Halloween Countdown Day 23: Roll the Bones

The Witch Finder of Lilburn recently acquired a sinister looking fortune-telling game. If you have a set of gaming dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and d%), you should not download and use this at your party or gathering under any circumstances.

Not without proper social distancing and other pandemic safety measures, I mean.

Halloween Countdown Day 21: Dr. Scooby

 

Scooby Doctor would probably be the least appropriate and ironically best children's cartoon ever.

Ri'm shrorry shrir, rut rou rave runreatable rancer.

Happy Rirthday, Rister Romas. Rime ror rour rolonoscopy.

Ruh roh. Romebody ridn't ruse rondoms.

Rundergraduate rollege rudents roften ruffer hrom ralnutrition.

Halloween Countdown Day 14: Jack O'Lantern Rings

 

If you ever shopped around for a jack o'lantern ring that has a bit more mass and style than a pumpkin stuck onto a band, then you know the options are limited. Short of having one custom made, which is pricey, here's a roundup of what I've found online.

Monkey Edge produces what they call a puncher size (2 oz.) silver ring. This one has more character than your average design.

Sterling Assault has one that is a respectable classic, available in multiple metals, with large and small varieties.

Ross Simons has a sort of elegant looking band that's 14kt gold, if that's your thing. Currently sold out.

Artifactoria has two somewhat Burtonesque options: one with bat wings and a very solid looking one, both in silver or brass.

AFJewelryStudio is an Etsy shop with this nice ring, a bit more petite, but also kind of Tim Burton-influenced.

UnevenCreations has this one which at first I mistook for a napkin holder. On the right hand though, not bad. And like the other rings here I like that they considered the entire ring in the design.

Jewelrywax has one that is a little more like a biker ring, and looks awesome. Limited supply.

Honorable mention goes to ShyamJewlesjewelley (sic) with this wood-grain skull ring, almost pumpkiny and pretty cool.

Halloween Countdown Day 5: The Strange Changing Vampire, 1974

 

An image used to come to my mind every so often, so vague from the years gone by that it seemed it could have only been my imagination. A fearsome vampire in a casket would somehow change to a decayed skeleton if you closed the lid and reopened it. Whenever this image came to mind, I'd Google every search term I could think of, without any success. I was ready to write it off as a dream or an invented memory, but a very persistent one.

Then accidentally one day I ran across the words "Strange Changing Vampire" on a model kit site, and the clarity started to rush back in. Another search promptly yielded a boxtop image and then suddenly I remembered Dad putting this together when I was about six.

I then remembered being amazed by Dad's careful and precise detailing, and the fact that he mixed paint colors to get exactly what he wanted. It was a combination of exactness and flexibility that had an influence on me, though the memory of him making the model was dormant for so long. I can't describe the emotion I felt when I found one some time later on eBay and snagged that sucker.

Assembling it was bittersweet. The pvc was slightly warped, and some of the moving parts had weakened over time and eventually broke. I tried several fixes including molding parts from polymer clay and making a casket lining from cloth. It didn't work as well as it did 1974 but it looked pretty good I think. Pardon the photos, taken with my phone in 2009.

Just a few years later, this kit was rereleased by a company called Round 2 Models, and I got one just in time for my kids to put it together. I think since then the kit has been discontinued.

Halloween Countdown Day 4: Spooky Illustrated Maps

 There's a lot of quaint and creepy goodness out there for the cartologically enthusiastic.

Chorographia Transylvaniae

Cemetery Map from 1868

Assorted Maps for Dante's Inferno

T.A. Barron's Haunted Marsh by Ian Schoenherr

Lovecraft's Dreamlands

https://www.flickr.com/photos/83344804@N00/6871812047/

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/7whb5r/hp_lovecrafts_dreamlands_older_version_by_jason/

https://medium.com/@jasteele/h-p-lovecraft-the-hidden-narrative-d6d9bb141349

Over the Garden Wall Map (fanart)

https://illustratedmaps1516.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/allen-hiu-the-unknown/

https://www.deviantart.com/ladywitchfox/art/Map-of-the-Unknown-643404242

Map of Disney's Halloweentown

I could include maps from video games, but one has to draw the line somewhere. You could make an entire website of those.

Halloween Countdown Day 3: Over the Garden Wall Tarot Deck

 QuarterPress is an Etsy shop (not mine and I don't know them) that sells 5x7 Over the Garden Wall Tarot Cards. Yes, seriously, and they are perfectly executed. I don't know if they sell a full deck.

Halloween Countdown Day 2: Griffin Daily News

 I spent quite a lot of time in Griffin Georgia growing up, and I can't imagine anything to better sum it up than this.

CDC Halloween Guidelines

Click to enlarge

The annual countdown to Halloween begins with CDC's guidance. Word hasn't gotten out much for some reason but the traditional activities are considered higher risk.

Get Your Ass to Netherworld

I can't write about Netherworld without it sounding like I'm going way over the top. But it is what it is, man.

