Brain Meal

25 Days Til Halloween

 

So, in keeping with the spooky, creepy and sometimes down right gross. I found this link and it's exactly the creepy I was looking for. A must see. Until tomorrow, Happy Hump Day.

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/panna-cotta-brain-with-cranberry-glaze-recipe.html

"What's a Halloween without a Creepy House in the Neighborhood"

29 Day until Halloween
 

 

 I love the idea of what lingers in the dark on a cool foggy night that is kissed by the light of a full moon that is filtered by the autumn clouds moving across the sky.  Like this picture below. It was taken by a friend at the Halloween Happening in Crownsville, Maryland last year.  Do you see the skull in the sky?

 

 

Below are some pictures I found as I surfed the internet. Two things that I love at Halloween, old looking houses and creepy looking trees. (We'll save the tree pictures for another blog day). I was immediately taken back to a time in my school days when I recalled kids telling each other about homes that were either haunted or someone had died in them, just to put a freight into them. For me this always happened just before Halloween and put my trick-or-treating fun to the extreme test when I had to walk by one of these houses that was the topic of scary conversations, and there was always one of these kinds of homes in my neighborhood,  that just having the lawn too high, or the paint was peeling, would be the next target for others to being with another ghostly story. Maybe the older kids did this, to keep the young ones from getting all the good candy or maybe it was just to scare them - because they could. Personally, I think it was both, but could be the reason that today I am a Halloween Junkie and love telling ghost stories.

 

I realized that back then - many of us that let these stories get to us, merely due to perception, if something looked old or abandoned, that would somehow evolve and allow our minds to take us to those dark scary places that we'd rather not go. I do believe in Ghost's, but not in every house etc, just because a place looks old. Now the pictures below are not places where I grew up, they just brought back that nostalgic feeling of my youthful years and the fun we had at Halloween. The last picture is a photograph I took of the old abandoned Crownsville Hospital in Maryland near where I live now, while on my way to the Halloween Happening just up the street. The old hospital is also where they filmed the movie: Crazy Eights. I dare you to watch it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by: Stacey L. Bolin 10/2013

Crownsville Mental Hospital

 

 

"The Haunted Treeline : The Legend of Mr. Witticker"

 

Good Morning Everybody!  How are you this fine sunny wintery morning in April? I wish I knew what was up with this weather - it's like a great mystery thriller - you never know what is coming next. So in keeping with the crazy weather and the mystery of - "Who keeps stealing spring", I've come up with a story that actually was inspired by my husband while we were at a party with friends. Now remember, as you read this, it is based on true life events, so that I could embellish it and make it twistedly spooky, just like I like it, OK, and I just couldn't help myself. My husband always says to people – “Be careful what you say and do, my wife’s a writer.” Enjoy.

 

 

 

The Haunted Treeline

The Legend of Mr. Witticker

Original Story based on true life events and written by: Stacey L. Bolin

A warm Saturday afternoon early in the month of April steadily descended as the sun slowly began retreating from the sky.  For most of the day the Mercury inside a house thermometer was doing its best to grasp onto the line that said 81 degrees, while the temperatures outside were slipping into something a little cooler. It was days like this that were more than welcome after the horrendous winter that had captured the sleepy little town of Neewollah and continued to linger long after the first day of spring – winter just didn't seem to want to end.

Mindy and Evan Cooper had made most of their day, at a flea market trying to sell the needless things that in years past, they thought they had to have.  They knew that it wasn’t going to reap them the big bucks that everyone thinks their items are worth, but to them having more space in their little house and two and a half car garage, meant more to them than any amount of money.  Mindy, a stay-at-home mother of two and an aspiring novelist had worked all winter going through old boxes stored high in the attic and all the closets that appeared to be bulging at the hinges. Her new look on life and the future that lay ahead for her family, had her instill a new mind set – she could only keep what would fit in the largest sized U-Haul truck when they planned on moving in the fall of 2015 – everything else had to go.

The flea market ended by two o’clock and Mindy had done just what she set out to do – she got rid of it all and was going home with nothing. Evan was ecstatic, as in years past when they had attempted to sell their wares before, they always somehow ended up with what seemed like more than what they had brought in the first place.  It was a great feeling to be on their way before the seventy-five other vendors did their best to get off the grounds before a long line of cars begun to form. Their plans were to go home, watch some movies, take a shower and then go out for the evening. Both of their children had plans to be out of the house, that same night, to hang with friends, and so Mindy and Evan decided to accept an invitation to a "Kicking Spring into Gear" bonfire with new friends they had met a few weeks earlier.

As Mindy finished the final touches to her eye-shadow and lipstick, her mind suddenly plagued her with a question that offered her no answer, but she knew who to ask to get one.  

"Evan, do you think I should bring a coat or a light jacket?" Said Mindy, while on her hands and knees, as she spoke through the upstairs floor vent that was directly over the couch where Evan sat, while watching TV, as he waited for a pair of his dark jeans to finishing drying. She was never good at deciding on things when it came to the right thing to wear. Some days she’d wear too much and be hot, other times she’d be cold and there wouldn’t be a sweat-shirt or jacket to be found. Eventually she learned to keep things like this in her car for those, just-in-case-I-need-it moments.

