Halloween Fun & News

Halloween is it just a holiday celebrated on October 31 that children trick or treat and dress in costumes. well it has roots a real history in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints' Day.

Halloween has origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: from the Old Irish samain, possibly derived from Gaulish samonios).The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Celts believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks being worn at Halloween goes back to the Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them, in Scotland for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white.

The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe'en, is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both even and eve are abbreviations of evening, but Halloween gets its n from even) as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the 9th century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day.

On Hallows' eve, the ancient Celts would place a skeleton on their window sill to represent the departed. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body, containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the "head" of the vegetable to frighten off the embodiment of superstitions. Welsh, Irish and British myth are full of legends of the Brazen Head, which may be a folk memory of the widespread ancient Celtic practice of headhunting - the results of which were often nailed to a door lintel or brought to the fireside to speak their wisdom. The name jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip. The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America where pumpkins are both readily available and much larger- making them easier to carve than turnips. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. The American tradition of carving pumpkins preceded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.



The imagery surrounding Halloween is largely an amalgamation of the Halloween season itself, works of Gothic and horror literature, in particular novels Frankenstein and Dracula, and nearly a century of work from American filmmakers and graphic artists, and British Hammer Horror productions, also a rather commercialized take on the dark and mysterious. Halloween imagery tends to involve death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include the Devil, the Grim Reaper, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, pumpkin-men, goblins, vampires, werewolves, martians, zombies, mummies, skeletons, black cats, spiders, bats, owls, crows, and vultures.
Particularly in America, symbolism is inspired by classic horror films (which contain fictional figures like Frankenstein's monster and The Mummy). Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

Halloween is one of those holidays when it is a lot of fun to be creative and artistic with crafts, costumes, art, and decorating. Here are some great ideas and links.

Pumpkin Carving
SpookMaster - Pumpkin Carving Patterns for Halloween
pumpkin carving stencils from History.com
Also you can use these same stencils for your windows, making wonderful silhouettes

Here are some great embroidery patterns
Apex Embroidery - Halloween Embroidery Designs


Make your own treat bags.
Use stencils, or children can color them, maybe use some yarn for hair and draw a monster face or print some old photos on regular print paper of your children's' past Halloween. Put a big Jack-O-Lantern in the middle and have the photos above in a half circle.

T-shirt Fun
Transfers of past Halloween costumes, what fun! You can get printable iron-on transfer paper in your store and use it to put a past Halloween photo on a t-shirt.
Or you can buy googley eyes in you sewing shops, you can get sticky ones that you can press on, or sew on ones that last longer.

Do you have Photoshop?

Here are some great Photoshop monster making tutorials:
Zombie
Halloween Photoshop Tutorial: Creating Zombie

Stone statue
Turning Portrait Into Stone Statue

Alien Invasion
AHHHHH! Oy! Alien Invasion! A Photoshop Tutorial..



Change face into vampire
This Adobe Photoshop tutorial shows how can you, in a few steps, make a perfect "vampire look" of anyone's picture

Elf
Turn family & friends into elves

Yellow eyes
Devil's Eye By lordgilamesh

Good & evil
Tutorial: Good and Evil Photo Manipulation

Alien man
Alienize: Transform a person into an alien

Ghost effect
Photoshop Effects: Ghosting An Image

evil eyes
Halloween Photo Effect: The Evil Eye

Costumes are so much fun!
Wow, I have seen so many great ones! One year I dressed all black and had my face done as the dead, and won a prize. It took hours to make up my face, but was cheap and fun! Only one pack of face paint, white and black.

I once had a friend dress as "White trash", she won first prize. She took a trash bag and filed it with crumpled news papers and strings and such and cut 2 holes for legs and 2 for arms and tied it at her neck with papers hanging out.

I remember as a kid using my moms old wigs and being a 50s singing star, and another year a scarecrow using real leaves and straw and several years with store costume as well.

My husband and his parents did something homemade themselves almost every year. So I asked him to write some of them for me:

When I was a boy, our church had a Halloween party each year where we would have games and contests. So over the years I won many awards for the costumes my parents came up with for the Halloween party. These are just a few.

