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"Ghost Stories" |
Every Thursday at the Finest  |
Posted on 10/28/2005 3:26:33 AM PDT by DollyCali
Edited on 10/28/2005 3:45:56 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
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"Ghost Stories" |
Every Thursday at the Finest |
Have you ever thought that Halloween and All Saints Day have something in common or something to do with each other? Well they do in ancient times All Hallows eve was celebrated to honor the dead. All Saints day is the following morning. Both days are meant to celebrate great people who have died, both religious and personal friends.
Both the Roman Catholic and also the Anglican Church's have observed All Saints Day since 837. Pope Gregory was credited with first suggesting and confirming the holy holiday as a way to honor the martyrs who had died for Christianity.
All Saints Day was first created to honor and show respect for the martyrs who died in the pursuit of Christianity. This tradition was then extended to include known martyrs and unknown martyrs this was a symbolic gesture to state that millions of Christians around the world were on a vigil to help promote an insure the future of Christianity.
As the decades and then centuries past the Protestant church and the Roman Catholic Church and Anglican church's all broadened again the meaning and symbolic nature of All Saints Day. It was during this Reformation that these churches's decided to include honoring the Saints along with martyrs on All Saints Day. The end goal of this decision was to bring all members of all the various types of Christian religion closer together. All Saints Day is now celebrated to strengthen the bonds among Christians and also to recognize and celebrate the people in the past who have paid the ultimate price to promote Christianity.
Whatever your religion is next all saints day take a moment or two and reflect on the people in your past and throughout history that made it possible for you to be where you are today.
I don't remember getting any emails from them. I use a free yahoo email address to sign up for news.
I appreicate you posting this. My last computer was a nightmare with eyes I KNEW & those I didn't KNOW getting into my computer!
Cute! Perfect for the day tomorrow! Boooooo!
Growth of the pumpkin industry is eerie
By Richard Stubbe
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The growth of the Halloween industry is positively frightening, but even scarier is the growth of the pumpkins. Here are a few numbers from the Census Bureau, the Illinois Department of Agriculture and bigpumpkins.com:
998 million: Pounds of pumpkins from major producing states in 2004. Illinois, with a production of 457 million pounds, led the country. Pumpkin patches in California, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York also produced a lot of pumpkins: Each state produced at least 70 million pounds worth. Pumpkins are not grown in large numbers in Texas.
$100 million: The value of all the pumpkins produced by the big six states. The most popular use of pumpkins is to make jack-o'-lanterns, according to the Illinois Extension Service.
1,469: Weight, in pounds, of the heaviest pumpkin ever grown, by Larry Checkon of Pennsylvania, according to bigpumpkins.com. (Yes, you can see it at the Web site. Pretty big pumpkin.)
1 million: The number of pumpkins sold by Frey Farms of Keenes, Ill., to Wal-Mart in 2004.
On the candy front, the news is even bigger:
36.4 million: The estimated number of potential trick-or-treaters -- 5- to 13-year-olds -- across the United States in 2004, a decline of about 380,000 from 2003.
25 pounds: Per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2004.
$12 billion: Value of goods produced by the 1,271 U.S. manufacturers of chocolate and cocoa products in 2003.
$7 billion: Value of goods produced by the 519 U.S. makers of nonchocolate confectionary products in 2003.
Ghosts are hard to find, but if they exist, Arlington cemeteries may be home to more than a few tortured souls
By O.K. CARTER
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Sometimes late at night when the first norther of winter arrives, some people say that they can hear a baby crying in old Arlington Cemetery. It's rumored to be the wailing of 1-year-old Mattie Luna Cooper, left alone back in 1875 as the first burial in the cemetery. She never forgot being there all alone and occasionally finds voice, as if being given some brief presence through the power of a frigid and howling wind.
Or that's the legend, anyway. It has been difficult to find people who have actually heard lonely little Mattie. Maybe the wail comes from the wind working its way through the tombstones and frost-stripped trees.
