The Joulogadze of Norway: A Mini-Essay

     In the Norwegian Lappmarken, Christmas Eve, known as ruotta-evening, is busied with a whirlwind of arrangements. While much of the world spends the day readying itself for Christmas, the Finns make preparations for the joulogadze (evil spirits). For the people of Lappmarken, ruotta-evening is perceived as the grimmest time of the year, when the joulogadze freely roam the earth and wreak havoc on the living.[1] It is a longstanding fear and, as Reidar Christiansen reveals, it has been mentioned as early as the seventeenth century in Reverend Petter Dass' Nordlands Trumpet.[2] According to popular lore, these malicious entities spend the night terrorizing churches and other holy places in retaliation of ruottabaeive (Christmas Day), which marks the anniversary of Jesus’ birth.[3] Indeed, as legend maintains, a Norwegian soldier once challenged the joulogadze and, in an attempt to prove his bravery, visited the Leon Church on ruotta-evening. Driven from the building in fright, he fell upon his sword and was instantaneously killed.[4] To prevent unwanted visitations, the Finns hide their brooms, which they believe the joulogadze steal and ride throughout the night, and place brass, flint, or steel into fountains and wells to prevent the spirits from urinating into fresh drinking water.[5]

Works Referenced

Christiansen, Reidar, ed. Folktales of Norway. Trans. Pat Shaw Iversen. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1964.

Emery, Mabel. Norway Through the Steroscope: Notes on a Journey Through the Land of the Vikings. New York: Underwood and Underwood, 1907.

Karsten, Rafael. The Religion of the Samek: Ancient Beliefs and Cults of the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps. Netherland, E.J. Brill, 1955.
____________________
[1] Karsten, 52.
[2] Christiansen, 33.
[3] Emery, 190.  
[4] Emery, 190.
[5] Karsten, 52.

Monster Sugar Cookies

$20 - $25 (based on 2017 prices)
Makes roughly two dozen cookies

Baking and decorating Christmas cookies has become a holiday tradition among my friends. Each year, we gather at my apartment, open a few bottles of wine, and let our festive creativity flow. While everyone else crafts glittering angels and colorful snowflakes, I gleefully create ravenous monsters and blood-drenched zombies. The cookie recipe we use is rather basic and works well for any holiday.

Cookies

• 2 Cups sifted flour
• ½ Teaspoon baking powder
• ½ Teaspoon baking soda
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• 2/3 Cup butter
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• ½ Teaspoon vanilla
• ½ Teaspoon lemon juice
  

Frosting

• 2 1/2 sticks softened butter
• 5 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• Food coloring in desired colors
  

1. In large bowl, sift together baking soda, baking powder, flour, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until it becomes creamy.

2. Blend the egg, lemon juice, milk, and vanilla into the butter and sugar mixture and the gradually add dry ingredients until dough forms. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 375°F and, on a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/8” thickness and, using cookie cutters, cut it into your desired shapes.

4. Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet one inch apart and bake them for ten to twelve minutes or until they reach a golden brown.

5. As the cookies cools, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer until it becomes creamy. Then, gradually add milk, vanilla, and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy.

The Tin Man's Heart

$10 - $15 (based on 2017 prices)

Makes one clock

This was a commission piece for a friend’s show. He was doing a modernized rendition of The Wizard of Oz and wanted a flashy heart for the Tin Man to wear. The prop took only a few hours to complete and looked great under the stage lights (the glitter mixed into the red paint added extra glimmer).

• One heart-shaped cardboard box
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat yellow*
• One sheet of yellow cardstock with a clock image printed on it
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• Two large paperclips
• Five plastic gears
• One yard of red ribbon
  

1. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the inside and outside of the box two even coats of red paint. To enhance the prop’s visual appeal, I decided to mix glitter into the paint. You, of course, are free to apply as many coats as you feel necessary and not add the glitter.

2. Once the paint has dried, trace the box’s outline onto the cardstock image, cut it out, and glue it inside the box. You can have the clock cover the entire surface or, like I did, occupy only a specific corner.

3. With a fine-tipped brush and yellow paint, create a filigree pattern along the inner walls of the box. Try not to over think your design (a random arrangement of scrollwork looks best).

4. Glue plastic gears onto the image to simulate clockwork. If you want a more elaborate appearance, vary their heights and sizes.

5. Cut out the clock’s hands from the cardstock, use needle nose pliers to straighten the paperclips (you could also use steel wire for this step), and glue the wire to the backs of the hands. To elevate the hands, I bent the ends into a v shape.

6. Glue the hands above the clockwork gears. You may have to bend the wires further to adjust their positions.

7. Glue the yard-long strand of ribbon to the back of the box and use a plastic gear to cover the seam. If someone plans to wear the prop, you may need to adjust the size of the ribbon to fit around the wearer’s head.

