Random Shocks! This week on the Web, Halloween edition

Cthulhu’s Girlfriend – Dark Beauty Magazine

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Here’s some authentic costumes for Halloween, featured this year, 1980’s movies. checked it out!

http://www.founditemclothing.com/costume-menu.html

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Here’s a look at Ouija Boards for those of you conjuring some Halloween fun.

The Ouija Board and Other Fortune Telling Games

http://www.halloweenforevermore.com/horrific-words-articles/article-the-ouija-board-and-other-fortune-telling-games/

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Party Slashers, directed by Carl Bachmann

Check out this Kickstarter for a new horror-comedy called Party Slashers. There’s a fun scene from the film posted on the page…

kickstarter page:  Party Slashers  —- website: www.partyslashers.com

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Check out the Friday the 13^th/Thriller mix track called: ‘Camp Blood’ by Videogram. YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PbUi7C4dDQ

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BloodSucka Jones – Could be a fun campy b-movie, if you are so inclined to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKnc0cTBatI

bonus points for the super awesome poster!

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Here’s a nice wall plaque of HP Lovecraft transforming into one of the strange creatures of his stories. (or is it the other way around?)

http://www.blackheartmodels.com/ecommerce/tormented.html for more details.

 

 

Here’s some books and novels to check out:

The Blessed Man and the Witch
by David Dubrow:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ITU5Z7G

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One Undead Step
by Ian McClellan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IK9RQV4?tag=authl.it-21

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Black Chaos
zombie anthology from Big Pulp:

http://bigpulp.com

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PUZZLEMAN
by Christopher Alan Broadstone:

Amazon Page

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Coming soon: Journals of Horror, Found fiction in writing…edited by Terry M. West –
Amazon Page

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Great Halloween reading from Horror Novel Reviews.
Check out the One Hellacious Halloween anthology. Amazon link

Go here to win a free poster!

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Another horror short film:

Grave Shivers – by Brett Sims – HP Lovecraft film festival award winner!

http://vimeo.com/100371988

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If you get a chance, check out some of these wonderful creative horror projects. Enjoy!

The Ouija Board and Other Fortune Telling Games

Check out my new article about Ouija Boards at Halloweenforevermore.com

A look at the history, use and methods of the Ouija Board and other popular spirit contact games

click the Halloween Forevermore banner or the link below:

 

http://www.halloweenforevermore.com/horrific-words-articles/article-the-ouija-board-and-other-fortune-telling-games

 

 

 

 

 

Haunter (2013) – movie review

Haunter (2013)

This is a different approach to the familiar haunted house movie. In this film of opposites, the living are haunting the dead (kind of). Young teen, Lisa finds herself stuck in a groundhog day scenario, where she wakes up every morning and the same events are repeating. The rest of her family, mom, dad, brother, have no clue, repeating the same words and taking the same actions. Something has awakened Lisa’s senses and she has now become aware. She senses another young female, with similar likes and interests and feels the need to make contact, using a Ouija Board in the attic. Eventually she feels the presence of many entities in the home each trapped in their own loop with no knowledge of the others. However, there’s an additional, much darker presence in the house that needs them to stay ‘asleep’ and unaware of each other.

Some viewers may take issue with the fact that, if they are dead, then why are they scared, and why don‘t they just run through the walls, away from the bad man. I think the film showed that there are aspects to fear, even in death, and that since they are stuck in the home, believing they are alive; they are bound by the realism they have created. This issue is going to depend on your suspension of disbelief, which I had no problem with, once I accepted the parameters.

While not really scary, it is still an interesting story with some tense moments. All the parts were well-acted and it was good to see Abigail Breslin, from the movie Signs, grown up and in another film. I kept expecting her to say, “There’s a monster in my room, can I have a glass of water?” Stephen McHattie plays the sinister spirit role quite well and I hope to see him in more films of the genre. I think there is an untapped talent in him that would excel as the horror genre, bad guy.

Worth the once through for an interesting story, entertaining discovery, and a well-paced plot.

I’ll give it 3.7 ghostly ghouls out of 5 for sinister sepulchral secrets revealed.

