fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Feature Story
By: David Williams
Tags: Coronavirus, Halloween

HAMMOND, LOUISIANA — When the leaves turn brown, the air turns chilly and images of all sorts of scary things come to mind, that is when you know it is time for Halloween. Variations of the holiday are celebrated all across the world, but what is Halloween like at Southeastern Louisiana University?

One thing that happens every year is History and Political Science Department Head Dr. William B. Robison’s Halloween Lecture.

In Halloween of 2002, Robison gave a lecture on historical fiction movies. It has proven itself to be successful and has become an annual tradition.

Attendance can vary from one hundred to two hundred people depending on what else is going on at the time. Topics vary from Halloween itself, monsters, to strange figures in history.

“Every year there is always some stupid gimmick like me in costume or short film I made,” says Robison said.

This year’s topic is unsurprisingly “Plagues, Pandemics, and Pestilential Pumpkins,” and is being held at the Student Union Theatre on October 28, 1:00 P.M. Normally candy would be given out to attendees, but that will not be happening this year due to COVID-19.

Southeastern has had a history of fun Halloween traditions for students and community members alike.

“Normally, several hundred students participate in Halloween events,” says Zachary Rogers of the Campus Activity Board.

A movie night is normally held on campus playing movies like “Hocus Pocus” and “The Conjuring.” Southeastern has also hosted a haunted house, but in 2019 it was expanded outside and even off-campus to the Haunted Trail.

Every year before 2020 there has always been a Fall Carnaval sponsored by the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs as well as the Office of Recreational Sports & Wellness. The Fall Carnival is a child-friendly event with prizes, candy, spacewalks, a balloon artist, and more.

There also tends to be a celebration involving campus dining. It may be a promotion at Starbucks or Halloween treats at the Maine Dish.

Campus dorms have also run their own Halloween events. This year Louisiana Hall is hosting a “Spooktacular Popcorn Party” on October 28.

Unfortunately, most of the events typically hosted at Southeastern have been canceled due to the current pandemic. Although

Students also find their own ways to celebrate the holiday, this year most are choosing to stay at home with loved ones or are heading out of town.
HOW TO CELEBRATE MAJOR HOLIDAYS DURING A PANDEMIC: HALLOWEEN FEATURE + A GUIDE
By: Jen Adams
Tags: Halloween, Pandemic, Celebration, Holidays, Party

In case I haven’t said it enough, Halloween is my most favorite time of the year! So we celebrated it in a major way the past month. Maybe because I feel like I’m still a Wiccan at heart (I used to cast spells, call out spirit guides, and share my experiences in my old Wiccan blog), but more importantly, for some reason, I turn into a child-like nymph whenever Halloween is around the corner! Teehee. Suffice it to say that I’d like to celebrate it for as long as I can, even after it’s over. Haha! So this blog post here is my last attempt to still hold on to it. After I publish this, my next blog posts will be about other aspects of my life like Tuz’s exciting 5th birthday, our everyday life, travels, Christmas, etc.

Before the pandemic, and as far as I can remember, during Halloween, I used to go out, attend costume parties, and even host events during Halloween. It’s the most magical time of the year for me and doing those things really made me happy! I know it’s hard now that we are living in this new normal but it is still possible. I made it possible, and I will continue to make it possible. Haha! Watch my Halloween vlog below:

So how did we celebrate this major holiday? And how can we celebrate major holidays (like the upcoming Christmas) moving forward in this new normal that we are in?

Read more: https://momtraneur.com/2020/11/24/how-to-celebrate-major-holidays-during-a-pandemic-halloween-feature-a-guide/
VRChat Spookality 2020 Winners!
Tags: Spookality, Halloween, Social Vr, Vrchat, VR

Congratulations to the winners! We had a lot of amazing, high-quality, creative submissions this year. Our judges had an extremely hard time choosing our winners. That being said, thank you to everyone who provided a submission — they’re all amazing! In addition to the awesome ideas, gorgeous artwork, and creative designs, we also saw a lot of creative usage of the powerful Avatars 3.0 and Udon systems.

If you want to check out all of the Spookality 2020 submissions, check out the VRChat Spookality 2020 Hub either by clicking the link, searching for “Spookality 2020” in VRChat, or looking at the top of the VRChat Worlds menu.

We have all the submissions in the Spookality Hub world, and we will be updating it to show stars above the winners. All of the submitted avatars are in the Hub world and are available for you to try on, and all of the submitted worlds have portals available!

In addition, we’ll be replacing the “Halloween” row with a “Spookality 2020 Winners” row soon! Both the Spookality Hub and the Winners row will remain until November 30th at the earliest.

Per our previous Spookality 2020 post, our first-place category winners will receive:

All of our winners will receive:

1x “Troll” Ceramic Mug and 1x $25 (USD) Threadless Gift card

We’ll be contacting the winners soon to get their prizes to them. Keep an eye on the email inbox you used to submit your work. Congratulations!

