It's Fright Night! Gather 'round for some Halloween stories!

Happy Halloween everyone! Are you up for a few ghost stories?

I thought it would be fun to tell you a few spooky stories. I chose stories that either scared or fascinated me when I was a child. Just press play on the video below to travel back down memory lane! Story time lasts about 15 minutes.

You won't see anything in this video, but I posted a virtual campfire you can watch while listening to me tell a few tales:

Did you remember a few of these spooky stories or urban legends? They really stuck with me! Credit goes to Alvin Schwartz, the author of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. I chose to read the versions of "The Hook" and "The Golden Hand" that were retold by S. E. Schlosser. There are so many variations on "The Golden Hand", but I preferred the one that's closest to how I heard it when I was young. The man in the story has to be wicked and the ghost has to exact her revenge, otherwise it's just boring!

If you're around my age or older, you'll be familiar with the original illustrations that accompanied some of these stories.  They were drawn by Stephen Gammell. The books have been redone with new less threatening illustrations. I find this strange, because I could handle those drawings as a kid! That one with the zit exploding with spiders traumatized me a bit, but only in the way where you enjoy being creeped out! Here are some of the original illustrations.

"The Hook" illustration with a nice bit of dripping blood, hair, and skin fragments:

"The Red Spot" illustration that really got to me! She's actually pretty icky looking even without stuff hatching out of her face.

Our little Vindow Viper, who is almost too cute for this book:

The Hearse and a bit of the music sheet that goes with "The Hearse Song":

I love all the shadows and drippiness in the artist's work.

Did I read any of your favorite old stories? Maybe you've heard them told differently. It's always interesting to hear the many different spins given to an urban legend or campfire tale. I always like hearing a new urban legend, so if you know any good ones, send them along! 

I hope you all have a scary night in the best of ways!

Milwaukee's Day of the Dead Celebration 2012

 
Last Friday, the annual Day of the Dead parade was held in Milwaukee. I shared some photos of the parade with you guys last year. This year, my mom and I again drove to Milwaukee's Walker's Point area to witness people pay tribute to their lost loved ones in a colorful, meaningful parade. This is one of my favorite parade photos. I love how the girls' happy painted faces are framed by the butterfly and flowers.



I didn't realize there was a skull peeking out at me here until I loaded these photos onto my computer.



The monarch butterflies have a significance to Day of the Dead, because their migration to Mexico coincides with the holiday. There is a belief that the butterflies represent the spirits of loved ones returning home.



These tall puppets are so cool! They were being operated by the people walking under them.



Marigolds are another symbol of the holiday. The scent of the marigold is said to attract the spirits.








There was a band marching with the parade:



This skeleton on stilts spotted me and waved down.





I was happy with how this photo came out. With the late afternoon light behind her, she seems almost ghostly.



After the parade, we headed over to the Walker's Point Center for the Arts to see the annual Dia de los Muertos exhibit. This was the view through the gallery's front window.



How cute is she? This photo is my computer's wallpaper right now.



Some bright skulls sat in front of this fashionable skeleton. If you look closely, you'll see the names painted on the skull's foreheads. I learned while watching a sugar skull decorating tutorial, that the names of those being honored are often written on a skull's forehead.



I'd like to try making a skull floral arrangement like this some time. It's so bright and festive!



Here is that same altar (offerenda) from the inside of the gallery.



There are so many details to look at here. A painting of those being honored, religious art, flowers, Corona. I'm going to assume that the skeleton couple I liked so much on the other side of this are symbolic of the couple in this painting. There was a photo of a couple above those sculptures too.





Papel picado was hanging from the ceilings, walls, and offerendas. Papel picado is a popular decoration for Day of the Dead celebrations.



I'm used to seeing the skull pattern, but this bird was new to me.



A skeletal mermaid:



This photo makes me smile, because these two were clearly enjoying themselves. That skull had been carried throughout the parade.



