1. Choose age appropriate events for your trick or treaters. Make sure you know the times and locations ahead of time, to avoid disappointment, or a last minute rush that could compromise safety.

2. Plan your trick or treat route ahead of time. This will give you a clear idea of where your children will be at all times, and an idea of when they will be finished.

3. Feed your trick or treaters a good supper before trick or treating starts. This will make them less likely to snack as they go, before you have a chance to inspect their treats.

4. Stick to places you know. All year we encourage our children to be cautious of people and places they don’t know, yet, on Halloween, we send them to the doors of strangers. Stick to areas where they will be visiting family and friends, both for their safety, and for your own peace of mind.

5. Only visit homes that have a porch light on and never go inside the home of someone you don’t know.

6. Wear something reflective and carry a flashlight.

7. Cross streets only at crosswalks. Never walk between parked cars. Stay on the sidewalk.

8. Stay in a group, and never run off alone, or fall behind on your own.

9. Turn in all candy at the end of the night for parental inspection.

• 475 – Romulus Augustus proclaimed the Emperor of Rome.

• 834 – 1st All Hallows Eve (Halloween) observed to honor the saints
• 1517 – Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church-Protestant Reformation
• 1846 – Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, construct a winter camp
• 1864 – Nevada admitted as 36th state
• 1892: Sherlock Holmes introduced to the reading public by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

  

• 1926 – Harry Houdini, [Erich Weisz], magician, dies in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured

• 1940: The United Kingdom prevented Germany from marching into Great Britain.
• 1941 – Mount Rushmore is completed
• 1952 – 1st thermonuclear bomb detonated-Marshall Islands
• 1963 – Ed Sullivan witnesses Beatles & their fans at London Airport

  

• 1967 – Vanilla Ice was born (Robert Van Winkle) (singer: Ice Ice Baby; 1st rap singer to have a #1 song on the Billboard singles chart)

• 1975 – Queen released their hit single, Bohemian Rhapsody. It spent 9 weeks at number 1 on the UK charts.
• 1991 – A three day long snow and ice storm, dubbed the Halloween Blizzard, begins over portions of the Upper Midwest of the United States.

There is a small, isolated island in the vast, complicated maze of the canals. As your boat approaches the island, across the deathly still water, you cannot help but feel a sense of dread. Twisted, old trees with gnarled branches line the shore, but there is something very sinister about them. As you move closer, you notice that there are faces…hundreds of faces among the branches, staring back at you with dead eyes. Closer, and you see that they are children’s faces, infants with missing limbs, blistered faces, covered in cobwebs, nailed or lashed to the trees with rusted wire. Welcome to La Isla de Las Munecas: The Island of the Dolls.

The Island was created by Don Julian Santana, who, for reasons known only to himself, left his wife and family and lived alone on the island for over 50 years. Some say he was mad, fishing dolls out of the canals, thinking they were real children he could bring back to life. The real story is, that shortly after he chose the life of a hermit on this tiny island, he came to believe that it was haunted by the spirit of a poor little girl who had drowned in the canals. When he saw a lost doll floating by, he took it and put it up on a tree, to make the dead girl happy. One doll wasn’t enough. Soon Don Julian had turned the island into a shrine to the little girl. For decades he collected dolls he found in the canal and added them to his growing collection. Soon he would venture into the dumps and rubbish heaps of the city, scavenging lost and abandoned dolls. He brought them all back to his island for display. In his later years, local residents would trade old, unwanted or broken dolls for the fresh fruits and vegetables that Don Julian grew on the island.

Some of the dolls have decomposed over time. Damage from the sun has left many covered in blotches and blisters. The wind and rain have eroded any painted surfaces, and left their hair in ragged tufts. Many are missing limbs, or have been given limbs that are not their own. Some are headless. Some are only heads. Some have become the home to spiders and insects that inhabit the island. They are nailed to trees, wired to branches, hung from clothes lines, and jammed into knotholes and between branches. Some of them have smiles, melted by the tropical heat, into grimaces. Some have lost their eyes, or, even more disturbing, have eyes that flutter open in the breeze.