Once again, thank you to everyone who participated! Spookality 2020 was bigger than any of our previous events. Thanks to your hard work, containment was successful. We’ll continue to maintain proper protocols.
Cómo funciona Halloween
By: Valentín Muro
Tags: Celtas, Cómo Funcionan Las Cosas, Halloween

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Thriller: Michael Jackson bate recorde com música mais tocada do Halloween
By: Mj Beats
Tags: Halloween, Mj Beats, Thriller, Noticias, Michael Jackson

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Анимированные монстры на Хэллоуин — Hellow Monsters
Tags: Halloween, Monsters, Illustration, Character Design, Animation

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
The Werewolf of Bedburg
By: Ben Kageyama
Tags: Halloween, Justice, History, Society, True Crime

The Werewolf of Bedburg

Werewolf Attack (1512), Wikimedia Commons

Murderer, cannibal, and werewolf — all accusations that were thrown against Peter Stumpp. While records of his life before crime are sparse, his killings and gruesome execution are well documented in the history books.

I assume that the story was preserved in detail because the Holy Roman Empire, which was responsible for his execution, wanted to set an example — that other beasts who dared rise against humankind would meet the same bloody fate.

Life and accusations

While the exact date of Peter Stumpp’s birth is unknown, historians have determined that it was around 1545–1550 AD in Bedburg, a rural community in Germany. Peter was a successful farmer who had above-average wealth. He married and had two children but lost his wife sometime in the 1580s.

Multiple sources for his story presented various spellings for Peter’s last name — Stube, Stub, and Strumpf — but all referred to his left hand as being missing, leaving only a “stump.” Later, this would prove damning in his trial, as an alleged werewolf also had its left forepaw cut off during an attack.

There were a series of eerie killings that occurred in Bedburg from 1564 to 1589. No one suspected Peter of anything, although, by the late 1580s, rumors of a murderous werewolf had began floating around.

According to historical sources, a girl was attacked by a wolf-like creature until “god intervened” with a herd of cattle that caught the creature in a stampede. When this was reported, men from the village searched for the creature and, in one encounter, cut off its left paw.

In a later search, the hunters supposedly cornered the werewolf when it suddenly transformed back into Peter. Their smoking gun? Peter’s left hand was also missing.

Trial

Authorities brought Peter into questioning, which, in the 16th century, meant torture. They tied him to a rack meant to stretch him out until he had confessed his crimes, however, even before the torture had begun, Peter confessed to everything.

According to the records, Peter supposedly said that he had practiced black magic ever since he was twelve. He stated that, later in his life, he had met a devil that gave him a magical belt, which allowed his transformation into:

“the likeness of a greedy, devouring wolf, strong and mighty, with eyes great and large, which in the night sparkled like fire, a mouth great and wide, with most sharp and cruel teeth, a huge body, and mighty paws.”

If Peter removed the belt, he would transform back into a human. The belt was never found after his arrest. Peter further said that he ate livestock, women, and children for twenty-five years as a werewolf.

In total, he consumed fourteen minors and two pregnant women, including their unborn fetuses. Concerning the unborn, Peter said, “[I] ate their hearts panting hot and raw,” and described them as “dainty morsels.”

One of the victims was supposedly his own son.

For all this, Peter was sentenced to death. His mistress and daughter were condemned to join him for harboring his existence.

Execution
The Halloween Spirit at the End of November
By: Ken N
Tags: Teaching, Halloween, Students, Christmas, Schools

I know the feeling

One of the first big creative writing pieces that the students do each year is a creative writing piece about Halloween. It can be about anything, it just needs to have the parts of a story (characters, setting, plot) and show that they know the structure of stories. As teachers, we dread this. It’s a lot of work to mark 24 of these. The typical length is about 2–3 pages. There are some that are shorter, there are a few that are longer, then there is Jayson’s this year. His was a solid 13 pages long, single spaced. This was already a big job for me to mark 24 normally written stories, and then he gives me this novel.

Well, every year these stories sat in my ‘hand in bin’ for a while. A few days, then weeks, then they gather dust from sitting so long. I pack up all my Halloween decorations, and they’re still there. I get out the activities for Remembrance Day, and they’re still there. The Christmas decorations are out, and they’re still there. I just don’t think I have it in me to get through all of these. Especially Jayson’s saga about Halloween.

Then last week Jayson said to me, “You haven’t marked these yet? If you don’t mark them soon, you’ll have to mark them and the Christmas stories at the same time, and I have big plans!”

Oh no!

He’s right!

I’ll do them this weekend!

So here I am, Sunday afternoon, writing this instead of marking them. Maybe I’ll get them done next weekend and the Christmas stories will be done by Valentine’s Day.

Happy Halloween … 4 weeks later …
The Black Cat
By: Jesse Jet
Tags: Poem, Cats, Halloween, Poetry

And just when I think

He’s about to pounce

He purrs and drops

A fresh dead mouse

(Here is a cat)

**This story was published under a duplicate account which has since been deleted.
Creative, Funny, and Popular Themed Dog Halloween Costume Ideas
By: Team Pawsitive
Tags: Dog Halloween Costume, Halloween, Dogs, Halloween Costumes, Dog Costume

Wow, can you all believe it’s the end of October already?! Doesn’t it feel like March was just yesterday? Since it’s the end of October, you know what that means, Halloween is lingering around the corner! This pandemic should not stop you and your doggo from having a spooky(and safe!) Halloween and dressing your doggo up in funny and cute dog halloween costumes!!

