Top Ten Halloween Costumes 2010

I'm going to tell you the top ten TEEN halloween costumes from http://www.halloweenexpress.com/ !

1. Twilight Bite

2. Adorable Alice

3. Dr. Killer Driller

4. Cryptic Rocker

5. Lil Miss Red Riding Hood

6. Skeleton Sweetie

7. Crystal Ball Gypsy

8. Gonzo

9. Micheal Meyers

10. Zombie Ghost Face

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Post in the comments below!

~M.A.Chase♥

Monster Profile: Witches

Ok, so here's what I'm going to do. My Halloween story is far from finished so I'm going to move everything up (except for the Happy Halloween Post that is supposed to be done the day of Halloween) and I'm going to save it for Halloween.

So, onto the post for today: Monster Profile: Witches.

Aren't all witches the kind that ride on broomsticks? Do they really eat little kids? Do they live in a candy house somewhere far into the forest? How did witches come about? Where do they originate from? All of those questions and more will be answered in today's post!
 ~M.A.Chase♥
AGAIN THIS IS RELIGIOUS, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS SKIP THIS POST

Hundreds of years ago Christians, as well as many other religions, thought that the Devil could give powers to witches to harm others for loyalty. This wave of witchcraft and witchery started in the 1300s and ended in the late 1600s. Hundreds of thousands of witches (mostly women) were executed. Although the Salem Witch Trials had come when the situation was winding down, there was still much damage done.

In January 1692, Reverend Paris' daughters Elizabeth, age 9, and Abigal Williams, age 11, started having strange "fits". A local doctor had blamed the supernatural. Another girl, Ann Putnam, age 11, had experienced similar fits.

On Febuary 29, under the pressure of magistrate, two women blamed three other woment for causing the episode, Tributa (the Paris' Carribean slave), Sarah Good (a homeless beggar), and Sarah Osborne (an elderly improvished woman).

All three women were brought before the court. They were interrogated for several days. Good and Osborne were both found innocent. Tributa, on the other hand, confessed that "the Devil came to me to bid me to serve him." She described different images of red cats, yellow birds and a "black man" who wanted her to sign his book. She admitted that she did and that other witches were planning to destroy the Puritans. All three women were sent to jail.

Accusations followed the next few months. Finally, on May 27, 1962 Bidget Bishop, an elderly woman who was known for her gossiping, was found guilty and the first to be hung on what is now called Gallows Hill.

Nearly 200 people in total were accused, 19 hung on Gallows Hill.


So there you have it.

Witches were thought to be people with powers given by the Devil.

Although, scientific studies say that it may have been a fungus grown on rye, wheat that only grows in hot climates which is Salem Village. Rye was used during the summer and winter months. What this fungi did was it could create hallucinations, vomiting, sickness, muscule spasms etc.

Maybe that's what's behind witches.

How the Jack-o-Lantern came to be

This is the history of one of the most known Halloween symbols...the Jack-o-lantern! Now, how did this come to be? Here is the post where you can learn all about it!

This Jack-o-lantern bit probably came from Irish foklore (you know from my History of Halloween post that the Irish came around the 1800s).

(This story has to do with like the Devil and very religious so if you really don't want to read it then skip this post. I wish you could though!)

So the story starts with a guy named Jack (get it Jack, Jack-o-lantern), who is a drunkard and a trickster. He tricked Satan up a tree and carved a cross on the trunk, forcing the Devil to stay up there. Jack then made a deal, if the he promised to never tempt him again he would let him down.

According to the story, after Jack died he was denied entrance into Heaven (because of his evil ways) and Hell(because he tricked the devil). Instead, the devil gave him a glowing ember with which he would light his way through the dark fridgid darkness, and to keep the flame burning longer, he would put it in a hollowed turnip.

The Irish used hollowed turnips as "Jack's Lanterns", but when they came to America, they found that pumpkins were plentiful and used them instead, and so the American "Jack-o-lantern) was born!

