Hoodoo Halloween Party: What’s the Scariest Movie You’ve Ever Seen?
The fabulous Kirsten Weiss of ParaYourNormal is hosting a Hoodoo Halloween blog hop this weekend and you can join in!
Visit here to meet writers all over the country share their creepiest ghost stories and spookiest Halloween tales. We’re blogging about New Orleans history and ghost lore and Halloween!
I recently sat at a table where everyone was talking about the first movie that ever scared the crap out of them. And the answers were abundant.
There was Child’s Play, the Chucky movie, which scared one woman’s mother so much she turned all the dolls in her home to face backward.
*That would actually scare me MORE.
Psycho, the original Hitchcock version, made one woman terrified she’d be stabbed to death whenever she showered.
IT, that creepy clown movie/miniseries, was one we all nodded our head to. We were scared of clowns, public bathrooms, sink drains, sewer systems, you name it!
Then there’s my list. It’s a long one. Because I’m a chicken sh*t when it comes to scary movies.
When I was growing up, here are the things that scared me about…
Exhibit A: sausage fingers
E.T. – Yah, not even a scary movie, but his fingers looked like sausages and they creeped me out and I was convinced he lived in our basement so I would only go down there if someone else was down there.
P.S. This movie is also frightening in Spanish. We watched it in my high school Spanish class and I had bad dreams with E.T. yelling “E.T. telefono a mi casa!!!” in them. It’s just scarier for some reason.
Scream (1, 2, & 3) – While this series is not very scary now, it was in middle school. And creepers wearing masks was all the rage. Not cool, bro. Not cool at all.
Sixth Sense – What a mind f*ck this movie was. Creepiest scene? I think it’s when the little boy is sitting in his tent and all the walls start shaking and he’s looking up, then when he looks forward again – there’s a dead girl in front of him, and she pukes!
The Ring – This movie came out when I was in high school. It’s about a dead girl who kills people by crawling out of their television sets and their bodies are found all mutilated and twisted. Now, I had a TV in my bedroom at this time. So I behaved in a normal fashion and slept with it on for a week straight because I was more terrified of waking up in the middle of the night and hearing the click of the dial on my TV and see the dead girl coming after me.
P.P.S. My TV was SO OLD. It actually did have dials. Two of them. And I could only get two channels to come in, so I watched a lot of Antiques Roadshow and Ricki Lake talk shows.
Joy Ride – What? No! The fact that Paul Walker is coming to save me does not make this better? Don’t feckin mess with late night truck drivers, ok?!
Halloween – Who would agree to ever babysit again after this???
The Exorcist – Um, that scene where the girl crab walks all crazy down the stairs. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiightmares!
Village of the Damned – Well hello angelic looking blonde child, please don’t kill me.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – NO! No I will not go out to your grandpa’s cabin in the country! Just NO!
I Am Legend – Circles of heaving zombies lurking in the dark? Nope. I’ma karate chop all the doors down in my house first.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose – Well that’s just great. I’m now terrified whenever I wake up in the vicinity of 3:33 am.
Paranormal Activity – Hell, even the previews for this were horrifying! I believe too much in ghosts and this movie made me think every house I ever lived in was haunted.
Evil Dead – Waaaay too much self inflicted torture in this one for me. If anyone needs me I’ll be curled up in a fetal position, clutching my teddy bear for the next several hours.
I could go on, but I think the ghosts are listening.
I need to go hide under the covers now.
What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
Halloween Party and Costume Contest
It’s no secret I love Halloween.
Like. Really. Love. Halloween.
It’s a good thing my honey loves Halloween too! Every year Joe and I collect more Halloween decorations.
He continues to scare the crap out of me by hiding more spiders around the house. (I don’t do spiders.)
I continue to buy Halloween movies for us to watch each night.
You never know what you might find at our house!
We also love to dress up.
Sometimes our costumes go together…
Who ya gonna call? … GHOSTBUSTERS!
It was Mrs. Peacock in the Billiard Room with the Wrench!
Sometimes, they don’t…
I bet the real Dolly Parton never had to deal with zombies.
This year we coordinated! Joe’s band, TUGG, decided to dress up as The Wizard of Oz, and all the ladies agreed to play along too.
Behold…OZ!
