Spooktoberthon Check In - Week 3 Progress

Hey Bookdragons! Halfway through the month and you should either be loving the countdown to Halloween or having nightly nightmares 😆

Spooktoberthon Week 3 Reading Progress

💀 Crimson Peak by Nancy Holder - 🌟🌟🌟🌟 

💀  Slasher Girls and Monster Boys Anthology - 🌟🌟🌟🌟
💀 The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher - DNF @ 25%
💀 Slayer by Kiersten White 🌟🌟🌟🌟 

Currently Reading

💀 The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Still to Read

💀 The Witch of Blackbird Pond

💀 #murdertrending by Gretchen McNeill

💀 Light as A Feather

🍂 Spooktober Movie Progress 🍂

Watched

🍂 Practical Magic 

🍂 Carrie

🍂 The House of Wax (Vincent Price Version)

🍂 Addams Family  & Addams Family Values 

🍂 Halloween

🍂 Casper

🍂 The Haunted Mansion

🍂 Tower of Terror

🍂 Friday the Thirteenth

🍂 The Fog

🍂 Crimson Peak

🍂 The Haunting

🍂 Bad Times at the El Royale 

🍂 The Legend of Lucy Keyes

🍂 Sleepy Hollow

🍂 The Legend of Hell House
🍂 Prom Night
🍂 House of Wax (2005 Remake)
🍂 Scream 1-4
🍂 When A Stranger Calls

Still to Go

🍂 I Know What You Did Last Summer

🍂 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

🍂 Hocus Pocus

🍂 Halloweentown 1-4

🍂 Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls

History of Halloween #3

 Costumes - Why do we dress up at Halloween?

Going back to the Celtic/Pagan celebration of Samhain and the veil between our world and the next being at it's thinnest people thought they would encounter spirits on this day. And they suspected not all of them would be Casper the friendly ghost types. 

To outsmart and ward off spirits with evil intent people donned masks when they left home after dark to trick spirits into thinking the wearers were fellow spirits.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - 21 October 2019

#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Hey Bookdragons! Next week is Halloween! 😱 Can you believe it? Are you ready to celebrate! I am with all the seasonal books I've been reading this month! 

What I Read Last Week:

💀 The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

💀 The Naida Tapes by Dawn Kurtagich - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
💀 Crimson Peak by Nancy Holder - 🌟🌟🌟🌟
💀 Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

What I Am Reading Now:

💀 Slayer by Kiersten White

Up Next:

💀 The Haunting of Beacon Hill by Ambrose Ibsen

💀 Nevermore by Kelly Creagh*

💀 The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon*

💀 Slasher Girls and Monster Boys Anthology*

💀 The Witch of Blackbird Pond*

💀 Lucky Break by Carly Phillips*

💀 The Hollow by Jessica Verday*

💀 Now Entering Addamsville by Franscesca Zappia

💀 The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

* = Rereads

How is your reading progress going this month?

Spooktoberthon Check In - Week 2 Progress

Hey Bookdragons! Halfway through the month and you should either be loving the countdown to Halloween or having nightly nightmares 😆

Spooktoberthon Week 2 Reading Progress

💀 City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab - 🌟🌟🌟🌟 

💀  The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
💀 The Naida Tapes by Dawn Kurtagich - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 
💀 Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics 🌟🌟🌟🌟 
 💀 The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
💀 Creep by Eireann Corrigan
💀 The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

Currently Reading

💀 Crimson Peak by Nancy Holder

Still to Read

💀 The Haunting of Beacon Hill by Ambrose Ibsen

💀 Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

💀 The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

💀 Slasher Girls and Monster Boys Anthology

💀 The Witch of Blackbird Pond

💀 Lucky Break by Carly Phillips

💀 The Hollow by Jessica Verday

💀 Now Entering Addamsville by Franscesca Zappia

💀 The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

🍂 Spooktober Movie Progress 🍂

Watched

🍂 Practical Magic 

🍂 Carrie

🍂 The House of Wax (Vincent Price Version)

🍂 Addams Family  & Addams Family Values 

🍂 Halloween

🍂 Casper

🍂 The Haunted Mansion

🍂 Tower of Terror

🍂 Friday the Thirteenth

🍂 The Fog

🍂 Crimson Peak

🍂 The Haunting

Still to Go

🍂 I Know What You Did Last Summer

🍂 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

🍂 Hocus Pocus

🍂 Scream 1-4

🍂 Halloweentown 1-4

🍂 An American Haunting

🍂 Sleepy Hollow

🍂 The Legend of Hell House

🍂 Prom Night

🍂 IT

🍂 The Shining

🍂 Psycho

🍂 House of Wax (2005 Remake)