One year I was a bag of jelly beans. They got a big clear bag, cut two holes in the bottom for my feet and a hole in each side for my hands. They filled the bag with various colored balloons. Once it was full they gathered up the top of the bag around my neck and held it together with a long ribbon to which was a attached a big piece of cardboard we had shaped like an old-time pricetag. I won "Most Creative".

Another year I was Oscar the Grouch, we took a plastic trashcan and cut the bottom out. We attached some straps to the inside so that I could "wear" it. We put another strap under the trash can lid so that I could wear it as a hat. I had a purchased Oscar the Grouch masked and Mom made some arm length gloves out of green fur fabric and I wore a green t-shirt. I won "Funniest" that year.

One of my favorites was the year I was a box of popcorn. My dad got a huge box from work that was taller than it was wide, in other words "popcorn box shaped". The bottom of course was left open so that I could walk. We attached straps inside so that I could wear it and leave my arms and hands free. We painted the box red with the word "Popcorn" painted in white on each side. On the front we cut out the middle of the O and put in screen so that I could see out of it. All over the top we glued popcorn, a lot of popcorn. Inside I had a bag of popcorn and up through the top was a toilet paper roll so that I could flick out a piece of popcorn every now and again. That year I won "Most Creative".

Thank you Jonathan

I understand so many of us in today's world are so very, very busy, so I have also added some great costume sites and some I found for sale online and might I say they are very adorable.

Some of my favorite Halloween treats and fun

Pumpkin Cookies
1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 can of cream cheese frosting
Candy corn

Directions:

Slice the dough and bake according to package directions. When cool, frost with
frosting. Place candy corn on the cookies to make a jack-o-lantern face.
Variation: Tint the frosting with red and yellow food color to make orange
frosting. Use chocolate chips or pieces of licorice to make the faces.



Ghost Suckers

Take a round-headed lollipop. Lay the head in the center of a white handkerchief
(or disposable tissue). Fold and gather the handkerchief down around the stick and
tie just below the head with a thread/ribbon/rubber band. Using a black magic
marker, add 2 black dots for eyes

You can also use paper strong tissue Napkins and such draw face and add yarn or ribbon



Halloween Punch

1 env. orange unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 env. raspberry unsweetened Kool-Aid
2 c. sugar
3 qts. water with ice cubes
1 liter ginger ale

Mix Kool-Aid and sugar in pitcher; add water and ice. Stir. Add ginger ale just
before serving.



Fun Ideas to decorate cookies and cup cakes

first frosting now you can buy white frosting already made or make your own then food coloring

make your cup cakes or cookies ones I use are sugar cookies or peanut butter and pumpkin recipe above

Lets do cup cakes after very cool mix frosting and food coloring green or orange blue can be fun

candy candy candy

How about a spider sprinkle black sprinkles on frosted cup cake cover good use black licorice

for legs stick them in good to the frosting cut some tips of the licorice and stick them in small marshmallow for eyes

frost cup cake green ad a Large Marsh mellow eye take red fruit rollup type candy and round it for a

large tongue stick it in cup cape and have it long enough to drag on dish.

make faces with candy corn your kids will love decorating with you serve some with just

sprinkles a couple black and a couple orange you will be loved at your kids Halloween bash

you could even have all the stuff to decorate out and have kids make there own you can do this with the cookies as well



Punch bowl fun

buy a cheep plastic large bowl and you can use craft paint to color or find one the color you

want decorate with stickers or find some

Halloween clip art to print on your computer cut out and paste with clear craft glue

another Idea the smoking caldron you can do this 2 ways you can buy a steam-fog maker wich would be

sold with fountain pumps or party places or you can use dry Ice

use a large glass bowl or a large cooking pot don't laugh people think the pot is just as cool inside place your ice

or steam maker half inch to a inch water to make work ad a small glass bowl upside down don't cover the steam maker-mist-fog maker lol

now place large bowl full of your punch set it on top of the upside down dish plug in steam maker or add water

to your dry ice and wall la a smoky spooky party caldron

one more ok empty pumpkin let dry all day ad a bowl serve punch right from pumpkin carve edges with triangles to make pretty

there are recipes for pumpkin punch and I have heard you can put it inside the pumpkin with no dish/p>