Pretty spectacular, isn’t it? I must say, we did have fun.
Maybe too much fun…
Ok, definitely too much fun! (But look what I made on Pixlr, I mean this just screams to be made into a bookmark!)
I want to see YOUR Halloween spirit!
HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST
Submit your favorite Halloween costume photo here, or on Facebook, by Thursday, October 31st, Midnight.
One lucky winner will be selected in a random drawing to win the following:
- DVD copy of John Carpenter’s Halloween – in honor of this month’s Original Vs. Remake series
- A Book from my Bookshelf to Yours – multiple titles to choose from!
- A Guest Post Featured on The Happiness Project, or One on Your Blog Written by Me
- A Plethora of Halloween and Fall Goodies
*Bonus entries can be made by sharing this post! Tweet or share on Facebook for additional chances to win!
What are you waiting for?
Trick-or-Treat!
Original Vs. Remake: Halloween H20
I’m a big fan of Catie Rhodes and Tiffany White’s Original Vs. Remake blog series! Every month they review a classic film and its modern remake. Since they both know how much I LOOOOOOOVE Halloween, they let me play along!
I may have reacted like this…
Anyway…
Tiffany kicked us off reviewing the original, John Carpenter’s Halloween, and Catie will be reviewing the Rob Zombie remake.
So, what am I talking about?
Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later (1998)
Assuming a fake identity, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is now headmistress at a private boarding school, still haunted by her nightmarish past. When her psychopathic brother, Michael, escapes the asylum, Laurie’s greatest fears become reality once more. And this time, her son’s in danger too.
Reprising her role as the “Scream Queen,” Jamie Lee Curtis comes back as the female lead, Laurie Strode. Other recognizable faces include her mother, Janet Leigh (Psycho), Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor, Lucky Number Slevin), LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea, NCIS: Los Angeles), Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek, My Week With Marilyn), Jodi Lyn O’Keefe (Nash Bridges, She’s All That), Adam Hann-Byrd (Jumanji) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock From the Sun, 50/50).
The storyline of H20 takes place as if all the sequels after Halloween II, never happened. It picks up from the second one. I gotta admit, I felt really sorry for Laurie Strode. Twenty years after her brother murdered her sister and came after her, she’s still suffering from insomnia, nightmares, living under a pseudonym, working in a gated private school, and raising her son as a single mother.
Does Laurie EVER get a happy ending???
The film is what I would describe as 80% camp-factor, meaning it’s pretty cheesy and all could’ve been well had a nurse not kept her patient files in her HOME and had Laurie Strode hired a security guard who didn’t spend all his time on the phone reading his romance novel to his girlfriend.
Yep.
Seriously, LL. It’s time to get off the phone now.
Fun Facts:
- Several of the original cast and team were set to come on board, but low budget and tentative timelines caused many to drop out. John Carpenter, the original director, was one of them.
- There’s a seen with Janet Leigh where she stands in front of her car from the movie Psycho. The music from Psycho also plays here.
- Sound editors added in music from several of the Scream movies as well as the original Halloween.
- In the scene where the girls are watching a movie, it’s Scream 2, however that was edited in post-production. Originally, the girls were watching So I Married an Axe Murderer – the joke being the fact that inside the Michael Myers movie, was a Mike Myers movie.
- The original’s line “Everyone is entitled to one good scare” makes a reappearance in this film.
- Michael Myers can be seen wearing two different masks. Too far into production, the director changed his mind on the mask and they had to CGI edit it in production.
- The teenagers in the beginning are watching Plan 9 From Outer Space – voted worst movie ever made so many times, it’s no longer allowed in the running. (P.S. I’ve watched it. It’s pretty bad.)
- Chris Durand, the actor who played Michael Myers, was a stunt double in Scream 2, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Armegeddon.
So Laurie is living out her life in fear. Her son grew up with that and is desperate to hang out with friends like a normal teenager. Against his mother’s wishes, he and his pals sneak out for a Halloween party. Meanwhile, Michael is on the loose. He’s watching Laurie at the school, at her home, and he knows where her son is too.
Cuh-reeeeepy!
Run for your lives!
Halloween H20 has its moments, but it doesn’t compare to the original. Nothing beats the original Halloween!
