#Netherworld Haunted House

[wonderlesch]

Top Haunted Houses & Attractions 2023

Top Haunted Houses & Attractions 2023 shares all things that go bump in the night. Cutting Edge Haunted House, The Dent Schoolhouse, Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides and Houses and more. Read on if you dare! Let's get spooky!

Hello and Welcome to my next Travel Destination Guide: Top Haunted Houses & Attractions 2023. Autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the leaves changing colors. I love more the haunted houses and spooky attractions that you can explore during Halloween Season. Yes, Halloween is a season, for me anyway! Read on to discover Cutting Edge Haunted House, Knott’s Scary Farm, 13th Floor Chicago and…

[sortasafe]

victor von chillingstein ain’t got nothing on this.

[icanfeelthepressure]

We ain’t scared of no haunts! Netherworld was amazing this year!

[enkidusbi]

can i read your thesis i wanna know about how mesopotamians kept their loved ones close. i feel like there might be something about roots or foundations or grounding, connecting the family to the home & people to place both physically and metaphorically. gravesites are powerful powerful place connections and im really curious about what we know about a culture whose gravesites and homes were one and the same. i imagine they were pretty comfortable with death

so it's not online yet because i want to publish it first in a journal BUT i can tell you a bit about it. this is gonna be specifically about the old babylonian period (19-15th centuries BCE) because that's what my thesis is on, but with some changes it's pretty much applicable throughout mesopotamian history

so the basic thought behind burial under the houses is that the dead don't cease to part of the family. ancestor cult is an important aspect of mesopotamian culture and domestic religion. the netherworld is not a nice place, it's dark and dusty and all the spirits have for food is dust. but if you feed your ancestors (this is a ritual called the kispum which consists of food offering, libation and the calling of their names. it's a regular ritual that some sources say was done monthly, and others say it was during the yearly festival of the dead in the month of the god dumuzi/tammuz) then they'll have things to eat and drink in the afterlife! and if you are a spirit, the more descendants you have, the more your well-being is ensured! it's a symbiotic relationship. if your ancestors are satisified, they can help you out with things and act as sort of benevolent protective spirits over the household and the family, and also welcome you in the netherworld when you die. but spirits who were not properly buried or aren't given the proper offerings can wander, come back to haunt you and cause harm. if you would like to know more about this, i recommend dina katz's book, the image of the netherworld in the sumerian sources, an amazing read. the point is, the dead are part of the family, they have their metaphorical place in the family structure and a physical place in the home

people in the notes mentioned that moving probably was difficult. and it definitely was. some of the people buried in these houses were in underground tombs, built from burnt clay bricks, and some others were just in graves dug into the earthen floor, all around the houses. now these brick tombs are often found completely empty, no skeletons, nothing. which means that the family took them when they moved away. probably because they were in some way the most important ancestors, maybe the main lineage of the family? this part is not really clear because these bones are missing, they took them, we don't know anything about them. however, in ur, there are two examples of just the skull being buried and i think that means that family moved to this house from somewhere else and brought the skulls of their ancestors along and re-buried them. it's a very rare find though

from an anthropological perspective, the phyisical proximity of the graves in the same place where the living slept, ate, worked, raised children, etc, was a kind of constant reminder. of their shared ancestors, of their shared identitiy as a family and as a larger clan or kinship group. from a psychological point of view, it was a strategy of coping with grief

important to note also, that this was not practiced by every family. there are houses with no graves at all or just one or two graves, certainly not the whole household. this means that most likely there existed also cemeteries, burial grounds outside the cities. to my knowledge, no cemetary like this has been found yet. but it would be insanely interesting to see what they were like and how the people buried there were different from the people buried in the houses at the same time!

in the end, let me give you a quote from the myth of erra and išum (translated by karel van der toorn in the book mesopotamian magic). this is what a man says about his house:

"These are my living quarters, I have personally made them and will have my peace within them, and when fate has carried me off, I will sleep therein."

i said i can't write a poem about this. and i don't have to, because they already did and it's beautiful

[sundove88]

Maestro Lance (Beetlejuice Casting Parody)

After Alma Madrigal and Dru Gru die in a car accident, they find themselves stuck haunting their country residence, unable to leave the house. When the unbearable Minatos and their teen daughter Yukina buy the home, the spirits attempt to scare them away without success. Their efforts attract Lance, a rambunctious Maestro whose "help" quickly becomes dangerous for them and innocent Yukina.

Three generations of the Minato family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Maestro Lance, Yukina’s life soon gets turned upside down when her rebellious tweenage daughter discovers a mysterious portal to the afterlife. When someone says Lance’s name three times, the mischievous maestro gleefully returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem.

In honor of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!

Lance as Beetlejuice (Balan Wonderworld)

Yukina Minato as Lydia Deetz (BanG Dream)

Okabe Rintarou as Charles Deetz (Steins;Gate)

Bayonetta as Delia Deetz (Bayonetta)

Dru as Adam Maitland (Despicable Me)

Alma Madrigal as Barbara Maitland (Encanto)

Malva as Jane Butterfield (Pokemon)

King Dedede as Otho Fenlock (Kirby)

Mama Imelda as Juno (Coco)

Canele Cookie as Maxie Dean (Cookie Run)

Millie Feuille Cookie as Sarah Dean (Cookie Run)

Starscream as Bernard (Transformers)

Mashiro Kurata as Grace (BanG Dream)

Aya Maruyama as Beryl (BanG Dream)

Byron as The Preacher (Brawl Stars)

Bruce Stone as The Janitor (Balan Wonderworld)

Lt. Surge as Road Kill Man/The Messenger (Pokemon)

Lola as Miss Argentina/The Receptionist (Brawl Stars)

Gray as Himself/Miss Argentina’s Co Star (Brawl Stars)

Shadow!Lance as Snake!Beetlejuice (Balan Wonderworld)

Colt as Harry The Hunter (Brawl Stars)

Knockout as Char Man (Transformers)

Gooey as The Minister (Kirby)

Marina Tsukishima as Magician’s Assistant (BanG Dream)

Various Characters as the Netherworld Ghosts

Yuri Brand as Astrid Deetz (Balan Wonderworld)

Sam Witwicky as Rory (Transformers)

Mistress Nine as Delores (Sailor Moon)

Ryotsu Kankichi as Wolf Jackson (Kochikame)

Anxiety as Bob (Inside Out)

Here’s your hint for the next casting (It’s Pixar):

💀🎸🥀

[effloradox]

musical!beetlejuice + sfw alphabet

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

so physically affectionate, will not leave you alone (if you're okay with that!!), he's so obviously touch starved that once you're in a (tentatively named) relationship it becomes free game that he can and will be touching you at all times

cuddles are a must, will ask you any time you are alone together (and it can and sometimes does lead to more)

he also really likes giving gifts but he is terrible at it (the maitlands have told him on numerous occasions that he can’t give you body parts as gifts, it’s not really sunk in yet) but he’s trying his best!! and he’s so endearing when he gives you anything!

if you gift him anything he will boast to literally everyone he haunts for like a fortnight afterwards

he loves when you initiate the affection though!! like wow this person is choosing to do this, he didn't have extort, torture, or lie for this!! please get him some therapy

