Remember Those Halloween Costumes From the 70's

I have enjoyed Halloween as an adult. I have made every holiday a good one. Going all out with decorations, costumes and candy every year.

Except for the school party, I hated it when I was a kid. Back in the 60's and early 70's my mom would go to the dime store and buy those costumes in a box. We would try to get there early before all the good ones were gone. There was be a mask with an elastic band to go around your head. Most of the time the band would break before we even started trick or treating. Then there was the one piece, multipurpose, plastic sheath that covered us from shoulders to knees - it had a picture drawn on it of whatever it was that you were supposed to be. The witch would have a witches dress drawn on it, the werewolf would have a dog on it and of course the doctor would have a doctor's labcoat complete with a stethoscope on it.

Those costumes were pretty terrible and to make matters worse my mom would make us put them on over our coats because she didn't want us to catch a cold. We looked like colorful Goodyear blimps running around the neighborhood getting a bunch of second rate candy from all the neighbors. The Clark's always gave us Clark bars, the Flynn's would give out apples (every kid's dream). It was a good thing that I liked smarties (we used to use them for pills when we played doctor) because we had a plastic pumpkin full of them.

The school party was pretty cool. We would have candy and cupcakes with candy corn decorations. Usually we would even get one of those tiny little single serving ice creams that were only partly melted. Of course you got the little wooden spatula to eat it with. We would make Halloween pictures and play games. Then every class would tour all the other classes in the Halloween costume parade. There would be the vote for best costume every year and the same kids would win every year. You know the ones, their mothers would take the time to painstakingly sew a perfect costume for them and even hold them out of school in the morning so they could show up in the perfect Halloween costume for the party.

When I got a little older (5th or 6th grade) I started putting together my own costume. I had a long dress with paisley's on it. It was perfect for a gypsy dress. With a little added jewelry and a colorful scarf, it was actually a pretty good costume. I also turned it into the "Carol Burnette Cleaning Lady Costume". That one was easy. I just put on the dress. Smudged my cheeks with a little make up and grabbed a bottle of window cleaner and a rag - viola!

Have You Ever Been at the Wrong End of the Food Chain?

Feb 17, '09 6:36 PM for everyone

Have you ever been at the wrong end of the food chain? I have. I had just moved into a house in the country and I was leaving for work. It was early in the morning and it was pitch black outside. I had a flashlight so I could see to walk to my car.

When I was about halfway to the car (it was about 50 feet from the house across a ditch line) I heard a scream. It was a bloodcurdling scream like nothing you have ever heard in your life! At that exact moment several things happened instantaneously:

1. The flashlight went out (of course)

2. I felt my spine turn to ice (just like you would read about in any scary novel!)

3. My only thought was "I hope that was a deer". The thought was shriveling in my mind even as I thought it but I was trying to comfort myself.

4. I froze in my tracks. (I guess when your spine freezes this is a natural reaction)

The only thing it could have been was a wildcat and it was close. It sounded like it was at the end of the field which was only about 30 yards away. I don't really know how to describe that scream, I just knew that whatever was there was letting me know that it knew I was there and I was breakfast.

I knew I couldn't just stand there and I debated(quickly) whether to go back to the house or the car. I went for the car. I forced myself to slowly walk to the car.

Just when I got there I heard the scream again and it was closer. I tried to put the key in the lock but I couldn't find the hole my hand was shaking so bad. (just like in a scary movie when you make fun of people who aren't able to open the lock!). After what seemed like an eternity I got the door open and dove in and closed the door behind me.

SAFE!

Halloween is Better Now than It Used to Be

I have enjoyed Halloween as an adult. I have made every holiday a good one. Going all out with decorations, costumes and candy every year.

Except for the school party, I hated it when I was a kid. Back in the 60's and early 70's my mom would go to the dime store and buy those costumes in a box. We would try to get there early before all the good ones were gone. There was be a mask with an elastic band to go around your head. Most of the time the band would break before we even started trick or treating. Then there was the one piece, multipurpose, plastic sheath that covered us from shoulders to knees - it had a picture drawn on it of whatever it was that you were supposed to be. The witch would have a witches dress drawn on it, the werewolf would have a dog on it and of course the doctor would have a doctor's labcoat complete with a stethoscope on it.

Those costumes were pretty terrible and to make matters worse my mom would make us put them on over our coats because she didn't want us to catch a cold. We looked like colorful Goodyear blimps running around the neighborhood getting a bunch of second rate candy from all the neighbors. The Clark's always gave us Clark bars, the Flynn's would give out apples (every kid's dream). It was a good thing that I liked smarties (we used to use them for pills when we played doctor) because we had a plastic pumpkin full of them.

