Things That Go Bump in the Night ... Halloween Cometh

This is from last year for two reasons. One, of course, I have no time but can't bear to let you spend these days before All Hallow's Eve without some suggestions for diversion. The links, therefore, are from last year but the bloggers are all still out there so just see what they're offering this year to add to the variety.

Two ... it's all still good!

 Photo from Recta Ratio

Trick or Treating

Remember studies prove that eating sugar does not equal hyperactivity in kids. So said Nutrition Diva and I trust her. So let them have an extra Butterfinger or two.

Spooky Reading
When reading this Top 10 List of Vampire Novels some time ago, I noticed there were a few missing that I would have included. I'm not sure these are all top ten material but there are several on that list where the descriptions left me wondering if they really warranted that spot. So we'll just say these are good 'uns and leave it at that.

• Vampire$ by John Steakley
• Sunshine by Robin McKinley
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• Already Dead by Charlie Huston
• Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by twenty years. A thumping good read although the strong hints of (vampire)girl-on-(human)girl action are quite surprising in a work that old.

We can't let the vampires have all the fun and you know that there are a few choice zombie books I am partial to.

• The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell
• World War Z by Max Brooks (which I have been meaning to reread) ... as well, Hannah brought home the prequel (of sorts) by Brooks ... The Zombie Survival Guide which I've been meaning to read but have heard is jolly good fun.

Ghostly goodness can't be ignored either.

• Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett
• Odd Thomas (and the sequels) by Dean Koontz

If you don't roll the nonfiction way, here are two good 'uns with a Catholic flavah.

• The Rite by Matt Baglio (all about training to be an exorcist)
• Holy Ghosts by Gary Jensen (who discovered his house was haunted ... if you want an overview, here's a piece he wrote for Huffington recently.

Spooky Viewing (kind of)

We'll begin with the zombies this time, shall we? Keeping in mind that I don't like zombie movies unless they have a strong humorous side.

• Shaun of the Dead
• Zombieland: A true delight AND a movie that celebrates family (still chock-full of flesh-eating zombies). Hilarious though. Rule #4: watch this movie.

A hybrid which features what our family called "zom-pires" ...

• I Am Legend

Finally, yes, we are down to the vampire movies.

• Let The Right One In
• Angel ... yes, this was a tv show and not a movie but it has the right amount of humor leavening the monsterism throughout.

And that all leads us to a movie featuring all the spooky stuff but as a musical!

• The Nightmare Before Christmas
•  

Lots And Lots Of Linky Goodness

• Amy H. Sturgis has been counting down all month with a post a day. There is a wealth of Halloween enjoyment at her place.
  

  Text of the Day: I present "Haunted!" by Isabella Banks (1821-1897). May it give you a chill!
  
  And so, it is said, you are haunted!
  My friend, we are haunted all;
  And every homestead holds a ghost
  That ever has held a pall.
  
  Do you think that the empty cradle
  Has never a ghost within?
  Or the unused nursery table
  Hears never a ghostly din?

• Recta Ratio has stored up years worth of interesting holiday stories, images, and Catholic goodness for celebrating Halloween.
  

  Bradbury has for me made October 20th a milestone, a day in which Halloween begins to be anticipated. Halloween, the eve of All Saints' and the build-up for the Catholic Day of the Dead, All Souls', has taken some hard knocks, mostly unjustified. Opportunistic modern wiccans and pagans, especially in Salem, have claimed as their own a holiday that has nothing to do with them and their New Age, and never did.
  
  The celebration of the day is Celtic and Christian. It is the dying time of the year, with the harvest almost all in now, and even the green leaves of summer suddenly blazing into brilliant color and then dropping to the ground. The days are growing notably colder and shorter. It is the appropriate time to recall our dead, to think about, and to pray for the all the dead. The merry season of Christmas lies ahead. But, as the liturgical year winds down over the next 5 weeks, let us pause to recall death. It is the first of the Four Last Things, after all.
  
  If part of thinking about it is reading old gothic ghost stories over a mug of mulled cider by candlelight in the privacy of one's study, or watching movies about ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves, and monsters, or impressing the imagination of children by decorating a "haunted house" and handing out enough candy to make them spit out teeth the next day, or carving pumpkins in imitation of the Irish custom of the carved turnip of Jack of the Lantern, or burning leaves at night, there is no harm in it.

• The Anchoress is a fellow Halloween aficionado and has some good observations and tons of good links.
  

  The other thing I love about All Hallow’s Eve is the next day: All Saints Day. That is a holy day of obligation that I particularly love, because there is an intimacy to it. In blustery weather, usually damp and chill, the Catholics troop to mass and remember those who came before us. It’s like spiritually visiting the graves of our beloved. We remember the stories and remember where we have come from, and that helps us to remember who we are. It helps remind us that we want to keep walking the straight, narrow path that will unite us all before the throne!

• biblioklept (via Steven Riddle at A Momentary Taste of Being) has some really fun stuff.
  
  
  
  
  
• Catholic Once Again has some great posts about zombies (near and dear to my heart, as we know) and sorting out Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day

  Somebody asked me recently why Catholics like zombies. I wasn't aware we were known for that. (Though I was able to include an alarming number of Catholic/zombie links at the bottom of this post)
  
  If Catholics are drawn to zombies, and I'm not saying we are as a whole, it may be because we are willing to face our own mortality. We challenge ourselves to look death in the eye- examine our souls- do a preflight check to see if we're prepared for eternity with God.