Sorcery and the Nyoro: A Mini-Essay

      For the Nyoro, a Bantu-speaking tribe in western Uganda, most diviners work part time, with the majority of their efforts spent farming and their services typically costing only a few shillings. These mystics use several different methods to obtain answers: throwing nine small squares of leather onto a mat, with their placement revealing truths; sprinkling water onto the ashes of a burnt leaf, with the patterns providing clarification; slaughtering a goat and running a stick dripped in the animal’s blood between the diviner’s fingers, with the designs giving information; examining the entrails of a sacrificed bird, with the organs yielding answers on the client’s health; and tossing nine cowry shells, with the openings of the shells falling downward being a negative sign and upward being positive. During the session, the client and diviner sit facing each other on opposite ends of a goat skin laid upon the ground.[1] Although diviners can determine the origins of spiritual misfortunes, they can also diagnose sorcery. For the Nyoro, sorcery is a much broader term than in other parts of the world. Like other cultures, the Nyoro define sorcery as an intentional act to harm another person through herbs and charms; however, the Nyoro also consider the act of using herbs and charms to counteract curses sorcery. Hence, if an afflicted person acquires medicine from a diviner or creates their own concoction to kill the sorcerer who has harmed them, they also become a sorcerer. While the punishment for sorcery was once death (the convicted was wrapped in banana leaves and set ablaze), modern Nyoro try the sorcerer in the chief’s court and, if found guilty, banish them from the village. Due to the serious nature of sorcery, diviners are not willing to directly state the name of whomever may have cursed the client. Rather, the diviner merely states the reading confirms the suspicions of the client or provides a vague description of the culprit and allows the client to make their own identification. Typically, sorcery is done under the cover of darkness, when the sorcerer places an animal horn filled with medicine, bits of hair, and nail clippings in the roof of the victim’s house.[2]

Works Referenced

Beattie, John. Bunyoro: An African Kingdom. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960.
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[1] Beattie, 71-73.
[2] Beattie, 72-75.

Carnival Sign

$25 - $30 (based on 2019 prices)

Makes one sign

 

In 2016, I incorporated a sign into the haunt that both catered to the theme and featured the company’s name: Haunted Pumpkin Hill Farm. I was thrilled with the results and wanted to replicate it in future displays. I had the chance again in 2019 with the creepy carnival: Haunted Big Hill CarnEvil.

• One 20” x 30” foam board
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat brown*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in metallic silver*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat white*
• One roll of colorful wrapping paper (roughly seventeen square feet)
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• Nine clear plastic Christmas ornaments (two inches in diameter)
• One plastic skull mask
• One deck of standard-size playing cards
• One package of two-inch letterboard letters
• 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 brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat purple*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat white*

1. Trim one-inch strips from all four sides of the board to form a border and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give each one an even coat of silver spray paint. Although I used a metallic color to match other props in the haunt, you can use an alternate hue to correspond with your haunt’s color scheme.

2. Brush a light layer of glue onto the sign and cover it with wrapping paper. To make the paper appear worn, crumple it up prior to adhering it to the board and tear holes into it.

3. Glue the borders to the sign. To assist in this process, consider marking their backs during step one to note which side the strips belong to.

4. Remove the hanging hoops from the backs of eight ornaments and glue them to the border of the sign to imitate light bulbs. Their positioning depends entirely on your chosen appearance for the props. You can also use smaller bulbs for an alternate look.

5. After removing the mask’s elastic band and any other accessories, give it two coats of white spray paint. I used two coats, but you may want more or less depending on your desired coverage. Likewise, you could select a different base color or a variation of hues to cater the item to your haunt’s needs.

6. Detail the mask with a variety of colors to create a clown-like face. Based on your haunt, you can fabricate a fanciful expression for a whimsical theme or something more maniacal. Once the paint has dried, outline the patterns in black to help accentuate the colors.

7. Remove the hanging hoop from the back of the remaining ornament and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give it two even coats of spray paint. For visual interest, use a color that corresponds with the tones of the mask.

8. Glue the portion of the ornament where the hanging hoop once was to the mask to fashion a nose. For a sturdier hold, use superglue.

9. Position the mask on the board and glue it in place. Depending on how large you plan to make the sign’s lettering, you may need to play with its placement beforehand.

10. Darken the openings of the eyes with a few bursts of black spray paint. You can also drybrush black along the surface of the sign where the outer edges of the mask rest to create a smoky appearance.

11. Glue the playing cards to the sign. You will want each card to represent one letter in the words you would like displayed. It helps to plan this out ahead of time and play with their positioning beforehand. For added aesthetics, do not center each card on the sign and switch between using the fronts and backs.

12. To add a uniform level of additional age and distress, dust the sign with a light coat of black and brown spray paint. You can also apply a flecking of black paint and smears of brown to enhance the weathered appearance.

13. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give the letterboard letters an even coat of black spray paint. Although I only used one coat, you may want more depending on your desired coverage. Keep in mind, though, this is the base coat and much of the paint will be covered up by other colors. Once the paint has dried, give the letters an aged patina by gently brushing brown, gray, and white paint over their surfaces. Try not to overthink your application. A random pattern will produce the best results.