How is that for a little history?

~M.A.Chase♥

Monster Profile: Vampires (not the sparkly kind)

Welcome to yet ANOTHER monster profile! This time it's going to be on Vampires.

I know what you're thinking; "Ew, vampires? They sparkle, how bad can they get?" "I don't want to hear anymore about Twilight." These aren't the sparkly kind. These are your hardcore, burn in the sun, wooden steak through the heart, blood drinking, Draculas, that everyone knows and loves. ☺

So, drinking someone elses blood was thought to bring you immortality as long as you kept drinking. The idea of a "vampire" actually branches off from cannibalism, pretty creepy, huh? Anyway, Vampires are night creatures. The sight of the sun either turns them to stone or turns them to dust. So, if one day you decide to go out for a stroll and see random dust in the middle of the sidewalk or an odd human statue in someone's yard, then you know what you just came across.

Vampires are often characterized by their long black cloaks, their long corpse-like bodies, and some even have the ability to fly, but whether any of that was in the myths it is unknown. They sleep in coffins, hate churches and cringing and scream at the sight of garlic.

Now those are the vampires we love :D

~M.A.Chase♥

Halloween Horror Books

Sorry, I have to make this up from yesterday. I was preparing for a party at my friend's house, but here it is. I'll write today's as soon as I finish.

Title: The Shining
Author: Stephan King
Release date: July 1st 1982 first published 1977
Rating: 3.84
Publisher: New English Library Ltd
Book Summary: Title: It
Author: Stephan King 
Release date: August 7th 1987 first published 1986
Rating: 3.85
Publisher: Signet
Book Summary:

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they were grown-up men and women who had gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But none of them could withstand the force that drew them back to Derry, Maine to face the nightmare without an end, and the evil without a name. What was it? Read It and find out...if you dare!

Title: The Stand
Author: Stephan King
Release date: May 1st 1990 first published 1978
Rating: 4.25
Publisher: Doublebay
Book Summary:

This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.
And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

Title: Carrie
Author: Stephan King
Release date: September 1st 2005 first published 1974

Rating: 3.60
Publisher: Pocket
Book summary: 

Carrie White is unaware of her extraordinary powers, until she is pushed over the edge by her classmates and transforms the quiet New England town into a holocaust of destruction.

Title: 'Salem's Lot
Author: Stephen King
Release date:  July 1st 1977 first published 1975
Rating: 3.74
Publisher: New English Library
Book summary:

'Salem's Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples.That summer in 'Salem's Lot was a summer of home-coming and return; spring burned out and the land lying dry, crackling underfoot. Late that summer, Ben Mears returned to 'Salem's Lot hoping to cast out his own devils...and found instead a new unspeakable horror.
A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved.
All would be changed forever-Susan, whose love for Ben could not protect her; Father Callahan, the bad priest who put his eroded faith to one last test and Mark, a young boy who sees his fantasy world become reality and ironically proves the best equipped to handle the relentless nightmare of 'Salem's Lot.

Yes, they are all Stephan King, it just kind of happened like that. I took the first five horror books from Goodreads and that's what happened. Stephan King is amazing so, why shouldn't his books be featured every once and a while?

Anyway, these books are the scariest--in my opinion--on the lot. Check them out!
~M.A.Chase♥

Danny is only five years old, but he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of an old hotel, his visions grow out of control. Cut off by blizzards, the hotel seems to develop an evil force, and who are the mysterious guests in the supposedly empty hotel?

The History of Halloween

How long have we really been celebrating Halloween? Was this just something that came up one day or was it something celebrated before the Europeans came to America?

Halloween means "All Hallows", or "All Saints", or "All Souls" Day. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherians used to observe All Hallows Day to honor the Saints in heaven.

The Romans observed the holiday of Feralia(to give rest and peace to the dead), they made sacrifices and offered up prayers. This holiday was celebrated February 12, the end of the Roman year. Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints' Day to replace the festival of the dead and changed the date to May 13, later, Gregory III changed the date to November 1.