The Dangers of using a Ouija Board – fact or fiction – part III

 

Ouija Board – fact or fiction – part III
The Dangers of using a Ouija Board

The biggest danger posed while using the Ouija Board is using it alone. I believe the reason for this is the following: when using it with others, there is always one or two people that are skeptics and that somehow decreases the power of the entity you have contacted, or at least keeps it in check. When using the board alone you become fully trusting of the spirit. Wanting to keep the communication open, you offer yourself, your energy and your belief, totally.

Often, the entity will start out nice and cordial. It may tell you things about its life, how it died and other details that may give you some excitement. Then, it may turn in an instant, become nasty, spiteful, and even begin to use profanity in its language. This is when it has become dangerous. You can never tell for sure if some dark entity has taken over the portal and is pretending to be the first spirit you had contacted or if the dark entity had been the only spirit you had communicated with all along and had gained your trust deceitfully for the very purpose of breaking you down.

After the spirit has gained your trust, it may start to offer suggestions for dealing with your own life and situations. It will give you opinions about your loved ones. Sometimes it will tell you that your family, husband, or wife doesn’t really love you. It will make up lies, telling you your spouse is cheating on you, and your family or business partners are trying to deceive you. The entity will say you were adopted or your father was not really your father, etc, anything that will create misery, conflict, hatred, or discord. It may use vulgarity and tell you vulgar things about yourself or family. This is a demonic entity and it will literally try to destroy your life by attacking your psychological well-being.

Getting rid of a board is not always as easy as it sounds. You will be surprised at the board’s tenacity for reappearing in your home, or being replaced by another board. One time I had discarded my Ouija Board by burying it deep within a trash bag with a bunch of other trash piled on top of it. I watched as the garbage men hauled it away. Case closed, job well done. Two days later a neighbor had left a bag for us, as she often did because we had two young children, with some hand-me-down clothes and games. Within the stack of five or six games we found, you guessed it, another Ouija Board. It had been a different board but we have to assume the same entity would be communicating through it. I did not use it. I did not want to find out.

Even after you have successfully dispatched, discarded, or destroyed a board, the entity that you had communicated with may still be present in your home and in your life. You may have opened a doorway, a portal from the spirit world that will not be closed simply because you have discarded the board. Many different entities can pass in and out through this portal. This portal may be in a physical place such as a basement or backyard or it may be associated with you and follow you to new locations if you were to move or vacation. At this point you may have to seek professional help to close the doorway. It will be important to protect yourself with prayer and good spirituality.

  
Anything more than casual or occasional use of a Ouija Board will strengthen this doorway and make it more difficult to close.

The traditional Ouija Board is not the only danger associated with contacting the other side. Doing things like, spreading flour on the floor to see if there are any footprints or markings in the morning and/or using a recording device to ask spirits to come forth are both rituals of communication. Having a séance or trying your hand at remote writing can also have negative outcomes. When it comes to these daring little games always remember, it is not a game.

 

To read part I and part II of this article, click on the ‘Strange but True’ category in the right hand column.

related articles:
The Dangers of using a Ouija Board – part I
The Dangers of using a Ouija Board – part II

Ouija Board – fact or fiction – part II

Ouija Board – fact or fiction – part II
How and why the Ouija Board works

The Ouija board itself has no power. If it did, planchettes would be moving by themselves in the boxes on store shelves where they are sold. Also, toy stores across the nation would resemble Halloween haunted house attractions as ghosts and spirits spread from the confines of their little boxes and out into the aisles.

The success of a Ouija board reading is wholly dependent upon the psychic abilities, spirituality and openness of the individuals using it. Whether the individuals themselves know they have abilities does not matter. Even a skeptic with a strong intuitive nature may get a good reading.

In using the board, it is the ritual of setting up the game, setting the right mood in the room, and clearing your mind for the purpose of communications with the spirit world, that makes it possible. It is your intention that acts as a beacon to draw spirits toward the board, not the board itself.

The contents of a Ouija board consist of a board with the “Yes’ or ‘No’ response choices printed upon it and a movable piece called a ‘planchette’. The planchette is shaped somewhat like a heart, a rounded bottom and a pointed top. The pointed top will aim at answers or letters to communicate with the players. Some planchettes have an open or glass circle in them so the letters will appear in the circle. The players place their fingers upon the movable piece and ask questions. In a successful reading, the spirits will work through the energy of the ’players’ and point the planchette to words or letters, in order to answer questions. Most have a full alphabet printed on the board for more detailed questions/answers. Some have ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ and numbers, 0 thru 9, printed upon them also.