Here are some dog halloween costume ideas, ranging from Star Wars to Pokemon themed dog costumes, with both large dog halloween costumes and small dog halloween costumes that will no doubt make this year’s Halloween a memorable one. You can either purchase these costumes from their respective websites or use them as ideas for your DIY dog halloween costumes, spicing them up however you would like!

Dog Costumes

Star Wars Themed

https://petcostumecenter.com/brand/star-wars/

Batman

https://www.partycity.com/batman-dog-costume---dc-comics-P857701.html

Toy Story

https://petcostumecenter.com/brand/toy-story/

Harry Potter

https://costumeyeti.com/harry-potter-dog-costumes

Pokemon

https://www.k9ofmine.com/pokemon-dog-costumes/

Anything Disney

https://www.shopdisney.com/halloween-shop/costumes/pet-costumes/

These are just some websites consisting of cute and funny dog costume ideas, for large and small dogs. You can even customize these costumes into dog and owner costume matching sets so that you and your doggo can match on Halloween. Name something cuter than that, we’ll wait.

Have a happy halloween! Don’t forget, the ‘rona has not disappeared, so make sure you and your doggo stay safe!

Want to learn more about dog training, dog behavior and dog nutrition?

Check out Pawsitive app to actually put theory into practice and start applying all this knowledge. The Pawsitive app helps dog parents raise happy, healthy dogs by providing community and professional support. We connect you to other dog parents and professionals. We are building a supportive dog parent community and we are better than dog social media! Stay accountable for completing wellness milestones with your dog and other dog parents, dog moms, and dog dads.
Case Celebryts e Halloween Atacadão com influenciadora
By: Selena Escher
Tags: Celebryts, Halloween, Atacadão, Plataforma Digital, Influenciadores Digitais

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
I Dialed And Immediately Cut The Call Due to This Marketing Insight
By: Thomas Lekhanya
Tags: Advertising, Elon Musk, Halloween, Bait And Switch, Scam

I Dialed And Immediately Cut The Call Due to This Marketing Insight Thomas Lekhanya ·Nov 16, 2020

Yesterday, I called a number and recognized something odd when I looked at my phone screen…

I immediately dropped the call…

Can you guess what I saw and why I did that?

I did it because I recognized the psychological loophole I’d almost fallen for yet millions of people fall for ever week…

This same loophole is actually used by scammers too…

Ever clicked on a promising link which sent you to one of those websites that chameleon themselves to look like a reputable, wellknown brand?

Besides the slightly different design, everything looks legit, and the URL might even look so too until you see there’s an extra letter…

It’s pretty clever actually…

They’re essentially performing a “credibility transplant” so that, instead of using our critically thinking they persuade us through our cognitive biases (such as “familiarity bias” through recognizing the brand you know….and “authority bias” through the brand’s power and time in business). These basically get us thinking “meh, seems legit”.

Now, of course these powers could be used for good…

Say Elon Musk bought shares in a Namibian battery company, it would make sense for that company to somehow transfer some of that…*clears throat* musk of credibility.

(c’mon, I had to!)

So why did I drop my call?

Because I thought I’d dialed through my native Huawei Android keyboard when in fact it was the Truecaller app.

“They getsing more of me data! Ahhhh!!!”

I know, shock horror!

Halloween’s past and I didn’t like being tricked like that.

But they did treat me to a useful marketing insight.

Until next time

Thomas Lekhanya
A Tête-à-tête With Our Spooktober Judges
By: Ruchi Das
Tags: Reading, Halloween, Books, Contests, Newsletter

I started an email chain with Ramona Grigg titled “Indelible Ink Submission” once. We’ve been talking on the same chain ever since, our conversation topics ranging from politics to writing. But it is only recently that I learned about her being an avid reader too!

Ramona had her fascinating brush with the world of books in her third grade when her parents brought her “The Book of Knowledge” set of encyclopedias. “They transported me into places I never would have imagined — all over the world — history, geography, myths and cultures, poetry, people.” Coupled with her father bringing her a book every payday, she found herself surrounded by books she was happy to be in the company of in the confines of her bedroom. Even today, she tells me her house is filled with books in every room. “I don’t go anywhere without books, either hard or soft cover, or on my iPad.” No wonder she doesn’t even remember the number of books she’s read in her lifetime. But she does remember one book that affected her deeply as a teenager. It was “The Diary of Anne Frank”, a book she recommends even now. “Not just the story, which was harrowing and compelling, giving me a more personal feeling about the horrors of the holocaust, but the fact that Anne Frank wrote it when she was still a child,” she explains. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath fuelled the fire and turned her into the human rights activist she identifies herself as today.

Ramona Grigg has been a freelance writer/essayist/columnist for more than 30 years now. She’s an active writer on Medium and especially vocal about politics. She runs the publication “Indelible Ink”. You can get in touch with her here.
Mom hasn’t called, and my heat is set to 78 degrees
By: Cole Habersham
Tags: LGBTQ, Halloween, New York, Dating

When me and my boyfriend broke up in June just two weeks after my birthday, I felt empowered. Now, two weeks into November, with the sun setting at 4:50pm, I feel cold.

