The Witching Hour...Happy Halloween!

Spooky..ghoulish..murky..dark..dank..haunting..hair-raising..horrific..gruesome..fiendish..goose bumps..terrifying..black as pitch..frightening..witchy..twitchy..batty..demonic..scary..ghostly...
Words to describe a wonderfully wacky time of year when the little witches and goblins come out to trick or treat us before scurrying back into their little worlds of weirdness till the next October 31st.
I always enjoyed Halloween as a child. My friends and I would go out and scour the nearby neighborhoods for as much candy as we could get our hands on before the witching hour was over. I remember one Halloween when my Dad planned out and made my costume. I was around nine or ten. He decided I would be a contessa and he made me a very tall cone like hat out of bristol board with long streamers from the top of the hat. I had some kind of sparkly purple dress and he painstakingly did my makeup... I remember I had lots of red blusher and blood red lips. I was totally regal... just as he intended.

One year I returned the favor. I was in my teens at that time and our neighbors were having a Halloween party. My Dad didn't think he wanted to go because he couldn't think of a good costume. I came up with the idea that he should go as an accident victim. We had a set of crutches that he used and gauze and tensor bandages. Dad wore his pajamas and covered himself with the bandages and gauze around his head and did his makeup to make it look like he was in a terrible accident and covered with blood. He looked so awesome... I believe my mother has photos in one of her albums.

When my brother Dave got older he didn't think it was right to go out trick or treating but he wanted to collect money for Unicef. Away he went and at each house they would insist he take some candy. His pockets were soon so full of candy he ran out of room to store it so some kind person gave him a bag and he ended up coming home with way more candy than I did. It was a really unselfish thing for him to do and he was rewarded for his act of kindness.

When I was a really small child my Dad made up my brothers to be pirates or some such costume and when they came downstairs and I saw them I totally freaked out and was screaming and crying with fright. My parents couldn't convince me it was only Mike and Dave, my brothers. I never quite believed that it was them and I was inconsolable. I never got over that fright... I remember it quite well to this day!

I love this story...................

The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820. With Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest examples of American fiction still read today.
(1858) by John Quidor

Headless Horseman. Here are the lyrics to that timeless song written by Don Rage and Gene De Paul.

When the spooks have a midnight Jamboree
They break it up with fiendish glee
Ghosts are bad, but the one that's cursed
It's the Headless Horseman, he's the worst

That's right, he's a fright, on Halloween night

But when he goes a-joggin' 'cross the land
Holdin' his noggin in his hand
Demons take one look and groan
And hit the road for parts unknown

Beware, take care, he rides alone

And there's no spook, like a spook who's sporned
They don't like him, and he's really burned
He swears to the longest day he's dead
He'll show them that he can get a head

They say he's tired of his flamin' top
He's got a yen to make a swap
So he rides one night each year
To find a head in the hollow here

Now he likes them little, he likes them big
Part in the middle, or a wig
Black or white or even red
The Headless Horseman needs a head

With a hip-hip and a clippity-clop
He's out lookin' for a top to chop
So don't stop to figure out a plan
You can't reason with a headless man

Now if you doubt this tale is so
I met that spook just a year ago
No, I didn't stop for a second look
For once you cross that bridge, my brook friends

The ghost is through, his power ends

So when you're riding home tonight
Make for the bridge with all your might
He'll be down in the hollow there
He needs your head, look out, beware

With a hip-hip and a clippity-clop
He's out looking for a head to swap
So don't try to figure out a plan
You can't reason with a headless man

Have a great Halloween everybody and stay safe!!!!!!!