Some days there are visitors to the island, an average of about 20 per day. Some days there are none. All are greeted by one of the relatives of Don Julian, who act as caretakers of the island. There are some, however, who are convinced that the dolls themselves come to life at night to take care of their island home, since Don Julian passed away in 2001. Some even believe that Don Julian has joined the little drowned girl as a permanent resident of the island. Whatever they say, and whatever you believe, it’s hard not to agree with those who claim that La Isla de Las Munecas, The Island of the Dolls, is the Creepiest Place on the Planet.

In actuality, there are real witches, but they are nothing like the vicious harridan who chased Dorothy down the yellow brick road, locked Rapunzel in her tower, or built a gingerbread house to lure greedy children. Witches have been practicing their craft and living among us peacefully, down through the centuries, since before history was recorded. They practice their faith and their rituals privately or within their spiritual family, or coven, not for the sake of secrecy, but because their faith is a personal relationship between the witch and the divine. Their theology venerates the Goddess and the Horned God, polar opposites, but complimentary facets of a single godhead, although some groups believe that they are individual beings. As a matter of strict fact, witches don’t believe in the devil or demons. They celebrate nature and its cycles. They draw strength from the seasons and the phases of the moon. The elements, fire, water, earth, and air, are the symbols of their sacraments. This inspires the witch with an involved concern for the environment and all living creatures.

A practicing witch may be male or female. The word “warlock” is never used to refer to a male witch, because it is a term that means “oathbreaker” and indicates a traitor to the faith. This nature-based faith encourages its adherents to seek the divine in all things, all people. Their law is simple. “‘An it harm none, do as ye will.” It celebrates free will and the choice to do good without prescribing the manner or method. A witch will use natural remedies for common ills, sometimes brewing “potions” that are really home remedies for common ailments. They may actually cast spells, but their magic is usually used for healing, love, wisdom, creativity and other positive outcomes. Oh yes, witches do believe in magic. They believe it is a law of nature, and the science of using nature to produce change.

Just as in any other faith, there are a few practitioners of the craft who would use the powers of the divine, through nature, to harm others or gain personal power. Fortunately, witches also subscribe to the “Law of Three”, which states that anything they do, for good or ill, will come back to them threefold. It is far less likely that a witch will use his or her faith for selfish purposes when they know that it will return to them bigger and badder than they sent it out into the world.

Some modern day witches use the name Wicca, to label their faith. Wicca is a relatively new term, introduced in the 1950′s by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant to describe the Neo-Pagan faith. Since the 1960′s, Wicca has come to incorporate many “denominations” of practicing witches, who, although their methods may differ, their basic tenets of harmony with nature and all its creatures remain firmly fixed. Witches celebrate four to eight seasonal festivals throughout the year. These Sabbats include the Greater Sabbats of Samhain (October 31, Halloween), Imbolc (February 1st or 2nd, first signs of spring), Beltaine (May Eve or May Day, May 1 or 2), and Lughnasadh (Lammas, Harvest August 1 or 2). In many cases, the equinoxes and solstices are also celebrated.

Just for informational purposes, that pointed hat that is so often associated with witches, is called a steeple hat or “Hennin”. It was worn in medieval times by both men and women, to concentrate “wisdom from above” into the mind of the wearer. Remember, in some cultures and societies, the witch was far better known as a wise woman and healer.

The site where Bobby Mackey’s Music world is located, was first developed in the 1850′s as a slaughterhouse. In it’s heyday, it was one of the largest meat packing facilities in the Cincinnati area. Business soon outgrew the facility, however, and in the 1890′s it was closed and the building was abandoned. In the basement of the building was a well. It was into this well that the blood and refuse from the slaughterhouse was drained. Evidence suggests that this was one of the features that attracted a local group of occultists to the abandoned building. The well was used to dispose of the evidence of their satanic rituals and animal sacrifices. It is believed that, among these occultists, were one Scott Jackson, a dental surgery student from Cincinnati, and his roommate, Alonzo Walling. Jackson was from a wealthy family, and he became the suitor of Pearl Bryan, the lovely and popular daughter of a well-to-do family from Greencastle, Indiana. When Pearl confided to him that she was pregnant, he convinced her that allowing him to perform an abortion, to preserve their reputations, was the wisest course of action.