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

post-canon, lydia ends up with a chaos demon best friend and lucky you, you're going to be dragged into all the chaos that takes place! (and potentially be damage control / the voice of reason)

the deetz-maitland household has barely known peace since the two of them became best friends, and now you’re included with that, good luck!!

both of them will listen to you (sometimes) so you'll be invited to join in with scaring the shit out of the pizza delivery guy :) it's a good couples bonding activity don't question it

you're always very willing to help if it's aimed at someone who was being creepy with lydia, that's when you have to convince the two of them that they can't murder the guy that did it (even if you agree with them)

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

as mentioned before, he’s literally obsessed, can and will take every single opportunity to cuddle you

the first time you initiate it, he will turn bright pink and vanish from the room, he can’t believe someone actually wants to be near him like that

he'll get used to it quickly though!!!

will force you to sit down so he can rest his head in your lap sometimes, he absolutely loves it

he purrs if you mess with his hair!! please do it, he'll love you forever (and lydia thinks it's hilarious)

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

do not let him cook for you unsupervised!!!! he will use bleach thinking it'll enhance the flavor profile and you will end up with an early ticket to the netherworld!! please do not consume anything he made without consulting the maitlands beforehand!!!

he likes to say he's your house spouse because he stays at home most of the time <3 (you've tried pointing out that he has a job and he does nothing around the house but he always pulls you into a kiss and that always ends the conversation)

he's pretty well set up where he is right now, living between your place and the deetz-maitland house, he considers himself to be settled down right now

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

lol he would just not do that

boy has major abandonment issues and would overlook any and all red flags any parter presented (also y'know he's a demon, for him some red flags are green flags)

I think it would be intervention from someone in the Deetz-Maitland family that would actually have to initiate any kind of break up because I just don't see him doing so

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

his green card marriage to lydia does not get brought up a lot in the house (unsurprisingly) now he's been summoned and welcomed into the house, he's less set on life via marriage because hey he has a pretty good set up going on right now without being alive, why mess with a good thing and potentially ruin it y’know

would still want to marry you eventually, but isn't going to push it too much until you start bringing it up too (doesn't wanna scare you off before he can put a ring on it y'know?)

if it leads to him being alive again then that's just a bonus

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

he does try to keep in mind that you're a living being and do not have the limits of a dead person but he forgets sometimes ):

will forget that you need to breathe when he's kissing you and wonder why you're trying to push him away

he can be gentle though!! when he remembers that you're flesh and bone

if you're in a bad mood he will proceed to dote on you in the same way that you dote on him

he's not all chaos, he can he soft when the situation arises for it (and only around people he trusts, he's got a reputation to maintain y'know?)

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

I keep talking about hugs but the ghost with the most just loves them so much 😭

all the physical affection all the time please babes <3

he hugs everyone in the house quite a lot (this was less endearing when he stank of rot and death but now he showers occasionally it’s a more welcome method of affection)

an easy solution initially was to spray him with room spray so at least he stank of flowers or pine

he does all kinds of hugs but the most common type is bear hugs that squeeze all the air out of your lungs

I = I Love You (How quickly would they say it? Would they say it a lot or rarely?)

he would say it pretty quickly, whether he means it initially is sort of up for debate, many members of the household think he only said it so quickly in the hope that you’d summon him (that did not work out if that was his intention)

it's a sweet moment and he will pull you into a kiss and no one will see the two of you for a few days <3

you’ll be able to tell the first time he says it and means it because his hair will turn magenta and he’ll try and laugh it off

if you say it back he will lose his ability to speak for a good few minutes (it’s one of the only times he’s ever been speechless in front of you)

he will say it constantly after that!! every person that meets him will know that you're in love after that :) very proud demon <3

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

he’s a demon and he’s quite territorial, jealousy is a big sticking point in anyone’s relationship with him

it’s not just with you, he gets jealous of people who get close to lydia and 'threaten' his position as best friend, he gets jealous of any work friends of charles’ who come round to view the house, it comes from his fear of being abandoned and you’re all working on ways to healthily navigate those feelings with him

he’s not perfect, and neither is anyone else, and it does sometimes feel like he’s not making any progress, but then you remember when he almost ripped someone’s heart out their chest because they winked at you a few months ago and how now he’d just growl loudly at them, and you realise that he is making progress with it, just slowly

he thinks it's absolutely hilarious if you got jealous over someone flirting with him though (do not let him know, you'll never hear the end of it)

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

messy af. that's it, that's how he kisses.

he will take any opportunity to dip you and kiss you in front of others, especially anyone who made the mistake of trying to make a move on you in front of the bug man

will kiss you anywhere and everywhere, he's a demon, he's not afraid to get messy

loves if you kiss his forehead or nose or somewhere more platonic, it makes him feel loved in a way that he isn't used to

cheesy kisses like on the back of your hand are a must <3

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

do not let him around children unsupervised!!!! do not do that!!!!

he will traumatise them and then no one's happy!!!!

if he says he's going to do a puppet show, do not let him proceed, it will not be a fun puppet show and it may end with your favourite book in the fire and the child in question crying

he likes being around kids cause he can fuck with them and no one believes them, just don't leave him on his own because then it will end with a kid having nightmares for the next few years...

is the kind of person to start a conversation with “hey kid, do you want to see something gross?” before pulling a severed finger from one of his many coat pockets (you search his pockets every time and never find any loose body parts, you’re not sure where he pulls them from)

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

he is absolutely not a morning person in any sense of the word

absolutely hates being woken up before noon

good luck getting out of bed to go to work, he will wrap an arm around you and will not let go until you threaten to banish him back to the netherworld

likes to lie on you when you are asleep so enjoy the human-shaped ice block resting on you (which is great in summer when it's hot but less good in winter when it's already cold)

slow and quiet mornings are needed because he will be groggy when he wakes up

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

depends if he's working or not!

if he’s not working then it’s horror movie night!

don't like horror films? you will by force if he has anything to do with it!! let's watch the Exorcist again babes, it won't be as scary now you've seen it 20 times!!

if he's at work he's all pouty before he has to go, like he's clingier than usual with all of you, whilst the puppy dog eyes are out in full force

he loves scaring people for a living, but he hates leaving you guys )): but you can't go with him to the netherworld so he just has to suck it up and gothe sooner he goes, the sooner he comes back right <3

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

he doesn’t think he’s revealed a lot about himself for the time he’s been around you but he has, it’s just been made through jokes about his trauma (I’m serious, get him a therapist)

it blows his mind when you casually say something he doesn’t think you know like how do you know that??? you actually listen to him???

he’s been so used to being invisible that he talks aloud to himself a lot so if you actually listen, you’ll probably have learned more about him then he’ll have meant for you to

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

by you and the Maitland-Deetz’s? not very easily

it’s something he’s worked on a lot since lydia summoned him back to their house, he didn’t want to risk being banished back to the netherworld again

by other people, it depends on what they do

people flirting with you or someone being mean to lydia is the quickest way to get his hair flushing red and his self-control straining

he does try, but he’s a demon, there’s only so much he can do that doesn’t go against his very nature

he’s made progress though, you’re all very proud of him

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

he’s bad with dates of events, it comes with how old he is

he will try his best but he just doesn’t have the head for it

he remembers a lot of what you and lydia say to him, less so for the others

you’ve learned if you want him to do something it’s better to leave notes somewhere he’ll see them rather than just saying it cause there’s a better chance that he’ll do it (but it’s still not guaranteed)

