelchair and stroller….

Time for SMOOTH beads….

Finally, while really neat in the daytime, the webs went largely un-noticed at night.

From Halloween 2008

Simply not enough light to see them.

The solution WOULD be to add more light…that’s not possible with my torches. So, the answer is to add more webs. THAT would require a larger gun…

Just a few things to ponder as we close out the 2008 season.

…….or DO we?…..

From Christmas

Unlucky for some.

Fitting for today.

First thing this morning, a black cat crossed my path, and then sat staring as I passed.

How curious.

I’m not a superstitious person. However, who had not heard of a black cat crossing your path being bad luck?

Well, apparantly, to some it’s lucky:

Will you worry the next time a black cat crosses your path?
It may depend on where you live in the world. In Britain and Japan, having a black cat cross your path, is considered good luck, whereas if you live in the USA or several European countries, it is bad luck to have a black cat walk by.

Here are a few cat superstitions from various countries.
A strange black cat on your porch brings prosperity. – Scottish superstition
A cat sneezing is a good omen for everyone who hears it. – Italian superstition
It is bad luck to see a white cat at night. – American superstition
Dreaming of white cat means good luck. – American superstition
In the Netherlands, cats were not allowed in rooms where private family discussions were going on. The Dutch believed that cats would definitely spread gossips around the town.
In Egypt, it was once believed that the life-giving rays of the sun
were kept in a cat’s eyes at night for safekeeping.
To kill a cat brings seventeen years of bad luck -Irish superstition

Info from Petloveshack.

But, I found it most curious that today, of all days, it should happen.

August 19, 1692, 5 witches hung from Gallow hill in Salem. Among them, George Burroughs. Despite having no witches marks, and being able to recite the Lords Prayer, supposedly proof of his innocence, the former minister was hung as a witch.

I’ve always found the Salem witch trials a fascinating topic. And, in case you hadn’t noticed yet, bizaar research topics are something of a theme around here. So, for more information, a great place to start is over here.

Speaking of bizaar research topics, I’ld estimate anywhere from 80-90 percent of my ideas comes from some obscure research I do. I watch documentaries all the time, and you never know when some little tidbit there will make me go off in search of more info.

In the past, one of my favorite series for this was Digging for the Truth. Then Josh Bernstein left the show after season 3. And, the new host was a complete moron. At least Josh KNEW something about the stuff and would ask half-way intelligent questions.

And, the series fell flat in the 4th season. (Though the mummies of the clouds SURE has some Halloween potential…)

Last night, however, the Discovery Channel premiered Josh’s new series: Into the Unknown. I was hopefull it would be a decent replacement.

While last night’s show on Gladiators was of little value, and really shed no new light on the subject, a look at the episode guide reveals plenty more potential. Another look at the Cloud Warriors and New Guinea mummies among the potential additions to someone looking to bring a unique aspect to Halloween.

False advertising!

I EXPECTED to be sitting down to watch Devil Girl from Mars.

Instead, we sat down to watch The Bat. Stupid UEN changing the schedule on me.

But…The Bat has it’s place. As spoken of earlier, in a way, it’s the film that began it all. I remember the big promotion about it being aired Halloween night. First/one of the first 3d movies to be aired on TV. And, one of the fast food joints was giving out 3d glasses for it. We had the glasses, and the film was colorized. I was actually looking forward to watching it that year, even though I was not going to be able to go trick or treating because my brother was sick.

The glasses, they do nothing! And, we got a tripped out 3 image blob of a rubber bat flying around on the screen instead. IT SUCKED. I got bored, and went to hand out treats instead, and a haunter was born. Without The Bat, who knows, I might have ended up going overboard on Christmas!!! *gasp*!

So, despite my disappointment, we stayed up to view The Bat on a very windy Friday night, with trees shaking, house creaking and groaning in the wind, and things being tossed around outside. It’s funny, how often the folks in the movie attribute something to “just the wind”, only to have it turn out to be a real threat.

Perhaps that coincidence accounts for why Jen found Kyle asleep downstairs, with all the lights on, hiding under his covers, SITTING UP, and a death grip on his little stuffed monkey.

If I had only known, I would have scared him proper…or at least have gotten pics.

Let the countdown begin.

The countdown sign.

This has become a rather popular addition to the yard leading up to Halloween.

2 years ago, it began with a piece of plywood I found, a couple hooks, and some poster board.

Among the problems being the weather mutilating the numbers, and the fact you really couldn’t see it at night…

And…no one seemed to know WHAT it was counting down TO. Oh, sure, I could go put “days to halloween” or something on it, but I like folks to wonder sometimes. And, occasionally, one would ask what the numbers were for.

Last year, we decided to give the thing a good and proper upgrade. Sign V 2.0 got some heavy duty outdoor paint, a permanent housing for a blacklight fixture, some more scrap plywood to make the numbers out of, and some flourescent spraypaint ensured that the weathering and light problems were solved. (though we did lose the cool nighttime face)

The light fixture proved itself to be quite weather resistant through a rather turbulent October, that made me think of leaving it up through the winter after that first snowfall.

By this time, most folks knew what the numbers were for. Very few asked, but I still got a lot of comments. Often with someone hollering whatever the number was for the day. But, we had the problems of the numbers starting to fade in the sun. Well, except the few that I had mistakenly painted with non-flourescent spraypaint first before going back over it with the flourescent.

We joked about getting it out at several points during the year. Having a ‘285’ or a ‘139’ sign out for a day or two during the year. But, once it hit double digits, Jen’s been a bit more vocal about it. Several times mentioning ‘we should put up the sign’.

Well, it’s been burried, and I really only had enough numbers to start at 59. Then, this last week, Jen got asked if we were still doing Halloween, for a neighbor was wondering as they hadn’t seen anything yet, and the sign wasn’t even up.

Well. Who am I to argue with requests? I did have some scrap subflooring left from construction, so another number or two wasn’t so hard. So, Sign V 2.1 got a fresh coat of that outdoor paint for the sign and all the numbers last night. And the numbers all got a base coat of orange prior to the flourescent.

And, we moved it off the grass and onto the porch to prevent problems with the lawn for now.

I’m thinking of adding the blog address to it as well.