Or maybe it's not Mattie wailing at all, but the ghosts of 10 former Arlington mayors buried in plots all around her. Maybe, every Tuesday night _when the council session kicks in _ they begin muttering at how their little prairie village ended up sprawling across a hundred square miles.
One of those mayors, William Rose, once counted all the residents of the cemetery as being part of a residential addition overlooked by census takers. The extra "body" count qualified the city for its own post office. So maybe that sound is really Mayor Rose having yet another last laugh.
But, since it's Halloween eve, here's another thought: If there are indeed ghosts among us, what more likely place would they be than in residence at Arlington's 40-plus cemeteries? The city's burial grounds range in size from a few plots occupied by old pioneer families to more recent cemeteries that are the final resting place -- at least for the mortal remains -- of hundreds of people.
Death rarely comes easy, but there are many buried in Arlington cemeteries who came to particularly untimely ends. Perhaps they were ground to oblivion by an onrushing train, or shot to death in a Main Street gunfight, such as the three men killed in such a confrontation in 1892. Spirits such as those can't be resting comfortably in their graves.
And while some graves lack a ghostly presence, their inhabitants nevertheless continue to make their past presence felt in a philosophical way through their choice of epitaph.
Consider the passing advice of legendary Arlington physician Zack Bobo, whose grave marker advises, "Sing a song and keep a stepping."
But the topic here is ghosts and where they hang out. With a little imagination, who could deny that maybe -- just maybe -- there's a ghost or two or perhaps a bunch of occasionally visiting spirits at some of those cemeteries? This could be particularly true considering that modern development sometimes inadvertently paves over unmarked graves.
For example, consider the final resting place of Pantego, the Caddo Native American for whom the city of Pantego is named. Vague records indicate that he was buried under an oak next to a small creek that now flows under Park Row Drive just east of Bowen Road. Pantego was slain by marauding Comanches or Kiowas, which couldn't have made him happy. Nor could his spirit be thrilled about those buildings and that concrete parking lot indifferently sealing his mortal remains.
Once upon a time, Bowen was a tiny country road, near which it was common for Boy Scouts to camp in the 1930s and '40s. Ghost stories are a ritual around Scout campfires, and one of the most common was of a ghostly phantom Indian seen lurking near the creek bottom. Was it Pantego? Or just overactive boyish imaginations? Or maybe only people with imaginations can see ghosts?
Or perhaps only hear them. Those who live near the Trinity River bottoms swear that they often hear the baying of Watch, a faithful dog belonging to Hamp Rattan. In 1842, Indians killed Rattan, who is buried in an unmarked grave -- along with four other pioneers -- near old Bird's Fort in far north Arlington. Watch would only leave the grave to forage for food and water. Although the spirits of the men buried there seem to be at rest, the baying ghost of Watch is not.
Then again, maybe that noise is simply raccoon or possum hunters with their dogs in full pursuit.
And what happens when the spirits who reside together in a cemetery have something of a bone to pick with one another?
Consider the Col. Middleton Tate Johnson Plantation Cemetery on Arkansas Lane near Matlock Road. Although the good colonel was nearly elected governor of Texas, he was -- before the Civil War -- also the owner of more slaves than anyone else in Tarrant County.
And there's the rub. The colonel and his family are buried on the east side of the cemetery, slaves and descendants of slaves on the west side, integration rare for the times. Since in death all are free, all are equal and none have masters, the nightly encounters between the ghost of the colonel and his former slaves must be both fearsome and everlasting. Or so one can hope.
But Arlington's saddest little cemetery, that for the Berachah Home for erring girls, as in unwed, is also one of its most obscure. Located in what is now Doug Russell Park next to the UT-Arlington campus, it contains the remains of a number of infants who died either in childbirth or shortly thereafter.
Only a single adult -- a Berachah matron who died during a great flu epidemic of the early 1900s -- rests in the cemetery, with perhaps a dozen infants. Those who believe in such things say that she occasionally sings to her ghostly babies, giving comfort to children who never knew their fathers and never grew to know their mothers either. Life -- and death -- can be very unfair.