8. You can enhance the prop with additional details, including adhesive gems or strands of multi-colored beads.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.

"The Old Man of the Wood" (A Poem)

Although written for children, Jane Yolen's collection of Halloween-themed poetry presents more than just the traditionally silly limericks which often fill anthologies of this kind (read her humorous "The Fossilot" here). A few, including "The Old Man of the Wood," are astute and poignant, providing serious glimpses into such elements as magic and mortality.

I went into the willow-wood
To strip a branching bare,
And spied an old man by a stream
With leaves in place of hair.

His fingers were like thorny twigs,
His knuckles knobs of bone,
His legs were gray and heavy
As if carven out of stone.

His face was seamed with jagged lines
And crusted hard as bark,
His voice was whispery like the wind
That haunts the woods at dark.

He said but this one thing to me
That long I've pondered on:
"Your kind is like the yearwood,
Quickly harvested, then gone."[1]

Works Referenced 

Yolen, Jane. "The Old Man of the Wood." Best Witches: Poems for Halloween. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1989. 20.
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[1] Yolen, 20.

Veiled Sugar Skull

$15 - $20 (based on 2016 prices)

Makes one skull

To begin the prop-building process for 2017’s haunt, I transformed two old skulls used in 2015’s voodoo theme into sugar skulls. Although they were not used in the final haunt (they were given to a friend as a birthday present), they did help prepare me for the season.

• One ceramic skull
• One 8 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying latex paint in flat white*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat blue*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat pink*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat purple*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat turquoise*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat yellow*
• An assortment of flowers is multiple colors and sizes (e.g. baby’s breath, pink and red roses, white daises)
• A square of black lace at least 12” x 12”
  

1. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the skull three even coats of white paint. I used three to cover the voodoo pattern from 2015’s haunt, but you can apply fewer coats if the skull is new.

2. Detail the skull with polychromatic paints (you, of course, are free to use whatever colors you choose). If you struggle with drawing, buy a ceramic skull with the design already etched in its surface. Also, use black paint to outline and enhance the colors.

3. Once the paint has dried, glue flowers along the top of the skull to create the crown. For a tapered appearance, graduate the floral arrangement, ensuring that the larger flowers are in the center.

4. Create the veil by cutting a square of lace large enough to cover the back of the skull. I used a medium-sized prop, which required a piece of fabric roughly 12” x 12”. To make the veil resemble a mantilla, bunch the fabric near the crown, glue it in place, and fan it outward.

5. You could enhance the skull with additional details, including adhesive gems, glittered accents, or strands of multi-colored beads.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.

The Lunar Mystery of 1178: A Mini-Essay

     On the evening of June 18, 1178, five monks in Canterbury witnessed a bizarre occurrence. Shortly after sunset, the bright new moon appeared to split open. As flames and sparks jutted outward from the lunar surface, the moon appeared to writhe uncontrollably. The phenomenon was repeated a dozen times before the sky went dark and the men sat in dazed silence.[1] The entire account was later recorded by one of the monks, Gervase from the monastery of Christ Church, in his Chronicles of Gervase and, since then, it has baffled scientists for centuries. What exactly had the men viewed that Sunday evening? 
     In 1976, Jack Hartung, a scientist at the State University of New York, offered a possible explanation. According to Hartnug, the event depicted in Gervase's Chronicle details the formation of the thirteen-mile-wide lunar crater Giordano Bruno. As the scientist attests, the flames and sparks seen by the monks were the product of space debris colliding with the moon's surface, with the turbulent atmosphere encompassing the moon creating the writhing motion and sunlight reflecting through particles in that atmospheric cloud giving the illusion of flames.[2] Hartung's analysis intrigued the scientific community and, within a few months of his paper's publication, it drew criticism from Glenn Huss and H.H. Nininger, researchers at the American Meteorite Laboratory in Denver. For Huss and Nininger, it seemed improbable that the monks would have been able to see a sixty-mile-long cloud on the moon's surface with the naked eye. Furthermore, the scholars questioned Hartung's atmospheric disturbances and reflected lights. To them, Gervase's text was not the description of a lunar impact, but a meteor passing in front of the moon and burning up in the Earth's atmosphere in a spectacular show of flames and sparks.[3] Just as Hartung's theory had prompted debate, so had Huss and Nininger's rebuke. In 1978, Odile Calame and J. Derral Mulholland used data collected by the Apollo astronauts to support Hartung's claims and asserted that, not only had the debris created the Giordano Bruno cater, but the moon is still vibrating from the force of the impact.[4] In 1994, though, images from the spacecraft Clementine revealed reddish, weathered material along the sloping walls of the crater, which prompted some geologists to question whether Giordano Bruno was truly formed in 1178.[5]
     Currently, Hartung's thesis remains controversial and scientists continue to debate whether or not the event witnessed by Gervase and his peers was a lunar impact, the spectacular destruction of a meteor in the Earth's atmosphere, or something entirely different. 

