HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

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Happy Hallowe’en! This is the time for spooks, goblins, tricks and treats. One of the treats is the scavenger hunt for valuable prizes from Long and Short Reviews. The trick is to find their symbol  hidden on this site--not the one like that to the left, but a different one. Keep looking--it's here. Really, it is.

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Call me morbid but I like visiting old cemeteries, the kind with upright monuments in every conceivable shape. Since I love history as well as writing, perhaps that’s why I read the epitaphs, dates, and names as if they were stories. They are! Sometimes epitaphs are funny, sometimes sad, sometimes bleak. What annoys me is when the wife’s tombstone has only something like “Mrs. John Jones,” as if her life were whittled down to being a wife with no experience anywhere else or value in any other capacity.

My scare for you is a trip through the local cemetery. Here are some weird tales.  Whoo-ha-ha-ha! That's supposed to resemble a blood-curdling laugh.  Scared yet? Didn't think so.




Witch-real or
only in her mind?

Our community had a local couple who were, um, shall we say eccentric? Having little to do with genuine witches or warlocks, this couple called themselves a witch and warlock, dressed in Goth style, were heavy into the drug scene, and drove a black car decorated with white polka dots. Unfortunately, they had several followers. The local Justice of the Peace was asked to perform their marriage ceremony at midnight on Hallowe'en in the largest local cemetery. Because he was a good public servant, he agreed and showed up. After the ceremony, when he said, “You may kiss the bride,” the bride and groom slapped each other. Hard! That’s when the JP made his escape. Sadly, about a year later, the bride was found in the cemetery dead of a drug overdose. Friends who are real Wicca tell me that Wiccan practicioners do no harm to themselves or others, which makes this poor victim's life and death even sadder.



Crypt similar to that 
of the"white witch"

Sometimes rumors are so much more interesting than the truth. The same cemetery has what supposedly is “the white witch’s” grave. No one knows where this incorrect label originated. Actually, the grave is a white marble crypt built for a man who had no family. No one visits the grave-—except those searching for a sensational story.

Nearby is the statue of the “weeping” angel. Many visitors believe that name means the statue weeps actual tears. Sorry, the sculptor portrayed a weeping angel, not nearly as interesting as a statue that sheds real tears, right? Still, it's a beautiful statue.

Chased by a ghost?

In a town where I once lived, some teens went to the cemetery to share beers they weren’t supposed to have. When they realized the owner of the car had already been drinking before he picked them up, they argued with him about whether he was sober enough to drive them home from the cemetery. He beligerantly insisted, so the other teens reluctantly climbed into the car with him to go home. Can you hear your mom telling you never to ride with a driver who's been drinking?  Here's why.  Shortly after they left the cemetery, they had a wreck that killed the driver and a couple of the passengers and badly injured the others. A few months later, the greatly altered story appeared in one of those sensational press newspapers one sees at the checkout stand. In the account, supposedly a ghost had chased the teens from the cemetery and caused the wreck. Not true, but that sort of thing sells newspapers. I hate to refer to that sort of publication as a newspaper, don't you?


What’s your favorite Hallowe’en tale?