Amarillo Scaregrounds

 

While surprising our friends at Moxley Manor, I had promised the owners, Vona and Joey and all the great people at Amarillo Scaregrounds that I would come over and visit. I've been wanting to see their haunt for quite some time now.

 

I had met these wild and crazy and fun people at Hauntcon, one of the Halloween and Haunter conventions and have hung out with them the past couple of years. These guys know how to party!

 

They have been running this multi-attraction haunt for quite some time and they are not finished yet! My daughter Madalyn and I drove over from Bedford (don't drive if you can help it, better to fly, the drive is long across the plains and prairies of Texas). We were very tired by the time we got there but we were excited to see our friends again and get to see their haunt for the first time ever.

 

Amarillo Scaregrounds has 5 attractions at one location! There is no order that you have to go in either so you can pick and choose which has the shortest lines. We had to go down to The Basement first as we heard about the coffin ride these guys BUILT! Oh yea, we had to experience this! Someone is there to help you in, now if you get out, is another thing! ;)

 

The Basement had some really great scares and detailed scenes. I loved the set up!

Right afterwards, we went right into the Blackout that is timed and I ended up losing my daughter, Madz who just zipped right through as she is great with figuring out mazes. My sense of direction isn't as top notch as her's so it took me a little bit longer. It was fun however as I could hear her catch up to the guys ahead of us and pass them up! Good job Madz!

 

The Insanitarium called to us next and we got to go in just two of us. Fewer is always better in a haunt. I won't give anything away, only that you gotta go in there! It was just awesome. Lots of wonderful detail!

 

After that we got right into the line for Terror and disappeared into the dark depths. This one was amazing as well! Again, I don't want give anything away but you will love it! 

 

We didn't make it to the Zombie Apocalypse Training Center, but that means we will definitely have to be back for another visit!

 

Amarillo Scaregrounds offers food and souvenirs there and they have the nicest porta-potties, ones you won't feel icky going into at all and it's like a regular bathroom! Very nice. Open patio and a place inside as well as real tombs and vaults and grave markers outside. This is a place you definitely want to return to again and again, bring your friends and enjoy yourself for a full night of fun, laughter and lots of chilling screams!

 

They have lots of specials going on too and for just $50, you can get an all night pass and go through each attraction as many times as you want!

 

If you are out there in the Amarillo area, you only have a couple nights left to check them out this season. It's well worth the trip out there to get your scare on!

 

Miss you guys and thank you for the great hospitality and loved hanging out with you all! Luv ya!

Thanks Josh for showing us sneak peek stuff behind the scenes and Joey and Vona for letting us help out and keeping us for a couple nights! Great to see you Mark, Herby, Elexi, Whitney and Jeff, we love y'all! It was great meeting those that we got to as well while we were there. I had so much fun reading tarot for you all long into the night! :) Will definitely have to come back down to visit again!

 

For more info:

 

http://www.amarilloscaregrounds.com/

 

 

Thanks guys for a great visit and for sharing your haunt with us! :)

 

GP

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Moxley Manor Adds Another Attraction!

 

I snuck down to Bedford, Texas a couple weeks ago to surprise my great haunter friends, Richard and Rachel Alvarado. I didn't say a word that my daughter and I were coming, we just showed up with some goodies in hand for one of our favorite haunts!

 

We had heard they had added another attraction to Moxley Manor and it's right next door! Very convenient and when you pay to go in Moxley, you get to go in both for the one price. We were so excited to check them out and see all the changes for they are famous for changing up things and adding all the time. So if you've gone before, you'd best go again because it's going to have something new!

 

We went in with a group of 3 little boys who were really scared and didn't want to go in by themselves. So I volunteered to take them in with my daughter and their mother was relieved that I'd go with them. We made them go first of course so we could take our time and check out all the awesome detail that has been added and I have to say I was floored! So much new detail and great scares in there, I was just so impressed!

 

There is a new ticket booth to get your tickets outside and it helps to streamline the whole process.

If that line is too long, its well worth paying for that VIP to get you to the front of the line!

 

The new scare....Pitch Dark...!

Oh wow...you get one glow stick per group and go inside the dark, black maze that has fog creeping along the walls and floors. Now, I have to say, it is rare for me to jump or get startled too much but it is very difficult to get through this attraction without jumping! Great scares in there and more to come as I heard what evil plans Richard and Rachel have in mind to add to that one!

 

Man o man, I know that means I will have to come back down and check it out again, all the way from Maine! We sure do miss them all at Moxley Manor and it was great getting to catch up!

 

Now, if you haven't gone yet, you have a few more nights left to check it out for this Halloween season. So get your behind over there and don't miss out!

 

For more info:

http://moxleymanor.com/

 

 

Check it out! You'll be damn glad you did!

 

GP

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Dozen Tees

While visiting the Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine, Texas, we came upon this really cool t-shirt store that had the one wall lit in black light of all these really cool 3D t-shirts that were aglow!

 

It was really cool!

 

Check them out online:

 

 

http://dozentees.com/

Halloween Baking Championship

I don't normally watch the Food network,  but one night, I was flipping thru the channels and saw these super creative Halloween desserts and food competitions and just had to stop and watch! 

How inspiring to make your own really cool Halloween foods! 

Check it out!