On February 1, 1896, Pearl told her family that she was going to visit friends in Indianapolis. Instead, she met Jackson and Walling in Cincinnati. She was 5 months pregnant. After a botched attempt at an abortion using dental tools borrowed from school, Jackson had a hysterical and seriously wounded young woman on his hands. At this point, Jackson and Walling took Pearl into Northern Kentucky. When and why their mission became a macabre and vicious murder plan is unknown. Pearl’s body was found less than 2 miles from the slaughterhouse. Her head had been severed and was nowhere to be found. Walling would later testify that Jackson took the head because “he had plans for it”. The young men were soon arrested, and during the ensuing trial, they refused to reveal what had become of Pearl’s head. Investigators did discover Pearl’s beautiful blonde hair in a suitcase in Jackson’s rooms. Prosecutors even offered to commute the death sentence to life in prison for the location of her head, but Jackson refused. It is widely believed that Pearl’s head was used in a satanic ritual at the old slaughterhouse and then disposed of in the well. Revealing this would have exposed other occultists in the secret society.

After the trial, the slaughterhouse was again abandoned and eventually torn down. On its foundations, a roadhouse was built in the 1930′s. The tavern was frequented by gangland figures and was the scene of several shootings. It reopened again in the 1950′s as a nightclub. The owner’s daughter, Johanna, fell in love with one of the singers in the club. Her father, enraged, had the young man killed. In revenge, Johanna tried, unsuccessfully, to poison her father, and then, committed suicide…in the now infamous basement of the building. Johanna was 5 months pregnant at the time. In the 1970′s, the bar opened again, but was eventually shut down by the authorities after fatal shootings there.

Bobby Mackey, a well known country singer in Northern Kentucky, and his wife Janet, bought the building in 1978 to turn it into a country bar. It was successful from the start, attracting guests from all over the area. Bobby and Janet hired Carl Lawson as a caretaker and maintenance man, providing him with living quarters upstairs. Carl soon began to have strange experiences there. Lawson told author Doug Hensley, “I’d double check at the end of the night and make sure that everything was turned off. Then I’d come back down hours later and the bar lights would be on. The front doors would be unlocked, when I knew that I’d locked them. The jukebox would be playing the ‘Anniversary Waltz’ even though I’d unplugged it and the power was turned off.”

Lawson’s experiences went from strange to frightening, though, when he met the spirit who called herself “Johanna”. She was often accompanied by the scent of roses. She would converse with Lawson, sometimes, even when others were present. Local residents began to think Lawson was crazy, and talking to himself. Before long, other spirits began to reveal themselves to Carl: dark sinister men behind the bar, and odd noises and scents in the basement, near an old sealed up well. Lawson had heard the stories about the well, and in an effort to bring some relief from the restless spirits, decided, one night, to sprinkle it with holy water. Instead of calming them, this seemed to provoke the spirits, because soon other employees and guests began to have the same kind of strange experiences that had plagued Lawson.

Bobby Mackey, himself, did not believe in the “ghost stories”, and worried that the rumors would affect his business. He instructed Carl to keep quiet about his experiences. His wife, Janet had been silent, until this time, but finally admitted to him that she, too, had seen the ghosts, heard the noises and even smelled the scent of Johanna’s signature rose perfume. One night, Janet went to the basement to check on something. While she was there, she suddenly smelled a strong scent of roses, and felt something unseen move past her. She was suddenly grabbed by the waist and thrown down the stairs. She struggled and got away from the force holding her there, and ran up the stairs. When she had nearly reached the top, she felt a presence pushing her back down. She looked up toward the doorway and heard a voice from behind her screaming “Get out! Get out!” She escaped, and refused to set foot in the bar for nearly 3 decades. Just like Pearl, and Johanna before her, Janet was 5 months pregnant at the time of the incident.