The school party was pretty cool. We would have candy and cupcakes with candy corn decorations. Usually we would even get one of those tiny little single serving ice creams that were only partly melted. Of course you got the little wooden spatula to eat it with. We would make Halloween pictures and play games. Then every class would tour all the other classes in the Halloween costume parade. There would be the vote for best costume every year and the same kids would win every year. You know the ones, their mothers would take the time to painstakingly sew a perfect costume for them and even hold them out of school in the morning so they could show up in the perfect Halloween costume for the party.

When I got a little older (5th or 6th grade) I started putting together my own costume. I had a long dress with paisley's on it. It was perfect for a gypsy dress. With a little added jewelry and a colorful scarf, it was actually a pretty good costume. I also turned it into the "Carol Burnette Cleaning Lady Costume". That one was easy. I just put on the dress. Smudged my cheeks with a little make up and grabbed a bottle of window cleaner and a rag - viola!

What Are You Supposed To Be, Anyway?

When I was at Ohio State our dorm was having a Halloween Party. It was a typical college party full of fun and drunken debauchery. We were all in our costumes cruising from room to room and floor to floor just having a good time in general. I was a ghost. I took the sheet off of my bed and cut a hole in it for my head and then I took my pillow case and cut out two eyeholes and circled them with black magic marker. (If I would have been smarter I would have cut out a mouth hole to make my drinking easier!)

A friend and I went into a suite of some friends of ours. They weren't there so we decided to visit some guys in a room we didn't know. (party, you know) We walked into their room and it was a room full of black guys. We started to laugh and talk with them but they weren't friendly at all. It was really starting to hurt my drunken feelings. Finally one of them said to me, "What in the hell are you supposed to be anyway?!" Of course I replied in my very West Virginia twang that I was a ghost. They all looked at each other as if to say, "yeah right".

It was obviously not a friendly atmosphere so my friend and I left.

Once we were out of the room my friend pointed out to me that they thought I was dressed as a KKK klansmen. My southern accent only made things worse. This had not even dawned on me as a costume possibility, but after looking in the mirror I could see where they would think that. I felt really bad about it and I wanted to go back to talk to them to tell them that I most definitely not a KKK person. My friend convinced me that it would be best not to make a big deal out of it though. It just goes to show that appearances are deceiving and you should never assume anything about someone.

I am on SS disability. Here is my monthly budget.

I am on disability because I have heart failure. I work, but I can't work enough to support myself. I get $784 monthly from SS Disability. That is close to the maximum. When they told me what I would get I asked why my cousin who has never worked a day in his life gets more than me and they told me it is because he is on a different program. Apparently you are better off if you never work at all.

I work at a pharmacy as a cashier. I get around $270 month including taxes. Since my rent would be $90 a month cheaper if I didn't work, that means I get around $130 for working. If you meet someone on disability who tells you they aren't allowed to work, that is wrong (unless their doctor says it). Social Security wants you to work, both for the satisfaction of working and because you are still paying into the system.

I get $16 in food stamps. People laugh at that. I say it is a couple of packs of chicken and one pack of hamburger that I couldn't afford otherwise.

Rent - $281. It will go up to $307 on December 1st. It is going up because I got a better prescription drug plan this year. I am in government housing and any money I spend on medical bills comes off my rent. If I did not work my rent would be $218 on December 1st.

Truck payment - $245

Truck Insurance - $99

Netflix - $19 - I don't have cable or a computer. I use the computer at the library.

The balance goes to food mostly. I am on a special diet for my heart. It is expensive. Before I got sick I could eat on $30 weekly. Now it is probably double that.

I WOULD BE DEAD WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

EVP?

When I was 12 years old I got a yellow Panasonic tape recorder for my birthday. One day I was being silly and I was walking around the house interviewing household appliances. I would interview the commode and flush it for an answer or the door and slam it at the appropriate time. I did this all over the house.

At the end of my interview I asked the question, "Is there anybody else in this house that wants to be interviewed?" Of course there was no answer and I turned off the tape. However when I replayed the tape and I asked the question, just as I asked it, I did get an answer. I heard a cat meow.

My cat had been missing for about 10 days. We had no other cats. I never did see my cat again. I wonder...

THIS SCARE SERIOUSLY BACKFIRED ON ME!

I was a ghost at a friends Halloween party for her daughter. There were at least 50 kids there from infant to 12 years old. I spent the night running around the outside of the house appearing at windows and doorways and hiding before the kids could find me. (I was a very effective ghost!)

At the end of the evening I decided to go upstairs and run through the crowd and scare the living daylights out of the little buggers before I went home. I sneaked in the front door and up the stairs and burst into the room screaming and running through those lovely children. The next thing I knew this mob of screaming, clawing, biting, hitting, kicking children started whaling on me unmercifully!!! There were no adults up there to help me or take control of the situation.