I’ve long understood the final quarter of the year to be dubbed cuffing season because most people want to be cuffed during the holidays; either for gifts, family, or image maintenance. However, last night as I rolled on my ribbed Madewell socks and dialed my central heat up to 78 degrees trying to recreate the warmth his arms around me generated, I realized a more apt title for these final months of the year: cuddle season.

We don’t need men to empty our Mr. Porter carts* or impress our family. We need men for warmth between 11:00pm and 6:30am, when duvets won’t do.

Naturally, I was a Victorian poet for Halloween. Also pictured: Ballet Boy, as a chic cowboy.

Recognizing this, halfway through September my friends and I challenged ourselves to find living heating pads of our own, and set Halloween as the deadline. We turned to dating apps, Fort Greene and Prospect Park, Twitter DMs, and former whoevers relegated to being left on read. I went as far back as November of last year. It’s surprising how appealing some of those men seem now when they’re needed for winter warmth, rather summer-long or lifelong companionship. There was:

-GINGER SCRUFF, the green-eyed energy professional who loves his job more than anything, except perhaps wasting my time more.

-BABY DADDY, the West Village Architect who’s now co-parenting a child with his female best friend he may or may not be married to.

-PROFESSOR, the one that’s very right on paper, but unable to light the elusive, mythical, and potentially fictitious “spark.”

These men will not be keeping me warm this season, but the passive hunt continues. Our group chat voice memos airing out the sometimes-charing, usually not men of Brooklyn continue. And in the meantime, I have yet another reason to add yet another rollneck sweater to my collection.

Signed warmly in cashmere, under a few West Elm throws.

/c.

*I should also mention if you are interested in emptying my Mr. Porter cart, you are very welcome to:

-Tom Ford Shearling-Trimmed Suede Jacket

-The Row Daniel Ribbed Cashmere Mock-Neck Sweater

-Blazer Mid ’77 Suede-Trimmed Leather Sneakers
Planning for a Home Halloween Party
By: Vito Leung
Tags: Halloween, Halloween Decorations, Host Party, Toddlers, Halloween Parties

Punctuality: Guests will always be late. Wishful thinking to have them all arrive on time or even at about the same time. Everyone thinks they are the only one late.

It’s part of the job of the host to be ready early even if no one shows up when the witching hour strikes. We sat in our costumes for almost 2 hours before the first family showed up. They will come in waves so be ready to play host to just one family as well as all the families. Children lives on their own schedule so some families will need to leave much earlier than anticipated. If there are anything like games or group pictures which needs everyone’s presence, take care of it when you can and don’t wait till when the party is officially supposed to end.

Entertainment: It was so much fun researching and planning the games. You will not use most of it though because things don’t pan out like the way you imagined or things just didn’t work out. Improvise!

Unless all the kids are in the exact same age group, it will be almost impossible to find everything entertaining for all the kids at the same time. Don’t expect the older ones to lead the ways, they are their to enjoy themselves and not help babysit. Tying a Jack-o-Lantern Piñata to the tree and having the kids wack at it one by one was the highlight of the games. From the waiting to the anticipation to finally someone blasting open all the goodies inside and onto the floor, it’s the one thing the kids will be talking about for the rest of the night.

Food and drinks: You will over buy on food and drink.

Buy half of whatever you think is needed and this goes for everything from drinks, to snacks to pizza. We had left overs for about 3 days, so if everyone brought half of whatever they bring and we bought half of all the juice, drinks and junk food, it would be perfect. Kids are picky about their candy. I saw the kids sitting in the living room trading candy they got from the piñata. To my surprise, they didn’t want the more expensive candy from Costco and opt for the ones we got a Walmart.

Decorations ideas: are not as easy as it seems when you find a great idea online. Test it out first and have buffer to change up on your original plans.
I was devastated when I couldn’t celebrate halloween this year but our shop was visited by an…
By: The Bumble Life
Tags: Halloween, Covid 19, Covid, Lock Down, Dinosaurs

I was devastated when I couldn’t celebrate halloween this year but our shop was visited by an entire family of t-rexes so that was something lol…
Coming Soon: “Black Pumpkin”
By: Shain E. Thomas
Tags: Horror, Halloween, Coming Soon, Film

Ryan McGonagle’s Black Pumpkin, distributed by Uncork’d Entertainment, comes to DVD and Digital on Tuesday, 8 December 2020.

The film, set during Halloween 2018, revolves around two preteens that accidentally awaken an evil that has lain dormant for decades. They are forced to survive through a terrifying night of cat-and-mouse, from the monster known as “Bloody Bobby.”

Black Pumpkin, when shown at the 2018 KaPow Intergalactic Film Festival, garnered a positive reception.

McGonagle’s film, with a significant cast list, stars Connor Weil, Lily Keene, Kamilla Alnes, Billy Armstrong, Matt Rife, Ellie Patrikios, Alix Lane, Jacques Derosena, Jo Osmond, and Curt Clendenin.

