Saturday before Halloween...haunted houses/real vs not real

Haunted Houses

One year...hmm, maybe I was 8 or 9...our local church had a Halloween party which included a "haunted" house. My Mom and I were in charge of one room.  I remember a lot of hay and candy, really not much else and certainly not anything near as spooky as they have now.


Anyway, at that time I had really long hair. My Mom teased all my hair in a frightful mess and put me in a witches hat and clothes.  I looked fantastic! (The only problem is, there is no photo of me then.)I wish I could say that I won the costume contest but that turned out to be my baby brother who at the time was 4. That story is in a previous post.

I digress. The point is that "house" was not scary. However, I have NEVER liked the whole haunted house thing. The couple that I have gone to it took a load of coaxing for me to go in and even then I turned right around and went out! Did I mention the whole I hate the gory stuff? Don't even get me started on the whole pitch black-can't see two feet in front of your face stuff! Scary!!!
Seriously, I can hardly stand to look at the commercials for those places.  My brothers and kids on the other hand love to visit them.
The funny thing is a few years ago I was a character in one of our local ones. I could be in the room and scare the pants off of other people BUT I could not lead a group for the life of me. Nope, even knowing what was in the house scared me. I know, crazy right?


Truly though, I went to a REAL haunted house about 5 years ago. This one to be exact!

For the record, I will most likely not ever go back there.  This is the Lemp Mansion. It does not look very scary from the outside but the inside is a little different. It is a beautiful house inside which includes a huge dining room that people can still dine in today (if you so dare.)

The house was owned by John Adam Lemp from Germany. He was a brewer. The house sits on top of underground caverns that were used to store and cool the beer.

You can read the whole story of the Lemp family with the link above but essentially several members of the family committed suicide in this very house. Tragedy surrounds the place. It is said that they haunt the place and can often be seen and sometimes heard.  This house is on the national registry as one of the most haunted houses in the country (top 10 to be exact) and has been investigated more than once by paranormal investigators.


I am here to tell you that this is no joke. It totally freaked me out and as I said, probably will not go back...even though I think paranormal stuff is kind of cool.
However, if you want a good thrill and like that kind of stuff, I certainly encourage you to go.  The history alone was enough for me!





Do you like haunted houses or paranormal stuff? Tell me about it? Tune in tomorrow. 


~Naila Moon

Friday before Halloween...treats!

As I have been blogging all week about different things of Halloween. What? You say you did not catch those. Well follow the days links below.

Tuesday   Wednesday    Thursday

I thought today I would share some fun treats.
We all like to get treats don't we? Of course we do. In the past when I have passed out treats, I have always passed out wrapped candy (Safer of course) but I have made treats for school parties. 
I wish to share a few that I found.


Rice Krispy Spiders-these are easy and fun. I actually made these for a class that I was taking in college. It was for a "how to" in speech class.You can make them different colors and of course put them on a web of black licorice.

Rest in Pea(s) Dip-I found this recipe from Martha Stewart and just thought it was too cute.

 Shrunken Heads in Cider-this was another recipe I found from Martha Stewart. Although it is a drink, I thought the "heads" in it was fantastic.

Black cat cookies-what say Halloween more than black cats. The only thing is, I could not understand why they are not black but I am sure very yummy!

Stuffed Jack-o-lanterns-this recipe is from the creators own but you could probably do what ever you like to stuff them with. I will definitely be doing these!

T

Candy Apple Monsters-I thought this was a cute twist on the traditional candied apples. yummy!

Oreo eyeballs- when you scream your eyes pop out right? Well, here is a recipe to make everyone scream (with delight).

The truth is there is a vast amount of treats, drink and fun food you can make for Halloween. I only named a few. You can follow my links for some more ideas or of course just Google.


What are your favorite treats? Tell me about them?
Oh, and make sure you tune in tomorrow for my next installment before Halloween.


~Naila Moon

Thursday before Halloween...Top 10 Costumes

My Mom

As it is Thursday, that means it is Top 10 day hosted by Beth. This week it is your top 10 Halloween costumes. Isn't it perfect that is what I was going to talk about today?

Ok, I admit it, I planned it that way. Anyway...before I mention my top 10 let me tell you some more past stories.

As I mentioned before, my Mom allowed us to dress up. What I didn't tell you was that we almost always had homemade costumes. I do not mean she sewed them...oh, no...she found ways to make the best costumes ever.  I passed this along to my kids as it were.
 

Tamirisc and I and our homemade costumes 2009

Remember I was telling you about my baby brother winning the costume contest? Well, she put him in one of my old dance outfits, complete with tutu. Yep, cute as a bugs ear and no one new he was a boy.  This is the same brother who is now a lifer in the Army! I wish I had a photo of him then...so would blackmail! lol

One year, I took my kids to Goodwill...excellent place for costumes...I got an old wedding dress and a green men's shirt. My kids went as Frankenstein and the bride of Frankenstein. This was complete with the green face for "Frank" and white pale face and teased large hair for the "wifey". Somewhere I had those photos too. sigh...

Anyway, the point is, you don't have to go expensive but if you want to, it is ok to do so! One of things, I like to do is go to local stores and rope my family and friends in to trying on mask and take photos of them. Just something fun to do. See???

On to Top 10!!!


I found the first 9 on Pinterest (fabulous site...look me up)

Fantastic for people in wheelchairs! Love it!!

For all rocker dudes/dudettes

Knights in shining armor

Angry birds..owl?

raining cats and dogs

Spaghetti...too cute

spider and web...very clever

for those who just don't do Halloween

I totally love this Princess!!!

The last one I found just for my Mom and Tamirisc. *grins*

What is your favorite costume? Share it with me. Come by tomorrow for another installment.
~Naila Moon

Wednesday before Halloween...Zombies!

It seems this time of year that we have to watch out for many things. I mean we have the whole black cat thing, cold weather issues, pumpkin smashers and of course those zombies. Oh yes, it apparently is a serious issue!

I had not really encountered any such thing since I lived in Po Dunk, MO. (aka small town USA). I had not a clue as to what I would do if one actually crossed my path...throw a hay bale at it?

Me scared

Anyway, last year, still living in Colorado, I encountered not just one or two, no, about 400. Yep, that is right! I was smack dab in the middle of all of them. What the heck was I to do then?

a few of the 400 or so

According to Monstrous.com zombies are this:
"A zombie is a creature that appears in books and popular culture typically as a reanimated dead or a mindless human being. (Then why did I find them in the street?) 
They are among the lower forms of the undead, and often appear in large numbers. ( ah, that explains that...but lower forms...I don't want to see the upper forms then) No one is certain about the origins of these pathetic and horrible things."

this guy was 10 ft tall literally!

zombie kids

I just recently found out that I could classify the zombies into categories if I wanted to (why would I?) by using the simple guide.
That surely will help.


However, as I survived this time, I looked to the CDC for tips on preparedness and made sure I made a kit for such emergencies. 


That way, Tamirisc and I will not end up like this couple...

bad start to a marriage

...or will we?

Have you encountered any zombies? Tell me about it and make sure to check in tomorrow for more Halloween postings.

~Naila Moon