If I had not had years of experience breaking up greyhound fights without hurting the dogs, I would have been forced to hurt those kids just to break free! When I finally extricated myself from the mob I took off running. The only part of my costume that was left on me was a piece around my neck and a piece around my waist. Just when I got to the top of the stairs one of the little bastards clotheslined me! I was dangling down the stairs and the only thing holding me up was a piece of material around my neck that was strangling me!

I managed to twist my neck so that I broke free and promptly went thumping down the stairs to land at Sis' feet who was running to see what all the commotion was. At this point I thought the whole thing was hilarious and recounted the story of the kids trying to kill the ghost. We all had a good laugh. I wasn't laughing the next morning.

I went to get out of bed and I couldn't. I mean I was physically unable to raise up and what little bit I did move put me in excruciating backstabbing pain. It took me about 20 minutes to roll out of bed. I had to crawl to a phone to call for help. When I told my boss I couldn't walk, he thought I had a sprained ankle or something. I had to explain to him that my legs were paralyzed and I had dragged myself in pain to the phone. He said he would be right over.

I managed to stand and get myself to the car before he got there. I drove myself to the hospital and when I went to get out of the car I couldn't stand up again. I pulled myself up by sheer strength of will and my arms only and was supporting myself between the door and the roof of the car when a man found me. He was kind enough to go into the hospital and get me a wheelchair and wheel me in.

Anyway it took 6 months of therapy and 2 years to get myself right again. The moral is "DON'T SCARE THE FUCK OUT OF LITTLE KIDS WITHOUT PROTECTION!!!"

I saw Bigfoot

I saw a creature.

I was driving over Blair Mountain going around the first kiss your ass curve on the Boone County side. The "bigfoot" was just on the other side of the guardrail and all I saw was it's back as it took 2 steps down the side of the mountain. The only way I can describe it is it looked like a foxman. It was covered in reddish fur with pointed ears on top of its head (like a fox). It was built like a tall, slender man. The point where it was walking over the mountain, is too steep for any human to walk down.

It was about 5 a.m. I was on my way to work. I have never driven over Blair Mountain at night since.

There is a website called Shadowlands. In it you can find ghost stories, myths and creature sitings by state listing. Under West Virginia in the town of Iaeger there is a story about a foxlike creature scaring people on 4 wheeler trails and even a woman in her home one night. Iaeger is about 30 miles from Blair Mountain as the crow flies but they are connected by numerous roads and trails. It is conceivable that it is the same creature even though I have lived in Logan all my life and I have never heard any stories about a creature on Blair Mountain. I have heard stories about Blair Mountain being haunted but those are ghost stories.

I have also seen references on the computer to a "dogman" in the area as well. I am still researching them.

new babies in the land of the squirrels

I finally saw them. There are 3 baby squirrels playing in the tree now. They are about 7 inches long including their tails. I don't think mama will let them out of the tree yet but they scurry and bound all through their arboreal playground.

Apparently I have done a good job feeding mama. She is so fat that you can see the fat rolls jiggle when she moves. She is ready for winter in spite of the fact that she has been nursing 3 little ones for the past two months.

Real Life Is Scary - Even When You Are Having Fun

When I was in junior high school we were in the Smokey Mountains for a family vacation. We were at a go-cart track in Pigeon Forge which is a tourist town at the base of the mountains. My brother, Billy, and my sister, Rhonda, and I were having a ball driving around the go-cart track at full speed like we did everything when we were kids. We didn't know what slow meant on anything!

I had used up my time and was sitting in the van with my mom and dad watching Billy and Rhonda go around the track when my sister wrecked. I remember seeing the whole thing and sitting there frozen in place even though I wanted to help her. One second she was flying around the track and the next she was spinning in circles (not rolling thank God!). and she was lying on her back on the go-cart. When it finished spinning she did not get up. My parents raced out of the van to her and I sat there frozen - watching people drive around the track and thinking someone was going to hit her.

The employees at the track finally got everybody to stop their gocarts while people rushed to help my sister. She still did not get up - she couldn't. Her waist length, long brown hair had tangled around the driveshaft of the engine. Her hair had been blowing in the wind (this was in the 70's and nobody wore helmets) and had got caught in the engine. It had wrapped completely around the driveshaft up to her scalp. She was wedged against the hot engine and it was burning her scalp. It took less than a second for this to happen. One second full speed, the next second stopped dead in her tracks.

People were hollering for scissors to cut her hair to free her but nobody had scissors. To free her a mechanic had to take the whole engine apart to get to the driveshaft to untangle her hair. It seemed to take forever.The whole time Rhonda was laying there screaming for them not to cut her hair. They offered to call an ambulance but my dad rushed her to the hospital. I guarantee you that my dad got her to the hospital faster than any ambulance would have. For some reason when he was carrying her into the emergency room (she was 12 years old) I remember thinking, "He really does love her afterall."

