Archive for the 'Halloween' Category
Aug
31
It’s our favorite time of the year again – the time when all the ghosts, gobblins, witches, and vampires come out to play! The weather turns crisp and the evening shadows are full of surprises! It’s the season for Trick-or-Treating! Emphasis on the “TRICK”!
This year we at WhoDo-Voodoo are doing something we’ve never done before – taking PRE-SEASON ORDERS!
That’s right – Order now through October 17 for delivery by Halloween AND get a HUGE discount. Our handmade, detailed, authentic voodoo dolls packed with candy and a personal message normally go for $37.00, but now are specially priced at $27.00 each!
Don’t miss out – these prices are only good during this PRE-SEASON ORDER offer. After October 17, the prices go back up again! Take advantage, and give everyone you know a Trick AND Treat that they won’t forget!
Oct
27
OK – so every region has its own local heroes and villains. Growing up in the South, we had our fair share! I can recall the story of a young woman in the 1930’s, Mary Carter, who was the daughter of one of the wealthiest families around. She was engaged to be married to one of the finest young men in the area. She was very excited and couldn’t wait for the day of her marriage to that great young man! Destiny dealt a different hand, though, when one night around dusk, she was walking home along a lonely road, and was hit and killed by a motorist. The motorist took off never to be discovered. Mary’s body lay in a ditch for days before being found. She was buried in the private family plot on her family’s estate – never to enjoy marital bliss. You can imagine that is going to make for one angry ghost!
The story goes that if you dare visit her grave, and want to have a “ghostly” experience, all you have to do is walk around her grave three times while repeating “Bloody Mary” over and over. If you do that, she will slip any rings that you may be wearing off, leaving behind only a bloody finger! :O Pretty scary, right?!
Well, as a teenager, I never really believed that story, but was interested in the history of it. I was able to confirm in the library that there was a young woman named ‘Sally’ Carter (not Mary) who was struck by an automobile and lay dead for days before they found her. She had also been set to get married. So far, the stories lined up pretty well. So, the next thing I wanted to do was to find her burial place and give it a visit – at night, of course.
I decided that I’d have more success with a “test run” during the daytime. Finding the right spot was precarious – especially with the forests and undergrowth. I arrived with my girlfriend around 3 in the afternoon one Saturday. According to our research, her grave – if it really did exist – would be found near one of the oldest chapels in town. We arrived at the chapel, parked our car, and headed into the thick growth of pine trees and brush. Looking through the forest, we could see a huge anti-bellum mansion standing in the middle of a clearing. That seemed to lend more credibility to the tale in our teenage minds. We continued searching around for any signs of a private burial plot, when we suddenly ran across a stone sticking out of the ground – it had been worn and chipped away over the years, but we could see the remains of the letters ” . . . ALLY CART . . . ” which seemed to fit what we were searching for. It appears that over the years, high schoolers and other thrill seekers had chipped pieces away from the tombstone as proof that they had actually been to her grave. We stood in silence for a moment. Then we heard a dog barking. We immediately looked toward the mansion and saw a large german shephard running in our direction. Fortunately, we were far enough away, that we out ran the dog to the parking lot and jumped in the car to safety. Mental note: DOG!
Now that we knew where the place was, we decided that we would have to put the stories to the test. A few nights later on a cool Friday in October, we made our way back to the church parking lot. We climbed over the wooden fence that marked the property line, and with flashlight in hand found ourselves walking through the woods towards Sally’s grave. Even though we had flashlights, the darkness seemed to close in on us. It was genuinely spooky!
Finally, we found the grave, but before we could start circling the grave, we heard other tresspassers coming our way. It was a group of teenage boys. We recognized a couple of the voices. They were some of the football players from our high school! Without even saying a word, my girlfiend and I looked at each other and we both knew that we had to take advantage of this moment and scare the dickens out of those “tough” football players!
We turned out our flashlights and hid behind some bushes. We could hear them coming from far away. They were so noisy. They were joking with each other, trying to prove how unafraid they were as a slight tremble in their voices seemed to betray their words! It was all we could do to keep from laughing. The nearer they got, the harder it was to control it!
