Halloween

Tell Me A Story Tuesday – Halloween 2014 Edition

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I’ve talked about this before, but some of the best stories are ghost stories. I mean who doesn’t love a scary story? (Ok, I’m not a big fan of the horror genre, but I don’t mind a story that’s a little scary or raises the hair on the back of your neck.) This time of year is when scary stories reign supreme, so I thought I would give you the chance to tell me a scary story!

A ghost appears to be kneeling at a grave in a cemetary

A spooky photo from the Battery Carriage House

Now, I know this is the point where I should tell YOU a scary story. But, like I said before, I’m not a huge fan of the genre. When I try to write something creepy it usually comes out funny (like the video project I did in college that was supposed to be creepy but just made my professor and the class laugh). Not that I don’t have a few…odd…things that have happened over the years, but those are more on the personal side and this isn’t really the right forum for them. Not saying I won’t share, just not in this post.

So it’s YOUR turn to tell a supernatural story. It doesn’t need to be long…it doesn’t need to be good…it doesn’t even need to be true (hey for all I know you could have attended a summer camp where campers disappeared every year, who am I to say different?) just tell us your scary/creepy/hair-raising tale. If it’s long story, or if you’d rather put it on your site, no worries just post the link. Hey, if you want to share your scary/creepy/spooky photos with a story about where they’re from or how you got them, that’s awesome too!

I tried this before, and didn’t get a response. This year I know I have a couple of writers who stop by now and again. I also have gone from ones of readers to almost tens of readers over the last few months, so I’m hoping someone will jump in and share something. Again, doesn’t have to be big or elaborate, it just needs to be spooky!

Don’t forget we’ve got rules about these things, just to keep it real friendly like and to keep those nasty trolls under the bridges where they belong, so make sure you check those out.

Ok…so…tell me a scary story!

Tell Me a Story Tuesday – Spooky Edition

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Glowing Jack-o-lantern Ghost

This spooky ghost haunted a pumpkin a couple of years ago. 

It’s time for the Halloween Edition of Tell Me a Story Tuesday! Has something gone bump in the night? Got a good ghost story? Did you experience something spooky and live to tell the tale? Well tell us the tale! This is your chance to chance to share your paranormal parable. It’s simple really,. I’m not looking for perfection. I’m not looking for something to change the world. I’m try to give us all the opportunity to flex that little creative muscle that most of us don’t get to use as often as we should. No pressure. No judgement. Just a chance to share and have a little fun.

The Challenge: Tell me ghost story, or some sort of spooooky story perfect for Halloween. Let’s make them first hand accounts and not out-and-out fiction. Feel free to embellish if you’d like, but try to keep it plausible. Use the comment section below to share your to make sure everyone can see it (if it’s posted somewhere else or if it’s long you can share a link instead).

The Rules: Yep, there are a few rules, but there aren’t many. It’s more to keep things nice and friendly like. You can read the Ground Rules here or just visit the link at the top of the page.

The Prize: Our undying love and devotion. Alright, that’s kind of lame I admit. But, if people start to share stories than we’ll see what we can do about getting some sort of prize. In the mean time you are more than welcome to say you participated in the weekly storytelling event.

So, tell me a story! Spook Me!

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Lorie’s Friday 5 for 10/25/2013

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First, I want to thank everyone for being so understanding about last weeks post being missing. My husband is fine, we’re hopefully going to find a new vehicle this weekend and put this little deer laden adventure behind us.

Let’s kick-start the moving on….

Since it’s the spookiest time of the year I thought I would use this week’s Friday 5 to take a look at things Halloween related. These are five (probably) random, (rarely) newsworthy and on (nearly every) occasion strange or unique stories. I hope there’s at least one thing on the list you haven’t already heard about so you have something to talk about while trick-or-treating this week.

Let’s see what we can scare-up…

1. Halloween evolved from a Celtic called Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”) and who believed that the boundaries between the living and the dead overlapped and the dead would come back to cause havoc. Their festival involved large bonfires that attracted bugs, which would attract bats, another common sight in modern Halloween.

2. Haunted houses are very popular, both the kind haunted by people in costume and the kind haunted by the bodily challenged.

Freaky angry looking bunny with Amy Bruni and Kris Williams from Ghost Hunters

Scare House Bunny with a couple of TAPS Ghost Hunters

One in my “neck of the woods” has consistently been ranked one of the top in the United States. Scare House in Pittsburgh has even been voted the #1 haunt in the world by TopHaunt.com! If you like getting scared, this is a great place to go.

3. Trick-or-Treat is a huge, am I right? What kid doesn’t love running around in costumes and shaking people down for candy? Americans buy over 600 million pounds of candy each year for Halloween. No word on how much of that candy is bought and consumed by the purchaser before the trick-or-treaters even get into costume.

4. In the US superstition says that black cats are bad luck and associated with witches. In the UK white cats are considered bad luck around Halloween. The cats, reportedly, were indifferent about and then suddenly rushed out of the room.

5. Halloween just isn’t Halloween without a good ghost story. Most everyone has one. Some people like the folks at TAPS go out and make them. Some people collect them. Take the time to tell a good ghost story this Halloween and scare the pants off someone you care about.

That’s this week’s 5. If you have an idea for next week’s Friday 5, or if you would like to Guest Write the Friday 5, I would love to hear from you! Send me a note here and we’ll get you on the blog!

Have a great weekend everyone and let’s stay spooky out there!

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Ghost Stories – Storytelling at its finest

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Halloween Vintage 05

Image via Wikipedia

Happy Halloween!

Any good storyteller has a few ghost stories in the back pocket….”You won’t believe what happened to my friend’s co-worker’s dog walker when he and his brother were walking down a dirt road as teenagers…it was a really dark night…they were headed home from town and were told not to take the short-cut through woods by Old Man Miller’s house…The woods were haunted…That’s where they found poor Mary’s body 100 years ago and where she had been buried…today her grave was grown over and couldn’t be found. They say she wanders through the woods looking for her grave.  The brothers thought it was just a made up story when they were told Mary would cry to them for help and try following them home…until that night they took the short cut through the woods and heard footsteps running up behind them…and then a woman’s cried out…”

Ghost stories (and the closely related horror stories) are some of the most shared, and most loved stories told. Horror stories make millions at the box office. Charles Dickens used ghosts to show us the error of our ways. Ghost stories have been passed from generation to generation, around camp fires and on dark and stormy nights. Some have become such a part of society that they’ve been come folk-lore. Stories are the stuff legends are made from.

Our love, and fear, of the unknown provide fertile ground for our imaginations. Sucking us in. Demanding our attention and daring us to look away. You tell yourself it’s just a story but somehow it seems very, very real.

So tonight, sit back and listen to a good ghost story. Feel your pulse start to quicken. The hair on the back of your neck start to stand up. Was that a noise behind you? Couldn’t be, it’s just a story isn’t…..

Isn’t it….