The American version of Halloween Day is originally an ancient Duidric fire festival called "Samahain". The Celts in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland all celebrate Samahain (sow-in).

Ireland the festival was known as Samhein(or La Samon, the Feast of the Sun), in Scotland, the celebration was known as Hallowe'en and in Welsh it's Nos Galen-gaeof (the Night of the Winter Calends).

A Celtic story says that on Samhain the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the year before would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, which allowed Spirits to talk with the living.

Obviously, no one wants to be possessed,  so, on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily parade around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Rome had adopted Celtic practices and put Samahain in there list of October celebrations. There is one day in Roman October in which they celebrate, Pomona, her symbol is the apple which may explain the "bobbing-for-apples" we have on Halloween.

Soon the thought of possession died down and the practice of dressing up like witches, hob goblins, and ghosts took a more ritualistic role.

The celebration of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840s by fleeing Irish Immigrants.


Cite
History of Halloween
Halloween- The History, Traditions, and Customs
Ah, the interesting randomness of Halloween. :D I never knew a lot of the stuff on here from Halloween! I like these posts.
~M.A.Chase♥

Monster Profile: Werewolves

Deviantart.com
(Drawn by the-lone-voice)

We all know about the werewolves, but lately we've seen all types of different werewolves. With Maggie Steifvater's "change with temperature" and Stephenie Meyer's "change at will" we may have lost some of the old, ancient touched to werewolves.

COUNTRIES WITH LEGENDS OF WEREWOLVES

• France (loup-garou)
• Greece (lycanthropos)
• Spain (hombre lobo)
• Bulgaria (valkolak)
• Turkey (kurtadam)
• Czech Republic/Slovakia (vlkodlak)
• Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia (vukodlak / вукодлак)
• Russia (vourdalak , оборотень)
• Ukraine (vovkulak(a), vurdalak(a), vovkun, перевертень)
• Croatia (vukodlak)
• Poland (wilkołak)
• Romania (vârcolac)
• Macedonia (vrkolak)
• Scotland (werewolf, wulver)
•  England (werewolf)
• Ireland (faoladh or conriocht)
• Germany (Werwolf)
• the Netherlands (weerwolf)
• Denmark/Sweden/Norway (Varulv)
• Norway/Iceland (kveld-ulf,varúlfur)
• Galicia(lobisón)
• Portugal/Brazil (lobisomem)
• Lithuania (vilkolakis and vilkatlakis)
• Latvia (vilkatis and vilkacis)
• Andorra (home llop)
• Hungary (Vérfarkas and Farkasember)
• Estonia (libahunt)
• Finland (ihmissusi and vironsusi)
• Italy (lupo mannaro)

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SOME GREEK HISTORY

Greek mythology provides the earliest of the werewolf legends. According to a story in history Lycaon had served human flesh during a meal with the Gods and was turned into a wolf-a long with another member-because of it.

In another Greek story, says a man of Anthus' family was chosen and taken to a lake. He hang his clothes on a tree and swam across. With this, he was transformed into a werewolf. He roamed around in this form for nine years, if he promised he wouldn't eat a human he would be allowed to transform back into a human and swim back across the river.

The Greek scholar Herodotus says that the Neuri tribe would be transformed for a few days.
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SHE-WOLF

Even though it's also a song by Shakira it's in mythology too.

She is an aspect of a triple Goddess. In legend, she had given three souls to the Legendary King Herulus. She is also the mythical mother of the two founders of Roma, Romus and Remulus.

South Slavs had a ritual where they used to pass a newborn child through a wolf skin saying it was thus born from the She-Wolf.
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One of the most common beliefs of werewolves is that they change only during a full moon and they can only be killed by a silver bullet. 

~M.A.Chase♥

Cited:
History of the Werewolf
She-Wolf