It's Halloween and the party for all MVR members. Shake your boo!

Your hosts for this fun fright fest are:

@P2PLeon
@Jimi
@gopher_byrd
@gloopdegurp
@misswish
and yours truly, Bliss Doubt

Follow Gloop to Spooky Hollow:



You'll know you're in the right place when you pull up to the creaky old haunted house. We're here waiting for you, except for Jimi, who got distracted by a squirrel. A friendly dragon flew up there to try to coax him in with her bucket of berries and nuts. Gloop is trying to effect a counter-distraction with the glint of his ninja sword. As you can see, the neighborhood kids are already gearing up for trick-or-treat.



We hope you'll show your costume. We're already in ours.

P2PLeon is dressed as a descendant of the noble house of Count Dracula.



Gopher_byrd is a gopher ghoul.



Gloopdegurp is a stealthy ninja:



Props to Gloop for costume design of Goph's and his own.

Jimi is a natural Frankenbear:



Misswish is here as Misswitch



I'm a vampire (a friend of P2P Dracula from way back in the day in Transylvania).



What are you for this occasion?

So glad to see you here! Come on in, take off your skin, and rattle around in your bones. Join us in the haunted lounge for a bloody mary.



A little music while we sip & vape:


Enjoy delicious food and drink with your forum friends.





Don't be surprised to see wraiths and apparitions around here. A lot of life has come and gone from this old house.



To distract us from that, we'll have live music from our opening act. Well at least, they used to be alive. Gloop booked them for their great music.



Are you ready yet to come forth with a ghost story? I'll start.

One of the traditions of Halloween is that the veil between the living and the dead thins at this time, so we may receive visitations from fallen loved ones. In my region we have a Mexican influence on many of our holiday celebrations. Texas was Mexico before it was USA. On Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead, November 1), there are long lines of cars into and out of the cemeteries, as people party at the graveyard, with food, drink, music, and communion with their dearly departed. In recent years with a cross-cultural revival of interest in the holiday, restaurants participate in various ways, and grocery stores put up special displays.

One Halloween many years ago, I set up the "dumb supper" for my dearly departed, with a pot of marigolds, coins to pay their passage from the beyond, Mexican food and hot coffee to entice them in. Once the trick-or-treaters stopped coming to the door, I blew out the candles and helped myself to some of the Mexican food, which is perfectly legit. The dumb supper is something you share with your departed loved ones. Then it started pouring down rain, and there was a knock at the door. I opened the door, and there stood my late uncle. He said "I need a ride". I said "I can call you a taxi?" He said "I don't have money for a taxi. I need a ride". It was a little scary. I glanced down and noticed the screen door was unlatched. Trying to be discreet, I latched it. His eyes followed my hand. He turned and walked away into the rain, and vaporized. Later that night in bed, I was shaken awake. It was my uncle again, just shaking my arms to wake me. The look on his face was loving, smiling, as if to say "I'm really here and I love what you've done". Again he vaporized.

The next day the phone rang. It was my dead mother, just saying "how are you", as if it were the most normal thing in the world for the dead to phone the living and say "how ya doing". I said "is it really you? What's it like where you are?" She said "no two days are alike here". Then click, disconnected.

I've never gotten possessed by a demon because of it, never levitated or vomited pea soup. I'm curious lately about new theories that consciousness is outside of ourselves, and there are always strains of thought just hanging on the vibrational waves all around us. I'm sorry for those who live in fear and don't let their kids participate in Halloween.

And we want to hear your ghost stories, the real, or the remembered from your slumber parties, campfires or Halloween parties.

Trick or treaters will soon arrive at the door. What was your favorite thing to get in your trick-or-treat bag? I'm sure the other hosts of this party will chime in on that.

My best memories are of the things that came only once, truly once in a lifetime. A popcorn ball, sweet, buttery and crisp, warm in its wax paper bag. One time I got a warm chocolate chip cookie in a Halloween themed wax paper bag. Another time, a small set of sugar skulls that chewed or melted in your mouth like sugar cubes, grainy and sweet.

