REFLECTIONS

Description of Halloween is from   Halloween – October 31 | National Day Calendar "Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related “guising”), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular. Although, in other locations, these solemn customs are less pronounced in favor of a more commercialized and secularized celebration. Because many Western Christian denominations encourage, although no longer require, abstinence from meat on All Hallows’ Eve, the tradition of eating certain vegetarian foods for this vigil day developed, including the consumption of apples, colcannon, cider, potato pancakes, and s

A Ship That's Haunted Forever

 Vampire Waltz Turn up the volume and go full screen for best effect.

There were four confessional areas built into the walls on each side of the church.  They had closed wooden doors flanked by deep purple curtains where the penitent would enter.  By looking closely, Tom could see that only one confessional was dimly lit.  Above the door was Father Alphonsus’ name engraved on a small rectangular wooden board that slid into a metal holder.  Tom pushed past the curtain.  Inside there was a padded wooden plank for kneeling facing a dark double-screened window that concealed the view. “Father Alphonsus, are you there?” Tom believed he saw a wood panel slide open removing one of the screens. He could see an obscure shadow on the other side of the screen. “Are you Father Alphonsus?  I need to talk with you about something which has me deeply troubled.” The shadow moved.  Then he heard an indistinct mumble or hum or rasping sound, which Tom assumed was the priest. “A friend recommended I see you about a problem I’m having.  You see I’m reading a

When Tom awoke, he was on his back.  Next to him on the ground was a woman lying on her side facing away from him.  He tried to get to his feet.  The road seemed to spin too much for him to endure.  He fell back down. He looked at his hands.  They were soaked in blood.  The taste of blood and bits of steak-like shreds were wedged between his teeth.  He explored the inside of his mouth with his tongue.  It felt like the remnants of some barely cooked steak.  He wiped the blood from his lips on the arm of his jacket staining it bright red. The story becomes bloodier. 

I remember how for Halloween some kids would fill an old sock with colored chalk pieces and break them into powder by hitting the sock on the ground.    If someone did not give out candy their sidewalk would be marked by large chalk spots.  It was harmless, a good rain or hosing would clean it all up. The older kids would sometimes hit the smaller children with a sock.  I remember how afraid we were that we might be hit.  It was more fright than pain. I found this video which is close to how we used to do it except that we did not use a grater, only the sidewalk. Here someone is trying to make money from such a simple project. Did you make "chalk socks" for Halloween when you were young?