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

first ‘I love you’s probably

it really cemented that you actually like him and wanted to be around him, it was a very emotional experience for him

he speaks about it fondly to the others (and then he goes into graphic detail about what happened afterwards and that’s when the others have to cover their ears)

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

extremely protective of the whole family and the house, all of you know if anyone ever tried to break in, he'd probably kill them

the clones are helpful for that, he can always have a clone keeping an eye on things if he's away or otherwise occupied (plus adam and barbara can't leave so there's always someone there)

he likes to spend most of his time with either you or lydia, but sometimes he does have to go to netherworld for business and that's when he starts getting antsy

his hair'll be a mix of purple and yellow before he goes and no amount of reassurance can get it to change back to green

he tries to come home as quickly as possible, and if he’s going to be away from a while he will try and insist that you stay with the Deetz-Maitlands so you’re all together

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

he tries his best but dates are not gonna sink in for him, he'll try for special occasions but small things like the first time you kissed or something are just not gonna stick in his head

mentioned before but he does love giving gifts (of varying quality and safety)

he gave you a baby sandworm once, it destroyed one of the walls in your house and he wasn't allowed in your apartment until the wall was fixed

you’ve tried to get him to get approval of any gifts from Adam and Barbara since then

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

he’s not clean. at all.

even when he’s washed (which is done rarely) he still smells like he’s just been buried

you’ve taken to filling your house with scented candles and incense sticks to try and offset the smell but it doesn’t cover it completely

air freshener spray downs when he first appears are pretty common for you, you go through at least a bottle a week

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

lol have you seen this man, he’s absolutely not (apart from his hair)

it’s taken time but he will shower now!! he hates it but will do it (also if you say you’ll wash his hair he’ll only grumble rather than full-on complain about it)

is very picky about who touches his hair, says it takes him forever to get it to look like that (you've watched him stick his fingers into a plug socket to shock himself so it'll stand up so you doubt that)

you know he can wear different clothes to his suit but it's very rare that he actually does so (when you first got him to shower he did so in the suit, it was...an experience)

he likes it if you wear his suit though 👀👀😉

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

yes but also no? he's a demon, he was alive way before you were born and will be alive long after your natural death, so in that way he wouldn't because he's already been him

on the otherhand yes, he would feel incomplete, you're the first breather to ever make him feel more than lust, it does worry him what will happen when you die (but also y'know when you die you can be together forever!! won't that be fun!!)

he doesn't worry too much about what you dying will mean for your relationship, right now he's just keeping it at the back of his mind

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

animals seem to really like him oddly enough

he prefers animals on the creepier side but it’s funny watching random animals just approach him when he’s outside

he says he can understand them, though none of you know if he’s serious or if he’s joking about it

you have overheard him speaking to a pigeon as though he was mid-conversation with it when he thought no one was there but the jury’s out on it

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

the deetz-maitland household are very important to him, if you don't get on with them on a serious level it would be an issue for him

there’s accommodation of any disagreements but if either party had a serious issue with the other it would make him very anxious about a future with the partner, especially if the relationship is still fairly new

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

he sometimes starts floating when he falls asleep, so good luck if you were cuddling him!

you have woken up in the night several times to find yourself on the ceiling, no it never gets any less terrifying, yes he finds it hilarious when you frantically wake him up cause you’re terrified of falling back to the ground

can and does sleep like a dead man, he’s grumpy if he’s woken up before he’s actually done sleeping (charles once tried to get him out of bed for a house meeting on etiquette, it didn’t go well and charles won’t talk about the incident)

he falls asleep in the weirdest places sometimes, lydia has a growing collection of photos of him in increasingly weird places

[greelin]

vividly remember going to netherworld (haunted house for those unaware) for the first time and for some reason thinking it was appropriate and wise to say “i HATE chainsaws” out loud. then getting surprised when the guy with the chainsaw chased me. beloved what did you think would happen

[twistedtummies2]

Top 15 Skeleton Characters

Happy Dia de los Muertos, everybody! Anybody who knows about the Day of the Dead knows it is really a celebration of life…and they also know that a major part of this holiday’s iconography is the imagery of skeletons and skulls. The human skeleton, in fact, is quite the ubiquitous visual: skeletons unsettle many people, on a fundamental level. Everybody has one, but if you’re actually SEEING one, that’s not a good sign: bones are the last vestiges of something long dead, and so there is always this automatic gut reaction of perturbation that comes with them. Of course, there’s also a recognition that life was present, which can, in its own odd way, be heartwarming. Skeleton characters - or even characters who are simply skulls or have skull faces - are thus a major part of many fictional worlds. They can be used to mock death, or celebrate life, or they can be used to represent fear and destruction. Regardless, they are always interesting to see, as commonplace as some may claim them to be. So, I decided, if today is a day about celebrating life through the imagery of death, it was only fitting to do something to celebrate the many characters who, effectively, do the same thing, one way or another. Now, I’m only going to be counting ACTUAL skeletal characters here, so to speak; characters like the Phantom of the Opera, Red Skull from Marvel, or Skull Face from “Metal Gear Solid V,” will not count. They evoke the imagery of a skull, but they’re really just deformed human beings, not actual collections of living bones. Also, I won’t be counting gatherings of skeletons (with one exception), such as the various skeleton-themed enemies you’ll find in video games, or the famous Harryhausen skeletons from “Jason and the Argonauts.” They aren’t really “characters” so much as “creatures,” so I don’t think they fit the bill. With that said, let’s waste no more time! Here are my Top 15 Skeleton Characters!

15. Skelly, from I Spy: Spooky Mansion.

Here’s a more obscure option to start things off. How many of you had I Spy books or played the I Spy PC games when you were younger? I know I did. This picture-puzzle series could be surprisingly challenging, and I was always fascinated by the way they organized the photos in the books, not to mention the animation in the PC titles. “Spooky Mansion” was always my favorite game and book, mostly because…well…I like Spooky Mansions! (Even did a list about them, go and take a look at that, tis the season.) Skelly was essentially our Tour Guide for the game: a mischievous but not malicious skeleton who loved to play games with people and spook them silly. She traps us inside her haunted house and challenges us to find various pieces of a puzzle in order to escape; none of this is done with evil intent, she simply wants to play! I always found Skelly a wonderful mix of creepy and sweet, almost like an Addams Family character; that’s always a great blend.

14. Skeleton King, from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force GO!

Imagine Skeletor on a REALLY bad day. That would basically be this monstrosity in a nutshell. The main antagonist of this (incredibly weirdly named) superhero series, the Skeleton King was once a good-hearted scientist, who wished to help the world; it was he who created the titular Monkey Team. However, things changed when the man began to study the dark forces of the Netherworld; assured in his safety from them, he later paid the price of his hubris, as the dark spirits were released, and ending up possessing and corrupting the scientist, body and soul. He thus became the Skeleton King: a cyborganic ghoul who plots to destroy the entire universe. The King was a deliciously creepy villain, and much of his menace can be owed to his voice actor: none other than the Joker himself, Mark Hamill. Honestly, if that name alone doesn’t interest you in this character right away from the start, there’s not much more I can say that will convince you to give him a look.