Once Janet came forward with her story, many others admitted to paranormal experiences at the nightclub. An exorcism in 1994 seems to have failed miserably, because the incidents continue to this day. The bar has been investigated by many “ghost hunting” groups like “Ghost Hunters”, “Ghost Adventures” and it is part of the Haunted Cincinnati tours. Bobby Mackey still says that he doesn’t believe in ghosts, but there are thousands who have visted the site and have become convinced. Want to find out for yourself? Visit Bobby Mackey’s “Wake the Dead” Halloween Party on October 31, and experience what has been called one of the most haunted places in the world.

What to Look For:

1. Choose a pumpkin that has no soft spots, bruises, or discoloration on the skin.

2. Any size pumpkin will do, but the bigger, the better! Carving patterns can be enlarged easily, but shrinking them makes the detail work harder, if not impossible.

3. Look for a pumpkin that has a firmly attached stem attached. This is the sign of a healthy pumpkin. NEVER lift the pumpkin by its stem! Not only could you lose the handle for your lid, but you can damage the pumpkin and make it age quicker.

4. Select a pumpkin with a flat bottom (or side, depending on your design), as this will make it easier to display your masterpiece without having it roll away.

5. Check the bottom of your pumpkin for damage or soft spots. This can be the thinnest part of the pumpkin. If you pick it up, and it feels particularly heavy and the weight shifts when you tilt it …put it back. You don’t want to know what can grow inside a rotting pumpkin.

Once you get your pumpkin home, you need to prepare it. These steps are important if you want to keep Jack smiling for a while:

1. Choose your opening. If you are cutting a “lid”, then your first cut will be an angled cut, so that you lift out a cone shaped wedge around the stem. Angling the lid cut will keep the lid from falling into the pumpkin. Make your cut big enough to give you room to do the scooping and scraping you will need to do in a few minutes. You may choose, instead, to remove the bottom of the pumpkin and set it down over the light source you choose. If using a candle, you will still need to cut a vent in the top, and the top will scorch.
***NOTE: this should be the ONLY angled cut you make on your carving. All other cuts should be made perpendicular to the surface.

2. Once the pumpkin is open, remove the “brains” or “guts” with a sturdy scoop. While scooping, remember that the front edge, or design side of the pumpkin needs to be thinned to 1/2 to 1 inch thick, to make the more intricate cuts easier.

3. DON’T SKIP THIS STEP!!! Before you begin carving your design, fill a tub with cold water. It should be deep enough to submerge your pumpkin. Let it float and fill with water, so that it settles gently toward the bottom of the tub. Let it soak overnight. The pumpkin will absorb the water and become very firm, making your carving much easier. If you add a little bleach to the water, it will retard mold that might form on your Jack O’Lantern.

4. Once carved, coat all cut edges with petroleum jelly to prevent shrivelling.

5. If you are serious about keeping your pumpkin fresh for a long time, bring it in from the porch every night, and moisten it, using a plant mister, put it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Remember that you must dry all surfaces before putting it out for display, to prevent mold from growing.

The hanging was a public spectacle, attended by one Thomas Whaley, local businessman. He had come to San Diego in 1849 with the Gold Rush, and set up a business selling hardware, woodworking, and mining equipment. His business flourished quickly, but, it’s not quite clear, in 1855, when he decided to buy property to build a family home and new location for his business, why he chose the very spot where he watched Big Jim die. This is, in fact, what happened, and he built a single story granary and adjacent 2-story Greek Revival style, brick home. From almost the moment the family moved in, they began to hear ghostly footsteps, and feel a choking sensation in the area of an archway over the stairs to the 2nd floor. It was in this spot that Yankee Jim was hanged. Thomas became convinced that Yankee Jim Robinson haunted his residence.