"You might want to, with the crazy weather lately, you never know." He replied, never taking his eyes off the movie that he was watching. As Mindy came down the stairs about ten minutes later the sound of buzzer on the dryer immediately triggered Evan to shout out, "They're finally done! Waa Whooo! HOT JEANS FOR ME!"

"You’re funny." Mindy said with a smile. "What are we going to do for dinner? We don't really need to be there until 7 o'clock."

"You read my mind," Evan replied with a chuckle to his voice, "I was just thinking the very same thing. What do you think about Subway?"

"Sounds great, babe, I could go for a great tasting sub right about now."

“Then Subway it is. Let’s grab what we need and get-ta going.”

They got themselves together and filled a small Coleman cooler with a six pack of Bud Light packed in plenty of ice, and then headed out the door. It was strange for the both of them to be off alone for an evening out together.  For years it seemed that everywhere they went it was always with their children or their plans would end up being cancelled because they couldn't find a babysitter, but now that both their boys were teenagers and both had a license and their own vehicles – Mindy and Evan had the freedom like they once had when they first married.

As they sat in the Subway eating their sandwiches the sounds of a baseball game being broad casted from a local AM radio station filled the quiet moments when their mouths were filled with food. It was obvious to the employees of the establishment that they enjoyed each other’s company as they talked about the notion that this summer was going to be quite the test, as both of their kids would be out west. Their oldest son had scored an employment opportunity while the youngest was going to be spending time with relatives and this would be his last free summer before graduating high school. Mindy and Evan would get their first crack at being Empty-Nester's. It wasn’t something they feared, but it would shake up the daily routines that they  had followed for the past twenty years. They laughed and joked with one another and clearly lost all track of time until Mindy looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Its 7:16, I think we’re going to be late Evan."

"Oh well, it happens. I'm ready to go if you are?"

"Yep, I'm done. I was having so much fun talking about our summer that I forgot we were supposed to be somewhere." she said in a compassionate voice.

"Me too. With the time change, I'm all messed up when the sun is still in the sky after six at night."

They cleaned their table and pushed in their chairs and headed out to their truck. The air outside was just right, not to hot, not to cold. It couldn't get any more perfect than it was at that very moment.  The entire drive they rode with the windows down and the sunroof open. Mindy loved to let her hand surf the wind just over the backup mirrors. It was something she had loved to do ever since she was a small child.

"You know Evan, this is excellent driving weather. Wanna keep going?" she said jokingly.

"I wish." He said with a big smile, "But we have a party to get to. We'll have plenty of time to do big drives this summer."

"I can't wait." Then she took a deep breathe in, sighed and said, “I love this kind of evening air it's so relaxing, but I'm also glad we are getting out of the house to do something together and I really hope this party is as much fun as the last one.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Evan questioned rather puzzled she’d say such a thing.

“It’s a full moon and if anything is going to go wrong, it would be on a night of a full moon.” She said in her mysterious reader voice and then started to laugh in her best witches cackle.

“You’re a nut” Evan chuckled again.  He clearly loved those witty ways about her, he couldn’t explain them, but he loved them just the same.

“Evan, do you think they know the story about Mr. Witticker?” a chill raced up her back. Just saying the name still haunted her and the memories of what she was told when she was a young child.

Evan shook his head in disbelief that Mindy would go as far as bringing up such a horrific story that still has never been proven. “For their sake, I hope not,” he said rather tensely, “Let’s just have a good time and not make this a ghost story telling bonfire. Can you promise me that much?”

“I guess so, but they live so close to where it all happened…”

(To be continued…April 17, 2015)

 

"Haunted House"

8 Days until Halloween

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haunted House

By Jack Prelutsky

 

There's a house upon the hilltop,

We will not got inside,

For this is where the witches live,

Where ghosts and goblins hide.

 

 

Tonight they have their party,

All the lights are burning bright,

But oh we will not go inside

The haunted house tonight.

 

 

The demons there are whirling,

And the spirits swirl about.

They sing their songs to Halloween,

"Come join the fun," they shout.

 

 

But we do not want to go there,

So we run with all our might,

And oh we will not got inside,

The haunted house tonight.

"Deadly Tractor" - Spooky Halloween Stories

22 Days until Halloween

 

Well here we are, another blog that leaves you asking the question...is this story fact or ficton? What do you think? I am looking foward to your answers. Join me tomorrow to learn the truth about this story, but until then happy reading and I'll blog ya later.

