Goodbye Halloween and Coffin Hop Winners

I had originally planned for four posts in this Coffin Hop but as my mother used to say: "Do you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans." Hurricane Sandy made a quick visit to the East Coast and my plans were thwarted. I missed half of my posts but I won't just let it go. With the announcement of the winners, I will share with you the last piece of Halloween Monsters and Urban Legends. I hope you  enjoy it enough to keep stopping by my humble electronic abode.

DOPPELGÄNGERS

Doppelgängers are an uncommon image of literature, yet a very grim one. It is the double image of one self, usually not witnessed by others, and believed to be the harbinger of death. The word is German for "double walker" and the portent can be found in Norse, German, Finnish, and even Egyptian folklore. Though it can be defined as a darker form of bilocation, based on reliable accounts of both events, there are clear and marked differences. In bilocation both images of the same person are exactly alike and seem to be located in the same space-time continuum, there are several witnesses to both images, and usually one of them seem to be drained of energy or catatonic. There are no deaths related to bilocation and it tends to be seen with religious undertones. Doppelgängers are commonly reported by the only witness: The original self, they can be a future image of the person, and most frequently will silently point to the form of death the person will experience in a somewhat close future.

Famous reports:

• Guy de Maupassant, french novelist and short story writer, reported to have seen his double image several times towards the end of his life. On one occasion, while writing, this 'second self' took a seat opposite him and began to dictate what de Maupassant was writing. The experience served as inspiration for his short story "Lui."
• Percy B. Shelley, the famous poet, saw a ghostly image of himself in Italy. The doppelgänger pointed quietly to the Mediterranean Sea. Shortly before his 30th birthday, the poet suffered a deathly sailing accident, drowning in the Mediterranean Sea.
• Queen Elizabeth I of England encountered her Doppelgänger laying out on her bed. She passed away a short time after the event.
• Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the German poet, was confronted by his Doppelgänger while riding out of Drusenheim. His double was riding toward him and wearing a gray suit trimmed with gold. Eight years later, Goethe found himself traveling the same road but in the opposite direction. He realized then he was wearing the very gray suit he'd seen on his double eight years before.

BURIED ALIVE

I had a friend whose great-grandparents were so in-love; after a little over fifty years together they still looked at each other with sweet, loving eyes, and sometimes they could finish each other sentences. One day, as they were driving to visit their son in another state, they got in an accident with a drunk driver. As fate would have it, the lady suffered massive damage and ended up in a coma, while the old man came out with just a few scratches. Weeks later, her state deteriorated and one sad afternoon the doctor declared her dead. As soon as the husband was informed, he became very agitated and claimed it was impossible. He yelled at the doctor saying he was wrong and refused to calm down, so he had to be sedated. On the very day of the funeral, such scene was repeated and, once more, the poor, grieving man was sedated again.

Days passed and the husband's conviction never faltered. He pestered the family to force the doctor to ok an exhumation and make sure the woman was death. He claimed nightmares plagued him of his wife clawing at the insides of the coffin, fighting to be freed. The family feared for the man's state of mind and decided to go forth with the exhumation in the hopes that it would bring him resignation. Finally, the doctor agreed and the coffin was opened one gray morning. To everyone's surprise, the woman had her nails turned backwards and the linen inside the coffin was shredded to pieces, covered in blood just as the man had claimed.

COFFIN HOP

So, the time has come for me to announce the winners. Thanks to all who visited and commented, it was a blast to read all your ideas and now I have a few more monsters to write stories! Without further ado...

• Third prize and winner of a copy of Perpetual Night and a set of Tim Burton playing cards: Heather Powers, who presented me with the idea of the Ozark Howler. Quite a scary one!
• Second prize and winner of a copy of Perpetual Night and The Halloween Tree paperback: Milo James Fowler, who brought to my attention the African version of the Chupacabra, the Popobawa. 
• And the first prize goes to: Kim. For sharing with me the South African Mamlambo. This one is so utterly cool and bewildering... yay!

I hope I will keep seeing you and hasta la proxima! Hail to Samhain!

Halloween Monsters and Urban Legends II

This second installment of Halloween Monsters and Urban Legends is brought to you by the letter W, and the number 100. As in 100 blogs for you to hop, here. But first, check out what I have for you and don't forget to comment with your own Monster or Urban Legend. It can be a little known one, or one of your own manufacture. There are prizes for the best three, as selected by the judges. The winners will be announced on November 2nd.

WEREWOLVES

Much of what we know about werewolf mythology was actually added to the traditional tales after the 19th century, like its vulnerability to silver, its supernatural strength, size and speed, and even its famous nemesis: The Vampire. Lycanthropic tales are common to most European countries, from Greece to Slovakia. Since, across the world, the only cultures that seem to lack a lycanthrope are those where wolves didn't roam the lands, modern studious of the phenomenon rationalize the stories as the inevitable result of a world where deathly wolf attacks where a common occurrence. There are also those who argue the myth surged as a way to justify the horrific acts of serial killers like Peter Stumpp, a German farmer and alleged killer and cannibal, also known as the Werewolf of Berger, that was executed in 1589.

In any case, early tales of lycanthropy describe the affected as impossible to differentiate from regular wolves, when in that form, but for the fact that they had no tail and retained their human voice. As humans, there were a few signs that could out the creature like a unibrow, but were otherwise utterly regular folks. The curse was brought about as a consequence of committing despicable acts, like killing children or cannibalism, and could be lifted if no other act of violence against humans was committed for ten years. It was also said that if the corpse of a werewolf wasn't burn upon death, it would come back to live and feed on human blood, effectively turning into a vampire!

THE CLOWN STATUE

The friend of a friend who used to babysit as a teenager once told me a pretty freaky story that happened to her. Her clients were a wealthy couple that lived in a huge house in the outskirts of town, a very peaceful place but quite out of the way. Anyway, on this night the parents had some posh dinner in the town and they called the girl to take care of their two kids while they were out. Since the house was pretty large and adorned with many expensive heirlooms, the couple had strict rules about her wandering in the house.  She was supposed to stay in the family room, which was right next to the kitchen, had an awesome flatscreen TV, and everything she needed to pass off the hours quite comfortably.

The kids were very nice and, after a full day of activities and school, soon they were tired enough to go to bed. She then took residence on the room designated by the parents and proceeded to watch TV. After an hour or so, she started feeling really uncomfortable and there, in the corner, she discovered an ugly, bulky clown statue. It looked like a grotesque antique piece from the 20's, all grimy and covered in what looked like oil.

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and she couldn't shake the feeling that the thing was looking at her. She tried to ignore it, just concentrating on her TV show, but to no avail. Finally she gave in. She hid in the kid's bathroom, telling herself she was insane for thinking the statue could hear her, but she did it nonetheless. When the call went through, the father answered on the other side of the line.

"Hey, it's Sarah. Look, I'm sorry to call you up like this but that clown statue you have in the family room is giving me the creeps. Would it be okay if I move it to another room or just stick a blanket over it?"

After a long pause, he replies, "Okay, Sarah. I need you to get the children, put them into your car, and take them to the nearest house. When you're there, call the police. We're on our way."

"Wait--why?" She asked all worried.

"We don't have a clown statue."