’Tis Samhain, when chaos rules. A day to feast and drink and mark the passing of the Old Year. Spirits prowl the earth and Winter is coming.
“Now there was nothing out there but the black of a moonless Highland night. The sort of night when Christians stayed indoors and put holy water on the doorposts, because the things that walked the moors and the high places were not always holy.”
(From An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 72, The Feast of All Saints).
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The Clan had an excellent Halloween Weekend. Lady Marilyn and I went to a gun & knife show at the Deschutes County Fair Grounds. I am reliably informed that this was the happy hunting grounds of Badass Santa, so… more anon.
The Clan (including Craig and Wendy Rullman) then raided Bend’s hippest street-taco vendor, El Sancho, and hied off the the theater for a production of Macbeth. What a dark delight.
And the music for the production was this, by Crom:
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We also engaged in our Samhain tradition of hunting headless Hessians in the carcasses of haunted junipers. Haven’t found any yet, an we’re far from their territory… but one must be vigilant.
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When it comes to seasonal thematics, you’d be hard-pressed to match the amazing Billy Strings and his three-night Halloween weekend Away From The Shire event. With costumes and a Lord of the Rings stage set, the band wove together music from the movie score and their gigantic and eclectic repertoire that runs from trad bluegrass to jamgrass and rock.
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Tonight, we explore the spooky side of Central Oregon on a Bend Ghost Tour.
Matthew says
My family usually doesn’t much for Halloween, unfortunately. Not sure why. I have been reading a lot of horror fiction (hence my last to reviews.) I’ll probably key up something spooky on Youtube for my family. Either a reading of a classic horror story or some old time radio show.
I will share the two probably best horror radio shows here for anyone who is interested.
Behind the Locked Door from the Mysterious Traveler which is about an archaeological expedition (to find the remains of an Indian massacre) that encounters horror in a cave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOVcuLuvHfo
Then what is probably THE scariest OTR production “The Thing on the Fourble Board” from Quiet Please about an oil derrick that is attacked by an unknown thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilRbcBhD9_0&t=2s
lane batot says
HALLOWEEN used to be BIGGER for me than Xmas! I had many enemies in those long gone youthful days, enemies that required vengeance! And Halloween night was THE night for that! I could write a coupla volumes about those beloved, delinquent days(sigh…..). Things are far more peaceful for me in my dotage, and peace IS nice, but, well, rather BORING in comparison! I have been indulging in my werewolf fetish all week(heard an advertisement touting the “13 days of Halloween”–what a great concept for all us pagans!)–I finally got and read Stephen King’s werewolf story(illustrated!) “Cycle Of The Werewolf”, which they made into the movie, years ago– “Silver Bullet”. I had never read the original story–somewhat surprised by the terse, brief prose–King is usually so ELABORATE! But it was a good one, still full of all of King’s obvious love for small town Maine life and characters. For tonight, the actual Halloween, I have a werewolf movie mentioned awhile back on none other than “Frontier Partisans”! Which is “The Curse”. Since it is titled The Curse, I’m expecting a bunch of transformation-challenged Imbeciles, rather than the true werewolf practitioners, who certainly do not consider their ability to full transform a “curse”!
lane batot says
Well, okay, watched “The Cursed”(there’s a “d” on the end) Halloween night–it was a good horror flick–spooky, dark(does the sun never shine in that country?), rather graphically violent in places–but alas, I WOULD NOT call it a “werewolf” movie! Even if they seemed to insist it was throughout the story! Everyone spoke with British accents, so it took me a bit to realize it was supposed to be taking place in France(it was filmed in the Cognac region, as I learned on my DVD Xtra feature….), but the main character’s mention of having been involved in the Gevaudan affair finally brought that home! But for my nit picking on just what constitutes a werewolf–nope. Not even an imbecile! The humanoid(SCARY) critters that were involved, were not even TRYING to be werewolves, in my opinion, so weren’t even the half-and-half incompetent transformationists that the Imbeciles are. The movie WAS appropriately titled, as it was indeed a CURSE levied on some unscrupulous, murdering land barons, by some gypsies–nice to have the traditional gypsies involved again! A good MONSTER movie, let’s say!
JimC says
I’ll have to jump in on this…
lane batot says
Just one spoiler alert, then. The “pathologist” was FAR MORE than just a pathologist in his knowledge of what was going on!
John Bullard says
Great shows, Matthew! I might also add from the great Light’s Out and Suspense radio series the following for a nice Halloween listen:
Lights Out
Poltergeist-3 women out exploring a graveyard upset one of the inhabitants:
https://archive.org/details/lights-out-1943-04-20-29-kill/Lights+Out+1942-10-20+(3)+Poltergeist+(Gravestone).mp3
The Dark – a doctor and a policeman respond to an emergency call and find something horrible:
https://archive.org/details/lights-out-1943-04-20-29-kill/Lights+Out+1937-12-29+(72)+The+Dark.mp3
The Revolt of the Worms-a chemist causes problems by creating a growth serum that gets applied to worms:
https://archive.org/details/lights-out-1943-04-20-29-kill/Lights+Out+1942-10-13+(2)+Revolt+of+the+Worms.mp3
And, of course, the infamous Giant Chicken Heart show that starts about 5:20 into the show:
https://archive.org/details/lights-out-1943-04-20-29-kill/Lights+Out+1937-03-10+(40)+Chicken+Heart.mp3
From Suspense
Ghost Hunt – a radio man spends night in haunted house:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80IluJcNXc
House in Cypress Canyon – a realtor and detective find a manuscript in a house the realtor is trying to sell:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CX-HJbwumI
Matthew says
Thanks!
Ugly Hombre says
https://cultcollectiblesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mr.-Vampire-1985-original-Japanese-B2-poster-B-775×1024.jpg
Usually I watch “Mr. Vampire” 1985 And drink some CZ beers on Sam Hain- but alas this year did not Halloween skipped by with out much notice. In my youth well I best not mention the racoon and the outhouse or the flaming tractor tire- statute of limitations may not have ran out. lol
https://kungfukingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Mr-Vampire-1985-Kung-Fu-Kingdom-770×472-1024×628.jpg
Highly recommend both films made long before the Chicom devils fooked up the HK film industry, sexy girls, scary monsters, Taoist sorcery, hard core HK KF action- perfect for Halloween!
http://www.clubdesmonstres.com/best/img/mrvamp10.jpg
Make sure you watch the original 85 film -sequels of MR Vampire went down hill fast. As sequels usually do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw5SO1dFIiI
Highly recommended for all those who love Halloween!
“Close encounters of the spooky kind” 1980 is also a good Halloween bet!
Matthew says
I saw Mr. Vampire years ago and remember it being a lot of fun.