Works Referenced

Calame, Odile and J. Derral Mulholland. "Lunar Crater Giordano Bruno: A.D. 1178 Impact Observations Consistent with Lunar Ranging Results." Science 199 (1978): 875-877.

Hartung, Jack. "Was the Formation of a 20-km-Diameter Impact Crater on the Moon Observed on June 18, 1178?" Meteoritics 11 (1976): 187-194.

Ingram, Jay. The Barmaid's Brain and Other Strange Tales from Science. New York: MJF Books, 1998.

Nininger, HH and Glenn Huss. "Was the Formation of Lunar Crater Giordano Bruno Witnessed in 1178? Look Again." Meteoritics 12 (1977): 21-25.
____________________
[1] Ingram, 174-176.
[2] Hartung, 190.
[3] Nininger and Huss, 21-25.
[4] Calame and Mulholland, 875-877.
[5] Ingram, 182-183.

Skull Rosaries

$10 - $15 (based on 2017 prices)

Makes two rosaries

2017’s theme explored the legend of La Llorona, so many of the builds incorporated elements of Catholicism and Mexican culture. For this prop, I chose to incorporate two major elements of Día de los Muertos – polychromatism and sugar skulls – into my macabre interpretation of the Catholic rosary.

• One to two yards of nylon string
• Two small cross stone beads
• One strand of small skull stone beads (roughly fourteen beads per strand)
• Two strands of small round stone beads (roughly fourteen beads per strand)
• Three strands of small square stone beads (roughly fourteen beads per strand)
  

1. Thread the beads onto the string to assemble the loop that will comprise the five decades. In a traditional rosary, each decade (ten beads) is separated by a bead marking one of the five Mysteries of Our Father. For my version, I shortened the loop to thirty-six beads total, since I needed the rosaries to be short enough to drape over the corners of picture frames and crown the tops of skulls. You, of course, are free to lengthen or shorten the prop based on your specific needs.

2. Draw the two ends of the loop together and knot the strings. Thread both strings through the beads which will form the centerpiece and the pendant. Here, too, I shortened the length of the rosary to fit my desired purposes.

3. Finish the prop with the crucifix, knotting and trimming the excess string. For added reinforcement, I glued the knot to ensure that the weight from the stone beads would not break or unravel it.

“A Skeleton Once in Khartoum” (A Poem)

The author and original publication date of “A Skeleton Once in Khartoum” are unknown; however, the limerick has reappeared in numerous Halloween-themed texts for decades, including Peter Pauper’s Limerick Book (1940), The Haunted House and Other Spooky Poems and Tales (1970), Halloween Crafts (1995), and How Do You Make a Skeleton Laugh? (2012).

A skeleton once in Khartoum 
Asked a spirit up into his room; 
They spent the whole night 
In the eeriest fight 
As to which should be frightened of whom.[1]

Works Referenced

“A Skeleton Once in Khartoum.” The Wordsworth Book of Limericks. Ed. Linda Marsh. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1997. 412.
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[1] “A Skeleton Once in Khartoum,” 412.

Cemetery Cake

$10 - $15 (based on 2016 prices)
Makes one cake

This creation was inspired by a Halloween staple: dirt cake (get the traditional recipe here). For this version, I kept the edible dirt concept and used it as filler between the cake's layers. Although I made the treat from scratch, the time-pressed haunter can achieve the same results with a store-bought mix and frosting.

Cake

• 2 1/3 Cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ¾ Teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ Cups sugar
• ½ Cup butter
• 3 Egg whites
• 1 Cup milk
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 10.7 oz. bag of Oreo cookies

Frosting

• 2 ½ Sticks softened butter
• 5 Cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and, in a large bowl, sift together baking powder, flour, salt, and sugar.

2. Add butter, egg whites, milk, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and beat with a hand mixer on low for roughly three minutes or until everything is well blended.

3. Pour the batter into greased baking pans and bake for thirty minutes or until the cake reaches a golden brown and a toothpick inserted in their centers comes out clean.

4. As the cake cools, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer until it becomes creamy. Then, gradually add milk, vanilla, and sugar and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy.

5. In a food processor, mince the Oreo cookies. You can chop them into fine crumbs or leave larger chucks to give the dirt a more realistic look. To prevent the cake from being too sweet, remove the cream.