What do you think? What’s your favorite Halloween movie? Have you seen this one? What life would you have given Laurie 20 years after that fateful Halloween night?
Sinister: A Scary Good Example of Plot
Are you like me? Do you show off how much you love scary movies like you’re so badass brave? But then when it comes time to watch them, you’re the one who’s like “Guys, let’s keep the light on. Somebody might need to get up and use the restroom, and I don’t want anyone to stub a toe!”
I admit I do this a lot. And then I spend the next week sleeping with the TV on and maybe a lamp (or two) to convince my overactive imagination the characters in the movie won’t suddenly show up in my bedroom. he he.
Last night I begged my boyfriend to watch the movie Sinister. The movie stars Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise, Training Day) as a true crime writer who moves his family into the crime scene home of his current work. Finding a box of 8mm home movies, he uncovers a series a murders that may be too close to home – literally.
This. Movie. Freaked. Me. Out.
But – the plot was amazing!
Early in the film we learn what our protagonist’s normal world is like. The Oswalts are moving into their new home when the Sheriff pulls up to the house. Ellison (Hawke) walks out to meet him, as his wife berates him to act nice. With just a few lines of dialogue we learn that Ellison’s previous books have caused quite a stir, and most people are reluctant to help the family. A fact that is even more difficult for their children, who have been getting picked on at school for their father’s subject matter.
Ellison’s wife: “Just promise me we didn’t move in two houses down from a crime scene.”
Ellison: “I promise.”
They moved in to the EXACT house where the crime took place.
Right from the get go, the viewer knows the family is stressed out and uncomfortable with the move. We know Ellison lied to his wife and kids about the history of their new home. And we know the police are not going to help them. They are on their own.
The next day at breakfast the Oswalts establish their house rules. Dad’s office must be kept locked at all times. They don’t want their young children wandering in where he could have photos of the deceased laying out. We now know that the kids cannot get in that room.
What Ellison finds next is the box of home movies that’s been left in the attic. As he watches each film, he witnesses the murder of the families in each video. And in every instance, one of the children is missing. As he rewatches them, he sees a gory looking man in the reflections or background of the film.
We meet our villain.
As the movie unfolds, Ellison gets closer and closer to piecing together what links these gruesome murders. But our villain and the missing children get closer to Ellison as well.
Every night, Ellison is waking up to the sound of the projector running in his office. The office that remains locked. He hears noises in the attic and footsteps around the house, but he never can find what’s there.
Are you creeped out yet?
At this point I was cowering behind my boyfriend’s body and periodically checking behind me.
Our rising action occurs as the paranormal activity heightens. Ellison’s son is having night terrors. They find him screaming from inside a cardboard box, and later outside in the bushes. Ellison’s daughter is painting pictures of one of the missing children. And Ellison thinks he saw the bad guy in his yard.
Every good main character needs a wise friend. A teacher, a best friend, a voice of reason. Frodo had Sam. Sherlock had Watson. Sandy had Frenchie. 🙂
For Ellison, he connects with Jonas, a professor of the occult, who helps him discover the meaning of the symbol that appears in every video. What he learns will only add to his fears.
I don’t want to create spoilers for anyone who wants to watch the movie, but I’m telling you this was a great film for illustrating conflict and high risk in the plot!
And I loved the premise. What could be a better set up than a true crime author moving into a crime scene and thinking it would not affect his family. Of course it will! You’re living, eating, breathing, sleeping in your body of work. There is no escape. And as Ellison dives further into his research, the world around him becomes too real and much too close for comfort.
There is a great little twist in the end as well, but you’ll have to see it to believe it!
Are you putting this movie on your must see list? Do you need to borrow my night light? You can have it sometime next week when I’m sleeping again.
Can Sleep Make You Tired?
I’ve tried going to bed at different times. I’ve eaten and not eaten before bed. I’ve taken my vitamins and fish oil, and forgotten to take my vitamins and fish oil.
I’m still dreaming about paranormal creatures every night!!!
image courtesy flickr CC – Mrs. Inman
(amazon.com)
It started after my boyfriend, Joe, made me watch the movie The Prophecy. That night I dreamed that I was in battle with both good and bad angels. And their creepy void eyes just kept staring at me!