13. Sir Daniel Fortesque, from MediEvil.

Sir Daniel is a tragically comic case: for ages after his death, this knight was hailed as a hero, believed to have been a mythical and powerful figure who died nobly for a righteous cause. In truth, he was a bungling coward who was killed in the very first seconds of battle, and never really did anything grand at all; somewhere along the line, the facts of his life got all twisted up. When the evil he once fought (or, at least, wanted to fight) rears its ugly head again many years later, Sir Daniel Fortesque is brought back from the grave to do battle once more...but, of course, not being a hero at all, he now has to prove himself. “MediEvil” becomes a typical quest of an unlikely hero; someone trying to live up to the reputation he garnered over time, trying to earn respect from those who know the truth. It’s a classic kind of setup, only enhanced by the unique, Tim-Burton-esque visual styling of the game…not to mention Sir Daniel’s absolutely hilarious running cycle. I guess he went to the Ministry of Silly Walks before his demise.

12. Bob, from The Dresden Files.

So far, I’ve only finished the first six books of “The Dresden Files,” but it’s already a favorite series of mine. (Also, if you’re only familiar with the TV series…that doesn’t count here, since their version of Bob is rather different.) The series details the many adventures of “consulting wizard,” Harry Dresden, and blends elements of noir-style detective mystery storytelling with doses of dark fantasy and Gothic horror. One of my favorite characters is undeniably Bob: an eccentric ghost who inhabits a skull in Harry’s home. Bob is intended to be a sort of living encyclopedia for Harry to consult when on a case; he has been around for centuries, and helped many wizards in his time, making him an extremely valuable source of information. However, Bob is also…well…freaking hilarious. He’s always got his mind in the gutter, and he’s always filled with snark and a ready-to-whip-out insult or quip, leading to some pretty funny dialogue any time he’s featured. Generally, whenever Harry consults Bob, that’s when things are about to get truly serious…but it’s hard to remember that past all the pure, glorious silliness he provides. The only reason Bob doesn’t rank higher is that he is literally JUST a skull, and on top of that, the skull probably isn’t even his own: it’s just his way of communicating with Dresden in the world of the living, sort of like a crystal ball or other conduit of knowledge. Still, I feel he counts enough.

11. Captain Bones, from Crashbox.

Made for HBO, this series was one of my favorite shows EVER when I was a kid. “Crashbox” was a show that really went outside the box with how an educational program could also be entertaining! It used various styles of animation in numerous scenarios and skits to showcase all kinds of different skills. Basic stuff like math, history, sciences, social studies, and so on were featured, but you’d also have things that challenged your critical thinking or problem solving skills, with puzzles and riddles that weren’t necessarily things you’d be taught at school, but were still important things to learn. It was all done with this irreverent tone; the series was utterly bonkers, so it was always a joy to watch even as it taught you all the skills it tried to push. Captain Bones was one of the most frequent skits in the series, and also one of my favorites. “The Incredibly Dead Captain Bones” was a skeletal ghost pirate cursed to Sail the Seven Seas for an eternity. “And I’ll tell ya,” the Captain would sigh, “I’m a Bored Stiff.” (Har Har.) To keep himself from dying of boredom (…presumably a second time…), the old pirate would use his own bones to create math and picture puzzles, which the viewer would be challenged to try and figure out before he showed them the answer. What made Captain Bones hilarious…were his insults. This guy was the KING of Insult Comedy, able to come up with all kinds of incredible, colorful phrases without ever getting dirty or lewd, given the fact this WAS made for kids. If you don’t agree…“THEN YER NOT FIT TO WALK THE DECK OF ME GHOST SHIP, ye crustacean-sucking, knock-kneed, squid-faced, plank-walking sack of soiled, sea-salted, unwashed fish buckets of barnacles for brains!”

10. Lord Ainz, from Overlord.

I haven’t seen a whole lot of “Overlord” yet, which is the primary reason Ainz only BARELY crosses the threshold into the Top 10. Trust me, if I’d seen more, he’d probably be WAY higher. “Overlord” is a classic Isekai anime series: the plot focus on a young man who ends up zapped into a video game world, which he had once been a player of. He finds that he has been transformed into the character he created: a hyper-powerful dark skeleton warlord, known as Ainz Ooal Gown (or “Lord Ainz” for short). The interesting thing about this isekai is the way Ainz is played, and how he evolves over the course of the series; as time goes on, he loses more and more of his humanity, as his personality, morality, and ethical viewpoints start to merge and become less like his own back on Earth, and more like those of the character he created. This leads to a lot of gray area in the morality of Ainz, as he seeks to conquer the world - the typical goal of many a great dark lord - but has surprisingly understandable motivations for doing so. From what I’ve seen so far, the series is quite interesting, and Ainz is an equally interesting character…but I’ve only scratched the surface of this show, so I don’t think it’s fair to give him TOO high a rank JUST yet. But still, Top 10 ain't bad, right?

9. Bonejangles, from Corpse Bride.

There’s really not a whole lot to say about this guy, I just really love him. Though a fairly small part on the whole, Bonejangles is arguably one of the most recognizable characters in the Tim Burton animated picture “Corpse Bride.” A hollow skeleton with a single eyeball, which he rolls back and forth between his sockets, this limber, jazzy fellow appears to be pretty close to the titular character, Emily - the ghost of a bride-to-be who died mysteriously. It is he who tells the story of the Corpse Bride to our protagonist, Victor Van Dort, via the song “Remains of the Day,” easily the best song in the film’s soundtrack. While his time onscreen is small, he makes an immediate impression, and Danny Elfman’s gravelly, raspy vocals only add to the clattering, rambunctious skeleton’s fun personality. In short, Bonejangles is proof that big characters can come in small packages.

8. The Horned King, from The Black Cauldron.

This movie was HATED when it came out - notoriously, “The Black Cauldron” lost to the CARE BEARS when it premiered. (I wish I was joking about that.) However, over time, the movie has garnered something of a cult following, mostly for its dark and often rather brutal atmosphere (which is still rather pale compared to the Lloyd Alexander novels the film is loosely based upon). One thing almost everybody loves about the film is the villain: the lich-like Horned King, voiced impeccably by John Hurt. A cross between the character of the same name from the first book, “The Book of Three,” and the evil Lord Arawn, the main antagonist of the series, Disney’s incarnation of the character is easily one of the most mysterious and frightening of their animated baddies. Essentially a living corpse (who has horns growing out of his head, for some reason), the Horned King is a powerful sorcerer who wishes to destroy all of mankind. (Why? Probably because he’s tired of everyone around him having noses.) To this end, he and his goblin-like assistant, Creeper, seek out Hen-Wen, a pig who somehow has gained oracular abilities, allowing her to find the hiding place of the titular Black Cauldron. The Cauldron is an ancient piece of crockery possessed by the spirit of a long-dead king, which can create an army of living dead brutes, “The Cauldron Born.” In the end, the King is thwarted by Taran, a young farm boy who has been thrust into a quest to stop him, and is sucked into the Cauldron itself. In arguably the goriest death scene in a Disney movie, the King is stripped of his soul, and his FLESH (what little he has), as his life force is sucked into the Cauldron’s hellish depths, before EXPLODING in a flash of light and dust. A fittingly gruesome end for this bony fiend.