Image Credit: IMDb.com

Supporting and minor characters are played by Jordyn Lucas, Emilyrose Morris, Ryan Poole, Brittany Belt, Dogen Eyeler, Grayson Thorne Kilpatrick, Gemma Brooke Allen, Tasha Dixon, Malaak Hattab, Christopher DeMaci, David Uchansky, and Joseph Barone.
Whoa, I didn't see that ending coming.
By: K.C. Knouse
Tags: Halloween, Short Story, Fiction, The Junction, Horror

Whoa, I didn't see that ending coming. You set it up nicely with that warm and cuddly beginning featuring a sympathetic little boy and a kitten (loved the name Coal). Well done. I'm glad I didn't read this on Friday the 13th!
Hopscotch Halloween Competition 2020
Tags: Thanksgiving, Halloween, Silicon, Schools, Apple

Did Halloween 2020 feel a little different this year? Maybe you weren’t able to go trick-or-treating, or your school didn’t have its annual party.

Well, not to fear…the Hopscotch Halloween competition winners are here! Try playing some of these absolutely fa-boo-lous games and you’ll be feeling that spooky spirit in no time.

Watch Hopscotch Halloween Compilation

Meet the finalists:

Pumpkin carving!! by CoolgirlLOL8

Carve your pumpkin without creating too much mess in the company of bats and a magic cauldron!

Potion Clicker by misterpickles

Click away on the magic button and earn points to customize your game.

Escape Room by Tweety Coder!

Will you be able to escape the room and avoid its scary guardians?

Midnight Candy by !trAevoLI #ToucanGang

Check out this wonderful Halloween version of the “Hot and Cold” game.

Help the witch by ShanShan Sprinkle Face

Help the witch to turn visible again.

Halloween Platformer by L Productions

Check out this awesome platformer with a beautiful fall color palette.

Halloween hunt!🎃 by The Hopscotcher ®

Were you able to find all the hidden objects?

Choose the Treat! by GoombaMan64

What kind of candy do you want to get when trick-or-treating?

Escape the Haunted House by ShaunMatt

Check your ability to make the right decisions and find the correct objects to escape the haunted house.

A Potion for Bear by Otato

No bear wants to be a zombie. Help the main character to get back his usual form by creating a magic potion.

Halloween Character Generator by tankt2016

In this beautiful and vibrant project, you’ll be able to experiment with different Halloween costumes and looks. Remix the project so we can see what you chose!

Third place goes to…

Fundardo with “Trick or treat”

Try to get as many candies as you can in the given time.

The second place goes to…

“Crazy for Candy!” made by Mr. Incognito

You were trick-or-treating, and suddenly you realized that you got lost. Find your way home and collect even more candies on the way back!

And finally, the 1st place goes to…

“Spooky Street” made by ExplodingDucks

This project is an excellent example of a “choose your own story” game, depending on what house and answers you choose for your trick-or-treating, you will get different results.

Thanks for playing!

We hope you didn’t get too scared — and that you’ll go home with a major supply of digital candies. Feel free to join us in the next Hopscotch challenge! Look for the announcements in the app.

If you don’t have the app yet, download Hopscotch in the App Store for your iPad and iPhone.
Halloween hits a bit different in a pandemic
By: Morgan Stewart
Tags: Covid 19, Halloween, Death

Halloween, Hallows Eve, Samhain, or October 31st is the day when the veil between the world of the dead and the living is at its thinnest. Those departed, walk the earth once again. Ghosts among us as days become shorter and darker and we slip into the cold months of winter. We are all the more surrounded by the dead this year amidst the pandemic.

Of course, this is if you ascribe to any sort of pagan, witchy ideas about today. For many, it’s a day to dress up in costumes, treat or treat, and watch scary movies.

But one does not necessarily have to believe in “witchy” things to connect with the holiday.

Pagans holidays follow the progressions of the natural world, which for my reference is the northern hemisphere. In winter, hibernation, quiet, and appreciation of solitude and loved ones. Seeds are planted for the following cycle, Spring is rebirth, the buds burst through and germination occurs. The summer, celebration of fertility and growth, sun and wild. The fall we harvest the growth. Then the days grow shorter, and darker. Trees die and leaves fall, we enter death and the underworld.

It is getting darker and colder. The leaves are falling and earth is dying to create the fertile soil of spring life restarted.

This year I took Halloween felt more … literal. We are surrounded by far more death than normal with Covid. Everyone likely knows someone or has someone in their life who has been impacted by Covid.

I have often been worried about what it means for children, my children, to grow up in this environment. Adults wearing masks and hiding their expression and not seeing loved ones nearly as often. Isolation. Instability and degradation. Death. What hope do we give our children at this time?

In many ways I understand that my fears of my children growing up in this environment is a projection of my own fears and discomfort of “getting used” to all of this. I don’t want to get “used to” all of this, nor was I okay with the prior status quo. But this is all they know. And in many ways it is getting all the more acquainted to a world, and really a country, exposed as incredibly weak and ill-equipped to serve its public in any meaningful sense.

So I think about all of this on Halloween. The costumes, the death, the veil, the coming winter and even worse second wave. What this world, a new world really, will mean for my children.
Choose One
By: Dale E. Lehman
Tags: Halloween, Short Story, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror

Choose One

Photo copyright K. S. Brooks. Do not use without attribution.