In 1868, a theater troup operated out of the front upstairs bedroom, and the San Diego County Courthouse rented the former granary. Thomas ran a general store from the 1st floor of the house. In March, 1871, while Thomas was out of town, county officers raided the Whaley property and removed all court records and documents, abandoning the property and refusing to pay any rent owed. Thomas tried to sue the county for back rent. He lost, and remained bitter about it for the rest of his life.

Thomas Whaley and his wife, Anna, had six children. One of his daughters, Violet, either committed suicide or was murdered on the property in 1885. The youngest of their children, Lillian, lived in the house until her death in 1953. She was convinced that Yankee Jim haunted the house. Other guests and staff members at the Whaley house have encountered the ghosts of Thomas, himself, his wife Anna, who frequents the rose garden, their pet terrier, Dolly Varden, and a small, swarthy woman in calico who seems to live in the courthouse. Besides the ghostly footsteps, the sounds of activity in the former courtroom, guests have witnessed the apparition of a young girl, supposedly a playmate of the Whaley children, in the dining room. The frequency of these purported paranormal activities and the large number of people who have witnessed them have caused the government of the state of California to officially recognize The Whaley House as a haunted location. It is one of only 2 such locations in the state. The San Diego Paranormal Society conducts a monthly, night time “ghost hunt” at Whaley House, and offers special tours during October for Halloween season.

Every day, people come to tour Whaley House as an historic landmark. It was the first 2 story brick building in San Diego, housed the first commercial theater, served as a county courthouse and general store. How many of the visitors are there for the history isn’t clear. What is known is that of the 100,000 visitors per year, a large portion of them come to witness something extraordinary, something that will prove The Whaley House’s reputation as the most haunted house in America.

The jack o’lanterns we had at home were simple. Mother allowed us to draw the faces on the shells and she did the carving. Too many lines, and my mother simplified the design. She wasn’t very artistic, but, I didn’t say she wasn’t smart. So, if you are like my mother, clever, but not feeling very creative, I have some examples of alternatives to carving the family jack o’lantern. I have also included a couple of ideas for jack o’lantern accessories that will dress up even your most simple design.

The makers of Mr. Potato Head found pumpkins to be a perfect palette to expand the uses of their designs. The “Pumpkin Push Ins” are available in Witch, Pirate, Princess, Fireman and, my personal favorite, Ninja! You can also buy a bucket of non-specific face and body parts to create your own unique 3 dimensional pumpkin. Just remember, since these add-ons actually pierce the skin of the pumpkin, you won’t be able to use it later for cooking purposes.

Along the same lines as the push-ins, but with a unique twist, are the many ideas from “Pumpkin Wear”. The accessories made by Pumpkin Wear include decorations that attach to the pumpkin to make it a Scarecrow, Witch, Black Cat, Spider, and more. I particularly like the spider, that has a votive candle at the end of each leg. These might work best as indoor decorations or centerpieces, but they certainly are a unique way to turn an ordinary pumpkin into something extraordinary!

Another alternative to carving your gourd is painting. Your pumpkin paintings can be as simple or as complex as you want. Sketch out your idea, and use fine-line dry erase markers to mark it on the skin of the pumpkin. Any good acrylic craft paint will work for your purposes. Don’t limit yourself to the flat acrylic paints. Try some metallic, flourescent, glow in the dark, or glitter paints for special effects. Even if you are making a carved design, painting might enhance your masterpiece. Another reason to consider painting your pumpkin is that, after Halloween, you can still cook it down and use it to make pumpkin pie, bread or other pumpkin goodies!

My youth was in a gentler time, when children could play at public playgrounds and walk home from school without fear. Poodle skirts had given way to mini skirts, but only the city girls were wearing those. Neighbors had lived on the same block for generations, and knew each others’ names, shared each others’ interests and gathered for cookouts and Sunday picnics. I believed that “Father Knows Best”, and that the perfect Halloween costume included a plastic mask with a small, narrow hole cut over the mouth, so that you could stick your tongue out.