7. Arc, from Skeleton Knight in Another World.

Much like Overlord, this is another fantasy isekai anime series, in which the main character is transformed into a character they played in a video game. And, just like then, said main character is an extremely powerful skelly-dude. HOWEVER, that’s about where the similarities between this show and “Overlord” stop. In “Skeleton Knight in Another World,” Arc is not a villain who plays the hero of his own story…but instead just a hero, period. In fact, a big part of the series is that he worries about people seeing his true bone face, as he knows the sight of a giant living skeleton will probably be seen as a bad sign by many. Arc is a wonderfully fun protagonist: like many characters in this sort of scenario, he is equal parts bold and admirably strong…and sort of a total dork. The human life he left behind clashes constantly with the uber-heroic facade he tries to put on (complete with a bold and daring laugh, which is absolutely glorious), leading to a great deal of humor. While Ainz is probably the more popular character between these two, I’ve actually finished all of “Skeleton Knight” (at least with what’s available thus far), and I generally prefer Arc a little bit more, based on what I’ve seen. Therefore, he gets higher marks on the list. Also, on a side note…the theme song to this show is absolutely freaking GLORIOUS, seriously, go take a listen to it.

6. Basically the Entire Cast of “Coco.”

This is the exception to the "no groups of characters" rule I made. I know it’s cheating to include a whole bunch of skeletons, instead of just one, but I felt that, in this case, it was warranted. It’s fitting I’m posting this on the Day of the Dead, because that’s what this film is actually inspired by and based around. This Pixar movie tells the story of a young boy named Miguel, who loves music. However, due to personal tragedy, his family has banned any member from being a musician. Believing his great-grandfather to be a legendary musician, Miguel goes on a quest to rekindle the love of music in his family…and, in the process, ends up in the Land of the Dead, which is populated by a whole world of Dia de los Muertos-inspired skeletons. Ranging from friendly sorts, like the eccentric Hector, and multiple late members of Miguel’s family, to the more villainous Ernesto de la Cruz, choosing just one character to represent an entire film of colorful, whimsical bunches of bones seemed next to impossible. So, yeah, I’m just counting the entire movie here. My list, my choice. So sue me. :P

5. Ghost Rider, from Marvel.

A prominent anti-hero of the Marvel universe, the Ghost Rider has gone through many incarnations. One early interpretation, later re-named the Phantom Rider (big difference, I know), isn’t a skeleton at all, nor a supernatural entity of any kind. Instead, the first Ghost Rider was a Wild Western hero and horseman, who used his ghostly costume and magic tricks to frighten his enemies - think of a cross between the Lone Ranger and Batman. Later interpretations, however, took a different path. The most famous Ghost Rider is Johnny Blaze: a stunt daredevil who was tutored largely by his adoptive father, Crash Simpson. (Good lord, these names sound like video game characters from Nintendo…) When Crash developed an inoperable cancer, a grief-stricken Johnny made a deal with the Devil himself to try and save him. Needless to say, it didn’t go so well. Now, Blaze - and others who would share his curse - must roam the land hunting down evildoers, fighting both mortal and supernatural villainy in an endless quest to avenge the innocent. The Ghost Riders all share common visual elements: fiery skeletal bodies, leather clothes, chain-based weapons, and of course, AWESOME motorcycles to ride upon. Their power over the fires of Hell itself are their primary weapons, however, with a variety of different attacks and powers available to Blaze and his later compatriots in the war to seek out the evil and punish them for their sins...hopefully while avoiding ending up in terrible Nicolas Cage outings. No promises on that one.

4. Sans & Papyrus, from Undertale.

Oh, God, I LOVE Undertale. And more than that, perhaps, I LOOOOVE Sans and Papyrus! The Skeleton Brothers are easily my favorite characters in the game, and the most identifiable for me, in many ways. Sans is, in some ways, Undertale’s equivalent to the Doctor from “Doctor Who”: he is a comedic, laid-back, somewhat eccentric character who uses his unassuming appearance and “dopey” personality as a facade. As many a player quickly learns, Sans is far more powerful, far more DANGEROUS than he looks or seems, able to go from cracking a terrible pun to threatening you with painful death in a split second. If you get on his bad side, “you’re gonna have a bad time.” His brother, Papyrus, on the other hand, is sort of the reverse: at first glance, Papyrus seems like your typical “over-the-top villain.” His signature laugh, twisted design, and sense of self-importance all make him about as fiendish as can be...all he’s missing is a top hat or a moustache to twirl! But it quickly becomes clear that Papyrus is neither as evil, nor as clever, as he likes to seem: in reality, he’s really a rather harmless sort of bony fellow, and would much rather befriend you than murder you with his incredibly elaborate, Wile-E.-Coyote-esque death traps. (Much like with Wile E., the traps never work the way they should.) Dealing with these brothers is a BIG part of figuring out the events of Undertale, and the path your adventure will take in the game. Whether you love them as much as I do or not, I advise you to decide wisely.

3. Skeletor, from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

There have been several different takes on Eternia’s greatest villain over the years (my favorite will always be the original, but I do like many, if not all, of the other interpretations out there). No matter which one you look at, Skeletor is a very fun villain, and is easily one of the most iconic skull-faced scoundrels out there. A dark wizard who longs to take over Castle Grayskull, and learn all its secrets for his own evil ends, Skeletor’s evil ranges from cartoonish to truly cruel, depending on which version you look at, but there’s always a wonderful blend of both creepiness and genuine menace that accompanies him. It’s hard to not make references to this guy when looking at other bony characters, and he’s given rise to more memes than you can shake a sorcerer’s scepter at. Really, what more can I say? It’s Skeletor: by virtue of his recognition alone, he’s more than earned a spot in the Top Three.

2. The Grim Reaper.

Arguably the single most iconic skeletal figure in history, the Grim Reaper - the embodiment of death itself - could really take up an entire list of his own. (And he probably will, one day.) There are so many versions of the Reaper out there, it’s kind of amazing: when people imagine what death’s avatar looks like, it’s likely that the typical imagery of a skeletal figure, garbed in a dark cloak and carrying a scythe, is the first thing they will imagine. Sometimes the Reaper is depicted as a humorous and comical figure, such as the version found in “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.” On many occasions he is depicted as an evil monster, such as the version of Death found in the “Castlevania” franchise. Other times, he is something of a neutral force, as death is neither truly good nor evil when you think about it; probably my favorite example of this is the one found in Terry Pratchett’s “Discworld” universe. Bottom line, I think the fact that skeletons so often represent death, to the point where the very embodiment of the Angel of Death is depicted AS a skeleton, speaks for itself as to why this ranks so highly. Honestly, I was tempted to make this choice number one, but I decided against it for several reasons. Still, iconic as the concept of the Grim Reaper is, the character - in pretty much all his forms - has more than earned high praise here.

