Happy Halloween!

A very old photo from my Halloween archives! Wishing you all a fun and safe Halloween!

Oh, and please check out the Halloween episode (#101) of the Anything Ghost Podcast, by Lex Wahl! I've got a story on there this time! :)

Spooky Sunday

One week until Halloween! I have to admit, this year has been pretty lackluster when it comes to my Halloween spirit. Despite that, this weekend one of my long time wishes was granted when Sam, Amanda, and I went to the Strathearn Ghost Tour! Now this ghost tour is not of actual ghosts; the Rancho Simi Park and Recreation district teams up with the Simi Valley Actors Repertoire Theatre to produce the Ghost Tour. If you haven't seen or even heard of Strathearn Historical Park, it's an area that has many original buildings from Simi's history preserved. The Strathearn house in particular is the anchor of the site- it was built around the original Simi Adobe, which was constructed in the 1790's!! In the late 1800's the Strathearn family bought the land, restored the Adobe, and then built their own Victorian style farm house around it.

Every Halloween season they transform the park into a stage for all many of creepy monolouges and scenes, depicting the creepier parts of Simi History. For instance, the east Simi Hills have been a magnet for several cults (not including the Manson Family that lived there on the Spahn Movie Ranch)! Maybe it's something in the water ...

Some of the highlights included:
~ A scene between May Otis Blackburn and her daughter, Princess Ruth, founders of The Blackburn Cult.

~ Dr. Finis E. Yoakum, founder of the Pisgah Grande Colony (another cult!), who was an advocate of walking backward.

~ A creepy monolouge by Krishna Venta, founder of the Fountain of the World (yet ANOTHER cult! Seriously, now we know why Manson was drawn to the place), and was eventually blown up by disgruntled ex-congregants who were mad that Krishna was sleeping with their women.

~ Three really cute, but oh-so-creepy Chumash girls, who died of smallpox. These little girls would go from cute and giggling, to downright scary as they assumed a zombie like shuffle and entreated you to "play with us, forever, and ever, and ever!"

~ Padre Ybarra, a Spanish monk who seems to think a fortune in silver coins is lost in the Simi Hills. He wants your help finding it, but if you keep any to yourself, he'll probably curse you!

There were about 13 scenes in all, and it was very well produced. It's a great way to get a little thrill while learning some interesting history.

Spooky Sunday

Greetings! I didn't post a Spooky Sunday last week because I was on my super secret trip ... to where? The Garden State, New Jersey. My great Aunt Betty lives there in Pompton Plains, and my Aunt Jone (who lives in Portland, OR) and I conspired to surprise her for her birthday. She's turning 90 in December! The surprise was ... me! Aunt Betty was planning on having Aunt Jone visit, but when she came to pick her up at the airport, there I was too. Her face was priceless! Of course, Aunt Jone was in close contact with Aunt Betty's friend Bea, who was in on the whole thing, and Aunt Jone came prepared with an air mattress and everything. We had a very nice extended weekend, and we were celebrating our photography show: Rush MacCulloch Women, three generations of photography. Anyway, I will share the details of the trip later, for tonight I have photo's of the Pompton Plains Cemetery.

The Pompton Plains Cemetery is part of the First Reformed Church of Pompton Plains, founded in 1732. The earliest gravestones are made of soft sandstone, and date to the 1780's! It is quite large, and is still being used today. Luckily, Bea, a lifelong resident of Pompton Plains, has also served in the church and is very knowledgeable about the cemetery and the different types of symbolism used on the graves. Her house actually backs up to the cemetery- when I was 12 she told me it was the best neighborhood because you never have any noisy neighbors! [Actually, she and her husband bought the plot just past their backyard fence, and when he passed 5 years ago was buried there. Now she can go outside to visit her husband whenever she wants.]

Enjoy these pictures from the Cemetery ... people are simply dying to get in!

This last one just made me laugh out loud.
Might I point out that this devoted gentleman is still of this earth.

Welcome, Foolish Mortals ...

... to Spooky Sunday!

On August 9, 1969 Disneyland unveiled one of it's most highly anticipated projects, the Haunted Mansion. The Mansion had sat empty and alone on a hill in what is now New Orleans Square for nearly six years, with nary but a sign in front, advertising a "retirement home" for ghosts. It remains one of the most popular attractions to this day, has been incarnated three more times in Florida, Tokyo, and Paris, and is beloved by young and old. I can't even remember the first time I rode the Haunted Mansion, or when it became my favorite part of the park, simply because it's been my favorite for so very long. I feel a special "kinship" with the place, if you will ... for August 9 is also my birthday! This year of course marked the 40th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion, and on 09.09.09 I attended the anniversary event at Disneyland. Why 09.09.09? Perhaps because there are 999 "happy haunts"!

* * *

Without getting too nerdy (too late!!), I'm going to tell you a (slightly embellished) story of the Mansion and it's occupants...