 

 

"Deadly Tractor"

By: Stacey L. Bolin

 

Music to accompany the story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l04epdSEvtQ&feature=relmfu

 





Deep in the cold blustery evening hours on Halloween night in October 1994, a woman was driving home from a Halloween Party along one of the back farm roads to elude the possibility of being stopped by police. She had only had two drinks over the course of the entire evening, but knowing that she had been at a place that reeked of alcohol, she didn't want to take any chances of having to take part in a sobriety test. As she drove along a darkened washboard rhythm dirt road, an image of a man standing in her path of travel came into view. Her instinct had always been dead on, and it was screaming for her to continue driving onward, but her compassionate side made her stop to see if he was OK. She stopped the car and rolled down the window to ask him if there was anything that she could do to help. The man stood staring down into the car at her. He wore a pair of sun bleached blue month eaten bibbed overalls with a plaid button up shirt and green rubber farm boots. Blood trickled down the side of his head, while what appeared to be a 1954 Chevy truck, was a smoking mangled mess on the side of the road. Clearly he was suffering from an injury to his head caused by his recent auto accident. She continued asking him questions so she could call for help - yet he never replied. "Maybe his head injuries are so severe he doesn't know the answers, or maybe he can't even speak," she thought to herself.

"Sir, you need help, please let me help you." but still he didn't reply. Frantically she grabbed her cell phone from her purse and began to fumble over the buttons to call 911, but with each time she would hit send, the screen would turn red. "Damn these phones!" She yelled out, "They never have a signal when you need one!" When she went to look up at him to ask him if she could take him to the hospital - he was no longer there. She leaned forward to look out of her driver’s side window trying to locate where he may have walked off too.  "Sir? Sir, are you out there?" by this time her fear of him being a total stranger had subsided and had turn into the need to help him. As she leaned back into her seat, a hand with a piece of paper caught the corner of her eye. "Holy Crap! How did you get in my car? The doors are locked!"  But still the mystery man never offered a reply. Instead he continued to hold out his hand with small piece of paper that had an address on it that read, 616 Ravens Hollow Way - The Manor

Not knowing the area all that well, she put the address into her GPS and hoped that as she drove, it would get a signal and tell her where she was taking him. They left the accident scene, following the directions that her GPS began to display. It was a freakishly quiet ride that was wrapped with an icy cold air that had found its way inside her car. A bluish fog accompanied her breath with each sigh she let out.  "Something is wrong." she thought. She had the heat setting on high, but it must have been blowing some major Arctic air from the air vents. As she continued driving, her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" She said, knowing it was not a good choice to talk on her phone and drive, but she needed to change the deathly feeling that loomed.

"Nancy? Nancy is that you?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"It’s Ethan, remember Frankenstein with running shoes at the party?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Hey I heard you were taking the back roads to go home and I just wanted you to be aware of the ghost."

"A What?" She replied with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"A ghost. You know - white sheet, says boo." he laughed.

"Yes I know what it is, I just didn't know if I heard you correctly. So go on with what you were saying about a ghost?"

"The story has it that in 1954 a man named Elijah Blooms, a farmer that lived out along the back roads to raise his livestock, was getting upset with the city boys coming out to play their yearly Halloween game of chicken, in their trucks, on the road that ran through his property.  Each year, Mr. Blooms would suffer a loss when cows would be hit and killed by the truck that didn't stay on the road.  The town’s people claim that when Mr. Bloom was in town one afternoon, two days before Halloween to pick up grain for his cows, he'd gotten wind that the city boys were once again, planning to head out into the country for their annual Halloween game of chicken. Since the police had not done anything to stop this reckless teenage behavior, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He took an old tractor and welded many layers of steel on it to make it almost like a tank. Then he painted it flat black and parked it across the road. Now the object to this game of chicken had been taken to a new level of danger that year - all headlights had to be off for ten seconds after you step on the gas - Mr. Bloom was not aware of this."

Six teenagers out of the ten, that had taken part in this crazy game of chicken, lost their lives that dark night when one of the trucks had hit the black tractor, that had gone unseen, parked across the road until seconds after turning their headlights on. Bodies of the four boys riding in the bed of the truck had been strewn all over the field, and suffered a slow death while the driver and the passenger in the the truck with him, died on impact. Mr. Blooms, feeling so consumed by a raw and deep feeling of guilt by  the thoughts and images of what he had done, took his own life that night by inflicting a single gun shot to his right temple. It is said that every Halloween night, Mr. Bloom's ghost is seen standing in the road next to an old 1954 Chevy truck, that is a smoking mangled mess trying to steer teenagers away from wanting to play chicken on the road that cuts through his pasture land.

She immediately slammed on her breaks and dropped her phone in her lap when she heard Ethan's last sentence. She sat in utter silence looking upon the passenger seat - that was empty.

"Nancy!" shouted Ethan over her phone, "Nancy! Answer me!"

She slowly brought her phone to her ear, but still unable to find the ability to speak.

"Nancy! I can hear you breathing! Do you need help? Don't move - I'll find you!"

He quickly ran his phone application to see if he could find out where Nancy was located. He couldn't believe his eyes when the address came up - 616 Ravens Hollow Way - The Manor. It was the cemetery where Mr. Blooms had been buried 40 years earlier.