1. Jack Skellington, from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

“Nightmare” is one of my favorite films of all time, if not my absolute favorite. It’s not a complex movie, really, but its simplicity is part of what makes it so wonderful! Jack is, by extension, one of my favorite characters of all time: hailed as “The Pumpkin King With the Skeleton Grin,” this dapper, noble, gentlemanly bonehead is the ruler of Halloween Town, a world of ghosts, goblins, and ghouls (oh, my!) whose only job is to make Halloween as frightening as possible. But, despite his undead state, and wicked sense of humor, there is no malice in Jack’s mischief; he just sees it as a job. A job he’s apparently very, VERY good at, from the few examples the film and other spin-offs give us. Jack’s really a very good sort; charming and debonair, but also rather naive. A cockeyed optimist in his own way, and a bit of a prima donna, Jack’s over-the-top antics and spirit of adventure are what often get him into trouble; he has a problem with thinking things through. However, when things go wrong, Jack is ready for action, and quick to take responsibility, take charge, and take chances. His heart is in the right place at all times, even if his brain doesn’t always get there right away. Mixing intelligence and charisma with a childlike simplicty - much like the movie he hails from, in fact - Jack Skellington is an endearing and interesting character who deserves every bit of love he gets from myself and the world over. He’s just as iconic as the Grim Reaper, Skeletor, and others on this list, if not more so! And for all these reasons and more, I happily (albeit pointlessly) name Jack Skellington my Favorite Skeletal Character!

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

Captain Barbossa, from Pirates of the Caribbean. (He really only counts for the first film, which is why I didn’t include him on the main list.)

The Speaking Skull, from The Last Unicorn.

Manolo Sanchez, from The Book of Life.

Spinal, from Killer Instinct.

[thehyperrequiem]

Bubbler (Beetlejuice Parody) Cast

“After White Lily Cookie (Erica Mendez) and Pure Vanilla Cookie (Yuri Lowenthal) die in a car accident, they find themselves stuck haunting their country residence, unable to leave the house. When the unbearable Inhabitants and teen daughter Alya (Carrie Keranen) buy the home, the Ancient Cookies attempt to scare them away without success. Their efforts attract Bubbler (Ben Diskin), a rambunctious Akuma whose "help" quickly becomes dangerous for the Ancient Cookies and innocent Alya.”

In honor of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, it’s showtime again! 🖤🤍🪲

Bubbler (Miraculous Ladybug) as Beetlejuice

Pure Vanilla Cookie (Cookie Run) as Adam Maitlands

White Lily Cookie (Cookie Run) as Barbara Maitlands

Alya (Miraculous Ladybug) as Lydia Deetz

Sana Hudson (Balan Wonderworld) as Charles Deetz

Eis Glover (Balan Wonderworld) as Delia Deetz

Pastry Cookie (Cookie Run) as Jane Butterfield

Butter Roll Cookie (Cookie Run) as Otho

Hollis Forsythe (Psychonauts) as Juno

Milla Vodello (Psychonauts) as Miss Argentina (With Sasha Nein as an Extra)

Elder Custard Cookie (Cookie Run) as Maxie Dean

Pomegranate Cookie (Cookie Run) as Sarah Dean

Boyd Cooper (Psychonauts) as Bernard

Raspberry Cookie (Cookie Run) and Raspberry Mousse Cookie (Cookie Run) as Grace and Beryl

Jelly Wyrm (Cookie Run) as Snake! Beetlejuice

Ford Cruller (Psychonauts) as The Janitor

Pesci (Jjba) as Harry the Hunter

Abbacchio (Jjba) as The Preacher

Zombizou (Miraculous Ladybug) as Magician’s Assistant

Formaggio (Jjba) as Char Man

Poison Mushroom Cookie (Cookie Run) as The Minister

Various Characters as The Ghosts of The Netherworld

[netherworldpost]

text id: "The week’s pumpkins are delivered, delivered by Mister Ghost himself! Plump and round, they have absorbed quite a bit of moon energy. They will make marvelous jack-o-lanterns."

I avoided a bad faith argument about the economy so to reward myself, here is a teaser of an ambient email RPG I have begun building.

It'll be free, ongoing, hopefully for many years, paid for by various Netherworld Post Office shenanigans (this is not a request for support, we have the funding to launch it)

text id: "The neighboring ghosts are out for a haunt. They wave to you on their way from their haunted house to the local cemetery."

Every week or so, a few of these messages will be sent to subscribers.

The premise: You own a home in one of the Netherworld's many realms. Once a week, a letter carrier brings you your mail. Sometimes friends (NPost characters) drop by for tea or gossip or to tell you about the latest potions sale at the market.

I'm hoping to have this launched in about a year or so.

Shop opens this autumn.

Production experiments and artwork creating and writin is happening right now.

[in-death-we-fall]

Drag & Bones

Wednesday 13 is a new man. Off the booze and into haunted houses, the horror-punk admits he was “going down a black hole”.

Words: Joel McIver

Metal Hammer 180 — July 2008 (drive link)

“I’m just waking up,” mumbles the voice of Joseph ‘Wednesday 13’ Poole, coming down the line from small-town America. “I have a hard time sleeping at night, so I go to bed around four or five in the morning – just to keep my rock’n’roll schedule going, ha ha!” This is the laugh of a man who is tired: tired of the road, tired of fighting personal demons, tired of pretty much everything.

Persuasive journalists that we are, we want to know if he’s been partying hard lately. Surely he can fit in some serious drinking before retiring at dawn?

“When I’m on tour I’m up till three or four in the morning anyway,” he drawls. “I try to keep it going at all times. It’s nothing to do with my image or anything like that, I’m just used to staying up all night and watching TV. I still get up at a reasonable hour – I try not to sleep past 1pm.

“I stopped drinking in September last year, after I was done recording this record,” Wednesday continues, to our surprise. “It’s not like I think I’m gonna be sober for the rest of my life, it was just something I needed to do. I’ve done several tours sober and it’s definitely a different kind of life. I was going down a black hole. Drinking was starting to consume most of my life and my decisions.”

Isn’t a diet of Jack and Jäger an essential component of the rock’n’roll lifestyle though?

“It’s the only job where it’s required and it’s cool to be drunk,” he agrees. “You’re patted on the back and cheered on. It got to a point where I thought that booze was what I needed to be me. I didn’t go on stage completely drunk, but I was definitely four or five drinks in, which would give me that extra edge I thought I needed to perform. I was forgetting why I was on tour. Actually, I’m really lucky that it was just drink: I didn’t do any drugs.”

Despite his yawns, Wednesday is a happy man.

“Now I can go onstage and play with a completely clear head,” he explains. “I’ve watched videos and you can see it – there’s a night-and-day difference between me going on stage drunk and sober.”

Wednesday is also highly chuffed about the two new Wednesday 13 releases (an EP, Bloodwork, and an album called Skeletons).

“Skeletons is a different record for me. If you’ve heard what I’ve done in the past, this album won’t be what you expect. With every record I make, I don’t try to create the same thing over and over, and I also don’t like to be painted into a corner where people think they have me all figured out. I hate to use the word ‘mature’, but this record is, compared to my last stuff. I’ve opened myself up to the public.”

Skeletons is about Joseph Poole the man, rather than Wednesday 13 the zombie.

“Instead of writing about horror movies, a lot of the songs on the new record have to do with what I was going through with my alcoholism. It’s still horror-oriented, but it’s more my real-life kind of horror than a Dracula movie this time. This is the darkest, scariest thing I’ve ever done, because it’s about me. When I listen to it, I feel all the emotions that went into it. It’s a strong record, too – it’s got some good, heavy songs on it.”

