For me October has always been a very magical time of the year. All around the leaves transform into beautiful hues of yellow, red and orange. As I walk I can hear them crunch beneath my feet as a brisk earthy wind blows gently through my hair. Across the valley I can see the orange sun slowly setting behind the smoky blue mountain range. Making room for the vast and mysterious darkness of night that holds the hunters moon.

The days go by and finally October 31st is here, so to all of you I wish Happy Halloween and a blessed Samhain! As the doorway between the world opens imaginations run wild…with the sounds of things that go bump in the night. I love to put my decorations up and then put the porch light on. So I can delight in watching groups of children going door to door dressed in cute and spooky costumes yelling "Trick or treat"! Something I did as a child so many years ago!

I hope you enjoy my homage to Halloween... BOO!!!

What would Halloween be with out a black cat! I would like to introduce you to our little Halloween cat Luna. When I think of a typical Halloween cat what comes to mind for me is a hissing black cat with fierce yellow eyes, bristling fur on an arched back and erect tale. Our little Luna is none of these things. I think I have heard her hiss only once. In fact, I can say with all honesty that Luna is pretty much afraid of everything. She is just a big baby who likes to suck on her back foot when you pet her. Hmmm! Some Halloween cat…but you know we love her just the same.

One night my husband and I went to bed a bit earlier then usual. I was really tired so I shut off my nightstand light and started to doze off while he sat up and read. While I was falling asleep I could hear Luna making little grunting meows in the kitchen. I have heard her do this before usually when she wants attention. I was just on the edge of sleep when suddenly I heard what sounded like the voice of a small child calling out,"mommy?" It startled me fully awake and I looked up at my husband. He looked down at me and said,"Yes Luna just said mommy". I thought that it was really cute but it did spook me a little. She has never done it again although she does sit in our kitchen at night and sometimes makes those strange little grunting meows! She loves to talk.

Now this is kind of creepy! In 1976 my family and I were on holidays in Jasper Provincial Park in Alberta. We stopped to take some pictures of the beautiful Weeping Wall. With a 110 camera my dad took a picture of the entire wall. He then thought he would experiment a little and try to get a close up of one of the waterfalls by taking the picture through the binoculars. After we were done we continued on and enjoyed the rest of our trip.

When we got home mom took the film in to be developed. After a few days we received our pictures. Excitedly we looked through them remembering all the fun we had on our trip. We were all curious to see how the picture that dad took through the binoculars turned out. We finally found the picture of the entire weeping wall it was so beautiful. The next picture was the one dad took of one of the waterfalls through the binoculars. We were all surprised at how well it turned out. Suddenly all the hair on my arms stood on end as we noticed the image of a scull in the rocks. If you look on the picture of the whole wall you can see it under the row of trees to the left of the waterfall. It is big about the same length as the trees. Funny but none of us noticed the skull while we were there taking the picture. Dad said that he never noticed it through the camera lens. It was just so creepy to see it there in plain view on the picture, yikes!

I love this picture! It would appear that my parents love Halloween as much as I do. This picture of my mom and dad and their friends Tom and Carol was taken on Halloween in 1983 by my very frightened grandma Christina. My parents and their friends went out for a fun night of adult trick or treating. They visited all the homes of their friends and family. They never said one word the only one who talked was Carol. She had a deep raspy voice that no one recognized. They had fooled everyone it was just too funny! A few days later people were telling my parents about the mysterious visitors they had on Halloween. They even mentioned a few names of people who they thought it probably was, never once suspecting that it was my parents and their friends. My dad has really icy blue eyes and my aunt Laurie looked right at him. She had no idea who he was but his eyes gave her the creeps.

On February 14th my parents, Tom and Carol thought that they would further annoy everyone by putting this picture in the local paper with a Happy Valentines Day wish. It worked like a charm, boy was everyone mad!!!! Snicker snicker.

So if anyone from Sparwood had these people in their home on Halloween night in 1983 all we have to say to you is Gotcha!! Happy Halloween!

From left to right: Dirty Old Man with crutches - my wonderful dad. Over 6 ft. tall ghoul the lovely Miss Sparwood 1983 - Tom. The ever so ghoulish Miss Crows Nest Pass - my wonderful mom. Last but not least our friendly hobo clown - carol!

Now folks this is what Hallowween is all about!