Shopping for Halloween costumes was done at the Dime Store. These magical places sold everything a person could possibly want, from fabulous jewels ( I spent 89 cents on the giant aurora borealis crystal flower earrings that I gave my mother for her birthday!), to toys ( I remember the basket of hobby horses that were named “Silver” and “Trigger” ), to glassware and even small tools. In the fall, the Dime Store was transformed into a glorious harvest wonderland of plaid and colored leaves and, most importantly, the boxes of the newest and most wonderful Halloween costumes. Brand names like Collegeville and Ben Cooper presented both the traditional ghosts, witches, monsters and princesses, as well as the stars of stage and screen. As a rule, the costumes included a printed tunic that tied in the back, sometimes pants or a skirt to match, and the mask. Masks covered the face only, and were held on by elastic bands that stretched around the back of one’s head. They had holes for the eyes and that odd narrow hole at the mouth, on which more than one of us cut our tongue. Some even had holes cut out where the nostrils might be, for better ventilation. You could sometimes buy the masks separately, and often, more creative mothers did just that, and then built a costume around it.

One of the most memorable Halloweens of my childhood found me dressed as Mickey Mouse. The costume was all one piece, a tube, rounded off at the top, with a hard plastic front containing the molded and very colorful image of Mickey as a band leader, which was sewn to a fabric back. There were eyeholes and the mouth hole cut into it, and 2 slits on the sides to stick your hands through. I was particularly proud of this costume, because i was the smallest in my class, and by holding my hands at different levels, I could appear to be much taller than I actually was. Some of the older children were dressed as the Lone Ranger and one brave lad even came in a Beatles costume, although I couldn’t tell which of the Fab Four he was supposed to be. The variety was endless.

Today’s Halloween costumes are much safer than they were back then. Gone are the masks that obscure a child’s vision. Fabrics used are flame retardant. Many costumes contain light up or reflective features to make the wearer more visible by headlight and flashlight. The variety is still endless, and still feature traditional Halloween monsters as well as popular stars of today. Although the Dime Store has all but vanished from the downtown streets of America, costume shopping is still done in department stores and discount super stores, as well as the more convenient and versatile online retailers. The one thing that has never changed at all, is that in August, when the “Back to School” decorations go up, I am still daydreaming about my Halloween costume.

• Dry Erase markers, if you are free-handing your Jack O’Lantern design. They wipe off with no trace!
• An icepick or awl to mark your design into the skin of the pumpkin, if you are using a carving pattern.



• A sharp, long bladed knife, to cut the “lid” and make any long smooth cuts in your design.
• A scoop, to remove the pumpkin guts and seeds, and also to thin down the wall of the pumpkin on the side you will be carving. You will want the thin wall of the pumpkin no more than 1/2 inch thick.
• A small, sharp, thin-bladed knife, for more intricate cuts.

Is it time to try something more complicated, or more adventurous this year? Then consider the following list of additional tools that I recommend for more versatility in your carving experience.

• A jig saw. Used gently, and especially on really large pumpkins, this can be a huge time-saver!
• A drill saw. Pictured here, the drill saw, usually used for dry wall, allows you to cut in any direction without repositioning the blade.
• Linoleum cutters. If your carving pattern includes areas that will remove the skin, but leave some of the flesh for shadow effects, linoleum cutters are an excellent sculpting tool. The solid round handles make for a comfortable grip when working on large areas.



• Dremel tool. This small handheld drill is capable of the most precise and intricate cuts and saves hours of painstaking labor. It is such a popular method of carving pumpkins, that Dremel makes a model specifically for that purpose!
• Exacto Knife. A good set of Exacto knives are a must have for any craftsman, and they will prove very useful for the tiniest and most precise cuts. I have a set of blades that mount into a comfortable handle, and have been known to substitute a jig saw blade for some carving purposes.

Armed with the proper tools, there is no pumpkin carving design that should prove too difficult. Just add patience and about 4 hours of free time to your list of materials!