Don’t worry – Bloodwork and Skeletons aren’t Wednesday’s St Anger. He’s still referencing the camp horror icons that have made him so popular with your 16-year-old goth niece, and is even embarking on a tour of Britain’s most famous haunted houses next time he comes over here. Ask him about this series of overnight vigils, during which spooks from the netherworld supposedly waft out of the woodwork, and he explains:

“It wasn’t my idea, it was something that was brought to my attention during promotion for the new record. It’s something cool that I’ve never done before, because when I’m on tour I don’t get time to go out and see historic sites. I’ve been sceptical my whole life about this stuff, so I thought it would be cool to go there and see if I’m a sceptic when I’m done. I’ve got my bullshit detector ready in case they try any tricks, though.”

Wednesday, however, has already seen more than his fair share of spookery over the years, starting with his childhood, when he was obsessed with horror films. Later on he formed a band, Maniac Spider Trash, which went nowhere, although he did come up with his stage identity at about that time.

“I grew up admiring people with cool stage names like Nikki Sixx and Alvin Stardust,” he recalls. “I was watching The Addams Family one day and that little girl, Wednesday, was such a sarcastic bitch. The number 13 is considered unlucky, so I combined the two because it sounded spacey and weird.”

Proper recognition came in 1996 with a new band, Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, whose fusion of camp horror sci-fi and gothic punk was an obvious hint at Wednesday’s influences. No fewer than 11 albums and EPs came from the band, leading to the formation of an unexpectedly wide fan base.

“It was funny, because in my mind we were just a local band here in my town in North Carolina,” he says. “Even though I’d released records in Europe, I’d never actually been to Europe, and when I went there I met several people who had our stuff. Robb Flynn told me that he used to warm up with Machine Head every day listening to a Frankenstein Drag Queens record! That blew my mind.”

But major success came in 2003, when a certain diminutive drummer phoned Wednesday for a chat.

“Joey Jordison was a fan of my band,” remembers Wednesday, “and called me up out of the blue. He said he was putting a project together called Murderdolls and he wanted to use me in the band. Apparently he’d had my records for a couple years and used to take them out on the road with Slipknot. That was really cool.”

Within weeks, Murderdolls were a viable band with an album deal with Roadrunner and a tour lined up. Murderdolls found a willing fan base, released Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls in 2002 and made it big in Japan. But that was it for them. Slipknot required Joey’s urgent attention the following year, and the band went their separate ways.

“We had new songs and music ready to go,” Wednesday explains, “but then the reality set in that Slipknot were going to be on tour for two years, and I was like, ‘I can’t sit around for two years doing nothing, and I can’t go back to what I was doing before’, so I started my own band. The fact is, as long as Slipknot continues to tour and be a functioning band, Murderdolls will always be a side-project, even though we did a lot of work and made a lot of fans on that little short run that we had. If Murderdolls happens again, I’d be really into doing it.”

Which brings us to the present day. Wednesday 13, is back doing what he does best – singing about the dark side of life. He’s here for the long haul.

“When I was getting sober,” the man recalls, “Alice Cooper told me that he’d toured with Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. He partied just as hard as these people, and they died. He said that there are survivors – him and Steven Tyler and Nikki Sixx – and that those are the people that leave a legacy. He goes, ‘There’s nothing cool about laying in a casket’.”

These are wise words from a man who knows, right?

Skeletons is out now on Demolition Records

[popculturelib]

Haunted States of America: Virginia

Hampton's Haunted Houses & How to Feed A Ghost (1998) by Jane Keane Polonsky and Joan McFarland Drum

Hampton is a historic town on the eastern coast of Virginia and is one of the oldest European settlements in the United States. This short volume is part history, part ghost stories, and part recipes. Mixed in with tales of ghostly dentists, haunted hotels, and a visit by Blackbeard the pirate are recipes for dishes such as:

Heavenly Hash Candy for Ghost Hunting

Spoonbread

Chicken Salad and Sweet Potato Custard Pie (a favorite of a ghostly visitor at a building on Wine Street)

Spirit Punch, which comes with the notes: "Hearty consumption of the following spirit punch is certain to assist in raising the netherworld" and "Don't bother using quality liquor because it does not matter in this punch."

What do you like to eat and drink when you go hunting for ghosts?

Virginia is the second-most represented state in our collection, with 32 books about ghosts and hauntings. Take a look at these other books:

The Mystery of Ghostly Vera And Other Haunting Tales of Southwest Virginia (1993) by Charles Edwin Price; introduction by Sharyn McCrumb; cover art by David Dixon

Virginia's Ghosts: Haunted Historic House Tours (1995) by L.B. Taylor, Jr.

The Hauntings of Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown (1998) by Jackie Eileen Behrend

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

[sunflowercheol]

🎃🍁 ~ SunflowerCheol's 31 Days of Halloween Masterlist ~ 🍁🎃

Hope you are excited for them and enjoy! Will update the masterlist as I post!

(also sidenote: I will be traveling out of the country next saturday so most of these will be queued so please bear with me! I will most likely not have service 85% of the time I am in the other country so lol)

Scary Movies - Day 1

"You said make it scary, so I brought my baby!"

Haunted House - Day 2

"Whose bright idea was it to come investigate an abandoned and scary house?"

Hocus Pocus - Day 3

"Should we go to Salem and see this for ourselves?"

Pumpkin Spice Season - Day 4

"Let's go to Starbucks and get our first pumpkin spice latte!"

Black Cat - Day 5

"Oh my god, it's you!"

Ghost Hunting - Day 6

"I am taking the holy water, the bible, and a cross. What do you mean I am not prepared?"

Spiders - Day 7

"ITS BEHIND THE CURTAIN."

Skeletons - Day 8

"Why are bones so scary? We literally ARE bones *screeches in fear*"

Bats - Day 9

"Will I become batman now?"

Baking - Day 10

"Let's just hide everything from everyone and enjoy it ourselves."

Netherworld - Day 11

"Out of all places? Seriously?"

Scarecrow - Day 12

"Why are they so creepy?"

Candy Corn - Day 13

"I really like corn."

Ouija Board - Day 14

"Told you that you shouldn't have played with the ouija board."

Hay Ride - Day 15

"You think I could steal one of these tractors?"

Pumpkin Patch - Day 16

"Are you sure you don't need a wheelbarrow?"

Warlocks - Day 17

"We are not like the hocus pocus witches! We have more intelligence than them!"

Vampires - Day 18

"Why did you have to be so obvious? Even I could tell it was not Kool-Aid *rolls eyes*"

Graveyard - Day 19

"No cause who will take care of my baby if I die?”

Corn Maze - Day 20

"Nothing is going to pop out right?"

Decorating - Day 21

"I still have more in the closet though!"

Sunflowers - Day 22

"I know it's supposed to be all about pumpkins, but looks at these sunflowers! It's me and my army!"

Werewolves - Day 23

"Aw, did this cute wolfie get hurt? I can be like a doctor and nurse you back to health and help you get better and feed you lots of food!”

Zombies - Day 24

"Well, it seems the apocalypse came early."

Grim Reaper - Day 25

"It's time. To have some fun."

Reincarnated Gods - Day 26

"Reincarnation led to this? Are you serious?"

Creepy Carnival - Day 27

"Why are we here again?"

Clowns - Day 28

"Out of all things, why did it have to be clowns chasing us?!"

Trick or Treat - Day 29

"Do you think I am too old to be trick or treating?"

Masquerade - Day 30

"Even with the mask, I can tell how beautiful you are."

Halloween Party - Day 31 Part 1 -- Part 2

"Too much testosterone. I need to get more female friends."