Every cemetery plot, of course, is a story in itself. Maybe even a ghost story.
O.K. Carter's column appears Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. Carter also co-hosts P3: People, Politics and Possibilities at 9:30 nightly on Comcast cable channel 16. (817) 548-5428 okc@star-telegram.com
Your welcome. Glad to do it.
all HTML "enthusiasts"..notice my neat side border for opening post is missing in action??? It W-A-S pretty wasn't it?
Funny story. I cannot revive it for this post. I "fixed" something. HA.
will tell you all later. Need to be at church in 20 min & need to change out of dog/hike clothes.
Just noticed it was gone & realized what happened.
LOL! I don't think anyone would have noticed it if you hadn't said something. I STILL don't know which border you're talking about! :o) It is a beautiful posting!
Trick-or-treating isn't what it used to be
09:47 PM CDT on Friday, October 28, 2005
By KIMBERLY DURNAN / DallasNews.com
Once upon a time, unaccompanied kids went freewheeling through their neighborhoods, filling giant sacks with Halloween candy and homemade treats from both friends and strangers. Their only worries were the threat of rain or the wacky neighbor who thought it was hilarious to spook the candy-begging masses.
Parents, meanwhile, stayed home to hand out treats, waiting for their kids to return when their bags got too heavy to carry.
I DID notice it! I just sent you a mail. And actually, I don't know what you did *fix*, but if you still have that side border bg, you can reupload it with exactly the same name you uploaded it before.
Please, put it back if you can! :)
Hi, gooleyman,
I also was 'reading' some stuff on FR in late 1996; the information I posted about the "forum being started in early 1997" came from a thread several years ago about the history of FR and its founder. I know that it was in 1997 that registration was required in order to post comments. I don't know how to find that particular thread anymore, but the "100,000" being registered since it's inception in 1996 apparently is outdated - on the home page at present, Jim writes "over 200,000" have registered for posting privileges...... :)
"Who reads FR?
Over 200,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic since inception in 1996 and our forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and all around the world.
Cute, cute hostess graphic. Sorry, dutchess, if I'd known *you* wanted that costume.......we could have both worn it - different places no one would know. :)
The sweet fairy morphs into the Wicked Witch
By Andrea Marcusa
While other kids donned scary witch and monster costumes on Halloween night, I always chose beauty over beast. I preferred satins and velvets and carrying Tinkerbell's sparkling wand to putting on the green and warty face of a wicked witch.
When I pressed a doorbell and shouted, "Trick or treat," I wanted to hear, "You're so pretty." For me, Oct. 31 was a free pass to take a victory walk down the Miss America ramp.
Then I became the mother of two boys.
My sons' oversized dump trucks and Lego helicopters obscured my own childhood memories of pink tights, Mary Janes, and ballerina tutus. And once Mike and Daniel advanced beyond the age where I could carry them around in Halloween pumpkin costumes, my nights in Cinderella's ball gown were finished. For Mike and Daniel, this holiday was about scaring people.
"I want you to be a witch," said 7-year-old Daniel one year.
"A nice witch?" I asked, imagining myself as Glinda, the Good Witch from Oz.
"No, a scary witch," he said.
"But they are so ugly and creepy," I said.
"Yup," said Daniel. For him and his 9-year-old brother, Mike, Halloween was a time for war paint and fake weaponry.
I found an ad in our local newspaper promoting a Halloween store with scary displays and ghoulish costumes.
"This will be a new experience," I told myself, a phrase I often use as the mother of two boys. Since their arrival, I've improved my pitching arm, overcome my fear of reptiles, and witnessed Rhyno win the wrestling championship title on television.
As soon as I saw a human-size plastic skeleton hanging from the store's flagpole, my step quickened. "This could be a bit scary," I said as we went inside.
Rubber masks of monsters hung from the walls, and shelves were lined with jars of what were called preserved shrunken heads. Eerie high-pitched music played, and fake cobwebs tickled my skin. The store was not American Girl Place Cafe.
