Spirit Halloween 2023

Hey everyone! Well, judging from the date on my last blog post, it has been a really long time since I've been on here. As in, nearly a year. I hope you have all been doing well during that time. While I haven't been blogging, I have taken a ton of photos from the Halloween displays in stores. So there will be plenty of that content coming up! 

Let's start with Spirit Halloween. The Spirit store I visited is in the local mall and took up a good amount of space. They had plenty of large moving props. This spider is one of my favorites:

The spider lurked behind this door and popped out when motion activated.

Here's another classic. I liked their use of bright neon lights.

This devil figure was pretty creepy. He starts in this crouched position.

Then he shoots up fast and high! He's nearly touching the ceiling.

I'm trying to remember what he said! All these creatures had something spooky to say, but I can't seem to remember what. Not that this one would need to say anything to be scary.

This one made my mom jump, which I found pretty funny. Especially since she was saying how the props weren't too scary, she knew what they were going to do, etc. 

Now, I don't pretend to know what this thing is. It was the sudden movement that was so scary. I was joking that this one looked like it was assembled from random prop parts. 'Ol doll face, ghost body, carrot fingers!

I'm not sure what this clown torso was supposed to do, because I think his battery was low. But it would be pretty cool if it walked on its hands.

There was this sort of tomb-like structure that housed more critters. The structure was one of my favorite parts of this store. It was just this really cool display with flickering lights and lanterns.

This was the ceiling area inside the structure. That bright green light was moving around. This is one of those times where the store display is what I want to bring home most.

This scarecrow is one of the characters who lives inside the tomb.

When you reach inside the candy bowl he leaps to life! I was pretty startled by this one when I saw it for the first time years back.

There were several characters lining the outside of the structure too, like this screaming lady. I was going to call her a vampire, but she doesn't have fangs.   

A very large Killer Klown from Outer Space was there. I think he just laughed.

Check out this entryway! Again, I'd like to bring the display home.

Mars Attacks! I've actually never seen this movie, and there's every reason that I should have.

This skeleton shakes his head. It's just a fun, classic design. I think he could fit well with a pirate-themed display.

This jack-o-lantern is a favorite prop of mine. He looks like just a normal pumpkin.

But then... Pow! His mouth pops open really fast, revealing pumpkin guts.

There were some more tomb frames near the entrance/exit of the store.

This area is where you'll find the more decorative Halloween items (mostly movie-themed.) Here are a few favorites. 

Pretty cool welcome mat:

Disney's Haunted Mansion inspired...

I was actually back at Spirit today, but I didn't have my camera. If I had brought it, I would have taken a picture of new Hocus Pocus stuff they had in. They had a journal that looked like "The Book" from the movie. But when I was there several days back, this glass was my favorite Hocus Pocus item.

You'll no doubt recognize these from A Nightmare Before Christmas.

They had plenty of movie-themed signs. I'm a big original Halloween movie fan, so I appreciated that "newspaper article" at the bottom. 

Today, I noticed that they had in a neon sign for the Bates Motel. When you turn the sign on, the neon lights up and one letter flickers. I was surprised to see that they stocked the shelves since I'd been there. So it is worth checking back!

Have you guys been to Spirit Halloween yet? I'd be interested in exchanging notes on what you've seen! 

Guardians of the Tomb

Last night I was lucky enough to see a series of traveling exhibits in the Summer of China series at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I was lucky because these pieces of art are only traveling to three different museums in America and also because this is the first time these pieces have been allowed out of China.

I saw some amazing artifacts last night! I even saw a doorway that was removed from an actual palace. The doorway was part of the exhibit: The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City. If you would like to read a short page of information about the show, here's a link to a section of our museum's web site:

http://www.mam.org/china/

I could go on about all the beautiful art, architectural pieces, and furniture I saw last night, although that wouldn't really fit with the theme of this blog. Luckily, there was a part of the show that was a fit: Tomb Guardians. The Tomb Guardians I got to see were from the Tang Dynasty which ran from 618-907 BCE. They were still in great shape! Here are a few of the photos I took of the Tomb Guardians:

Tomb Guardians were often sculptures of fierce beasts, warriors, or supernatural creatures that were placed in pairs in tombs. These were placed near the entrance of a tomb to protect the deceased from evil spirits. As you can see in my pictures, they were ferocious creatures. I'm not sure what kind of creatures the first ones are, but they manage to look both menacing and happy at the same time. Actually, almost all the sculptures I saw last night looked like they were smiling!

I couldn't help comparing the ancient Chinese burial rituals with those of the ancient Egyptians. Both cultures saw the afterlife as a place where the dead could keep their possessions. In both cases, all the things a person needed in life would be left in their tomb. There were also some sculptures of musicians on display last night. These were left in a tomb so a deceased person could bring some music along on his trip into the afterlife!
 

I tried to find a youtube clip about Tang dynasty burial rituals, but that was pretty much impossible to do. So, instead here's a good one from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-475 BCE) You'll still get to see a few Tomb Guardians that look similar to the ones in my photos.

I also ran across an interesting page on the National Geographic web site. There are a series of photos here showing various Chinese burial customs from different time periods. This is really worth checking out!

National Geographic Chinese Burial Customs

For those who would like to see a modern twist on an older Chinese custom honoring the dead, here's something for you:

This video left me really surprised, amused, and informed! It kind of reminded me of Day of the Dead rituals, like leaving full dinner place settings out for deceased family members. It's a little different to burn something in order to send it to a spirit than to leave it sitting out, but both are a sweet way of remembering someone.

* Update * I was back at the art museum to hear a lecture today (Sunday). While there, I took a few more Tomb Guardian photos! I just had to share these. This one is a vicious little dog. Check out those teeth! 

It kind of looks like he's taking a bite out of that woman in front of him. :) I just love when pictures turn out that way!

P.S. ~ If you haven't entered my giveaway in the previous blog entry, you have until Monday to give it a shot! :)