The flickering glow of the jack-o-lanterns painted Simon’s face orange-yellow, and Bess’s, too, as she stood by his side, waiting for his reaction. When it finally came, it was underwhelming.

“Not bad.” He nodded and repeated it. “Not bad at all.”

“Is that all you can say?” Bess complained.

Simon squinted at the black cat carved on the middle pumpkin, the spider to the left, and finally the wicked face to the right. “What should I say? That you’re an artist? Okay, you’re an artist.”

Bess pouted. “You never listen, do you? What did I say before I lit them?”

“You said they’re gateways. I don’t know what that means.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer. “Pick your favorite.”

Simon scratched his cheek. “The one on the right, I guess.”

“Bad choice, but okay.” Hooking her leg around his ankle, she shoved him forward. He toppled toward the pumpkin. A blinding flash engulfed the yard for a fraction of a second, and when it passed, he was gone.

She would bring him back, of course. She really did like him, in spite his obtuseness. But not until he’d had time to learn his lesson. That shouldn’t take long. He chose the demon pumpkin. And everyone knows where demons live.
Huluween at Home
By: Inside Hulu
Tags: Halloween, Hulu, Life At Hulu, Huluween, Company Culture

Huluween at Home

This year, with Hulugans working remotely due to COVID-19, we had to conjure up our most creative ideas to keep the Huluween spirit alive from home. And although Huluween looked different this year, it was the first time in Hulu history that Hulugans across the country were able to come together as #OneTeam to celebrate a Huluween like never before.

With too many virtual thrills and chills to fit into just one day, we brewed up a week-long fright fest filled with spooky swag, entertainment, contests, and so much gore. Hulugans put their brains to the test with mind-boggling Halloween Trick-or-Trivia, learned how to draw our favorite family of aliens from Solar Opposites, and mixed their own boo-zy potions during our spooky mixology class. Each day of the week, we asked Hulugans to show us their brains and dead-uctive reasoning skills to solve our custom Huluween Brain Games and puzzles for a chance to win some scary good prizes.

The week of festivities concluded with our main event: the HULUWEEN LIVESCREAM. Hulugans across the company competed on one virtual stage to represent their regional office in the Best Costume, Best Pumpkin Carving, and Best Performance Contests. Hulugans dressed to the nines in their most spooktacular costumes, and they wowed us with their gutsiest pumpkin carvings. During our Best Performance contest, Hulugans turned into Zoombies, introduced us to the Real San Francisco Housewives of Quarantine, and escaped the horrors of cable TV. Working from home didn’t stop Hulugans from thinking big and embracing fun to create one-of-a-kind virtual performances, proving once and for all that teamwork makes the scream work.

The horrors of virtual Huluween extended to our viewers as well. We invited all Huluween fans to visit The Screamlands, Hulu’s first-ever online haunted immersive experience. Those who dared to enter traveled through five scream-inducing rooms like “Bad Hair Hellway” and “Huluween Hall” which included spooky surprises behind every turn.

Thank you to all the Hulugans and Hulu-ghouls for coming together as one team to carry on Hulu’s most hallowed tradition during this extraordinary time. This Huluween may have been the spookiest celebration to date, and the memories we created will be happily haunting us until next year.
Gaycied Is Back With A Halloween Classic
By: Zach Ocasio-Cortez
Tags: Funny Videos, Halloween, Tvhitshow, Cartoon, Comedy Show

Gaycied, the animator we’ve all come to know and love, has finally returned with a new cartoon. TV Hit Show Spooktacular Event Ultra! is the first holiday special in the popular series, but promises not to be the last. Chandler, Richard and even Faggio returns to create a haunting experiencing you won’t soon forget. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself here.

TV Hit Show is proudly brought to you by Telecorp in association Profit Inc. Our litigation team is the best in the world, don’t even think about it!

Another incredible hit by Gaycied! But when, you may ask, will Gaycied return with another surprise episode? It’s hard to say, but the rumor mills are spinning and the word on the street is we can expect a Thanksgiving special this year. That’s only weeks away!

Let’s take a closer look at the cover art, which our reporters were able to snag at incredibly high quality!

Gaycied’s TV Hit Show is the greatest show that has ever existed!

Wow! The detail is breathtaking isn’t it, folks? That’s the kind of quality you can only expect from this one of a kind animator. Aren’t you tired of discussing politics on the holidays? TV Hit Show is the magic cure all, the snake oil that will solve all problems. Yadda yadda yadda!
Cautious Beasts
By: Fọlábòmí Àmọ Ó
Tags: Halloween, Monsters, Loneliness, Poetry, Fear

I thought

the distractions

would be

enough comfort

for the loneliness

Walking through

empty rooms

and corridors

as I yearn

for the company

of anyone

just to take

this feeling

away

I thought

I would be okay

in this house

by myself

But the ghosts

of nightmares past

have been

emboldened

out of hiding

Filling

the empty spaces

with dread

and terror.
Why I Decided to Save Halloween (for the Third Year in a Row)
By: Kalinga Staff
Tags: Halloween, Satire, Humour, Kalinga, Ashoka University

I know, I know, this year has been frightening enough for us to just skip over Halloween entirely. But I’m not a giver-upper, especially not on Halloween! Picture me, a first-year at Ashoka dressed as a marionette doll who has come to life — with a vengeance — and now controls her puppeteer’s strings, drunkenly crying over her impending breakup with her long-distance boyfriend from tenth grade who goes to Flame University, because she saw someone with a butt chin and he had a butt chin — as one does — when she runs into the mediocre second year with a paper-mache head who beat her in the Cultural Ministry’s Annual Halloween Costume Competition, entirely undeservedly. An ordinary person would accept this defeat. Not I.

