Halloween Countdown, Day 1
Oct. 1st, 2009 08:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eldritchhobbitHappy October, everyone!
Today begins my annual 31-day celebration of Halloween. Thank you for joining me! The "spooky texts" I will be posting/linking to each day are short, appropriate for reading in one sitting, and I hope you enjoy them. In addition, you can click on any of the pictures I post to see larger versions. Without further ado, let's get down with our Halloween-loving selves!
To kick things off with just the right mood, here is the short animated film Vincent by Tim Burton and Rick Heinrichs, narrated by Vincent Price:
Spooky Text of the Day: Today's story is "The Child Who Loved A Grave" by Fitz-James O'Brien (1828-1862).
Excerpt:
Far away in the deep heart of a lonely country there was an old solitary churchyard. People were no longer buried there, for it had fulfilled its mission long, long ago, and its rank grass now fed a few vagrant goats that clambered over its ruined wall and roamed through the sad wilderness of graves. It was bordered all round with willows and gloomy cypresses; and the rusty iron gate, seldom if ever opened, shrieked when the wind stirred it on its hinges as if some lost soul, condemned to wander in that desolate place forever, was shaking its bars and wailing at the terrible imprisonment.
In this churchyard there was one grave unlike all the rest. The stone which stood at the head bore no name, but instead the curious device, rudely sculptured of a sun uprising out of the sea.
The grave was very small and covered with a thick growth of dock and nettle, and one might tell by its size that it was that of a little child.
Read the complete story here.
Today begins my annual 31-day celebration of Halloween. Thank you for joining me! The "spooky texts" I will be posting/linking to each day are short, appropriate for reading in one sitting, and I hope you enjoy them. In addition, you can click on any of the pictures I post to see larger versions. Without further ado, let's get down with our Halloween-loving selves!
To kick things off with just the right mood, here is the short animated film Vincent by Tim Burton and Rick Heinrichs, narrated by Vincent Price:
Spooky Text of the Day: Today's story is "The Child Who Loved A Grave" by Fitz-James O'Brien (1828-1862).
Excerpt:
Far away in the deep heart of a lonely country there was an old solitary churchyard. People were no longer buried there, for it had fulfilled its mission long, long ago, and its rank grass now fed a few vagrant goats that clambered over its ruined wall and roamed through the sad wilderness of graves. It was bordered all round with willows and gloomy cypresses; and the rusty iron gate, seldom if ever opened, shrieked when the wind stirred it on its hinges as if some lost soul, condemned to wander in that desolate place forever, was shaking its bars and wailing at the terrible imprisonment.
In this churchyard there was one grave unlike all the rest. The stone which stood at the head bore no name, but instead the curious device, rudely sculptured of a sun uprising out of the sea.
The grave was very small and covered with a thick growth of dock and nettle, and one might tell by its size that it was that of a little child.
Read the complete story here.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-01 02:19 pm (UTC)I think I read somewhere recently that they're making a full-length feature out of Vincent.
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Date: 2009-10-02 12:11 pm (UTC)I hope that's true. I'd love to see a full-length feature based on Vincent. Who would narrate it, I wonder?
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Date: 2009-10-01 02:23 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed the short film: "And wander dark hallways alone and tormented."
The spooky text of the day was very good too. :-)
Thanks for posting, and as I ought to be wandering dark hallways at this moment in my book I will be returning to my writing.
-Shane
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Date: 2009-10-02 12:12 pm (UTC)Best wishes with the wandering of dark hallways in your writing!
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Date: 2009-10-01 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:13 pm (UTC)I'm laughing, in a happily horrified sort of way, because they're the same story, aren't they
I rather thought so, myself. I'm glad they struck you as related, as well!
Your icon is fantastic.
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Date: 2009-10-01 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:13 pm (UTC)A bit sad, I'm afraid. Not all of them will be, though, I promise! I rather thought that one spoke to the short film in a way.
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Date: 2009-10-01 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-01 04:05 pm (UTC)Happy October to you!
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Date: 2009-10-02 12:17 pm (UTC)Happy October to you, too! Your icon is more appropriate than ever.
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Date: 2009-10-04 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-01 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:16 pm (UTC)I was just listening to my Halloween playlist on my iPod. It was chilling and surreal to hear "Thriller" and realize that they're both gone.
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Date: 2009-10-01 05:28 pm (UTC)My 3-year-old daughter Sophia climbed up on me while I was watching it, and after a few seconds of looking at Vincent, said, "Look at that curious guy!"
Perfect.
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Date: 2009-10-02 12:19 pm (UTC)I love little Sophia's comment! A gal after my own heart, obviously. (From her vocabulary, I'm betting she's a Ravenclaw.)
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Date: 2009-10-02 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 01:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:21 pm (UTC)Long live the... no. Well, may the morbid little boys live as long as they like, then.
Oh, well said indeed! :)
Your icon is particularly well suited to the season.
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Date: 2009-10-02 06:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-02 12:21 pm (UTC)