This is a ghost story that I wrote when I was twenty years old, for extra credits while I was taking classes at our local community college. The story of Devon Manor was written for young readers. I hope you enjoy…

The Devon Manor Curse

Margaux Allard (Margo Schmaltz)
All copyrights by Margaux Allard 2003

My name is Jennifer Sladen. For the past twenty years I have been involved in the study of unexplained phenomanon. My main field of interest is poltergeists and hauntings.

Ghosts, those lost spirits who wonder aimlessly in the world of the living have put fear and wonder in our hearts as children. As adults we ask ourselves, do they really exist? Derek and Sonya McNight were part of the majority of non-believers, until June 1st 1980 when they moved into their dream home. It was a one-hundred-year-old, three-story, Victorian home with two fireplaces, located on 113 Black Willow Drive. Sonya McNight will tell us about the experiences they had that caused them to move out within six months.

My husband and I, after many unsuccessful attempts, finally came across Devon Manor. It needed some fixing up, but for the price we paid we couldn't go wrong, or so we thought.

The first four weeks were normal enough. We were busy unpacking, cleaning and settling in. After that, strange things started happening. Small at first, but over the weeks they got considerably worse.

It first started with the lights flickering all the time. We were going through light bulbs like crazy. We'd put a new one in and two days later it would be burned out. Since no one had checked the wiring for many years we had an electrition in to take a look. He said that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the wiring. After a while it stopped so we no longer were concerned about it.

Then it was the set of antique dishes I had on display in the china cabinet. One day while dusting I noticed one of the plates looked as if it had small cracks all over it. I went to pick it up and it just fell apart in my hand. I put it off to the side in hopes that it could be repaired. This wasn't the worst of it, the next morning Derek and I woke up only to find the whole set in the same condition. I was furious that set had been in my family for generations. There was no logical explanation for it.

When we came home from a movie one evening, as we pulled up to the house, Derek thought he saw a face in the third floor window where the attic had originally been. Running up stairs to our surprise, there was no one around. We hadn't done any work on this floor yet so everything was still covered with dust. There was no trace of anyone being up there. There was also no way for them to get out without one of us seeing them.

Some friends were over one night to play cards. Jim thought that he heard a noise up stairs so he and Derek went up to see what was going on. Once again they found nothing. Richelle was in the main floor bathroom when all of a sudden she came running out screaming. She said that someone was looking in the window at her. She couldn't tell what they looked like.

Not believing in ghosts we never considered a haunting as a possibility. We called the police and told them about the disturbances and asked if they would send someone down to check around the grounds for us. After looking around naturally they came up empty-handed.

To top it all off, things would disappear. We would put something down and return only to find it missing. Several days later it would mysteriously reappear in a different room.

Our friend Richelle was always interested in strange phenomanon and said that we could have a poltergeist in our house. Of course, we thought that this idea was crazy but we were willing to try anything to get to the bottom of things. We called Jennifer Sladen, who was a friend of Richelle's. She came over one day with a psychic named Deborah Seamore. When she walked into our house she immediately felt the presence of two spirits. She new nothing about the history of our house but felt that some type of rituals and black magic had been practiced here, the strongest impressions were in the attic. She told us that two bodies had been buried in the basement. We had someone come down and dig up the floor for us, Deborah told them where the bodies were located. To our horror three feet down were the remains of two humans. I just couldn't handle it any more so the next day we started packing.

After talking to the McNights I became interested in the history of Devon manor. Research revealed that the Devon family, who were the original owners of the house, were involved with satanic worship as well as black magic. The town's people shunned them and after putting a supposed curse on the house, they disappeared without a trace. In 1900 Devon Manor was used as a boarding house for thirty-five years. When a fire completely destroyed the house, one life was taken. Five years later it was rebuilt and used as a school. Once again it burned but this time no lives were taken. The Lambert family bought it in 1960, they rebuilt the inside and lived in it for six years. One day for no reason Mrs. Lambert went insane and jumped to her death from the third floor window. The grieving family moved out selling it to a lawyer and his family who for reasons unmentioned moved out six months later. For two and a half years the house sat empty then it was purchased by the Jordan family. Two years later they moved out reasons unknown. The house stood empty for about ten years before the McNight's purchased it.

We don't know the identity of the two bodies that were found buried in the basement. Who knows, maybe it could be Mr. and Mrs. Devon. Now five and a half years later a family has purchased the house. They have made no mention of restless spirits or unusual events. Maybe the spirits are gone or maybe they are just waiting. Who knows how long the calm will last at Devon Manor!

Thank you mom for saving this story!

