Happy, happy Halloween! It's the finale of my celebration of October and the spooky things that emerge at this time of year. My Halloween morning was perfect: I spent it running through the woods from zombies and a swamp monster. The MudWalk is a tradition for elementary school kids in our area. They visit the Environmental Studies Center and … Continue reading Running Through The Swamp – Halloween At Last
The Halloween shelves are shrinking with the last of the cackling skeleton brides and tombstones. There are some turkeys overlapping them, but Christmas and winter holidays are coming on strong. I see you, giant nutcrackers and elves, just on the other side of the shelf. Halloween is almost here, our last revelry of this spooky season, … Continue reading Christmas Is Creeping Up Behind You – 1 Day Until Halloween
Florida huntsman spiders hide behind curtains and boxes pushed against the wall. They're velvety brown and large, nearly the size of your hand. Their legs tickle if you let them crawl over your fingers. You'll see them when you pull back the shower curtain or move something from under your bed. But they'll skitter away, shy … Continue reading #Arachtober – 5 Days Until Halloween
Dr. Paul Bearer was the host of Creature Feature, a self-declared "horrible old movie" double-feature that aired in the 1970's and 80's in the Tampa area. In my memory, I'm laying on a floor pillow on orange carpet, in the living room of our family cabin, and watching Attack of the Mushroom People with him … Continue reading Throwback Thursday – 9 Days Until Halloween
The Florida Writers Conference will be wrapping up tomorrow, and I'll be doing a blog post soon on the wonderful insights into writing about monsters from one of the talks. For now, I'll pretend I've got some Halloween cereal in my room for a late night snack.
When I was a teenager, my family lived in a farmhouse built before the Civil War. Rooms had been added on as the family grew and the kitchen was moved inside. It was a large and simple - the opposite of an antebellum manse - with a few oddly offset rooms. It was a perfect house to … Continue reading Throwback Thursday – 16 Days Until Halloween
Orange for pumpkins. For Halloween. For turning leaves and intense sunsets. For brightly colored creatures, beautiful and frightening. And black, to offset the orange. To bring on the longer nights.
Last year, a little girl in a princess costume walked down my driveway on Halloween with her mom trailing behind her. The little girl was transfixed by the orange lights and spooky decorations. Her mom was looking around nervously. "Nothing here will jump out at her," I told the mom from the candy table. "Really?" My skull … Continue reading Haunting The Yard – 19 Days Until Halloween
The dark hides all sorts of monsters. The boldest monsters show themselves in the daylight, too.
We have cats. We also have animals skulls, mink skins, a preserved alligator head and piranha, and vials of insects. I have a coin purse made out of a Bufo marinus, complete with head, front legs and googly eyes, but she's at work. Now that it's Halloween time, there are all sorts of additional creatures … Continue reading Creatures In The House – 21 Days Until Halloween
Victoria Nations 