[thenightling]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice review

I'll get right to it. It was fun. Beetlejuice is not my favorite Tim Burton movie. That distinction goes to Sleepy Hollow (direction), and Nightmare before Christmas (story / characters). I did grow up with the Beetlejuice animated series. When I was about eight or nine-years-old it was my favorite show. And I actually preferred the show to the movie though I always loved that final scene of teenaged Lydia dancing to Jump in the Line. I remember when I was about ten, on New Years Eve or close to it, I asked my mother to tape Beetlejuice on HBO for me because I was too tired and knew I couldn't stay up to do it, myself. And I emphasized to please get the end credits, because that last scene was my favorite part. I am trying to establish my history with this franchise before I get into this review. When I saw Nightmare before Christmas at age eleven I became obsessed with the work of Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman, simultaneously. I strongly feel that if I was twelve or thirteen-years-old I'd definitely appreciate this Beetlejuice sequel a lot more than I do though I did like it. Lydia (who now has a show called Ghost House) is still haunted by Beetlejuice, who is waiting for her to one day need him and call upon him. He now has a netherworld telemarketing type set up with a bunch of shrunken head people (probably provided by the witch doctor) serving as his employees. His second in command is one he calls Bob. When Lydia's daughter gets tricked into trading places with a ghost in The Netherworld, Lydia finally, reluctantly calls on Beetlejuice for help. He makes her sign a Faustian contract in her own blood agreeing to marry him. The movie is fun. it takes a while for the "main plot" to get rolling but when it does it really hooks you. The storyline about Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and the boy, Jeremy, reminded me, weirdly of American Horror Story, Murder House. Though they did use The Banana Boat Song (Day-o) for a funeral scene, I still miss the Harry Belafonte music sprinkled in like the first movie. And I have to admit though the scene it was used in was great, I am not a big fan of MacArthur Park. I actually think the song is a little annoying, not as annoying as Rock Lobster, but still annoying. But I do understand why it was chosen. It was fun, slightly disjointed, and some of the plots were unnecessary but I liked it just the same. I'll have to watch it a few times before I can determine if I like it as much as (or even more than) then original but I like it enough that I do want to watch it again.

My favorite moment (not really scene but moment) is when Beetlejuice stamps Jeremy's passport. You'll understand when you get to the scene. It seems the sequel borrows a little from all previous versions of Beetlejuice, from the animated series, to even the Broadway musical. Biggest complaint: MacArthur Park is stuck in my head and I don't even like that song that much!

[allegedlydia]

Update. I wasn’t talked out of it.

More to come as I catch time to work on it, but the rules are the same as @neverhangd ‘s lol.

Offering Lydia Deetz, my favorite Goth Girl! Comes in pre-canon, canon, post-canon, and canon-divergent! Borrowing from the OG Film, the Sequel, and the Musical with light influence from the cartoon.

Timeline/Verse/About Notes below. NOT SPOILER FREE!

Herself Strange & Unusual

Lydia is the only daughter of Charles and Emily Deetz. At the start of canon, Lydia is 15-17 and recently lost her mother—within the last year or so kind of recently.

Delia is an art therapist, former cult member, and all-around new age nut job. She and Charles started seeing each other towards the end of Emily’s life, with her blessing; Lydia refuses to acknowledge this and still sees their engagement/marriage as a betrayal of Emily.

Lydia is strange and unusual—specifically, a medium able to see and talk to ghosts. It’s something she’s been able to do since childhood, inherited from Emily but left unexplained. Adam and Barbara are the first ghosts Lydia has knowingly communicated with.

After the events of the first canon (film or musical), Lydia starts seeing ghosts in her day to day life. She graduates high school and moves on to college, where she suffers a mental breakdown after encountering a few too many tragic ghosts on campus. (In canon divergence, Lydia returns to Winter River to find the Maitlands have moved on and Dad and Delia are back to their usual, leading her to feel isolated and alone again.) In canon compliance, Lydia meets Richard and he helps her through her struggles. She tells him about seeing ghosts and the dead, but she leaves out her experience with the Juice. By graduation, she and Richard are splitting time between exploring the world, fighting for underserved causes, and communing with the dead through ghost investigations.

Lydia meets Rory in a bereavement group and by their third date confesses to being able to see ghosts. All Rory sees are dollar signs. The Ghost House TV show is born, using the house in Winter River as their special introductory episode. Delia and Charles’ interviews about the event, combined with Lydia’s storytelling, makes for a mesmerizing hour of television. The show is immediately picked up.

Despite what Rory and the show’s critics like to think, nothing shown on the show is fake. If there isn’t a real ghost, there isn’t a real episode.

With Rory, and Ghost House, and hopefully a certain striped demon behind them, Lydia and Astrid work in strengthening their bond. Lydia pivots to writing horror novels under a pseudonym to make money. She and Astrid spend much of their time communing with and learning about the world around them—dead and living alike.

In canon divergence, Lydia never fully gets her life together, living in an ongoing downward spiral. She writes horror stories about teenaged girls who don’t always live to the end. As in actual canon, she is persistently haunted by Beetlejuice. The haunting is actually worse in divergence, though, as he does everything from his side of the Netherworld to get her to summon him again.

[whitepolaris]

Biggest Haunted Farmhouse in Wisconsin

Imagine a house on a hill in central Wisconsin in the mid-1800. Picture bearded twin brothers, two premature deaths, and a deep grief that won't stop. Let's fast-forward: Now visualize the house as a gangster hideout, complete with whiskey still, at a time when its ghost stories are musty legends. The small community of Eureka has been fascinated by the huge old mansion ever since the twin brothers Augustus and Argalus Foote built it in 1852. Their country dream house was to be a honeymoon hideaway for the inseparable thirty-four-years-old brothers and their bridges, Anna and Adelia.

Set on three hundred acres of farmland just a mile outside Eureka on County Highway K, the cream brick home featured a central hall, with fifteen room on each side. The furnishings on both sides were identical and the best money could buy. The men and their brides, all four with the initials "A.F.," made their home a showplace and figured they were set there for life. Life was good.

But the seemingly ideal arrangement proved to be only a setup for tragedy. After a few years, Anna, Augustus's wife, died in childbirth, and their infant daughter died three months later. Augustus, Argalus, and Adelia were too grief-stricken to remain there, so they sold the house to a couple from Chicago-Mr. and Mrs. Herman Powers. They kept up the home's showplace tradition, filling the stable with fine horses and throwing lavish parties. But for some reason, they sold the house after a few years.

The house went downhill after that. It remained mostly empty, amid rumors of ghosts dating back to the Civil War. Townsfolk claim that during the Prohibition era, Al Capone used the giant basement for making whiskey. And beginning in 1935, the house was used by a local society for "haunted" Halloween tours, complete with a spooky script for the tour guides.

Over the years, the house was occupied by tenant farmers, with some of the formerly fine rooms used as rabbit warrens and for wood storage. Each succeeding owner gave up replacing the glass in most windows, because the local boys kept throwing rocks through them. Today, only the old brick shell of the house remains, and the twins buried in a nearby cemetery. Perhaps in the netherworld the house is still a honeymooner's dream, but a recent visitor found that trees have grown up around the house so that only the top of the mansion is still visible from the road. A very dead cow was in plain sight from the driveway, and it was evident people are still using the farm area and possibly living in other structures on this private property.