The Mansion was built by Edward Gracey, as a wedding gift to his future bride. Gracey was a proud, handsome man; he became rich at a young age when his father suddenly passed leaving him a large fortune. Gracey wanted to make his mark in society and built his grand Mansion on the banks of a bayou in southern Louisianna. His bride was young and innocent, the most beautiful woman of her day. He loved her with a deep passion, and indulged her every whim. Days before the wedding he found the young woman in the attic, alone with a strange man. Ignoring her pleas and cries of explanation he flew into a blind fury, striking down the stranger and strangling him to death. His fiancee sobbed and shrieked, and it wasn't long before he turned to her in a murderous rage. Afterward he surveyed what he had done, and found, to his dismay, that the strange man was no one more than the milliner, come to show the bride a last minute change in her wedding cap. When he realized what he had done, he was overcome with grief, and hung himself from the cupula of the house.

For years the Mansion stood empty, passed from family member to family member. It seemed to be a cursed place, as all who attempted to stay there met an unfortunate end. Eventually it passed into the hands of George Gracey, a distant nephew of the long dead Edward. George was a practical man, a bachelor and not easily shaken. He was certainly thrown for a loop when he met the lovely Constance. She was a widow, and seemed so frail and in need of something ... secure. It wasn't long before George asked her to be his wife ... but the rumors spread. For Constance wasn't just a widow once over ... she had previously buried four husbands. George was immune to the gossip though, and before you can say "black widow bride" he had married his beloved Constance. George vanished one day a week after the wedding. Constance said he had been called on urgent business ... it wasn't long however until he was found with an ax in his skull. Don't fret; George would have the last laugh! He appeared to Constance that night, and every night afterward, eventually driving her mad until she joined him in the afterlife. She never did marry again.

The Mansion was found and moved to Orange county, California in the 1960's. George and Constance were the last residents ... living that is. It is now home to ghosts from "creepy old crypts all over the world". They're just dying to meet you.

* * *

Of course, the real "story" of the Haunted Mansion isn't quite like that ... but you get the idea! The event was celebrating the marriage of Constance, the black widow bride of attic fame, to her fifth and final husband George. The event started with a seminar of sorts ... the panelists were Kim Irvine (Imagineer, and daughter of Leota Toombs, the face of Madame Leota), Jason Surrell (Show Writer and author of The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies), and Tony Baxter (Imagineer, and one of the top guys on the Phantom Manor- EuroDisney's version of the Haunted Mansion), which was pretty awesome for a nerd like me. After the seminar we marched over to California Adventure for our dinner, which they combined with a little show of sorts ... acting out the wedding scene, finding George stabbed in the head, etc. There was another panel, with the original three plus Alice Davis (Imagineer and wife of Marc Davis, one of the lead Imagineers on the Haunted Mansion) and X. Atencio (Show Writer, wrote the songs Grim Grinning Ghosts and Yo Ho, A Pirates Life for Me) ... I'd have to say the highlight of that was hearing X sing Grim Grinning Ghosts!

After dinner we were all led over to Disneyland to the Haunted Mansion. I have to say, it was really cool to walk around Disneyland and California Adventure after closing. George and Constance did a cake cutting, and we were all free to hang out, ride the ride, and take as many pictures as we wanted! I took a TON of pictures that night, so I'm just sharing my favorites.

This was on our way into the the wedding feast.

Menu

My appetizer (which remained untouched), and seating assignment.

Bleeding heart ravioli.

View of the stage from my seat. Creepily ambient.

The wedding cake. It was yummy!

Ghoulish Bridesmaids

The Black Widow Bride

Fog over the Rivers of America.
That's New Orleans Square in the background.

New Orleans Square from the other side.
No, not that other side!

Everyone having a good time.

Bridal Party

They pose!

Tasty Red Velvet cake.
I would have preferred mint julep to the punch though.

Ta Da!

Creepy at night.

Rest In Peace, Newly~Deads

Inside the Foyer, with Jason Surrell!

View from the Pet Cemetery

View of the Castle, from Main Street.
Just so you can appreciate how deserted it was when I finally left.
I've never seen Main Street so empty!

So there you have it. I apologize for the blurriness of some of the photo's; I wasn't using the flash because I wanted to capture all the eerie mood lighting they had going on. Once I go through the rest I'll probably post them to my Flikr account, and I'll link it here.

And if you want to learn and see even MORE Haunted Mansion wonderfullness: Check out Doombuggies.com

October

October is finally here! This is officially my favorite month of the year, mostly because it's a month long buildup to HALLOWEEN, my favorite holiday! Autumn is my favorite season of the year though, there is something spicy in the air, things move and change and get ready for winter; I like the harvest, I like the feeling that anything can happen in October!

I'm also gearing up for more Spooky Sunday posts, like I did last year! For those who don't know (and seriously, where have you been??) I'm a major ghost fanatic and supernatural enthusiast. I have become something of a collector of ghost stories, and I love sharing them!

If you are a ghost lover too, I highly recommend the Anything Ghost podcast by Lex Wahl. It's available on iTunes or on his website www.anythingghost.com. He collects stories of the paranormal and shares them on his podcast- you can submit a story in writing or record it yourself; it's really fun, and kind of spooky!

This was just a quick update; but I'm really looking forward to sharing my Haunted Mansion experience (and photo's!), so stay tuned for that!