Pumpkin Pie
You can use a pan shaped like a pumpkin! You can find it at most arts and crafts stores that have a cake decorating section or at a restaurant supply store that carries cake decorating supplies.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups (12 oz can) evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups (15oz can) pure pumpkin filling
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
TIP: You can substitute pumpkin pie spice for all the individual spices.
Use 3 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice instead.
PREPARATION
Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Beat the eggs lightly in a separate large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and dry mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
Press a pre-made pie crust into a 9-inch deep dish pie crust and cook according to directions on the package. Pour mixture into the pie shell. Instead of using a regular pie pan, you can also a Halloween themed pan such as the Wilton Pumpkin cake pan shown above.

BAKING
Cook in a pre-heated 425º F. oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the temp to 350º and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife tip inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack or a cool counter top for 2 hours before serving. This also gives it time to set up, so when you cut it and set it on a plate, it will stay in one piece.

STORAGE & SERVING
Store in the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Chilling will cause the crust to separate from the pie slightly but it's better then getting botulism. Top with



cup cake eyes use white frosting and food coloring frost with white then a blob of ble then black if you want thin red lines down the sides or take big colored gum drops cut to flat then cut black jelly bean for center or even another take jelly beans all one color or mm's Make a circle and put a black in the middle

cup cake witch use ice cream pointy cone as cap on top of a cupcake with green frosting decorate with candy a jelly bean nose on the side of cakes and red liquorish mouth mm eyes can use your imagination
cup cake icefream coan witches



Pumpkin seeds

DON'T THROW THEM AWAY A FUN SNACK

Preheat oven to 250°F.

After removing as much pulp as possible from the pumpkin seeds, place the seeds in a colander in the sink and run cold water over them as you work to remove any remaining pulp. When the seeds are clean, drain them and place between two paper towels to dry.

In a large skillet, sauté 2 cups pumpkin seeds, 2 tablespoons butter or 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut or safflower oil and 1 teaspoon salt. (For an interesting flavor variation, try Morton's Hot Salt or use Seasoned Salt.)

Stir 3 minutes until seeds are well coated with butter.

Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Take a few out to try at this point (watch out-they will be hot so let them cool a bit first!)

Some seeds are larger than others and will take longer to bake.

If necessary, continue to bake 15 minutes longer or until lightly browned.

Place on a paper towel to cool.

Variation: After washing the pumpkin seeds, soak seeds for 1-2 hours in a mixture of 1 quart of water and 1/2 cup kosher salt. Be sure salt has dissolved. Remove seeds from water mixture after soaking and dry. Proceed as above.

New movie tailors 2011 movies one I do not consider scary yet a Gothic love story still very cool. Ok also i couldn't help myself i aded some dvds well alot i could go on forever i love scary movies I had to stop myself. Enjoy a scary night in the dark some pop corn hope for that sudden thunder storm and pop in a spooky DVD a fun chilled evening.

the kids are back in school so all you have is the weekend maybe vacation was small this year why not have vacation fun weekends near your home well here are some for a halloween or haunted weekend

a ghost walk you can either schedule a tour or find land marks in your area that are haunted on the net map it out and print making sure they are open to the public then bring digital cameras most now have recorders built in if you only have one you can get just the camera like the old throw aways but one time digitals pretty cheap at drug stores and take lots of photos record the silence use what you may have learned watching ghost hunt shows ask questions bring extra batteries in case of drainage from the spirits it can also be a history adventure read to the kids what you found on the net for information and maybe another thing the same day you could do a pumpkin carving art show buy some pumpkins maybe 2 per person and get some templates off line or a carving kit from the store set them up as an art show together and light for photos maybe make tshirt iron ons with each persons pumpkin photos dont through out the seeds the kids will enjoy making roasted pumpkin seeds

day 2 an event a pumpkin festival a haunted hey ride or haunted house or maybe a corn maze
also maybe during the day if you have the fall leaves practice your photo skills photos of fall foliage are wonderful to share with others and as keepsakes. or maybe scar crow making.