But I also learned, that just like Michonne on The Walking Dead, I’ve got made skills with a katana!
After that, I had the most bizarre dream starring several of my coworkers. I’m sure it’s totally normal for a retail sales manager to be sent on a paranormal investigation of an abandoned building. BUT, my coworker clearly did not watch horror films, because she broke the rule about not taking anything from the house!
After discovering the ghosts of 3 young children, my coworker took from the house 3 dolls that looked rather a lot like said children and for God knows what reason – PUT THEM IN MY ROOM!
So as my dream continued, every time I went into my room one of the dolls was in a different spot. The little boy would be sitting on my bed, a little girl on my desk. I was freaking out! And what was worse, I didn’t know if my coworkers and boyfriend were working together to mess with me or if in fact my coworker had unleashed 3 ghost children in my house!
The next morning, I woke up so exhausted and definitely gave a few of my coworkers skeptical looks on the job that day.
image courtesy flickr CC – Mrs. Inman
All zombie fans will know that last night was a new episode of The Walking Dead. This fantastic show has become a regular date night for Joe and I to enjoy.
But zombies were in my dreams last night!
I love paranormal stories, you guys, but how do I stop dreaming about them? My epic nighttime battles are making me wake up exhausted!
Perhaps tonight I should watch a happy movie. Anyone know where I put my Shirley Temple collection?
image courtesy flickr CC – Mrs. Inman
And don’t forget to leave me a music suggestion for The Ultimate Mix Tape For My Mom! My blog-swapping, cd making contest is still happening, and YOU COULD WIN!!!
I’ll Be Seeing You
Welcome to Wicked Wednesday, and the final installment of my ghost stories…for now anyway. I’m going to cheat a little bit, cause this a re-post, but it’s from my third month in at blogging so only 3 people read it. And it is a scary story. Also a true one. So enjoy! Hope you chatter with me in the comments.
I’ll Be Seeing You
When I was in high school, I worked in a video store for several years. I had my suspicions that the place was haunted. I would hear the sound of tapes (it was all VHS then) being picked off the shelves and put back down down when no one was in there besides me. The other clerks I worked with said they heard the same noises when they were alone in the store too, but our manager always denied hearing anything.
I would disregard the noises like the rest of us do when we hear creaks and squeaks in our homes, but there were more creepy happenings. My neighbor worked out of town and enlisted me to take her dog for walks after school. Our store was family and pet friendly; we kept dog treats behind the counter for when people would come in with their pets. So I often walked the dog to the video store to pick up movies or my paycheck. The thing was this dog, who any other time would run up to people, chase squirrels, and lick you to death, wouldn’t get close to the back door of the office! She would plant her butt down and just halt! She would not budge. She’d stare at that door while I’d be pulling and tugging her leash to round the corner with me, dragging her across the carpet. Eventually she would bolt past the door and halfway down the next aisle before calming down. I’ve never seen her do this anywhere else.
My friends at the time were obsessed with ghost stories. One night when I was closing, and it was quiet in the store, my two best friends and a coworker came over with a ouija board. If you asked me today would I mess around with a ouija board, the answer is no.
My two friends and coworker sat themselves down in the back corner of the store and asked the ouija board some test questions about who worked in the store, what film title someone who wasn’t touching the board was looking at, and eventually who was it that lived in the video store. Amazed, they ran up to me at the counter and told me there was most certainly a ghost in the store, and he was 13 years old. He knew all the initials of the people that worked in the store. And he had told them his family died in a fire years ago.
I was freaked out. I thought for sure, any moment, my boss would walk in and we’d all get busted for conjuring up spirits in the place. I walked home and went about my evening, getting ready for bed as normal.
Photo courtesy hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com
My night routine consisted of looping headphones over my bedpost and listening to one of the mixtapes I made while I fell asleep. That night, I remember waking up and thinking I had only been asleep a short while, but the music wasn’t playing. I reached up to my dresser top and picked up the tape player. I hit play. Nothing happened. I hit rewind, fast forward, play again. Nothing. I assumed the player had died, but was surprised I didn’t wake up to the slow drowning sound it made as the batteries wore down. I set it back on top of my dresser.