14. Arrange the letters on the cards and glue them in place. It might work best to pre-position everything on the sign to determine their placement before permanently affixing them.

15. For additional detail, do not use the letterboard letters to spell out every word or all words in full. Rather, emphasize certain words or parts of words by using red paint to write these elements, such as the evil in the misspelled carnival.

16. Use black paint to scrawl haunted above the lettering of the sign. As you do so, exaggerate curves, create sharp points, and elongate certain aspect; however, keep in mind the sign needs to be readable, so do not overdo your artistic flairs.

17. If you plan to display the prop on a wall or other surface, consider making a hanging loop with steel wire on its back. You can also embellish the prop further with clusters of insects crawling across its surface.

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

Amaltas Spring Wreaths

$15 - $20 (based on 2017 prices)

Makes two wreaths

 

The Dia de Los Muertos portion of 2017’s haunted house required dozens of wreaths and flowers for an intricate funeral scene. For this version, I used the butterflies common in the holiday’s themes and dangling sprigs of amaltas. Although I stayed with hues of blues, greens, and yellows, the colors of each element can be modified for a unique look.

• Two twelve-inch grapevine wreaths
• Ten four-foot garlands of artificial leaves (roughly thirty-six leaves per garland)
• Four four-foot garlands of artificial amaltas (roughly twenty sprigs per garland)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Six decorative butterflies

1. Separate the leaves from their garlands. Although you can do this while you glue them to the wreaths, I found performing this step beforehand makes the following process much easier. Plus, it gives you a clear idea of exactly how many of each item you have. Next, use hot glue to adhere the leaves to the wreaths. For visual interest, build up layers and vary the color patterns so leaves with the same hues and shapes are not clustered in one area.

2. Evenly divide the sprigs of amaltas among the wreaths and weave them into the greenery, gluing them in place. To enhance the aesthetics, aim for a random arrangement and, if you are making more than one wreath, try not to make them too symmetrical. It may help to play with the flowers’ placements before permanently affixing them.

3. Add further flourishes to the wreaths by gluing butterflies to the foliage. You can use an evenly spaced pattern to create balance or a random placement for extra irregularity. While I used blue to complement the yellow amaltas, the hues can be modified for your specific scheme.

"The Fairy Thorn" (A Poem)

Born on March 10, 1810, in Belfast, Ireland, Samuel Ferguson became an accomplished poet who used his interests in Irish mythology as the inspiration for much of his work, joining writers like William Butler Yeats as champions of Irish culture.[1] In “The Fairy Thorn,” Ferguson draws from Ulster folklore to write about Anna Grace, who is lured into the woods by the fairies associated with the mythical tree.[2]

 

“Get up, our Anna dear, from the weary spinning-wheel;

For your father’s on the hill, and your mother is asleep;

Come up above the crags, and we’ll dance a Highland reel

Around the Fairy Thorn on the steep.” 

 

At Anna Grace’s door ’twas thus the maidens cried,

Three merry maidens fair in kirtles of the green;

And Anna laid the rock and the weary wheel aside,

The fairest of the four, I ween. 

 

They’re glancing through the glimmer of the quiet eve,

Away in milky wavings of neck and ankle bare;

The heavy-sliding stream in its sleepy song they leave,

And the crags in the ghostly air. 

 

And linking hand-in-hand, and singing as they go,

The maids along the hillside have ta’en their fearless way,

Till they come to where the rowan trees in lonely beauty grow

Beside the Fairy Hawthorn grey. 

 

The Hawthorn stands between the ashes tall and slim,

Like matron with her twin grand-daughters at her knee;

The rowan berries cluster o’er her low head grey and dim

In ruddy kisses sweet to see.

 

The merry maidens four have ranged them in a row,

Between each lovely couple a stately rowan stem,

And away in mazes wavy, like skimming birds they go,

Oh, never carolled bird like them!

 

But solemn is the silence on the silvery haze

That drinks away their voices in echoless repose,

And dreamily the evening has stilled the haunted braes,

And dreamier the gloaming grows. 

 

And sinking one by one, like lark-notes from the sky,

When the falcon’s shadow saileth across the open shaw,

Are hushed the maidens’ voices, as cowering down they lie

In the flutter of their sudden awe. 

 

For, from the air above and the grassy ground beneath,

And from the mountain-ashes and the old white-thorn between,

A power of faint enchantment doth through their beings breathe,

And they sink down together on the green. 

 

They sink together silent, and stealing side to side,

They fling their lovely arms o’er their drooping necks so fair,

Then vainly strive again their naked arms to hide,

For their shrinking necks again are bare.

 

Thus clasped and prostrate all, with their heads together bowed,

Soft o’er their bosoms beating—the only human sound—

They hear the silky footsteps of the silent fairy crowd,

Like a river in the air gliding round. 

 

Nor scream can any raise, nor prayer can any say,

But wild, wild the terror of the speechless three—

For they feel fair Anna Grace drawn silently away,

By whom they dare not look to see. 

