Happy Winter Solstice!

We interrupt this AUPHH* to bring you another wonderful piece by Katherine Blower. I hope everyone is having a nice winter so far.

Katherine Blower's links:

Website

Etsy Shop

Redbubble Shop

Zazzle (for EU Customers)

Instagram

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*(pronounced "awf," it stands for Annual, Unplanned, Post-Halloween Hiatus)

Another ghost!

This one is by @hallerlakehaunt.  Sheet ghosts are hard to beat in my book.

Tattered Ghost

by @sacred_ghost_haunts, a prop maker that has only started posting this year.  Definitely an artist to watch out for. This old-looking ghost prop was especially exciting to me, but they have many other cool works you can check out on their Instagram.

Click here to check out other cool props on their Instagram

True love

"True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen"

- François de La Rochefoucauld

I'm finding these two chicken wire ghosts inexplicably compelling.  I think it's partially due to the fact that this picture was taken during daylight hours, seemingly near sunset.  I also think it's because there is a clear relationship between these two; they aren't the usual solitary figures.  There's a story in there somewhere, the details of which we can never fully know.

Picture found on Pinterest. I could not track down the original source anywhere.

Crypt Ghost

By Spooky Blue

A Ghostly Memory

Picture by @12monthsofoctober. The kind of picture that gets me through the dog days of Summer. 

The Mummy Ghost

New prop by Pumpkinrot

Click the image below for the story...

Part of the ongoing Hexeglaawe series

October Nights

Pumpkin-headed ghosts and string lights.  Simply perfect. 

Beautiful photo by Adam Czarnik

The Old Bridge

     Over a deep black part of the stream, not far from the church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge; the road that led to it, and the bridge itself, were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a gloom about it, even in the daytime; but occasioned a fearful darkness at night. This was one of the favorite haunts of the headless horseman; and the place where he was most frequently encountered.

     - Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Art by Vivien Mildenberger

Skull Specter

Photo by @lilibat_xgau

Wraith scarecrow

Prop by indrid fear on HalloweenForum

Now Watching: Early to Mid 2000's Halloween Home Videos

A simple pleasure of mine is watching videos of people's Halloween decorations, parties, or trick-or-treating, specifically from the early to mid 2000's.  These videos scratch a very precise nostalgic itch of mine.

These videos also tend to disappear from YouTube.  Many of the ones I watched regularly (don't judge me) have been deleted, or have vanished after the original account was terminated.  It really makes me sad.  I wish there was a huge archive just for videos like this.  

It disheartens me to wonder how many Halloween home videos have been erased from the web...  how many wonderful October memories have been lost... I've even contemplated buying a larger hard drive just to download and preserve this kind of media. 

I swear, I'm going to turn in to a digital hoarder... 
*pours booze*

Tall Scarecrows

I discovered this photo years ago while scouring the web.  It's from the (now defunct) Garage of Evil network.  

I really like the idea of towering scarecrows/props.  To be clear, I don't mean props that are just large in scale, but regular scarecrows on extremely tall pikes.  

I imagine being able to see this scarecrow from a great distance, solemnly elevated above a field.  And then being beneath it, looking up, not quite able to make out all the details, so your mind fills in the rest (which is, of course, all the more unsettling)

Ghosts and Cats

 "Ghosts and cats cavort regardless of the date"

Photo and quote by @guildofjacks

Katie Pumpkinhead's Pumpkin Patch

So, right after publishing the previous blog post about Winter, I realized that the photographer of the photo I included, Katie, has a blog of her own. Not only that, but she made a fantastic write up about her own thoughts about Winter and snow, and how they fit in to the Halloween aesthetic. 

I highly recommend you go read her post.  She dives deeper into Winter's power and the beauty that lies in the danger it brings.  And while you're at it, subscribe to her blog!

Click the image below to read Katie's wonderful winter musings

Open Until Dawn

 By Teo Skaffka

Halloween 2021: Crop of the Faceless Spirit

Since the disappearances, peculiar things have begun to grow.

Usually, there's just one, sprouting from the earth like a cursed sapling.

But sometimes, they're found in hellish groves; 

Grotesque orchards of anthropomorphic vegetation.

And why do they always look so... familiar?

I am beyond excited to (finally) share my first official yard display!  I would have posted these photos sooner, but a corrupted SD card threw a wrench in those plans.  After two weeks of on-and-off recovery attempts, I finally have some stuff to share.

Click on each picture for full-size

And below, the scene of the ritual:  Innocents left to die, an offering to the Faceless Spirit, only to be re-grown as part of the Crop.

And here are a few daytime shots:

Huge shoutout to Pumpkinrot and his blog; a wealth of yard haunt knowledge and inspiration.  Shoutout to my sister for helping to carve so many pumpkins only a day before Halloween.

I learned a lot through reading blogs and forum posts, and through trial and error.  Not everything came out exactly as I had hoped/imagined, and there are plenty of things that I wont be doing the same way in the future.  But overall, I am quite pleased with my first display.  Everyone starts somewhere!