The next morning, I awoke and got ready for the day. On a whim, while waiting for my mom, I picked up the tape player and hit play. Billie Holiday crooned, “But I’ll be seeing you…” and the whole rest of the tape was erased.
I assure you I cannot explain how this happened. There is no record button on my player, so I didn’t accidentally tape over it. It was not placed next to anything electronic, so there shouldn’t have been any interference. Whatever, or whoever, it was, from then on, I closed the store very quickly.
And my store manager, admitted to me after I left the store years later that she did think the store was haunted.
What do you think happened? Have you ever lived or worked in a place you thought was haunted? Have you ever heard anything like EVP (electronic voice phenomenon)?
Still hungry for more? Check out the virtual ouija board at your own risk.
Open Your Eyes: A Chilling Tale of Sleep Paralysis
It was late. We were hanging out in the basement of my family home, the usual dark and private place for teenagers to dwell. My then boyfriend and I were squished into one lay-z-boy chair watching a movie, which was the norm when you worked at a video store and got all the new ones free.
photo courtesy amazingers.com
I must’ve fallen asleep. I don’t remember what I was doing before…lights. Round, amber flashes before my eyes and the startling cry of a lost child. Someone or something was pushing down on me, pressing the air from my lungs and I couldn’t move to stop it. I had lost all control of my body. I thought I was shaking, but I couldn’t make my arms push the monster on top of me away. I couldn’t even open my eyes. Only darkness. And the increasing panic that I was being punished, or worse killed. Open your eyes! I commanded. Open your eyes!
When I woke from the blackness I sobbed audibly. It was only a minute or two, but it felt like a full nightmare. My boyfriend was holding my arms, terrified. What just happened? I thought you were having a seizure! What’s wrong?! I didn’t know what to say, or what happened, only how I felt. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t move. Was it a sign? Was something after me? Had I gone too far into the paranormal world and now one of them was after me? I couldn’t say anything. Who would believe me anyway?
Several weeks earlier, my family celebrated Christmas and both my sister and I received Sylvia Browne’s Book of Dreams. Browne, a world renowned psychic, was an author my sister had turned me onto, and we’d been reading several of her books about the afterlife, haunted locations, and totem spirits. I’d been slowly making my way through this book, which was more an educational book than a paranormal or spiritual read like her others. The Book of Dreams dealt with archetypes and dream symbology, common images that represent the changes or people in our lives. You know, like how we all have dreams about flying or falling or showing up naked to class.
A week after my scary episode, I was in the living room, stretched out on the couch reading through my Book of Dreams. On sleep disorders, actually. I bolted upright. Sleep paralysis. A condition where your state of sleep is interrupted and your conscious mind “awakes” before your body does. Seriously, check out WebMD. The symptoms include feeling an evil presence, stiffness of the body, flashing lights, loud noises, hallucinations, a weight upon one’s chest, and/or a sense of choking.
So I’m not crazy after all. Or possessed, which was quite a relief. And sleep paralysis is not a chronic condition, it’s rather rare. It only happens if your body goes in and out of a state of sleep and consciousness too quickly. I’ve never experienced it since, thankfully. What I do find odd is the fact that I read about my experience one week after going through it. Was I meant to get that book to help me understand what happened? Was someone watching over me? Or am I just really that superstitious and gullible? Something tells me I wouldn’t be asking these questions if I just dreamed about showing up naked to school.
Have you ever heard of experienced sleep paralysis? What do you think about it being a medical physical condition that attaches negative emotions to its occurrence? It has a paranormal ring to it, don’t you think? Sweet dreams, my ghoulies.
The Walking Dead: Best Commercial Free Zombie TV
Sunday night was the series premiere of Season 2 The Walking Dead. A small group of campy citizens has survived Season 1, and is fleeing the area under attack from the zombie apocalypse. With Emmy Award winning prosthetic make-up, Walking Dead made no disappointments in its premiere. *spoiler alert*
The episode opened with the group on the move. Almost instantly there is conflict. The roadway is bogged down with abandoned vehicles and dead bodies inside. With the quick decision to scavenge for supplies, everybody files out of their cars and begins searching the road on foot. Enter zombie mob.
Interestingly enough, the show never refers to the undead as ‘zombies,’ but rather “walkers.” Minutes onscreen can equate to hours of make-up application for the actors playing the walkers. Our travelers know a few rules that apply to the undead:
- No loud noises. Conserve your bullets, they can attract more walkers.