🍂 Swimfan

🍂 Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls

🍂 Flatliners

🍂 Bad Times at the El Royale 

🍂 The Legend of Lucy Keyes

🍂 Solstice

🍂 When A Stranger Calls

History of Halloween #2

 Irish immigrants brought the tradition of carving pumpkins into Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin. Pumpkins did not exist in Ireland.

 Ancient Celtic cultures (Pagans) in Ireland carved turnips on All Hallow's Eve, and placed an ember in them, to ward off evil spirits.

The Tale of Stingy Jack and the Jack O' Lantern

Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. Many of the stories, center round Stingy Jack. Here's the most popular story:

Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who took pleasure in playing tricks on just about everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. After the Devil climbed up the tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. Unable to touch a cross, the Devil was stuck in the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses, and the Devil climbed down out of the apple tree.

Many years later, Jack died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was mean and cruel, and had led a miserable, worthless life on earth. Stingy Jack was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared . He had nowhere to go, but to wander about forever in the dark Netherworld between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave, as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell, to help Stingy Jack light his way. Jack had a Turnip with him. It was one of his favorite foods, and he always carried one with him. Jack hollowed out the Turnip, and placed the ember the Devil had given him, inside the turnip. From that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".

On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.

Spooktoberthon Check In - Week 1 Progress

Hey Bookdragons! It's the 10th and I've already discovered some great spooky reads this month... 

Spooktoberthon Reading Progress

💀 No One’s Home by DM Pulley - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

💀 The Girl From the Otherside by Nagabe - 🌟🌟🌟🌟
💀 Piper by Jay Asher 🌟🌟🌟
💀 Mercy Thompson: Homecoming by Patricia Briggs - 🌟🌟
 💀 Crimson Peak: The Art of Darkness by Mark Salisbury and Guillermo del Toro - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
💀 The Last by Hanna Jameson - DNF @ 15%

💀 Follow You Home by Mark Edwards

Currently Reading

💀 The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

Still to Read

💀 The Haunting of Beacon Hill by Ambrose Ibsen

💀 Nevermore by Kelly Creagh

💀 The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

💀 The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich 

💀 The Naida Tapes by Dawn Kurtagich 

💀 Slasher Girls and Monster Boys Anthology

💀 Crimson Peak by Nancy Holder

💀 Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics

💀 The Witch of Blackbird Pond

💀 Lucky Break by Carly Phillips

💀 The Hollow by Jessica Verday

💀 Creep by Eireann Corrigan

💀 Now Entering Addamsville by Franscesca Zappia

💀 The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

💀 City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

🍂 Spooktober Movie Progress 🍂

Watched

🍂 Practical Magic 

🍂 Carrie

🍂 The House of Wax (Vincent Price Version)

🍂 Addams Family  & Addams Family Values 

Still to Go

🍂 I Know What You Did Last Summer

🍂 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

🍂 Halloween

🍂 Hocus Pocus

🍂 Scream 1-4

🍂 Halloweentown 1-4

🍂 Casper

🍂 An American Haunting

🍂 Sleepy Hollow

🍂 The Legend of Hell House

🍂 Prom Night

🍂 The Fog

🍂 The Haunted Mansion

🍂 Tower of Terror

🍂 Crimson Peak

🍂 IT

🍂 The Shining

🍂 Psycho

🍂 House of Wax (2005 Remake)

🍂 Swimfan

🍂 The Haunting

🍂 Friday the Thirteenth

🍂 Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls

🍂 Flatliners

🍂 Bad Times at the El Royale 

🍂 The Legend of Lucy Keyes

🍂 Solstice

🍂 When A Stranger Calls

History of Halloween #1

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-een) when people would light bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Samhain is still celebrated today by Pagans all over the world as one of the 8 Wiccan Sabbats, Samhain in particular being Wiccan New Year. 

In modern times, Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the dark half of the year and it is a time to honor the dead as the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. Wiccans celebrate with bonfires, feasting (we Wiccans do love a good feast), divination, and leaving offerings out for deceased loved ones as they traverse the mortal plane.