Mystery Tour

Image by John Munsch at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/682321

Have you ever been to a “murder mystery” dinner party? I haven’t, unfortunately. I’ve always wanted to attend, or host, such a party, though.

Well, today I came across fully downloadable instructions for a “Thanksgiving Murder Mystery Party Game,” that would be absolutely fantastic to host at your Thanksgiving party. (Yes, I know that this is short notice as Thanksgiving is next week already). But, still…if you are up for throwing a unique Thanksgiving party, now’s the time.

Let me know how your mystery party experience goes!

In honor of Thanksgiving, do the gratitude dance everyday this month.

By now, most of us have heard of the eerie similarities between Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. I, myself, have made a hobby of collecting such eerie tidbits whenever I come across them.

Well, here’s another one that I just discovered.

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday and designated the last Thursday of November for this annual celebration.

In November of 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated the Friday before Thanksgiving.

Strange, huh?

Image by monmart at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/423560

My favorite Thanksgiving memories are of the whole family—all nine of us—sitting around a sumptuous spread that included turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. We would eat until we could eat no more and then we’d all go fall asleep somewhere.

Were we thankful?

You bet we were. At times, we were truly poverty stricken when I was a kid. But we always managed somehow. Perhaps because the money to buy food was so scarce—at times—when I was growing up…Thanksgiving was a particularly enjoyable holiday!

What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving memories?

Photo courtesy of Rachel Spauldilng at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/249985

Happy Thanksgiving Month at Mystery Tour.

Everyday this month, let’s all take a few moments to be thankful for everything—no matter how small—that arrives in our lives.

Let’s even be thankful for the seemingly negative events, because we don’t know what absolutely awesome event is on the other side of the negative. .

Remember…it’s always darkest before the dawn!!!

Image by Julia Freeman-Woolpert at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/642979

Is it a trick…or a treat…for you this Halloween?

For me it’s been a wash.

Awash in bills

Awash in work

Awash in uncertaintly.

I guess that’s nothing new.

Sigh…

How did your Halloween “treat” you this year?

File photo of Sharon Tate

You see, no matter how much a fiction book, or movie, scares me…I know that it’s just fiction and didn’t—or couldn’t—really happen. The same cannot be said for the book Helter Skelter.

I have read Helter Skelter a handful of times—that’s as many times as I could bear to read it—and it always makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck and turns every groan of my house into a knife-yielding monster.

Helter Skelter is the true story of the Tate/LaBianca murders in 1979, murders that were committed by the followers of Charles Manson.

On August 8, 1979, the flower children turned psychopathic killers crept onto the estate that had been rented by actress Sharon Tate and her movie director husband, Roman Polanski. Sharon was 9 months pregnant and eagerly awaiting the birth of her first child.

Visiting Sharon that night was her former boyfriend, close friend, and famed hairdresser to the stars, Jay Sebring. Houseguests Voyteck Frykowski and Abigail Folger also was there that night, as they were staying with Sharon until Polanski returned from his film shooting abroad.

The band of killers—Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins—viciously murdered the occupants of 10050 Cielo Drive. The victims—including Sharon Tate, who pleaded for the life of her unborn child—received a combined total of over 100 stab wounds.

Even by today’s standards, this is a senseless, particularly gruesome crime…can you imagine what shockwaves it caused in 1969?

It still causes shockwaves, today.

Image courtesy of Crystal Woroniuk at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/873678

Do you know where the tradition of the Halloween Jack-O’Lantern came from?

History.com does, and it’s a fascinating look into the legend of “Stingy Jack,” who pissed off the devil

As I read this article, I couldn’t help thinking what a GREAT Halloween movie this story would make. Why hasn’t any Hollywood studio picked up on the idea?

Image courtesy of Cíntia Martins at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/860167

Where has safe, but scary trick-or-treating gone?

When I was a kid, trick-or-treating was at night.

Halloween was scary because of the of the ghoulish costumes coming at you in the porch light’s glow…not because some neighbor might poison your candy or put razor blades in your apples.

Now most kids trick-or-treat in the broad daylight. How scary is that?

Did you ever experience such a safe, but scary, trick-or-treating event?

Image by Juliet James at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1006882

Did you know…

…that Halloween is a Catholic holiday? It’s true…sort of. You see, the word “Halloween” is a contraction of “All Hallows Eve,” which is the evening before “All Hallows Day”–a Catholic day of observance to honor saints.

…that on Halloween, the veil that separates the living from the dead is thought to be at its thinnest, allowing easier contact with those who have “passed on?” So if you want to attend a séance to contact Aunt Nellie, Halloween would be the perfect time!

…that there have been nine Halloween movies made? It’s true. These nine movies prove, without a doubt, that Michael Myers can’t be killed!

Now you know.