GHOSTMAP

Right now Halloween is everywhere you look, but are the scary decorations, costumes and even spooky Halloween traditions may be scaring your children more than you as their parent realize.

Every year Halloween gets scarier as technology allows the holiday to seem more and more realistic. Fears around Halloween are development-appropriate because nearly every kid has something they are afraid of that is associated with Halloween. Just take a drive to a local store and go down the Halloween isle and see if even as an adult you don’t find something that scares you little or at the very least grosses you out.

It’s for this reason I caution parents to not allow children under the age of 12 to go to a haunted house. Now you might be thinking my kid watches scary movies on TV so even though they are under 12 they can handle a haunted house. If you believe that you’re probably wrong because after many years of watching TV your child should already know that nothing is going to jump out of the TV and grab them the same cannot be said about the dark corners of a haunted house.

I’m not saying not to let your child experience fear because the only way they will ever conquer fear is to confront whatever it is they are afraid of. What I suggest is you allow that younger child to experience the fear but from a safe distance where you as a parent are able to remove the child at a moments notice if the fear becomes too intense.

Halloween is a big holiday with holiday related sales topping the $6 billion mark so it’s not going anywhere which means your child and you can experience all things spooky when your child is ready. There’s no point in rushing it and possibly scarring your child with an irrational phobia for life. Till next time keep the spooky but not to spooky for the under 12 crowd –The GhostMap team

Gram Rabbit Video from the feature film THE LEGEND OF GOD’S GUN. This video appears with the credit roll. I thought it fitting for Halloween.

Happy Halloween! If you or one of your little one are going trick or treating we put together a list to help you stay safe this Halloween.

Watch out for cars!
Wear light colored costumes and carry a flashlight during dusk and after dark.
Painted faces are better than masks. Masks can block a child’s vision.
Costumes should be sized right to avoid tripping over hems or “too big” shoes.
Stick to a pre-planned route – especially important if your goblins are out on their own.
Bring all goodies home for inspection before sampling!!

Keep it spooky and have fun!

After sitting idle for more than two decades, the grounds of the old Pennhurst State Hospital will awaken with shrieks and screams when the darkness of night come this Friday and the Pennhurst Asylum haunted attraction opens to the public.

In the 30 minutes or so it will take customers to walk through the attraction, Pennhurst landowner Richard Chakejian said guests will receive a little bit of a history lesson while participateing in “a fun-filled Halloween event,” and perhaps even experience a little real life paranormal activity.

There are many accounts of unexplained experiences that have occurred on the grounds since crews began working to create the haunted attraction, Chakejian said, noting that his younger brother who runs a recycling business on the property thinks the property and buildings are haunted.

Jim Soufflas, who manages and trains the actors hired for the haunt and was on site Wednesday when Chakejian gave The Mercury a tour of the attraction, said people who have been working on the scenes for the attraction also believe Pennhurst is haunted.

“They’ve had some weird things happen they couldn’t explain,” Soufflas said, noting that those experiences make going to Pennhurst more desirable for many people looking for a good scare.

With the use and occupancy permit from the township in hand and a permit issued from the Department of Agriculture Amusement Ride Safety Program, Chakejian said the attraction will open its doors Friday. Preparations to open were in full swing Wednesday, undeterred by a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a township resident seeking a court injunction to halt the property development.

Although he declined to disclose the number of pre-sale tickets sold for opening night, Chakejian said he hopes “a lot” of people come out and experience the haunt, which will run Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights through Nov. 7.

Pennhurst Asylum, according to its Web site, www.pennhurstasylum.com, will be open from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $25 and VIP tickets are $50. Tickets may be purchased through the Web site.

Like Linus in the Halloween special for the cartoon Charlie Brown, many of us will soon start looking to find the great pumpkin. However the question is: What do you do when it’s no longer a window decoration? These recipes may offer you some solutions:

For the adventuresome cook, try Rigatoni with Pumpkin and Bacon Sauce adapted from Pasta Cooking with Style (Thunder Bay Press/1994). Sautéed bacon and garlic combine with pureed pumpkin, a little heavy cream or half-and-half and parsley to create this unique dish. Hot drained pasta is tossed with grated Parmesan before plating for added richness.

I prepare fresh pumpkin the same way I do fresh squash. Slice washed pumpkin in half (if very large, in quarters), scrape out seeds (save for roasting, see my easy recipe below, or plant them for growing
pumpkins next year!). Lay pumpkin one piece at a time, cut side down, on a sheet of waxed paper in microwave. Cook on high for 10 minutes until sides feel soft when pinched (add more time if necessary). Let cool. Scrape out pulp and puree in food processor. Puree can be stored portioned in freezer bags for up to one year.

When cooking pumpkin, use a freshly carved pumpkin, not one that has been carved and sitting out for several days. Drawing on your Jack’ O Lantern instead of carving it will also keep it fresh. For the
ultimate shortcut, you have the option of using pure canned, pumpkin, (not canned pumpkin pie mix), for these recipes.