The light from their flashlights bounced through the woods, and we could see they were getting closer. They finally found the grave, and got quiet. It was time for them to circle the grave three times! They started around. At first they whispered, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary . . .” They got louder as they circled more. They were getting braver – nothing was happening. As they started their third time around the grave, my girlfriend started in a low, hush of a voice “leave me alone”. We could tell they thought they heard something but weren’t sure. They stood still. A breeze flowed through the trees. They started to walk again, but this time less sure of themselves. Before they could say anything she repeated in a voice a little bit louder. “Leave me alone!” They stopped cold in their tracks. With one last warning, she SCREAMED out the words again. “LEAVE ME ALONE!”
With that, they were off screaming into the woods in all different directions! Once they left, and we had had our chuckle, we decided it might be best to just heed our own advice and leave her alone! We never tested the story ourselves!
OK – so probably not a big deal to you, but I love Halloween, and one of the things I love most about Halloween are all the different Jack-O-Lanterns! I am more of a traditionalist, so I like to keep things a little simple. I’ve included a picture of my favorite way to make a Jack-O-Lantern since it ends up looking good and it goes pretty quickly!
First you scoop out the innards with an ice cream scoop. I use one that I purchased years ago from Kitchenaid. It is very sturdy and has sharp enough edges to clean out the inside of a pumpkin VERY quickly and efficiently.
Then I take a drill, and put on a 2″ paddle. I zip out the eyes and mouth. Sometimes I use different paddles on the mouth to make it look like it is going from small holes at the edges to bigger ones in the middle, but usually just stick with the 2″ paddle for all holes.
Then I just put a tea light candle inside and VOILA’! It’s ready to go! It’s not too scary for the little kids, either!
Hope you enjoy these tips! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
I grew up in the deep South, in a place where legends, lore, and superstition took on a whole new life after the sun went down. When I was 16, my friends and I were drawn to the unseen world and dabbled in the creepy passtimes of Ouija Boards, seances, and ghost stories. Our ghost stories were based on a mixture of research and word of mouth – mostly word of mouth.
One ghost story that was prevelant at the time was about a young woman who had died a tragic death right before the Civil War broke out. Her husband was very wealthy and would do anything to make her happy. As it became more and more evident that she was going to die, she made him promise that he would not bury her lying down and covered in dirt, but instead would have a mausoleam made where she could be “laid to rest” sitting in a rocking chair. It broke his heart to hear her talk this way, but he promised that he would do whatever she wanted, though he was confident she would recover from her illness. She never recovered, though, and he kept his promise. The mausoleum was built, an elaborate rocking chair was placed inside of it, and she was laid to rest sitting on her rocking chair. Over the years, people who were visiting other graves at the cemetery would report hearing a creaking noise coming from her mausoleum, as if the woman was rocking back and forth in her chair – even after death!
I read this story in a book on famous Alabama ghosts, and immediately told my friends about it. They all were as excited as I was to visit the mausoleum and see for ourselves if the lady would really rock for us. We decided that the best time to test it out would be on Halloween night. So, late that Halloween, I snuck out of the house and picked up my friends in my car. It was my girlfriend Malia, my best friend Danny, and a foreign exchange student from Finland who lived with Danny – Jarko.
It was unusually cold with frost in the air and a full moon above. We arrived at the old Civil War era cemetery where we had to get out of the car and walk to the mausoleum. So many of the old roads in the cemetery were not suitable for the width of a car. They had been made to handle the old horse drawn carriages. As we searched in the dark for the right mausoleum a feeling of dread mixed with anticipation settled on us all. Finally, we located the miniature edifice and slowly walked towards it. There was a huge oak tree behind it casting shadows from its branches along the frost-covered grass. We stood silently in the dark. Puffs of frosty air exiting with each breath we let out.
After a few minutes I grew a little impatient. I broke the silence, “I don’t think she’s going to make the noise for us tonight.” The others just looked at me wondering what we do now. I stepped forward, getting close enough to place my ear against the mausoleum and half-whispered, half-spoke the word, “Helloooo”. There was no response. A little disappointed, I stepped back and joined the others of my group. We stood in silence for a moment looking at each other a little puzzled. Just as we were about to give up and walk away, we heard a distinct creaking noise come from inside the mausoleum. It startled us all. Danny and Jarko lost no time – they went screaming towards the car! I looked at Malia somewhat unsure thinking she had made the noise, “You are so mean!” To which she responded, “Me?! I thought you made that noise!” Without much ado, we picked up our feet and ran as fast as we could catching up with Danny and Jarko at the car!