I haven't handed out treats in the last few years of increased danger of crime and violence. My building is kind of a fortress, so you have to sit outside with your lantern and treats so the kids can know not to pass you by. The last time I did that, with some other people in my building, I handed out the small individual pecan pies, which are getting harder and harder to find nowadays. I want the kids to have that extra nice treat they'll remember.



As a kid I thought those who threw one piece of hard candy into each kid's bag were losers, but now I understand that people without much money were good to participate and keep it fun.

What was your best treat? And what do you like to give out to the trick-or-treaters at your door?


A few thoughts about costumes (because I always write too much):

I have always enjoyed costume parties, but have few photos to show for it. The default has been to make costumes out of regular clothes. In fact I have never bought a costume. As a little kid, I can remember mum doing me up as a princess one year, another year as a skeleton in black pajamas printed with long white bones. I didn't like the skeleton costume much, but it was warm.

Not Halloween was my angel outfit the year I got my ears pierced. The folks wouldn't let me do it until I was 13, so as Christmas approached, my earlobes were healed, showing shiny 14k gold orbs. One Saturday night I spent at Grandma's house, I showed them off to her. She was so happy for me. The next morning I woke up to the aroma of the air popper. Popcorn for breakfast? I was all in for it. I was given a little bowl of popcorn with breakfast, and while I ate, Grandma said "we're going to show off those beautiful earrings". She proceeded to make me a popcorn halo, strung onto florist wire, twisted shut, with a ribbon bow tied around the closure. She pulled up my hair up into a French twist, and plopped that surprise popcorn halo on top, secured it in a couple of places with bobby pins so it would stay put. Everybody at Sunday school loved it, and, long story short, for our church choir Christmas concert that year, the whole choir wore popcorn halos. The boys didn't have a ribbon bow on theirs, just a bit of knotted ribbon. And guess who made those halos on demand for everybody? Hi Grandma, are you up there in heaven knowing you are being remembered with love?

Anyway, back to costumes. In high school I was a pirate for one Halloween party, which involved nothing more than cut-off jeans, boots, a t-shirt, some kind of hat or cap I don't recall clearly, and an eye patch.

In college the stand-out memories are of being a Bavarian girl one year, or Tyrolean, a costume using a skirt I had, a blouse I had, and a black vest embroidered with flowers. The next year I was a nun, which involved anchoring a folded pair of white cotton panties to my head, with a black scarf veil pinned over. The nun's habit was a full length black bathrobe, not terry cloth, just cotton jersey with a sash. The next year that same robe was my witch's costume, with a pointed witch hat from the dollar store.

In 2022, Jimi admonished me for not making a selfie of what I did. I had new upstairs neighbors. They'd only moved in a few days before, and one October night I heard people coming in, heard music as their door opened and closed. They were having a Halloween party without me! I wasn't hurt. We didn't know each other yet, but I could tell they were a nice couple. I threw together a brownie mix, and while it baked I put on black pants, black t-shirt, dramatic eyeliner, and used iodine to paint blood dripping from the corners of my mouth. I zombie carried the plate of warm brownies up the stairs, knocked, and voila, got an invitation to come in and stay. In 2023 I went to a friend's Halloween party as a cat, using regular clothes and dollar store accessories.

Jimi says:

It's like this karate granny was thinking "I haven't got to chop anybody all day", then seized her chance:



Here's a happy scary party from 1929:

It's time for our headlining band, The Gratefuls, booked in by Jimi.

When I asked for fright stories from members of the other vaping forum, gopher_byrd opened his heart and revealed to us the deepest fears of a creature who lives underground, at the mercy of craven land managers who want to murder him.




Watch if you can withstand the terror.

I still shudder with those explosions...

I guess Leon went to a non-virtual party for Halloween. Never saw this one.