Please don't forget last in this lens is a list of Halloween haunted houses walking tours mazes and hayrides!

http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_houses.cfm

Texas Haunted Haunted House Cutting Edge - Fort Worth, Texas

New Hampshire Haunted House Haunted Overload - Lee, New Hampshire

Alabama Haunted Houses Atrox Factory And Graystone Manor

Texas Haunted House House of Torment Austin Texas

Alabama Haunted Houses Atrox Factory And Graystone Manor

California Haunted House - Universal Studios Horror Nights House of Horrors

Georgia Haunted House Netherworld in Atlanta Georgia

Pennsylvania Haunted House Bates Motel in Philadelphia

Ohio Haunted House Haunted School House and Haunted Laboratory Akron Ohio

Haunted Houses in Ohio Kentucky and Indiana Review



Ohio Haunted House 7 Floors of Hell Cleveland

North Carolina Haunted House Spookywoods

Haunted Houses in Atlanta Georgia Netherworld Haunted House

Michigan Haunted House Erebus

Salt Lake City Utah Haunted House Rocky Point Haunted House

Florida Haunted House, Disney's Yeti Mount Everest

New York Haunted House, Jekyll and Hyde Restaurant

California Haunted House, Los Angles Disney Haunted Mansion Live Experience

New York Haunted House, Buffalo Fright World

Louisiana Haunted Houses House of Shock New Orleans

Headless Horseman Hayrides Park, NY



or try a corn maze they are all over the usa
http://www.cornfieldmaze.com/

or how about pumpkin patches
http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/index.php

house and hayride Phone now

Nightmares Montvale, NJ 845-928-4131

Haunted Mill Clinton, NJ 908-735-4101

Haunted Halloween Hayride Vernon, NJ 1-800-500-1337

Forest of Fear Tuxedo, NY 914 / 351-5171

The Portal 141 Rt 17 South Paramus NJ 201 261 7170

Rallville's Wicked Woods Waretown, NJ 609-693-2594

Indian Rock Jersey Devil Haunted Hayride Jackson, NJ 732 928-0034

Eastern State Penitentiary Philadelphia, PA

Hayride of Horrors Hackettstown, NJ 973-942-4448 or 908-637-4644

Frightful Nights Glen Gardner, NJ 908-537-4332

The Field of Terror East Windsor, NJ 609-758-7817

Field of Screams Mountville, PA (717) 285-7748

Night of Terror Mullica Hill, New Jersey 856 / 223-1669

Corner of Chaos East Windsor, NJ 609 426 8884

Dark Forest Glen Gardner, NJ 201-666-dark

Headless Horseman Ulster Park, NY 845-339-2666

3 Terrifying Nights of Halloween Augusta, NJ 201-362-1690

C Casola Farms Marlboro, NJ 732-946-8885

The Bates Motel Glem Mills, PA 610-459-0647

Waretown Haunted Hayride Waretown, NJ 609-693-5407

Fright Fest Six Flags Great Adventure Jackson, NJ 732-928-1821

Weeping Willow Cemetery Jackson, NJ 732-833-0812

Jason's Woods Lancaster, PA 717 872 5768

Tomahawk Lake Sparta, NJ 973 398 7777

Schaefer Farms Fright Fest Flemington, NJ 908 782 2705

The Prison Mount Holly NJ 609 678 8898

Haunted Village Somerset, NJ 732 271 1119

HallowMarine Sandy Hook, NJ 732 872 1300

Nightmare on Main Street Barnegat, NJ

http://cosmicsociety.com/tours.html

HAUNTED CONNECTICUT TOURS
NEW for 2009!

Reservations are already beginning for the 2009 Halloween Season.
Space is limited, so reserve your tour now!

