Happy Halloween-October 31! I have a bit of debate today bouncing around in my head. What would be more fun to display today, Halloween ghost stories or Halloween pop-ups? Why not give a demonstration of both? After all, Halloween is about excess. As a kid, one goes after as much candy as they can.
When in fourth grade, perhaps fifth, I went trick-or-treating with some friends, and we crossed Sheridan road (Mom’s boundary line), to houses on the east side of the road. What a haul! We also stopped in at the Doll House (old bar) and got nickles and quarters. We decided that the next year was going to be even better-more houses more candy. However, right before the next upcoming Halloween, I developed tonsillitis and spent several days in the hospital. Got out November 1st. The next year, I was considered too old for trick-or-treating. I had to hand out candy. My childhood ended that fateful Halloween.
Let me pour open my literary bag of treats. I have a bunch of Halloween pop-up books. Like candy, there are some that grownups like, and some that are favored by kids. I have “Ghosts” by Linda Jennings and Louise Gardner, 1995, “Spooky Night” Benrei Huang, 1992, and “Boo Whoo?” by Kees Moerbeek, 1993. “Boo Whoo” is a genious idea. It splits pop-up pages into halves that can be combined with others. For example top of cat and bottom mummy. The split is at the mouth so both pieces articulate. This is a wonderful book.
Scary jokes with “Knock! Knock!” Halloween jokes by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins, 1991.
Love “Haunted House” by Jan Pienkowski, 1979. I have had this book a long time. I believe it was one to really start the pop-up craze in book collecting, because of the blending of story with unusual pop-ups and movement. It is a wonderful well-made book.
Then I have two cross-over books. These books have stories, but are also popups. “Ghost Tales” illustrated by Korky Paul, 1991 is a recounting of five famous stories in literature. Older kids will like the stories.
This next pop-up is scary even for adults. I gave it to my mom to add to her collection. She flipped through it and said “Oowwwh, too creepy.” It is “The Illustrated Edgar Allen Poe” published in 2013. It has four complete Poe stories, macabre illustrations, and six unsettling pop-ups. This is certainly Poe.
This last pop-up book is a wonderful pop-up, and a favorite, “The Dwindling Party” by Edward Gory, 1982. One by one, members of the MacFizzets disappear as they visit this haunted mansion.
I turn now to ghost stories. These books each have a little back story. One Halloween in Michigan, when my kids were young, I took them to see Gundella the Green Witch, at a bookstore lecture. She told stories from her book “Michigan Haunts and Haunting”, 1992, and then signed the book for us.
A generation later on Halloween, I took a young granddaughter Abigail, to listen to Stephanie McCarthy talk of ghost stories in her book “Haunted Peoria”, 2009. She also signed a copy for me. I have seen the Peoria State Hospital both in the day and at night, and there was not a creepier building around; it shouted “ghosts and horrors”.
I saw “Ghostly Tales and Mysterious Happenings of Old Monterey” 1977, when I visited Carmel, Ca. I had just toured Carmel Mission (a simply beautiful church!) and the docent told me of its haunting. I bought the book.
My stepdad gave me the book “Ghosts of Little Egypt, Ghosts and Hauntings of Southern Illinois” by Troy Taylor, 1998. There is one story about “spook” lights, glowing balls of light floating around. My step-dad would get all animated, telling me of a time his mother and his older brother saw some “spook” lights about a mile from their house, one night in the woods. Stepdad doesn’t believe in Ghosts, but he believes those “spook” lights.
A few years back went to New Orleans with some friends. We took tour of haunted areas, and visited several cemeteries. I snapped pictures of Josey Arlington’s haunted tomb. I was able to get a signed copy of “New Orleans Ghosts” by Victor C. Klein, 1996. Josey’s story is the first one in the book, and her tomb is on the cover.
This is my latest ghost book, “Haunted Rockford, Illinois”, by Kathi Kresol, 2017. My son-in-law and I went to a used bookstore, and saw the book. He grew up in the area, and knew the stories. We later drove around to see several places. My next visit, when his daughter was practicing her driving for a license, she drove me through a cemetery where another store has been written about.
I hope you received a fair amount of interesting mind candy. Spook ya later.
What do you call a ghost with a broken leg? A hoblin goblin.
P.S.
October 31st is my dog’s birthday. Bailey is twelve, and certainly my best friend.
Librarytomes 