- The smellier the better. Masking your ‘live’ odor with eau de zombie helps protect you should a mass of undead come stumbling after you.
- Don’t get bitten.
I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.
The heroic leader of the ragtag gang is Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln), a Sheriff in normal world, who woke up in the hospital in Season 1 and fought his way to his family and the few other survivors. One intriguing dynamic is Rick’s relationship with Shane (played by Jon Bernthal), his old partner and another natural leader in the group. What Rick doesn’t know is that Shane had an affair with Rick’s wife while they thought he was dead (back in Season 1 – Who knew a zombie show could be so melodramatic?!)
So, we have an army of zombies headed straight for our survivor renegades, and their response to such oncoming doom…hide underneath the cars. Minutes slowly tic by without commercial interception as you see foot after bony, rotting flesh foot pass them. In fact, I think you can smell their flesh while you’re waiting.
Once they think the coast is clear, they start to crawl out from under the vehicles, but a child is noticed by the walkers and flees into the woods to escape. Rick runs after and diverts their attention from the child, saving her, and yet losing her at the same time. So that creates problem number one.
Problem number two is that the group is starting to lose morale. Especially Andrea (played by Laurie Holden). She was caught up in the zombie apocalypse while on a road trip with her younger sister Amy, who didn’t survive season 1. Andrea already tried to kill herself once, but was saved by Dale (played by Jeffrey Demunn), however she as of yet feels no gratitude for that kindness.
And problem number three is that Shane isn’t handling Rick’s reunion with his wife very well. His plan is now to slip quietly away from the group and face the odds on his own. Can he abandon his longtime friend, Rick, and leave things unspoken with Lori, Rick’s wife?
I won’t give away the final cliffhanger of the season premiere, but trust me, it was a “C’mon! You’re seriously ending it here!” kind of moment. We do know from the season 2 buzz that the group makes contact with more survivors on an abandoned farmhouse, but we have no idea what kind of dynamic these new people will bring.
Sunday’s premiere of Walking Dead also kicked off AMC’s Fear Fest this Halloween season! Sixteen days of your favorite Halloween movies! I know I’m pumped! See the listing of films by clicking the link above. Much to my surprise, I got a voicemail message from my local video store reminding me I hadn’t been in for awhile and offering me a free rental plus 14 days of 1/2 price movies. SC”ORE! Another opportunity for me to stock up on my favorite thrillers and gory flicks. I’ve already watched such classics as Carrie and The Shining this past week. And if you’re into the FREE route, you better tune in to AMC’s Fear Fest or visit your local library, which I’ve done and reserved many more spooky films.
For more zombie goodness, check out Sonia Medeiros’ zombielicious post The Zombies are Coming! Did I mention her post is about zombies?! Go check it out, there’s games and links and a vote for your favorite and least favorite zombie flick. She thinks of everything!
Your turn! Did you tune in for The Walking Dead premiere? What did you think? Were you totally on edge or what? Do you enjoy the zombie craze we’re seeing in the media (even Jane Austen has gone all Zombie Slayer)? What is your favorite Zombie movie? Tell me, and then vote on Sonia’s blog!
This is Why I Won’t Touch a Ouija Board
There’s a reason all movies with ouija boards are in the horror section. Why didn’t I pay attention?!
Sam, Roberta, Teeny, and Chrissy
Have any of you watched the movie Now and Then? It was a 90’s film about four friends who grew up together in a small town and the one summer that changed their lives, making their bond last forever. There’s a lot of familiar faces in the film: Gaby Hoffman, Christina Ricci, and Thora Birch playing the young girls and Demi Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, Melanie Griffith, and Rita Wilson playing them as adults. Bonnie Hunt, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria, Brendan Fraser, and Cloris Leachman all support as well. If you were a tween like me who grew up with this film, you probably watched it cause of him…
Devon Sawa - Hearthrob of tween girls in the 90's everywhere. See this film and Casper.