Remember, if you have a group we can schedule your custom tour at any time of the year and learn how to receive a free tour. You can also turn your day or evening tour into an overnight with Haunted INN CT tours!

Another in Conn
http://www.invisiblepast.com/
Invisible P.A.S.T. wants to take you with us ~ On real ghost hunts!

Not that we're bragging but...

Invisible P.A.S.T. is the only ghost hunting tour group in Connecticut that schedules events year round. We have put in place many different Spirit experiences for all the right frights.

Mass / Boston Ghosts and Gravestoness

Old Town Trolley Tours invites you to explore our premier "frightseeing" tour, Ghosts & Gravestones Night Tour. Prepare yourself for an evening of fun, scares, and ghost stories as you are guided through some of America's most haunted cities: Boston, Savannah and St. Augustine. Hear local tales of

Haunted Gettysburg Tour
Have you ever had a strange 'feeling' on the Gettysburg battlefield? Perhaps you thought you saw someone or something that vanished inexplicably before your eyes, or maybe you heard voices and sounds where, plainly, no one was visible. Why do so many people report strange occurrences on the battlefield of Gettysburg? It seems the town has far more than its share of supernatural incidents, almost all in some way connected to the battle. Those affected can be men, women or children, just about anybody who ventures onto the hallowed grounds. Some of these soldiers ended their natural lives suddenly, others lingered painfully until gasping their last breath.
Or try
http://www.ghostsofgettysburg.com/

Ghosts of NY

And In VT
Queencity Ghostwalk

Mollie Stewart, the owner of Spellbound Tours in Salem, Massachusetts, is a licensed Ghost Hunter with the International Ghost Hunters Society and a certified Parapsychologist. She has been conducting ghost tours since 1996, beginning in the most haunted city in America, New Orleans. She is the head of Paranormal Investigators of New England, a private company specializing in paranormal research and investigations. Ms. Stewart has been featured on Good Morning America, Showtime, the Travel Channel and has another upcoming segment on the Travel Channel this Fall, called "Haunted Salem".

The Boston Spirits Walking Tour
Dare to look for these and other Boston Spirits on this 90 minute tour.
We meet at Boston Common Visitor Information Center,
148 Tremont Street, on selected evenings at 8:00 p.m.
This unique tour takes you to downtown Boston's most infamous haunted locations.

From the site
New England Curiosities
York Village Shadows of the Past - 7/30/09 - Thursday - 8:00 pm.

Historic Portsmouth Legends and Ghosts - Friday 7/31/2009 - 6:00 pm.

York Village Shadows of the Past - 8/1/2009 - Saturday - 8:00 pm.

Haunted Pubs of Portsmouth - 8/4/2009 - Tuesday - 6:00 pm

Lantern Walks at the Rosewood - 8/5/2009 - Wednesday 7:00 pm

Shadows & Stones Cemetery Tour - Friday 8/7/09 - 9:00 pm

New Tours and Events Announced for the Lake Sunapee Region! Visit our Special Tours Page!

Nightmare New England spooky world
Welcome to Nightmare New England, your number one destination for thrills and chills this October!
Nightmare New England is a massive 20-acre Halloween Scream Park located at Funway Park in Litchfield, NH. The scale and variety of the Park offers something for even the boldest of Halloween fanatics. We feature FOUR TERRIFYING Haunted Attractions at one location and a "Monster Midway" where you will be greeted by dozens of freakish characters that freely roam the grounds of the Scream Park. The Monster Midway will also feature concessions, gifts, photo opportunities, go-karts (voted #1 in NH!), batting cages, two themed 18-hole mini-golf courses and more!

Over 27,000 Sq. ft of terror await you at New England's largest Halloween Scream Park!

Check out our Attractions page for more information about "Buried Alive", "Raven's Claw Cemetery", "The 3-D Freak Show" and "Sleep Stalkers"!

Nightmare New England
"New England's Halloween Scream Park!"
http://www.NightmareNewEngland.com
454 Charles Bancroft Highway
Litchfield, N.H. 03052

Morbid Mountain
a Scream Fest and haunted HeyRide