The next year, I had the perfect costume. Sexy, frightening, topical. Slutty SH-5, complete with monkeys, broken windows, only four completed floors, and a very cute bikini. For those of you who are new here, the administration put the ASP girls in an unfinished residence building that definitely was a massive safety hazard, because they took in more students than they could house. As responsible college administrations do. So, I put said building in a swimsuit.

What of the Cultural Ministry’s silly little contest? Surely, they couldn’t pass up this fantastically ingenious, inventive, and original character interpretation of one of Ashoka’s worst PR nightmares to date, right? Wrong. I tied with mediocre second year (now mediocre third year) for first place. (PS: Cul min I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but I am still owed a dhaba coupon that was promised to the winner of the competition). Mediocre third year was in an uninspiring rendition of Jim Carrey’s The Mask character, Gollum or whatever.

This year, having stalked out mediocre fourth year and hounded him with zoom messages during class until he responded, I have ascertained that the Bhalswa-sized shit mountain that is 2020 has deterred him from donning another sad little costume. But I, as I mentioned earlier, am not a giver-upper. I’ve decided to give the people what they want, nay, what they need:

-Written by Anoushka Shyam

-Edited by Vibha Balaji
The Day I Was in ZZ Top
By: Cindy Shore Smith
Tags: Fame, Zz Top, Halloween, Rock And Roll, Life Lessons

The Day I Was in ZZ Top

Photo by Brian Marks

It seemed like the most obvious thing imaginable. Three of us had tickets to see ZZ Top on Halloween. In Dallas, Texas, no less. We went to the costume shop and got fake beards — blonde, brown and ginger. Three pairs of “cheap sunglasses” later, our outfits were set.

We walked toward the entry gate and five hundred heads turned in our direction. Some yelled to us: “Dusty, man, I loved your last album!” “Billy! Over here! Love you, man!” Did these people think we were the actual band?

Maybe a few did, because some of them chased us, which was actually scary. That’s the day I knew for sure that fame was not for me.
Cry of Fear: Modded Horror at its Finest
By: Anthony Wright
Tags: Features, Halloween, Gaming, Culture, Horror

Cry of Fear: Modded Horror at its Finest

This might be classed as cheating considering Halloween has passed us now but for a horror fanatic such as myself, every day is an opportunity to scare myself senseless by playing some obscure horror game that I’ve mistakenly found on the internet. Unfortunately for my heart rate, I recently stumbled across an indie horror title known as Cry of Fear, an appropriate name for the sick and twisted hell that I was unknowingly stepping into.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve run into Cry of Fear. I’ve been aware of it’s existence ever since it first released back in 2012 as a mod developed by Team Psykskallar for the original Half Life. Due to my lack of courage and sheer ignorance, I pretty much ignored CoF up until recently when I was frantically trying to find something obscure to write about for Halloween. After discovering that it was free I decided to jump head first into arguably the most disturbing and depraved horror title that I’ve ever played through.
How we powered a Halloween puppet with React Native and Arduino
By: Joseph C.
Tags: Halloween, DIY, Animatronics, Arduino, React Native

Thank you for reading my first blog post! Feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated!

Sometimes a special occasion needs that something extra.. a stand-out centerpiece that makes it all-the-more memorable. This is a story of such an event, where we, a pair of techie housemates, were on the hook to host a Halloween party. Rather than settle for the out-of-the-box conveniences, we made it our mission to create something so ghoulishly novel, so over-the-top, so… D.I.Y., that it just might blur the lines between machine and magic.

We give you: Count Oinkula!

OK, so maybe one can only expect so much out of a 10 day budget.. But under the snout, oink, I mean, uh, hood, a lot of cool technology went into the build, and we’d love to share with you our journey through it all.
Tunnel of Terror
By: Connor O'Brien
Tags: Haunted House, Halloween

The Halloween spirit is usually easy for everyone to get into. The candy, costumes, haunted houses, and parties kick off the holiday season with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner. But of course, like everything else this year, it’s all different.

Without an annual trip to Disneyland to see the Halloween decorations or a horror-filled night at Knotts scary farm, we were forced to adapt to different events. Drive-in and stay in your car events have been all the rage this October, with many events taking place. The main one is in Costa Mesa at the fairgrounds, where drive-through horror night boomed for business. Unfortunately, due to the high demand, that event was sold out towards the end of the season.

Instead, my friends and I found a drive-thru car wash in Huntington Beach called the Tower of Terror. At first, the wash was sold out, but they added more tickets available in the morning. The only difference was, as opposed to the original $20 they were charging a few days before, these tickets were double the price at $40.

