Halloween colours

Why is Halloween colours orange, or orange and black? The vibrant orange and pumpkin colours are vivid, strong, warm and Autumn that it seems now synonymous. Halloween smells and tastes like the colour orange, very tangy bitter like pumpkins and gingerbread. It's a home-hearth comfort meaning, that reminds people of their childhood Halloweens. 

Black is for those superstitions of black cats. I guess it's night time, shadows and dark times with longer nights. It's the colour of a witches cauldron, plain raw coffee and tea, without added milk. Original chocolate and chernozem. Those sparkling jewels of obsidian, jet, tourmaline and onyx. 

Orange and black is the colour of fire and death. Fire lanterns, fiery lights, jack o' lanterns, pumpkin candles. Fire in the night and draws spirits in, while keeping evil away. Fire in the fields to make predators (death) back away. 

Halloween could also be grey and red. Grey for the mist, ghosts, graves, the chill, gloomy skies, and also monsters including gargoyles, ghouls, Wendigo, werewolves and the grey aliens! Red for blood, eerie eyes, vampires, demons, strigoi, redcaps, Hellhounds and imps. 

Orange entities are much more complex, neither good or bad, some spiritual leanings. These are the Kitsune, dragons, phoenix, firedrakes, foxfires. Orange is assuring with magic and trickery. 

Glamis Castle

One of the most haunted houses in the UK is Glamis Castle. There's so many haunted houses to talk about so I'll mention this one today. Glamis castle is a beautiful fairy tale looking castle but it has an eerie quality. Some of it's got a few secrets, dark history and ghosts. 

There is a spirit of a tongueless lady with a frightening face. She's been haunting the gardens, and staring out of windows. No one really knows who she is. Another spirit is the Grey Lady, who was the beautiful Lady Glamis, Janet Douglas, who lived a tragic life and then burned at the stake. 

There's a friendlier ghost of a boy, believed to be the spirit of a pageboy who died from cold. The Queen Mother spent her childhood living in Glamis Castle. It's believed that she remembers meeting the pageboy ghost and found him to be quite mischievous. Some people have seen him playing near the Queen Mother's former bedroom where he would also take a seat right outside the door, which is where he died.

The most prominent ghost is the dark figure of Earl Beardie, who frightens people in their rooms, shouting, swearing and wailing. It's believed that he gambled while drunk. When he was alive he'd sold his soul to the Devil. It's also believed that a servant was blinded in one eye by the Devil after peeping through a keyhole to witness the goings on with Earl Beardie in the next room.

In more recent times, the ghost of the "monster" at Glamis castle has been encountered throughout the years. During Victorian times, the heir to Glamis was born severely disfigured and died. Well, legend has it this deformed child was Thomas Lyon-Bowes, who was still alive and kept in the Blue Room, a hidden location still not found today. He grew to adulthood and described as large, hairy with an animal appearance. There is a superstition once that every generation, a "vampire child" is born from the Lyon-Bowes family.  

Another horrific story from Glamis is about the Ogilvy Clan who were locked inside the castle and starved to death. First they sought refuge from the Lindsey Clan, who were their bitter enemies. Lord Glamis, John Lyon, promised them safety in the castle, but he was a friend of the Lindsey Clan, and so he left them trapped inside the castle walls.  After many years of eerie sounds, screaming and scratching on the walls, it was investigated. After removing a wall of bricks, a gruesome discovery was made showing skeletons of the Ogilvy Clan inside. 

Shadow Girl  

Vampire bats

Now it's October, a time for spookiness and creepy crawlies. Vampire bats are a special kind of animal linked to Halloween. They're associated with eerie haunted places, dungeons, caves, castles and graveyards. There's many species of bats, although the creepy ones are vampire bats. 

Author Bram Stoker created Dracula. One of the traits of the vampire nobleman was the ability to shapeshift into a bat. It's always been considered unlucky to dream of bat mainly because they were once thought to be harbingers of death. While bats always have been regarded as creatures of witchcraft and demons, the discovery of blood drinking bats in the New World during the 16th century only increased their reputation into horror lore. Stoker was responsible for bringing vampire bats to Transylvania. All of his vampire bats originally come from the Americas.  

In reality, vampire bats mostly feast on the blood of farm animals and birds, as these are mostly outdoors. They don't suck blood! They sip blood from wounds. Just a small minority of bats drink blood in total of about 3 species, while the majority of bats prefer fruity meals, sometimes with insects and nectar. You can be rest assured that nearly all of the local bats here in Europe are interested in some nice chopped bananas and figs. 

Shadow Girl       

Black Flash and Spring-Heeled Jack

This is one of the most unusual stories to occur in September set in Provincetown in Massachusetts. 

It started in September 1938, which was sightings of a tall eerie figure in a hooded cape, dark clothes and fire breathing. He had shining blue or red eyes and very large silver ears. Some say that he wore a mask. He was capable of leaping over 10 ft high fences and jump up onto the rooftops. His cape flapped like wings. 

"The Black Flash" is what they call him as he's now an urban legend. He always liked to jump out and scare people. He found it funny and laughed so much. His laughter sounded cruel and mocking. Someone was so scared they took a shot at him but he only laughed at them and appeared unfazed.  

Men tackled him The Black Flash but he overpowered them all and got away. Well, he stood about 8 ft tall! Not only did he torment people, but he also breathed fire! The flames that come out of his mouth was blue in colour.   

He caused a lot of panic throughout the town. He made a regular shocking appearance many times each year and then he stopped in 1945. Police cornered him once and he jumped so high that he escaped. And the last time he was seen was when local children flung hot water at him and he ran off. That was it. Often evil spirits flee from water. No one has seen him since then, which makes many outsiders and sceptics think it was a prankster. That's some joke! 

This entity sounds a lot like the English legendary "Spring-heeled Jack", who terrorised people around London and Liverpool during Victorian times. Spring Heeled Jack was first seen in 1837. This entity was also like The Black Flash, who did similar great leaps onto rooftops and he could breathe fire! 

Some believe this was all party tricks! Of Spring-heeled Jack, it's theorised this prankster was really the Irish nobleman Henry Beresford, the Marquess of Waterford. If so, that was impressive! A fantastic costume and amazing trickery set for Halloween. 

Maybe someone borrowed the idea of Spring-heeled Jack for Provincetown? or if not, was it just mass hysteria? With police involvement, well no. Or was it an unknown entity of paranormal origins?  

Shadow Girl