This Paranormal Life of Ours....

I have been fascinated with Halloween, ghost stories, horror movies and all things paranormal ever since I was about 6 or 7. Saturday nights at our house in the early 60’s was all about The Jackie Gleason Show.  But after that show, we switched to Chiller Theater. Its opening sequence was a scene from “Plan 9 from Outer Space” with a great orchestrated theme song. I remember it like it was yesterday and thus began my love for these movies. Years later, after actually having my own psychic experience; seeing my friend’s deceased grandmother sitting on a couch in his basement, I realized I needed to look into this and find out what the heck is going on here.          

            I recently watched my new copy of “The Conjuring” and seeing the characters of Lorraine and Ed Warren brought me back to the mid 70’s and a presentation of theirs I attended on Long Island. The Warrens were great; entertaining and informative and also pioneers in the field. In addition, before Jason and Grant and the “Ghost Hunters” TV show, there was the “godfather” of psychic phenomena as it was known, Hans Holzer. In the 70’s I had the honor of taking a Parapsychology course from Mr. Holzer. His lectures were incredible, especially listening to EVP’s before they were EVP’s. What we listened to were cassette recordings made with a hand held mono recorder/player in haunted houses and cemeteries. Truly chilling stuff! In fact, I urge you to record your empty house when you leave and then listen to the recording when you return. You may be surprised at what is there.

            Some people get a rush or thrills from roller coasters, other thrill rides or riding motorcycles. For me, there’s nothing like that feeling when you are watching a scary movie and don’t know what’s coming next or what lurks around that corner. Or the feeling you get when you hear that strange noise and the goose bumps follow. And what about that shadow you think you just saw out of the corner of your eye which causes the hair on your arm and neck to stand up. How cool is that!

            Horror movies for me are full of contradictions. They are so much fun. But also, they are scary, creepy and make me feel uneasy at the same time. Rather than turn this into a top ten list of favorite movies, let’s just say I love them all. I am particularly fond of the timeless nature of the “The Exorcist”. However, I also remember numerous copycat films that followed its release. One particular film comes to mind. I recall my cousin Roseann and I in 1974 (I think), going to the movies to see “Beyond the Door”, a B-movie Exorcist rip-off. Upon returning home and entering a basically dark house, we were startled by my mother sitting on the steps who says "How was the movie?". Of course she seemed to be dressed just liked the possessed woman in the movie and her sitting there in the dark was just creepy. She totally scared the shit out of us as we walked in.

            Over the years I’ve been criticized for letting my children watch horror movies. I believe that if you reinforce the fact that it’s a movie and not real and if it’s not too intense or bloody, most children can handle it. This is entertainment. Real life is what’s frightening. I think about a home video of Emily at maybe 3 years old looking out from behind her crib saying, “Freddy Krueger’s coming”. I realize it’s not Disney, but very funny. And then there’s the story about one of the first times Marian met my son Nick. For some reason I had him at work with me and when Marian came in the building, he was watching a video tape called “The Boogeymen”. It was a compilation of the popular horror movie killers like Jason, Freddy, Michael Myers and Pinhead from Hellraiser. He was about 10 at the time and Marian (who I only knew a few months then) says “You let your son watch this trash? What’s wrong with you?” Ah, the good old days. Finally, what makes a dad more proud than that rite-of-passage and finally realizing the kids are old enough to watch “The Exorcist” for the first time? Brings a tear to my eye!

            Naturally this is all tongue in cheek, (to a point) and as the kids were getting older we had our own classics such as Nickelodeon’s “Are you Afraid of the Dark?”, “GooseBumps” and one of our favorites, “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. We made some memories, and now the kids look back fondly, I think?  In June of 2006, the remake of “The Omen” was released (6/6/6 to be precise). I remember my mother begging us not to go see it on that date as if we would be releasing some ancient curse on us all if we did. Funny stuff…And tell me I don’t come through in the clutch to celebrate birthdays. Emily’s 15^th was a weekend spent in the Lizzie Borden House, complete with a tour that night, group discussion about the crime, and then breakfast the next morning cooked by a worker dressed just like Andrew Borden, murder victim. The funniest part was watching my 12 year old son hitting on some twenty-something girl there. Nick’s line was “ Hey, wanna do the Ouija board with me?” Doesn’t get any better!       

             Now, when Halloween rolls around, it is a time to reflect; a time to think back and recall the memories. It’s the warm and fuzzy feelings brought on by night after night of horror films. For example, there’s the original John Carpenter Halloween and Nightmare on Elm St. Then we settle in for a night of Friday the 13^th   followed by part II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII. Well you get my point. I also don’t mind when my cousins Andrea and Maria make fun of me and send me creepy pictures of dolls or clowns on Facebook. They are just mad because I know dolls come alive at night when everyone’s sleeping, that’s why Emily never had any. And you never saw a clown at any of my kid’s parties did you? I know better. But have your fun, its ok.