 

Boards range from the basic Parker Brothers game sold at toy stores to elaborate wooden boards with fine wood-carved planchetes. However, anything can be used as a makeshift Ouija Board. A piece of cardboard box with the words ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ scribbled upon it, and another piece of cardboard cut into planchette shape can be used with the same results. It can be an effective communication tool because of what I had previously mentioned; it is your intention to communicate that draws the spirits forward.

When you use the Ouija Board repeatedly, you will begin to contact one specific entity, over and over. This is the dominant entity of the board. This entity is attracted to you for some reason and will tell you details about their life and answer questions freely. One word of warning: never use a Ouija Board alone. It can be dangerous. Also, anything more than casual or occasional use, even with others, is not recommended.

 

In part 3 of this article I will get into the dangers of using a Ouija Board.

Ouija boards & Witchboards – fact or fiction – part I

 

 Ouija Boards – fact or fiction

I recently purchased the movie Witchboard on DVD. It is a ghost/possession movie from 1986 starring, Tawny Kitaen. While the film is decent, though not as good as I had remembered, there was a very interesting element to this DVD; it came with a mini Witch Board insert-sleeve. The glossy cardboard sleeve has the traditional Ouija Board markings and design. Perforated edges can be removed, to make it dimensionally proportioned. One end contains a pop-out planchette to use with the board.

On the opposite side of this Ouija Board is the traditional film info; scene listings, credits, running time, etc. I have no intention of using this novelty. I will not pop-out the planchette or break-off its ends for aesthetic reasons. It is promotional items like this, which become collectible.

 

There is another reason why I do not pop-out that planchette, lay it upon the board and ask questions of the mystical world beyond. I do not need the movie Witchboard, Paranormal Activity, or The Exorcist to tell me of the potential dangers. I had learned a long time ago that these boards, although some are even manufactured by Hasbro, are not ‘games’ at all. I’ve had experiences with Ouija Boards, myself.

Sure, some of the things that have occurred could be rationalized as overactive imagination or subconscious knowledge coming to the surface of conscious thought. However, there are always a few things that leave a big fat question-mark, long after the Ouija Board is gone. Of those reading this, half of you are scoffing and half of you know exactly what I am talking about. Many people have had experiences with these ‘games’ and none of the experiences have a happy finale. In the end, it is always, “I have to get rid of this damn thing!”

 

A recurring aspect of Ouija Board phenomenon is the fact that, a board, once attached to a person that uses it, is not so easy to get rid of. It usually takes several attempts to dispose of the game. Somehow, the board always seems to fall out of the garbage pail, and not taken away by the garbage men. It is then returned to the house by another family member or neighbor, who doesn’t even know your original intention was to get rid of the accursed board to begin with. So, it winds up back in your home at the oddest time, sitting there on the kitchen table or bedroom desk, as your jaw goes slack and eyes go wide with terror.

At a later date I will relay a couple of past experiences.

For now, I would like you to indulge me with an experiment. Make sure the room is quiet. Shut off any music and the TV in the background. Make sure you do this at a time when no one will disturb you. Now, look at the computer keyboard you type on. It resembles a Witch board, doesn’t it? The only things missing are Yes/No and Goodbye. What I want you to do is open up a simple word-processing program. ‘Word’ is too complicated. Open up notepad. Click on the white page and set your cursor so it is ready to type. Do not type anything. Looking at the keyboard, place your fingers on the plastic area directly under the keys of the keyboard. Try to get all five fingers touching the plastic. Now, I want you to clear your mind of all thoughts. All worries, appointments, wants and needs, aspirations – clear them all out. Gone. Take a few deep breaths. Relax. Wait a few more moments in meditation.

Now, ask the all important question, “Is anybody out there?”

For the third night in a row, without any clicks of the keys, the word ‘hello’ has appeared on my screen.

Side note: I would suggest shutting down your computer at night, before bed. Another note, the word count in this blog came to 666 words,  strange.
Sleep well, my friends.