A large Catrina banner hung on the wall. You can see the monarch butterflies here and calla lilies, another flower used for this holiday. You're probably already familiar with the flower's meaning of death and resurrection. 



Another bright, beautiful banner: Lupita y Pancho









This sculpture was made up of metal, beads, glass, rhinestones, ceramics, and probably a lot more. I love the little metal hand hanging by the skeleton's side.



The banner at the bottom of this is cut off somewhat. The comforting message read:

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."



This is another photo from the inside of the gallery. The windows were painted with images of skeletons playing instruments and dancing.



This was another surprise photo for me. I had no idea there was a little skeleton peeking at me from the bottom left of this photo.



The parade continued to move by as we watched from inside the gallery. I learned that a good way to get photos of people looking at you is to stand on the other side of a window.



There were a lot of children smiling and waving as they walked by, but those photos unfortunately turned out blurry. I guess they were moving a little too fast for my camera!

All of the parade participants were welcoming to us as viewers and we were greeted in a really friendly way at the gallery. It's so cool to have the opportunity to see this tradition and learn about it. This event is clearly something very personal to those involved, and it's nice that the Milwaukee community is welcomed to be a part of it!

I'm ending with some videos that show a little more about the symbols and traditions I mentioned above.

Marigolds:



Papel Picado:



There's a seemingly endless amount of sugar skull makeup tutorials out there. Searching "sugar skull makeup" on YouTube will give you a lot of results. Here's one of my favorites:



If there are any Day of the Dead events going on where you guys are, I'd like to hear about them!

Midway Memories and Associations

Does anyone else feel like there's a dark underbelly to carnival midways? If I feel that way, I certainly have some good reasons. Actually, three reasons are coming to mind right now! I'll explain what's going through my head when I visit a midway, while showing you some photos I took at The Wisconsin State Fair's midway a few days ago.

This clown was part of a fun house I walked past at the midway. Looking at him, my mind instantly went to something scary from my childhood. That "something scary" was this guy:

As any faithful reader of this blog knows, I loved the show Are You Afraid of the Dark? when I was young. A very memorable episode of the show involved a spooky fun house and the legend of a ghost clown. That episode still spooks me even though I'm now an adult, and I've never had a fear of clowns!

If you're in my relative age group, you probably know about Zeebo the clown. If you aren't familiar with him, here's a trailer for the episode "The Tale of Laughing in the Dark"

When I was in high school, I first read what was to become my favorite book: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I've never read any other book that painted such clear images in my mind. There's a definite darkness behind the carnival in that story! If you've read that book, you know why I think of it every time I see a carousel. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't read the book, since the carousel is central to the plot.

I also first watched one of my favorite movies as a teenager: The Lost Boys. I'm sure most of you have seen that movie, so I won't be spoiling anything by saying that I also think of it when I see a carousel. When watching kids circle around on bright, colorful horses, my mind is filled with images of young, 80s vampires!

Why are carousels never this cool in real life?

I may not have seen Kiefer Sutherland on the midway, but I did run into a few other interesting characters...

I found Cousin IT airbrushed onto the side of a fun house. Another cool find were the pirates painted on the side of The Ghost Ship ride.

This guy was standing in front of the ride.

I have no idea what this next creature was supposed to be. Maybe he was an evil gargoyle. Whatever he was, I thought he was cool! This creature's eyes shifted back and forth as he made low, grumbling noises. He was sitting outside the midway's haunted house.

Nice hairy belly, hey? Here's a close up of his face:

This hairy gremlin had a little friend who was sitting on top of the haunted house.

Does he remind you of anyone? He reminds me of...



Do any of you have some childhood associations with carnival midways? I mean, are there any movies, books, or TV shows you've come to think of every time you're at a midway? Maybe some of you even have my same associations.

Well, tomorrow I'm going to our local Renaissance Faire. You might remember my Ren Faire blog post from last year. I hope to get many more pictures to share with you this year!