In honor of the passing of Ray Bradbury, here is my friend, Darrin Moore, reading the introduction and first two chapters of “Something Wicked This Way Comes.”
Ray Bradbury, RIP
Reply
Coraline and the Beldam
I watched the movie “Coraline” this weekend and I was intrigued that the ghost children referred to the “Other Mother” as the “Beldam,” a Middle English word meaning “Grandmother,” “ugly, old woman,” or “hag.” I found that the author of Coraline, Neil Gaiman, may also have been making a reference to a poem from John Keats, called “La Belle Dam Sans Merci” (The Beautiful Lady without Pity).
The poem is about a knight who is seduced and trapped by a fairy. Here is the full text. Continue reading
Halloween 2011
Something Wicked This Way Comes
I’ve been looking for this film on DVD, but I haven’t been able to find it locally. I’ll have to turn to Amazon.
In the meantime, I found that someone had posted the full film on YouTube. The story makes much more sense to me now than it did when I first saw it back in the 80s. Jonathan Price is really creepy in this film.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is a prime candidate for a remake, but with a little less…“Disney.” Guillermo del Toro? Peter Jackson? I’d be happy to offer some advice. 
Continue reading
Stories from the October Country
Here’s a good article on Russell Kirk’s collections of ghostly tales.
The October Country: A Place for Ghostly Tales
“…that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain…” From The October Country (1955) by Ray Bradbury.
20 Best Cities for Trick-or-Treating
Zillow Trick-or-Treat Index
Zillow has a list of the 20 best cities for Trick-or-Treating. According to their Trick-or-Treat index, the best place for gathering Halloween goodies is determined by a combination of median home value, crime rates (i.e. how safe people feel lettings their little monsters go door-to-door, how much walking is required for the haunted harvest, and population density. The home value factor is most likely why none of Utah’s big cities is in the top 20.
In the list below, the top 20 cities are also broken down by the best neighborhoods to visit. Note: these links will take you to a map of the city, with an overlay of the neighborhoods. The list of the top 5 neighborhoods is in the right hand navigation column. Continue reading
The Ghost of John
Here’s a newer, fuller rendition of a traditional American folk song, The Ghost of John.
Have you seen the ghost of John?
Long white bones and the rest all gone,
Ooh, ooh, wouldn’t it be chilly with no skin on?
The Woman In Black
Here’s the trailer for Daniel Radcliffe’s new film, The Woman In Black.
This film looks like it’ll be really creepy, just the kind of thing for Halloween–except it won’t be released until February 2012. Duh, guys.
In an upcoming post, I’ll share a couple of true stories about the Woman in Black from my family history. Stay tuned.
Tricked Treaters
Here’s a funny video. These guys made a four-foot tall dummy dressed like a trick-or-treater and put him on the doorstep.
Watch how nervous people get when the tot doesn’t respond. As my 2-year old says, it’s “kinda creepy.”
The Mewlips by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Mewlips, from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The shadows where the Mewlips dwell
Are dark and wet as ink,
And slow and softly rings their bell,
As in the slime you sink.You sink into the slime, who dare
To knock upon their door,
While down the grinning gargoyles stare
And noisome waters pour.Beside the rotting river-strand
The drooping willows weep,
And gloomily the gorcrows stand
Croaking in their sleep.Over the Merlock Mountains a long and weary way,
In a mouldy valley where the trees are grey,
By a dark pool’s borders without wind or tide,
Moonless and sunless, the Mewlips hide.The cellars where the Mewlips sit
Are deep and dank and cold
With single sickly candle lit;
And there they count their gold.Their walls are wet, their ceilings drip;
Their feet upon the floor
Go softly with a squish-flap-flip,
As they sidle to the door.They peep out slyly; through a crack
Their feeling fingers creep,
And when they’ve finished, in a sack
Your bones they take to keep.Beyond the Merlock Mountains, a long and lonely road,
Through the spider-shadows and the marsh of Tode,
And through the wood of hanging tees and the gallows-weed,
You go to find the Mewlips–and the Mewlips feed.-JRR Tolkien