RIGATONI WITH PUMPKIN & BACON SAUCE
3 cups cooked pumpkin
1 lb. rigatoni
6-8 slices bacon, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup heavy cream or half-and-half
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
Fresh ground pepper to taste
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

HOMEMADE PUMPKIN SEEDS
Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain pumpkin seeds and discard pulp.
Spread out on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.
Preheat oven to 250 F. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil. Toss pumpkin seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat. Bake
about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

PUMPKIN SMOOTHIES
1/2 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup milk or vanilla yogurt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. brown sugar
4 ice cubes
whipped cream (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into 2-3 glasses. Serve with a small amount of whipped cream on top. Serves 2-3.

I was looking and was thinking this is such a HOT Halloween Costume. What do you think?

I know it may seem odd but for me Halloween is a bigger holiday than Christmas. Halloween is awesome and not just for the paranormal reasons I love it because it’s the one day a year people get a glimpse as to what my everyday life is like. Halloween is a day that people’s minds are open to possibility’s other than the day to day norm they were raised to believe and open their minds “third eye”

I’m still trying to decide what to be for Halloween I’m thinking either Captain Kirk from Star Trek or Jeeves The Headless Butler. I spent some time browsing the extreme Halloween blog for some ideas and those were my two favorites. I can’t wait til Halloween. Keep it spooky folks

Man has always been fascinated with ghosts, ogres, goblins and spirits. This fascination was also accompanied with fear from them. With the passage of time, these feelings of fear and fascination culminated into various festivals. Halloween is one such festival, which happens to be one of the most popular occasions for Christians across the world. Although it is more popular in America and the European nations, it is getting popular across the world and people cutting across religious lines are celebrating this wonderful occasion. Although it is associated with ghosts, spirits, dead and the haunted, the occasion is celebrated with great gusto and is very popular, especially amongst the kids, who thoroughly enjoy this day. However, if Halloween celebrations are enjoyable, the history behind the tradition is no less appealing in itself.

As it is, the festival is believed to have originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain; and that the name Halloween is an abbreviated form of “All Hallows’ Even”. This festival was originally a festivity marking the end of the harvest season. It was a common belief among the Celts that on October 31, the boundaries between the living and the dead dissolved, which made the dead dangerous for those who were alive. It was believed that the dead posed severe threats to the living, in the form of epidemics, or damaged crops. In order to avoid such a condition, they would form bonfires, in which the bones of the slaughtered livestock used to be thrown in. Along with that, they also used to wear costumes and masks in order to pacify or placate the evil spirits.

In the modern times, however, Halloween has little to do, with appeasing the dead, and it is mainly about celebrations, which incidentally have been a major contributory factor in popularizing the festival. Horror movies have been another contributory factor, as far as the rise in popularity of the festivity is concerned. As a matter of fact, it was horror movies, which took this tradition to places far and wide. The Halloween movie series is one such example, which played a major role in the ever growing popularity of Halloween. Another major factor which has contributed to the rise in popularity of the festival has been that of the Halloween pumpkin. The Halloween tradition of carving a face out of pumpkins comes from the ancient Celtic tradition of placing a skeleton, on the windows, to represent the dead. This was replaced by carving faces on vegetables, and today, a Halloween pumpkin is synonymous with the celebration.

Apart from the pumpkin, Halloween celebrations also include several activities, such as trick-or-treat, wearing Halloween costumes, bonfires, ghost tours, costume parties, trips to haunted sites, carving jack-o’-lanterns, reading horror stories, as well as watching horror movies. Originally, Halloween costumes and masks used to be made individually. These days, however, the costumes and masks are readily available in the market. And, since Halloween is round the corner, it is time that you buy your own set of Halloween masks, costumes, latest horror stories and horror movies.

Well I suffered through this investigation just in case something really happened that I couldn’t find an explanation for. After about the first half-hour I guess they decided to drop the music/sound effects. Initially the creepy ambient music was so loud I could barely hear the team members talking.

Intruder alert: Jay and Grant are sitting in the kitchen and some guy wearing a miner’s helmet, with light shining, comes walking through the door. Oops. Don’t you love live television? What was this guy doing sneaking around the site during an investigation? And how many other production crew members are also in the building? This, if nothing else does, taints the whole investigation.

“You don’t belong here.” Yet another tinny voice talking to Jay and Grant. I reckon these spirits only talk to the guys in charge. The voice sounded like it was coming from a walkie-talkie.

Grant does a Marcel Marceau routine of a man getting tugged by the jacket from behind. Three times. How does Jay keep a straight face? (Watch the clip he’s pulling on a string in his pocket.)

Come on guys enough with the fake stuff. Ghosts are real why you gotta try to fake stuff

We’ll if you’ve been reading my posts you probably would have seen that I already talked a little bit about the London Bridge being haunted. This post is a warning about a fresh haunt. The London Bridge is Haunted and somebody should Call Ghostbusters!

You see right now 5 elemental spirits call the London Bridge home not to mention the dozen or so ghosts that live here. Elemental spirits are not to be messed with because they have the power to snatch the life from your body. Be careful and happy hunting.