On Thursday, we got down to Huntington Beach right around 9:15, we had booked our reservation for 9:30, but once we arrived, it was clear we would be waiting longer in line. As we made our way through the line, they scanned our tickets, advised us of the rules, and informed us of the radio station that would play spooky sounds as we crept our way to the car wash. The radio sounds helped to liven up the experience.

We made it to the front at roughly 9:45 where scary and spooky costumes greeted us. These monsters gave us the truly haunted house theme that we were hoping for while staying in the comfort of our car. It’s a perfect combo for those scared easily, as you feel protected in the car while still getting a good scare in.

After weaving through those costumed creatures, we made it to the actual car wash part. Inside we would be scared by clowns when we least expected it. Hiding behind the powerful car washing equipment, they would jump out and smear themselves on my freshly cleaned car. The time inside the actual wash is short, just as standard as a regular car wash, so most of the scarring occurs before you enter the wash.

Overall, the wash was worth the price. It may be a little expensive for two people to pay $20 each, but if you can fill a car with four people, it is easily worth the price. The thrill is much shorter than a night at Knotts Scary farm and does not provide the excitement of the haunted house mazes or thrilling rides, but it did provide us with enough to get our Halloween to fix in.
Charleston Gothic
By: Emily Rose
Tags: Gothic Literature, Creative Writing, Halloween, Creepy Story, Charleston

We can never leave, now. We are bound to this city for all time. They sold all our souls for something as fleeting as electricity. There one second, used up the next. It would take no less than the eternal servitude of the entire Holy City to make such a deal. And when it fell apart, it was left to us to buy ourselves back. A debt which many of us will never be able to repay.

A horrible, horrible mistake we never asked for and can never pay off.
COVID-19 Halloween Is Over
By: Floyd Mori
Tags: Coronavirus, Covid 19, Halloween, Pandemic, Poetry

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Ray Bradbury’s Halloween Tree
By: Jimmy Christon
Tags: Halloween, Bradbury

So I read Bradbury’s Halloween Tree to celebrate the holiday a handful of days ago. It was pretty good! I remember reading somewhere that the line between Children’s literature and Poetry is a particularly thin line. I think that description describes Halloween Tree perfectly.

I could summarize the plot and the big moments found in the book, but I won’t. I think that misses the point. Halloween Tree doesn’t have characters or motivating interests and conflicts. It’s all fairly simple: my friend is off, we want to help him, we will celebrate the holiday like no one else has before, and then we will become Joseph Campbell for an odd hundred of pages. The children have to make a sacrifice to save their friend and learn the true meaning of Halloween from the magical stranger at the same time.

I think the larger theme of recognizing and celebrating death and renewal as a part of some larger, human process is a strong one. And it resonates well with both the Halloween setting and the “characters” that are in this novel. It feels hopeful as well that the boys would all choose to save their friends somewhat selflessly. It’s hopeful and touching when paired with the glut of ghosts, ghouls, gargoyles, and other fears that came before.

The other stuff I’m a little iffy on. The focus on Egypt felt very un-Egyptian. Lots of focus on Mummies on the sun as if that was all Egypt did. No real mention of the metaphysics behind the scenes. But, I guess Bradbury spent as much time on Ancient Egypt’s worldview as he did on Ancient Greece’s worldview (I can’t remember the specifics of the scene, but I also felt a little odd with him going full Passover in his depiction of the Greek Halloween-analogue; like why not have the kids just go through Passover? The dates can be a little fungible). And, of course, the Day of the Dead section felt almost completely fetishistic.

I almost wish we had gotten more of the Midwest town the kids were from and more of Halloween for America at that time. I guess Bradbury wants us to assume we know the specifics of contemporary Halloween, but it would have been fun to see his talent turned something a more mundane to contrast the metaphysical journey of the kids.
Whatever the date; Happy Birthday
By: Niet Van Der Zand
Tags: Halloween, Birthday, October, Poetry, Love Poem

Whatever the date; Happy Birthday

Image courtesy of Christopher Rusev on Unsplash

The field opposite is filled with pumpkins, the year is heading towards winter.

Yesterday we had a tornado, with sleet, and with forked lightning.

Image courtesy of Grayson Savio on Unsplash

Halloween, which you made so much fun, for our son.

Is just around the corner; of course it is also the month of your birthday.

Image courtesy of @felipepelaquim on Unsplash

Would you believe, that because of that last fact alone.

I hold the month of October so so dear, so so close to my heart.

Image courtesy of Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash

Yet, as the exact date of your birthday approaches I become confused.

Between the 25th, the 26th, the 27th.

Image courtesy of Egor Myznik on Unsplash

Yes, I could make a diary note, but that would remove some of the fun

Which the doubts about you have gifted to me.
The Story of Charles Jones
By: Walter Bowne
Tags: Halloween, Ghosts, Gothic, Pine Barrens, Audio

Relaxing by a fire outside on Halloween, Dan and I talk about what really happened during Spring Break in 1988 in Atsion, New Jersey, the night before Easter, the holiest night on the Christian calender. Listener discretion is advised . . .