Anyway, you stock up on Mambas (which are better than Starburst) and watch the story unfold with your sister or best girl friend in tow. One of the main adventures the girls have is a night reading with the ouija board in the graveyard. After numerous failed attempts to conjure up Marilyn Monroe – “she didn’t cooperate last time,” they decide to speak with someone buried in the graveyard, a boy called Dear Johnny, who died the same age as they are. What happens next is the unfolding of how Dear Johnny died and what will help him to rest again.
Now and Then isn’t a scary movie, it’s a movie about friendship. Friendship and a little paranormal mystery. I blame all my willingness to “ouija” on this film. If I had only watched something along the lines of What Lies Beneath or Paranormal Activity instead, I might not have been so enthusiastic.
I will share with you my first experience with a ouija board later this month, and trust me, it’s a creepy one. For today, I’ll share with you a few snippets of experiences and why I will no longer use a ouija board. In case you’re unfamiliar with ouija boards, Catie Rhodes wrote an AWESOME historical post about their creation, the various forms they’ve taken on, and how they’ve been used in film. You really should check out her post! I’ll wait for you…
Hello again! So briefly, the ouija board is a talking board meant to be an inbetween medium for spirits to connect with us. Sounds cool right? Well, it can be. Let me take a minute and explain some of my opinions on how ouija boards work. I emphasize this is just my experience I’m basing this on.
- Ouija boards will not work for everyone. An openness is required and the more connected you are to an individual who is also touching the pointer piece will impact how well the board works.
- Ouija boards let in anything you give energy to. If you don’t know what you’re doing, expect to get messed with.
- Blessing the area helps. Invite only kind spirits into your communication circle. I’ve had positive experiences with this which I will share.
- Do not be disappointed if a loved one doesn’t communicate with you through the board; it means they are happy and healthy on the Other Side.
Image via onlineouijaboard.net
Ok, when I said that it depends on who’s using the board with you, that’s been my history with the process. I’ve tried to use a ouija board with different friends and gotten gibberish responses that make no sense. But when I attempted to communicate to spirits with my high school best friend we always got full word responses. I accredit this to our ability of finishing each others’ sentences and knowing what the other was thinking without saying a word. We were very close, and I would be so bold to say kindred spirits/soul mates at that time. The energy we channeled was probably better equipped to receive messages.
Prime example, once we used the board to try to communicate with a friend’s family member who had passed. We didn’t get anything when she tried to use the board, but when my friend and I did we believe we made contact with her Aunt and talked enough that the whole experience was so moving and emotional our friend cried.
Remember when I said you can’t control what comes in, but blessings help. That was one instance where it did help. We lit a circle of candles around us and said a little prayer. We asked that only spirits who would bring forth light and goodness enter our circle and that any spirits intending harm be banished from it. We let our friend ask the questions and we read the responses. This was a very powerful experience for her, and even myself to witness it.
I feel I learned the hard way about blessing the circle first. I gave up using the talking board after a spirit we’d been successful talking to several times started mocking me through the board. It was scary and cruel and I wanted no part of it anymore.
That ended the weird paranormal pranks for awhile. I had a few odd occurrences while living in the dorms in college that friends teased was “my ghost” following me to school. I never used a ouija board again, but it could’ve been him moving stuff IN BETWEEN dorm rooms. Our residence hall was set up in what we called “cubes,” which consisted of 3 different squared arrangements of rooms on each floor, so students lived in the A, B, or C cube of their prospective floor. In my cube, objects would mysteriously disappear from one room and end up in others. Since it occurred most often amongst my “cube friends” it was blamed on my ghost.
I’m thankful there hasn’t been any recent activity of that nature in my life. I’m still open to paranormal interaction, but I don’t want them following me around everywhere. I can’t imagine what it must be like for those that can see and communicate with the dead on a regular basis. I would think their lives are very difficult and scary at times. It’s an unknown world to us, but one that will forever intrigue us.
What do you think? Have you ever used a ouija board? What was your experience? Have you ever felt a spirit was communicating with you? How did you handle it?
I See Dead People
Image from the film Sixth Sense
Hello my Hauntings! Welcome to the first of Wicked Wednesday’s Ghost Story series. Every wednesday I’ll share a personal story about my encounters with the paranormal, and I plan for them to get progressively creepier as the month goes on.
So today, we’re doing a bit of a montage. I’ll share with you some of the spooky moments of my past, and if you’re comfortable, and open-minded, I’d love your thoughts and stories as well. Let’s get started!