The scare actors at Netherworld materialize behind you from thin air.

Waiting in line at Netherworld is better than most pro haunted attractions. They know how to build your excitement. There is more amazing set and prop design to gawk at even before you get into the "no photo" area than you even have time for. And we took our sweet time.

You will sometimes notice a scare actor and tell yourself "ah, there's one. I won't jump." But they still get you.

You will never again be impressed with your county's corn-maze spookhouse after visiting Netherworld.

The scare actors at Netherworld can somehow swing an axe or sword within a hair's breadth of your face and never touch you.

Netherworld goes on and on, and on and on. You will not be rushed through and you will feel like you got every bit of your money's worth.

The scare actors at Netherworld might actually be real monsters. I am 50 but still not entirely sure about this.

When you exit the main haunt, there is still so much to see. The second haunt is shorter but always of equal quality. The new museum is very much worth the additional $5. They have about a dozen photo ops or more and games and stuff.

Dude really, some of the scare actors might have made a deal with the devil or something.

I mentioned lines. You might have heard about lines. Let me explain them to you. If you get a speed pass, you will miss out on what is to me an integral part of the Netherworld experience. I don't like crowds personally but you can just feel the excitement in the air. Here's why I like the lines:

1. We arrived before they opened and got in line to buy tickets. This outside line behind the building started moving just as soon as they opened, and because we got there about a half hour early, we got inside quickly. Once inside to buy tickets, there is an ominous hum that goes right into your bones. This mostly dark, high ceiling chamber is sparsely peppered with some incredibly detailed props, just enough to get your blood pumping.
2. With tickets in hand, you exit the building and walk around to the other side, careful to watch out for Sasquatch. He's out there, along with the Collector and others. This line moved surprisingly fast, even though we had left the premises to eat and came back over an hour later. Out here you are treated to some classic monster music. Also you will hear scream after scream from other customers surprised by scare actors who, as I said, seem to just appear from nowhere Mephistopheles-style and scare the crap out of you. They got my kids a few times. You will have several opportunities to make a photo with them in this queue.
3. At the end of this line they scan your tickets and you go into the Archive. Note: the Archive is not the Netherworld Museum. This area is a sort of line but take your time. We let others go ahead of us while taking in the details of the props. It's the final chance you have to make photos before the main attraction. Here you'll find yourself saying "is this real? Is this real?"
4. A curtain marks the end of the Archive, along with a stern warning about photos, courtesy of Dick Terhune. Beyond the curtain, you enter a grand hall that, while it is a sort of line, is really only there to break people into groups. But if you are like me you won't be in a hurry to leave this area. The ambiance is just too strong, too creepy, too Halloween my friend. It did move quickly though.

That's it. In summary, there are lines, but not the kind you want to miss. We were in the main attraction for at least half an hour but it's hard to say. Time moves differently in there. In every direction you look, there's something to see. Around every corner, there's something awesome and new.

I'm going to bed now, wondering if I asked a genuine vampire queen to pose for a photo with my kids...

Witch Hunting Activity

Recent cases including Acquisitions of Occult Paraphernalia and Elimination of Unnatural Livestock were just posted to the Witch-Hunter's Barn.

Undead Nightmare

It's been 8 years since the release of Undead Nightmare, an exceptionally well done DLC for Red Dead Redemption. If you have not played it and aren't too busy playing RDR 2, you owe it to yourself to sit alone in the dark and play this game. It perfectly captures the paranoia and horror of a zombie apocalypse story.

Pardieu

Goodnight Moon

If you haven't seen it, Goodnight Moon is a youTube channel by an extraordinarily creative and skilled artist. Her Babblebrook series of ASMR videos is a great place to start.

Citrouille - Coming 29 October 2018

Citrouille (French for "pumpkin") is a cute game coming to Steam in less than 2 weeks. Looks vaguely reminiscent of Cauldron but from what I read, it's a platformer with no jumping. It's not dark at all, very colorful, and seems like it might be kid-friendly. Play as one of two witches in 50 levels on 5 worlds in story mode.

Mark Your Calendars! 2020 Blue Moon Hallowe'en

Just a friendly reminder that if this has significance to you -- and you know it does -- start planning now. After 2020, it will not happen again until 2039...

Halloween PSA

Wrap it up, Pumpkin.

Church of Halloween Infographics

The Church of Halloween has more infographics than you can shake a broom at. Here's a really good one.

Halloween Forever

Players of Halloween Forever might want to check in if you haven't played in a while -- there are new unlockables!

Netherworld 2018

Looks like Netherworld is going well this year. This guy came from LA to check it out and says "it's not only the best, it is the best by a long shot...it sets the standard."

Underhand

Most anything you'll find when looking for Lovecraft games in the Play Store is going to suck.

Underhand is an exception. It is a relatively small game but you won't finish it in a day. It's a card game with simple mechanics and a good grasp of the mythos without being overt. It only gets a little silly in places. It's the only mythos-type game I've liked so far for Android. Check it out.