Well everyone, my awesome husband David just got me Photo Shop and a pen & tablet for my birthday! Now I am able to do artwork on the computer, wow this opens a whole new doorway for me! So, here is my first attempt at using my new program.

Favorite Books & Movies

As far back as I can remember I have always loved horror movies and scary books. When I was very young, when we were still living in Saskatchewan, every Friday night I would watch two spooky programs called Circle of Fear and Ghost Stories. I also grew up hearing my grandma Christina tell me about spooky experiences she and other people had as well as ghostly stories about Indian legends. The dancing Skeleton was my favorite! I was hooked on the unexplained and strange phenomenon right from day one; it is a huge part of my life! Our home is filled with books, videotapes and now DVD's about ghosts and haunted places, urban legends, UFO's, mystical places, crop circles as well as many of my favorite horror movies. I also like to read about the darker side of human nature. However, there is so much violence today that the modern stuff doesn't interest me as much. I prefer the historical stuff such as stories about Jack the Ripper, Vlad the Impailer and my favorite Elizabeth Bathory the Hungarian blood countess. I find it all really quite fascinating! It also amazes me just how many innocent people were tortured, burned and hanged for supposedly being witches. It makes you wonder who the real monsters are!

I have enjoyed all the books that I have read by my favorite authors, Steven King, John Saul, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz and Agatha Christie. I have many of their books in my personal collection. Here are a couple of my favorite books The Blood Countess by Andrei Codrescu and Children of the Night by Dan Simmons. I also love to read the old gothic romance novels.

Favorite Horror Movies.

I have always wanted to act in a horror movie and be the sole survivor. Maybe so many awful things happened to my character while she was trying to get away that she would just not be quite the same person any more. The event that took place would haunt her forever. Sigh!!!! This will never happen so I will just have to enjoy watching other people in my favorite horror movies!

My all time favorite movie is John Carpenter's Halloween. I loved it because there wasn't a lot of blood and it also had a more realistic story line to it. The Michael Myers character is so creepy he scares the hell out of me. I love the way he never runs he just slowly and relentlessly stalks his victims. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat! I have collected all the Halloween DVD's that feature Michael Myers. My ultimate dream would be to get some of the people who played Michael Myers to sign them for me!!!!! The Blair Witch Project - I have heard many bad reviews about this movie. I thought that it was excellent, a true piece of art. It was amazing how many people were fooled into believing that this event actually took place. (I was even unsure myself!) I think it was simple and extremely creative. You never really saw much so it left a great deal to the imagination this is very refreshing because most movies are so graphic. Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola), Sleepy Hollow, Thirteen Ghosts, The House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting, The Ring, the scene near the end of the movie with the TV set (won't give away the ending) was awesome. It even scared me and that isn't easy to do! The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I notice that they are advertising a remake of this movie can't wait to see it! Lost Boys, Night Breed, I loved the make up in this movie. I also read the book 'Cabal' by Clive Barker that the movie was based on. Pet Cemetery, The People Under the Stairs and Geepers Creepers were also very good movies!

I have been watching some really great creepy movies lately! Hide and Seek was excellent, Gothika was also very good. The Grudge was VERY creepy especially the stairway scene! I finally got a chance to see the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in my opinion the original will always be the best but they did an excellent job on the remake. Ring Two was excellent, in some ways I actually liked it better then the first one. My favorite scene is the one in the well. I will certainly be adding this movie to my DVD collection! I also saw the third installment of Urban Legond - Bloody Mary. The movie was pretty good and for those of you who are Michael Myers fans. Don Shanks who played Michael in Halloween 5 has a small roll in this movie as coach Jacoby. He will also be playing the fisherman in I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer.

Well I finally got my long awaited Halloween 25 Years of Terror DVD in the mail. All I can say is that it was worth the wait. It was an excellent documentary and definitely made up for the fact that I was unable to go to the convention. Even my husband who isnt really a big Halloween fan enjoyed watching the panel discussions. My only criticism was that I felt some of the fan videos were a bit too silly and went on a bit too long. I also wish they had had a few more one on one interviews with the actors etc. but that is just my personal opinion. Other then that the DVD is excellent! If you are a Halloween fan I guarantee that this DVD will make a GREAT addition to your collection!

Favorite Creepy Comedies.

Transylvania 65000, Haunted Honeymoon, Love at First Bite, The Frighteners, The Burbs, Saturday the 14th, Practical Magic and Vampire in Brooklyn. This was the first movie that my husband and I saw together. Another really funny movie is Sundown Vampires in Retreat!