 

They feel their tresses twine with her parting locks of gold,

And the curls elastic falling, as her head withdraws.

They feel her sliding arms from their trancèd arms unfold,

But they dare not look to see the cause; 

 

For heavy on their senses the faint enchantment lies

Through all that night of anguish and perilous amaze

And neither fear nor wonder can ope their quivering eyes,

Or their limbs from the cold ground raise;

 

Till out of night the earth has rolled her dewy side,

With every haunted mountain and streamy vale below;

When, as the mist dissolves in the yellow morningtide,

The maiden’s trance dissolveth so.

 

Then fly the ghastly three as swiftly as they may,

And tell their tale of sorrow to anxious friends in vain—

They pined away and died within the year and day,

And ne’er was Anna Grace seen again.[3]

 

Works Referenced 

 

Brown, Malcolm. Sir Samuel Ferguson. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1973. 

 

Denman, Peter. Samuel Ferguson: The Literary Achievement. Savage, MD: Barnes and Noble Books, 1990. 

 

Ferguson, Samuel. “The Fairy Thorn.” The Poetry of Sir Samuel Ferguson. Ed. Justice O’Hagan. Dublin: M.H. Gill and Son, 1887. 48-49.

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[1] Brown, 17-18.

[2] Denman, 17-18.

[3] Ferguson, 48-49.

Laboratory Lights

$30 - $40 (based on 2020 prices)

Makes two lights 

 

Lighting is one of the most overlooked aspects of haunting and one of the main aspects that can destroy a display. If overdone, it can quickly ruin the show by revealing all of the tricks; if underdone, it can hide everything in a blanket of shadows. Over the years, I have tried to prefect the fine balance between too much and too little light: just enough to set the mood and cover imperfections. These lights were part of this process for 2020’s laboratory. I could put them in sections where I wanted additional light to illuminate specific props meant to draw the guests’ attention.

• Two Edison glass cloche table lamps (roughly twelve inches tall)
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat black*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in metallic bronze*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in olive*
• Two pieces of white copy paper with vintage advertisements printed on them
• One piece of yellow copy paper with electrical warning signs printed on it
• Four tablespoons of black tea (e.g. Darjeeling, Earl Gary, English Breakfast)
• At least four tablespoons of dark roasted coffee grounds
• One pan large enough to soak the copy paper
• One 4 oz. bottle of all-purpose tacky glue*
• One bag of plastic gears in varying sizes (roughly sixteen gears per bag)
• One 8 oz. can of oil-based interior wood stain in Jacobean*

1. Remove the glass cloches from the lamps, cover their bulbs with plastic, and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give their bases two even coats of black spray paint. Although I used two coats, you can use more or less depending on your desired coverage. Keep in mind, though, that this is the base coat and much of it will be covered by other paints during step two.

2. Once the paint has dried, detail the bases by apply a layer of metallic bronze. You want to give the illusion of worn metal, so gently brush the paint along the raised surfaces in a quick, back-and-forth motion. It may work best to experiment with a scrap of cardboard first. Also, to enhance the aged patina, randomly smudge olive paint on the bases with either a paper towel or sponge.

3. Boil enough water to completely submerge the two sheets of paper with vintage advertisements printed on them and pour it into the pan. Add the tea. The longer you allow the tea to brew, the darker the stain will become. Likewise, greater amounts of tea will produce a richer stain. I found that a combination of English and Irish Breakfast brewed for over ten minutes produces a nice, deep brown. Submerge the paper into the tea mixture and soak it until it reaches the color you desire. I soaked mine for eight hours and scattered the loose-leaf tea over the top of the paper to add spots. Remove the paper from the water and allow it to dry. Although it can be time consuming, this process works best if you stain each sheet of paper individually.

4. Cut or tear apart the paper. You can either isolate distinct images or use random sections. Cover the surfaces of the bases with the cuttings. This process works best if you move in stages: apply a layer of glue to one section, press the paper down until it sticks, and repeat the process.

5. Accent the bases with plastic gears, using superglue for a sturdier hold. You can either arrange them randomly or strategically place them in clusters. Also, you can use wood stain to give them a grimier appearance.

6. On a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, paint the cloches with the wood stain. I discovered that applying a thin coat and patting it with paper towels produces a hazed appearance. Likewise, brushing the rims with a swift downward motion creates the illusion of grime buildup.

7. Once the stain has dried, reattached the cloches to their bases. If you do not plan to access the bulbs, you can glue the cloches in place to prevent them from sliding off during the haunt.

8. Using the procedures in step three, coffee stain the paper with electrical warning signs. I elected to stain these with coffee rather than tea to give the labels a hue which contrasted with the tea-stained advertisements. You, of course, are free to just stain everything with either tea or coffee to save time.

9. After the paper dries, cut out the labels, leaving a small border around their edges, and roughen their surfaces with sandpaper. Then, glue them to the cloches. As you do so, try not to obscure too much of the lights, since this will dampen their glow and hide them.

10. The props can be enhanced further with additional details to cater them to your haunt’s theme, such as a swarm of insects crawling across the glass or a collection of aged bones scattered across the bases. 

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