Here is the link for more info:

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/halloween-baking-championship.html

100 Years of Halloween

Something fun being passed about on Facebook that I wanted to add here so you all can take a peek at the Halloween history and what Halloween looked like the year/decade you were born.

 

http://www.countryliving.com/entertaining/g460/vintage-halloween/?slide=1&src=arb_fb_d&mag=clv&dom=fb

 

Enjoy!

Jaws

I know what you are thinking, Jaws as a horror or Halloween movie? Really?

It's listed as one of the top horror movies of all time. Truly!

 

 

 

Think about it...gore, suspense...it was scary!

 

This movie came out in 1975 and I was probably too young to have seen it in the movie theaters but I did see it eventually and when I did...wow! It had me to the edge of my seat.

 

It was hard to hear the crunching of bones and then see the blood oozing down into the water.

 

Watch this if you've never seen it before. I know when I did, I couldn't get it out of my mind when next I went to go swimming in the ocean.

 

I wouldn't recommend this to little kids. It can give you nightmares and make you afraid to go swimming in the ocean. It shows blood and guts and has some cursing in it, also adult situations and nudity.

 

It stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss.

My favorite was Robert Shaw. I found these interesting facts about him for this movie:

 

http://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/article/robert-shaw-as-jaws-quint-8-facts

 

The theme song alone is enough to getcha! Great music by John Williams!

Take a peek at the trailer for this one:

 

 

 

I read the best selling book by Peter Benchley and it was definitely a great read! You can find it at Amazon:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Jaws-Novel-Peter-Benchley/dp/0345544145/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

This is the movie that coined the phrase:

 

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

 

There is a reason for that one....check it out!

A true classic.

 

 

The Raven - by Edgar Allan Poe

 The Raven, read by Christopher Lee:

 

 

The Raven

 

By Edgar Allan Poe

 

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

            Only this and nothing more.”

    Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

    Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

    From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

            Nameless here for evermore.

    And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

    So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

    “’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—

            This it is and nothing more.”

    Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

    But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

    And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—

            Darkness there and nothing more.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

    But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

    And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—

            Merely this and nothing more.

    Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

    “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;

      Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—

            ’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

    Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;

    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—

            Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;

    For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

    Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

            With such name as “Nevermore.”

    But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

    Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—

    Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”

            Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

    Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store

    Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster

    Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—

Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore

            Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”

    But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;

    Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking

    Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore

            Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

    This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;

    This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

    On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,

But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,

            She shall press, ah, nevermore!

    Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

    “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee

    Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

    Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—

    On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—

Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—

    Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

    It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

    Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

    Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

    And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

    And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

            Shall be lifted—nevermore!

 

 

The Raven--read by Vincent Price:

 

 

 

The Raven--read by Christopher Walken:

 



 

 

A Facebook page for Edgar Allan Poe: EdgarAllanPoeAuthor

Edgar Allan Poe Gravesites, Home, and Museum -- Baltimore, MD

Being so near Baltimore, Maryland, I could not pass up the chance to visit the grave of Edgar Allan Poe, the master of the macabre before I move further up north.

 

Edgar Allan Poe is enshrouded with mystery, not only of his life, his death, but also after death. Purported to have had his remains moved more than once, his life and work continues to intrigue all those students and connoisseurs of the eerie, the creepy, and anyone who has delved into the darker depths of the mysterious and the world of Halloween.

 

 

 

Information on Poe's Grave

 

Long have I had a tribute for Poe in my cemetery, adding ravens year to year and including the remnants of a Poe Toaster can be found on Halloween itself at the tombstone I had made for him.

 

 

The famous grave stone markers can be found at the Westminster Cemetery, 519 W Fayette St, Baltimore, MD 21201. The cemetery is open to the public from 8 am to dusk.

 

 

When you first enter the cemetery, you see the large pillar stone straight away on the right. For most who are unaware, that would be it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But if you wander deeper into the cemetery, passing many other very old, and famous tombs, you will come upon the second marker for Poe that is more iconic with the Raven carved with the famed 'Nevermore' line from his poem The Raven.

 

 

 

 

Wander about this cemetery, take your time as there are some very unique tombs and mausoleums there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few sad gravestones including several under the church itself as additions were built right over these and many young children's gravestones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 About half a mile away and not to be missed for all Poe fans, is the home where Edgar Allan Poe had lived for a few years. It has become a museum and you can tour through the tiny building for $5.00. They have a few Poe trinkets there for sale as well and several guides who can share quite a lot about the history of the home as well as Edgar himself and those who had lived there as well with him.

 

 

Don't forget to check out their Facebook page:

 

Poe Baltimore

 

and also this one: Edgar-Allan-Poe-House-and-Museum

 

They do take donations to help keep the place going and open and looking for volunteers as guides. They also conduct poetry readings and I heard a killer Halloween party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tip about going to the house and museum:

This is located on the corner of a street in a more poor area of Baltimore. There are no commercial parking, but when we went, we could have parked right across the street as there were not many cars there at all.

We had parked across from the Westminster Cemetery and then walked the half mile up. Careful when using a GPS to do this as you need to be sure and switch from car to pedestrian, otherwise the route took us on a longer walk, whereas you could walk straight several blocks to Amity and then make a right and the house is just a couple blocks up from there.  There are lots of public parking garages and lots to park near the cemetery.

 

This was well worth the trip if you are near the area.

 

GP

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