6. Assemble the cake, frosting the first layer and adding a coat of crushed Oreos. Garnish the final version with the remaining Oreos. To emphasize the cemetery theme, top the cake with rubber worms and a skeleton's hand.

Tainted Candy: A Mini-Essay

     The insidious lunatic who perniciously tampers with children's candy has, over the course of the past few decades, become an image inseparable from Halloween. Each year, newscasters and parental groups repeatedly warn the public about the dangers of treats laced with drugs, apples packed with razor blades, and popcorn balls peppered with ground glass. Their concerns and proactive efforts are well intended, especially in a world of rising violence; however, many have come to question what this image is doing to the holiday itself. As Michael Taft emphasizes, "Halloween acts as a commentary on community continuity and cohesiveness."[1] For the scholar, the event possesses a distinct communal quality. Across the country (and within other nations which celebrate some variation of Halloween), members of the community decorate their homes and businesses and welcome costume-clad strangers with treats and toys. While the festivities of other holidays center around family and friends, Halloween engages the entire community and creates, as Lesley Pratt Bannatyne argues, a civic event.[2] Because of the trust involved in this communal process, it's easy to understand why such fears would emerge: parents and children depend on the honesty of those doling out free candy and those providing treats rely on the integrity of masked patrons visiting their homes and businesses. It is this type of faith which distinguishes the holiday from many others and, according to scholars such as Bannatyne and Taft, makes Halloween a collective affair. Likewise, it is this trust - and the vulnerability it presents to everyone involved - which allows space for fears to develop. It goes without saying that, with the rise in mass shootings and random acts of cruelty, the world is becoming more crazed, but is there any truth behind the Halloween sadist? Within the past thirty years, serious academic scholarship has examined this image, its impact upon the holiday, and its legitimacy. 
     In 1973, Editor and Publisher reviewed the results of multiple newspapers' attempts to trace the origins of the Halloween sadist and discovered that all of the tales were hoaxes by children or parents to mask other unrelated crimes.[3] The first major academic study occurred in 1985 by sociologists Joel Best and Gerald Horiuchi at California State University. Examining media reports of the Halloween sadist between 1958 and 1983, the scholars discovered that not a single death or serious injury occurred during this timeframe. The insidious lunatic, Best and Horiuchi conclude, is an urban legend over-exaggerated by the press and appearing in mass media during the 1970s.[4] In 2002, Nicholas Rogers arrived at the same conclusion. At the time of his work's publication, only two deaths had occurred on the holiday and, although both were attributed to the Halloween sadist, their validity was quickly dismantled: in 1970, five-year-old Kevin Tostan died after eating candy laced with heroin and police investigation later discovered that the tale had been fabricated by his uncle who had left the drug within reach of the child; in 1974, eight-year-old Timothy O'Bryan died of cyanide poison after eating a tainted Pixy Stix which was later identified as being poisoned by his own father who had recently purchased hefty life insurance policies on Timothy and his sister.[5] Despite widespread news coverage which revealed that the perpetrators of both incidents used the myth as a smokescreen, the two cases only added fodder for the public's concerns. So, if the sadist never existed and growing issues with violence have helped foster fears, what has all of this done to Halloween? Brian Sutton-Smith echoes Bannatyne and Taft regarding the holiday's communal qualities and he laments how the sadist image is slowly chipping away at the civic event that is Halloween, with several towns banning trick-or-treating and/or outlawing haunted attractions and themed displays. Written thirty-four years ago, his sentiments still hold strong today: "These holiday celebrations are our final resting place for trust and security. We cannot give them up and close our door, turn out our lights and snuff out the candles. The heart and future of our nation depends on their continuance."[6] 

Works Referenced

Bannatyne, Lesley. Halloween: An American Holiday, and American History. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 1990.

Best, Joel and Gerald Horiuchi. "The Razor Blade in the Apple: The Social Construction of Urban Legends." Social Problems 32.5 (1985): 488-499.

Roger, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Sutton-Smith, Brian. "What Happened to Halloween." Parents Magazine 58 (1983): 65.

Taft, Michael. "Adult Halloween Celebrations on the Canadian Prairie." Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life. Ed. Jack Santino. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1994. 152-169.

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[1] Taft, 164.
[2] Bannatyne, 124. 
[3] Bannatyne, 146.
[4] Best and Horiuchi, 492-494. 
[5] Roger, 90-94.
[6] Sutton-Smith, 65.

2016's Yard Haunt (Night)

2016: Haunted Farm

2016 was a special year for Haunted Hill. After a decade of absence, the haunt returned to its old stamping ground. It was a return welcomed by the family and neighborhood. While the farm looked vibrantly festive during the day (see those pictures here), it developed a sinister appearance at night.