Rhonda had whiplash from the wreck (something my parents said didn't exist), she had headaches and neckaches for years after that. The force of her hair pulling into the engine had caused her scalp to rip in several places. She had to have stitches. Worse of all for her they had to cut a big patch of hair out of the back of her head. (We both had long hair all of our lives and niether of us could imagine having short hair) For months she wore a scarf or bandana to cover the bald spot. Fortunately hats made it appear that she had hair to her butt like she always did.

When we got back home she was the first girl drafted into Little League in our county. (Probably the whole state for all I know) I remember sitting in the bleachers hearing people at her first game asking if that was a girl out there - like they couldn't tell with her waistlength hair. Even with her baseball cap she still had to wear that bandana to cover the bald spot. My parents didn't even think about not letting her play because she was light years better than any girl around - and most of the boys for that matter.

What Can You Build With a 100 Popsicle Sticks?

You can build a bridge 12 inches long and one stick wide that will hold 3 grown men.

How do I know this? Because I built one in physics class in high school.

The project was to build a bridge 12 inches long using 100 popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue. I built several prototypes only to watch them be smashed to bits with little more than a doll standing on them. Then my dad happened to notice what I was doing. He explained that the strength of the bridge was in the support. He showed me how to stagger the sticks and to build 2 beams the length of the bridge. He then left me to do the actual work because my parents didn't believe in doing my homework for me.

I built 2 beams that were one foot long and about an inch and a half thick. I applied the Elmer's glue liberally. I barely had enough sticks going across the top to qualify as a bridge. I let it dry for 2 days.

On the day the project was due, most of the bridges of my classmates broke into smithereens with a 5 pound weight. There were a couple of bridges that actually held 100 pounds of weights. Both of those broke when one of the guys in class stood on them.

My bridge not only held 1 classmate standing on it but he was holding 2 other classmates in his arms. the bridge still held. Then they put a 20lb. weight on one of the guys arms and my bridge broke.

Clearly I was the winner!

20 years later when my niece took Mr. Burgess' Physics Class, I told her about my bridge. She asked him about it. He told her he not only remembered it but I still held the record to that day!

West Virginia Hills

My Last Will and Testament

Whoever gets the cat, gets the truck!

That's all folks

The Fruth Ghost

At work we all have had our little run-ins with the Fruth ghost. He is usually a ghost which moves things around and makes noises - not one that you see. Although there are a couple of people who claim to have seen "him". According to my friend Kim, his name is Oscar and he is a butcher. (Our store used to be a Kroger's grocery store before it was a Fruth). It was a cemetery before that.

Sometimes after we close you will hear somebody talking in the back and no one will be there or you will hear a noise that makes you wonder "how did that happen?" More than anything things mysteriously move for no reason. I have had several "encounters" with what I consider to be the ghost and I have heard the noises and the voices after closing.

I was walking down an aisle once when I first started working at Fruth. There was a whole pile of comic books in the floor. I picked them up and put them in their place and I started to walk off. After taking a few steps all the comic books fell in the floor again. I silently cussed myself for not putting them back properly and I went back and put them firmly back on the shelf in their proper place. I walked off again. When I was about halfway down the aisle I heard one of the comic books fall again.

"Well Crap!" I thought to myself as I turned to go back to the comic books. As I turned another one fell in the floor, then another and then another. They were falling one at a time as if someone was thumbing through them one by one and making them fall. This happened until they were all in the floor again. I decided that I would just leave them alone and I walked off. If somebody wanted them in the floor, who was I to argue about it!

Another time Anita and I were closing. There were 2 men talking beside the door and one of them left. The other man went over to the magazines and started looking at one. I could see the corner of his head and the pages of the magazine turning. Anita had gone to the back. The alarm went off and I locked the doors and I went to my register to wait on the man to leave. I couldn't see him anymore but I knew he did not go out because he would have had to go right past me.

A few minutes later Anita called the front of the store and wanted to know why I wasn't back in the office yet. I told her I was waiting on the man to leave. She said it was ridiculous that he was still there and she came up front. She did not see him on the way and she asked me where he was. I told her that the last time I had seen him he was reading the magazines. She made an announcement that the store was closed and for all shoppers to come to the front to pay for their purchases. Nobody came.

She knew who I was talking about when I described him because she had seen him before she went back to the office. She walked the perimeter of the store and she didn't see anybody. We decided to call the police because it is a pharmacy afterall and there had been a rash of oxycontin thefts in the area. The policeman came immediately. He searched the entire store including the stock area. He did not find anyone.

He told me to pull my drawer and he kindly waited until we were ready to leave before he left. The only other way out was the back door in the stock area and the man would have had to pass Anita to go out that way. She reviewed the security tapes the next day. She saw no sign that the man had ever been in the store.