            Funny how life is?  Now Marian, who read me the riot act years ago when I let Nick watch his video is my wife and watches horror movies. Her famous quote during every movie is “Why do you make me watch this shit?” I don’t make her, she can’t resist! We even had our own ghost in the old Wallkill apartment. You’ve heard about the little boy dressed in white haven’t you?  I fondly remember my mom visiting with her bottle of Holy water. Remarkable…And now Marian just shakes her head as Louis sits and puts on “The Shining”. She can’t believe he laughs when Jack Nicholson says “Wendy, I’m home” as the axe goes through the door. Or how he constantly rewinds and replays the “Here’s Johnny” scene as he gets ready to take care of Wendy. Yes Louis is one of us now.....There's no escape...…As in the words of Stewie Griffin, “Victory is mine!”

                         Have a Safe and Happy Halloween Everyone and Redrum to all!

by Nick Malcuit (10/30/2013)

Bewitched.....

   

        Since Halloween is in the air and American Horror Story's theme is The Coven, what better way to kick off the blog than with a related, seasonal tale... Enjoy!
      
       We’ve all seen the scenes. Young, beautiful, sometimes scantily clad young ladies corrupting the morally superior Puritan men. Then when confronted, they suffer facial contortions, violent shaking, moans and writhing on the floor (Novins 128). This was usually followed by a minister claiming it was the devil’s doing and then we watched in horror as the women were burned alive. Yes, this is how many of us were introduced to events in Salem, Massachusetts. But what do we really know about what went on in Salem in 1692?

       History tells us due to his inability to create harmony among the villages after about 3 years on the job, Minister Samuel Parris was dismissed. Coincidentally, it was at this time his daughter Betty, niece Abigail and another child Ann Putnam began exhibiting odd behavior such as nonsensical and foolish speech followed by strange contortions (Novins 125-26). In addition, the minister had a Caribbean slave named Tituba, who was involved with herbal medicine so you can see where this was headed. They were bewitched and Tituba was believed to be just one of the witches casting this spell on the children.   

       According to Eric Foner in “Give Me Liberty”, the only way to avoid prosecution was to confess and name other witches. Therefore in the coming months like a freight train, hundreds of accusations rolled in and around Salem, some in order to protect themselves and some to settle old scores within the community (106).

       In a movie version of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, (1996) Abigail Williams has an affair with John Proctor which leads to mass hysteria and executions. However,  in reality, Abigail would have been 11 and John Proctor 60 years of age therefore the likelihood of an affair can be questioned. While the movie portrays Abigail and the girls’ behavior as adolescent sexuality, historians debate the real reasons for the strange hysterics. Movies have been known to take liberties in the name of entertainment. For example, Miller's response to critics regarding his deviations of actual events in Salem was “What’s real?” (129)

       Around 150 people were charged during the trials and in all, nineteen were hanged. In addition, a husband of a so-called witch was executed by being suffocated under a pile of stones. While the executions were gruesome, nevertheless, it was not the images I always saw on TV of a young woman tied to a stake being engulfed by flames.

        According to Carnes and Garraty, many of the accused witches were older women, widows of men of high status and women who owned property. Some had mastered herbal medicine and the healing arts (127). Based on this information one can start to draw conclusions about the underlying reasons of the trials. They go on to explain “women who lived apart from the daily guidance of men subverted the patriarchal authorities of church and state” (127).

        In conclusion, there were many elements that went into the bewitching of Salem. Puritan anxiety towards women’s attitudes was a key component. Likewise, there have been other theories such as tension and rivalry between factions within the community and fear of Indian attack (Novins 136). Since these theories lacked excitement and romanticism, it was not unusual for Hollywood to take a much more adventurous and sinister approach to this period in history, using illicit and wicked behavior, cauldrons full of boiling animal parts, and black magic to illustrate these events.

Works Cited

Carnes and Garraty, “The American Nation: A History of the United States.” In Cheryl Novins, 3^rd ed. The Pearson Textbook Reader Boston: Pearson, 2011. 125-36.Print

Carnes and Garraty, “Re-Viewing the Past, The Crucible.” In Cheryl Novins, 3^rd ed.  The Pearson Textbook Reader Boston: Pearson, 2011. 125-29. 128-29.Print

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History, Seagul Edition 2nd ed. New York, NY: WW Norton & Co Inc. 2009. 106. Print.

Hytner, Nicholas, Dir. The Crucible. 1996. DVD. 10/17/2013