"This is so cool," said Mike, as we made our way past costume displays, where both boys seized plastic pirate swords and fangs.
I placed a tall, black witch's hat on my head. "What do you think?"
"Not scary enough," said Daniel.
"Wait," I said, seizing a set of colorful makeup pencils and some black hairspray. Next I added glue-on warts and green face paint to my shopping basket.
On our way out, we passed a small display of tiaras and pink and yellow fairy costumes. I paused and held up a satin and voile dress, admiring its gold trim.
"Mom, can we go?" Mike asked impatiently.
On Halloween night, I pieced together my outfit using a worn black skirt and blouse I found jammed in the back of my closet. "This is going beyond spooky," I thought as I smeared green makeup over my cheeks and forehead, outlined my eyes in red pencil, and drew on crow's-feet in dark-brown eyeliner. I created a scar on my left cheek and glued a wart on the end of my nose.
"If I didn't know you were my mom, I'd be afraid," said Mike.
"Ha, ha, ha," I cackled.
Mike left the room to get dressed and returned with a red-painted face, vampire fangs protruding from his small mouth, and a cape billowing behind him.
"Grraaaaah!" he said. Despite his fangs, he still looked more like Harry Potter than Count Dracula.
I checked on Daniel. He stood before the bathroom mirror slathering his cheeks (as well as the sink, towels, and mirror) with red and black paint.
"You think I'm too scary?" I asked.
"No way. You look cool!" Daniel said.
I beamed.
As we traveled from house to house trick-or-treating, our paint and costumes obscured our identities enough so that when neighbors handed us candy, they acted as if we were strangers. When we arrived at my friend Janet's home, she looked at the three of us, and then coolly began parceling out treats.
"Janet?" I said.
She stared at me. "Andrea? Wow. I didn't recognize you." There was shock and awe in her voice. "You look really awful!"
When we finally returned home, removed our makeup, and put away our costumes, I considered the Halloweens I had spent chasing beauty.
Later, Daniel snuggled up next to me. His face was scrubbed clean, and he was wearing newly laundered pajamas. He was no longer a demon, but a cherub.
Mike stood in the doorway. Black smudges still ringed his eyes.
"I think I like you better as a mom than a witch," said Mike.
"I like you scary," Daniel said.
As for me, I liked how a tube of green paint and a pointy hat broke me out of the beauty rut. Next year I'm going for the fangs, too.
Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics, and related links
It probably was the double blockquote that stretched your main background, Dolly, but when you have a left side border, you did the right thing by making an "invisible" table align=right, but where you put a width of 75, it didn't really mean anything because the width of your collages was 475, and it overrode that width of 75. I think what you PROBABLY meant was a width of 75%, which may or may not have been the right percentage of the solid background. I seem to always have to do the table border aligned right several times until I get it right - the size I *think* it should be (I give it a temporary bgcolor=red or some very noticible color) and then see if the red background is wider than the width of your bg that's solid, or if it runs into the left border. I just have to experiment until I get the percentage of that red background exactly right, and when it is, I remove the bgcolor=red. You then have an "invisible" table, and your pics and text will be on top of the solid part of that bordered bg. You follow that table command with < tr>< td> just as you would with any other table. Make sense? Yes? No? :)
Yes - I sorta figured that was what you did when I saw the "Ball" table - which was really, really nice, BTW!
Remember I am the copy/paste queen. I just lifted the align 75 from your Pippin thread. Had no clue what it meant but thought it was something to do w/border which seemed about the same size.
going to chew on your "instructions" when I am alert. Morning s are my best time to learn/experiment. I will save this & add it to my expanding tables/HTML Billie file from your threads. Thanks billie.. new skills each time is a goal.. BUT would be nice to fine tune the OLD skills that I do poorly!
Just forgot the "percent" sign - that does make a difference. I was hoping I hadn't left it out of mine which made you copy something wrong! (whew!)
<table background="http://www.d21c.com/billie/backgrounds/PippinSideBorderbg.jpg" border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=560>
<tr><td>
<table align="right" width="70%">
<tr><td>
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