Most of you are familiar with the 1999 film by M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense. A brief summary is a young boy is able to see spirits who don’t know they’ve died, and by helping them, he is able to help a downtrodden childhood psychologist. The very telling scene of the film is when Cole, the boy, admits to Dr. Malcolm that “I see dead people.” Chilling and honest at the same time, if you ask me.
My stories are nothing so dramatic. For one, I can’t pay people (let alone professionals) to listen to my problems, though I’m sure I’d benefit from it. And second, I don’t see dead people consistently. I just see them sometimes. The following is a composite list of the some of the strange, unexplainable, and honest situations I’ve experienced.
The Painted Pebble: This story isn’t scary, so much as unexplainable. My grandmother passed away when I was five years old. I don’t think I understood what death meant for many years later. Because I have so few memories of her living, most of my connection to her came from sleeping with the stuffed animal lamb that was in her hospital room when she passed, visiting her grave with my mother, and leaving a painted pebble on her tombstone that I painted with her favorite colors, pink and purple. I was probably between 6-8 years old, and friendship pebbles were all the rage at school. I made this one for my grandmother and left it atop the gravestone. For over a year, that pebble never left my grandma’s burial site. No matter when my mom and I went, that pebble was still painted and sitting on her tombstone. Now, science isn’t my strongest subject, but I’m wise enough to know that between Wisconsin thunderstorms, tornadoes, and oh gosh, I don’t know WINTER, that pebble should’ve lasted all of week or two at most before the paint washed off or a lawn mower pitched the thing several yards away. I believe it was a token of love and friendship that my grandma kept to let me know she still thought of me.
The Feeling of Not Being Alone: Twice I can recall being in my family home, up in my room and stopping whatever I was doing at the time because I “just knew” I wasn’t alone. The first time I experienced this phenomenon, I was reading on my bed, when I felt the weight at the end of the bed sink down, like someone had just sat next to me. It was so physical that I looked up, expecting to see someone. I stared at the space at the foot of my bed for a few moments before saying aloud, “I know you’re there.” I then felt a finger run up my big toe. A few weeks later, I was again reading in my room. Same thing. I strongly felt I was not alone in the room. This time I asked the spirit if they intended harm or good to me. At that moment I felt the most reassuring hug around me, warm and comforting. I’m sure many of you are reading this and thinking I’m plain batty for believing. But I have done some research on the subject. Most paranormal investigators can agree that a person’s openness to experience is key in what they will or won’t perceive. But take a smaller, more common example like deja vu’ or coincidences. A lot of us have either experienced or know someone else who has where you could finish a person’s sentence, hear the phone ring and know who is on the other line, have a dream and foresee an accident or a new baby. We don’t usually discredit those little signs that present themselves, but when a person starts talking out loud to an invisible person in their room, they’re crazy. Somehow, the line between acceptable and possible paranormal activity is quite gray to me, meaning I believe anyone has the potential to experience things like I described, but not everyone is willing.
The Old Man and His Dog: A tedious and yet annual event in my town is college moving day, and the landlords around here have conveniently scheduled move in day to be 2 weeks after move out day. So for 14 days or so, college kids around the city find storage bins, garages, and trailers to stuff their belongings into and crash on couches until their new leases begin. I was staying at my boyfriend’s house during this time, while he was away visiting family. I had heard from his roommates that the house was haunted, but never before seen or heard anything. During my stay, I woke up early one morning with the heightened sense I was not alone. When I looked down at the foot of the bed I saw an old man with a plaid flannel shirt standing up with a black dog beside him. I knew he didn’t intend any harm, but it was a little freaky. I did have to get up and turn the lights on.
These are just a few of my paranormal experiences. If you ‘re craving more, check out my post on Paradise Road, a real Wisconsin Urban Legend. I list my many ghost sightings there.
Want to know more about coincidences? I recently read The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and did a book review about his theory of humankind becoming more in tune with our coincidences.
Please share with me your thoughts and stories about the spirit world. Has anything like this happened to you?
As always, Happy Halloween! See you Friday for another guest post blog hop with the Life List Club, costumes not necessary…yet.
Jess Witkins' Happiness Project 