Merit-bound Alley

I had the good fortune to attend an muder mystery event at the Judge Morris Estate on Polly Drummond Hill road. The mystery was written by Mysteries by Drew, which I was not able to find a website for and held in the Judge Morris Estate at White Clay Creek State Park.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been fortunate enough to attend such an event, but if you haven’t, you really should. It was loads of fun, they had nice refreshments, and and a cast of very talented and attractive actors. The plot was engaging, and the mystery was surprisingly deep. The actors were able to work in a great amount of humor, from puns to the ribald, and that added quite well to the fun of the night.

Unlike my usual spoiler-rich content, I’m not going to go into detail of the plot or the solution, but trust me when I tell you that your powers of logic and recall will be put to a very enjoyable test!

A few tips for the uninitiated:

1. Get there early. Try to be in the very first group to start, as your time is limited to solve the mystery
2. Don’t spend too much time with the refreshments. Again, time is limited.
3. Make sure your questioning is concise and to the point. Did I mention that there is a time limit?
4. Read the supplied pamphlet. There is a guide of the questions that, when asked, further your understanding of the mystery.

The Judge Morris estate will have another mystery event in February, and I would encourage anyone who wants a fun and unusual night out to attend!

As a child, there were three things that were the ultimate delight, the things I looked forward to more than anything else:

1. Going to McDonalds
2. Getting candy for the wait while my older brother and sister were at CCD
3. Halloween (shocker!)

McDonalds was a rare treat, since we lived out in the boonies and the closest one was a lengthy drive away, every kid likes candy, no matter the significance of the event that gets the sweets to him/her, and I’ve discussed at length my obsession with the dark and chilling Halloween season. But, what about when those three meet in one grand moment, an event crystallized in time whose inspiration of desire haunts me to this very day?

I give to you the McDonalds Halloween Happy Meal pails!

(source)

These Happy Meals inspired in me a greed that exceeded the avarice of any two Christmases put together. Now, the one that I wanted the most was the ghost, but the jack-o-lantern came in as a close second. I didn’t have any strong feelings of the witch because, hey, that’s girl stuff.

Every Halloween that these were offered, I saw myself proudly carrying one of these pails, gathering candy, and reveling in the pride of having the Holy Grail of candy collection. I fell asleep with visions of carrying a plastic jack or the severed head of a ghost, filled to overflowing with Kit-Kats Snickers, or the bane of Trick-or-Treaters everywhere, rolls of 10 pennies wrapped in tissue paper.

McDonalds covered all the bases, too! If some ultra-generous giver was in the mood to hand over a cute little kitten, the pails had air holes to compensate for that. Brilliance! Each pail had it’s own personality, too. The witch was just delighted that a child condescended to choose her, probably just to complete the collection. The ghost had a little sarcastic smirk. Only the jack seemed to show the horror that a child was about to store sweets in his hollowed-out head. It was the entire human experience shown in three finely-crafted plastic toys!

I would love to close by showing you old pictures of me proudly carrying my ghost or jack pail while costumed and ready to spend a day begging for sweets. Unfortunately, I never got one of the pails. Every season that they were offered began with the anticipation of collecting at least one, and ended in sugar-filled disappointment as the season passed with my quest for the Grail unfulfilled.

So, pity me but more importantly, if these ever pop up again and you have a child that says they need one of these pails, take them to MickieDs and get one. If not for them, then for the 10-year-old in me that ended too many Halloweens in disappointed envy!

PS: Regarding the source of the above photo, go read SydLexia. He’s a great pop culture writer!

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Okay, time to play a little bit of catch-up. The last few days have been busy and exhausting, so I’ll make the next but not the last of many apologies for delayed posts.

I’ve talked about the new technology that allows for cheap and great Halloween decorations and costumes, but what did it lok like long before any of us were alive? In this series of photos compliments of Wired, you will see that Halloween may have lacked strobe lights, smoke machines and detailed latex masks, but lacked nothing in the more creepifying aspects! Enjoy!

I commented on a very nice post by Dominique about how nice Delaware is. I’ll be honest, I like Delaware. A lot. But, having grown up in South Jersey, I have to admit that there is something that DE seems to lack: weirdness. So, in honor of being in the single digits to Halloween, I’ll tell you some stories of the weird shit that Jersey had to offer, and ask you Delaware natives for some weird local stories.

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Kindly supplied by reader, commenter, and old friend Med, I give you 6 Signs You’re About to be Attacked by Zombies, by cracked.com!

I will add:

7. You are horrified to see a wave of rats and other small creatures running in the opposite direction.

This mainly happens in travel underground, such as in a sewer system. Chances are that if you find yourself in a sewer system, you are going to be or have been attacked by zombies already, but an oncoming horde of fleeing rats is evidence of an incoming wall of the undead. Should you find yourself in this situation, history says that you may feel compelled to retch or make other disgusted noises, then continue forward as if you didn’t just see thousands of panicked animals running away from your destination. Current understanding of this situation teaches us to turn around and run as if zombies are after you. Because they are.

Can you think of any others?

I have created a Facebook group for all of the Delaware bloggers and the folks kind enough to read us and comment. If you’re on facebook, join the group and add us to your friends. If you’re not on Facebook, then what the hell do you do while you’re at work?

I’m breaking the theme again because I read a great post over at The Meming of Life about why he fights to keep evolution in the science class and religion out. He touches on the absolute wonder of understanding even a fraction of evolution, and that made me think of one of the key arguments that science-minded folk hear from believers. Specifically: If science explains life, then how boring and purposeless is that? Purposeless, maybe. I’ve learned that the most important purpose is one you find for yourself, but “boring”? Hardly.

Think of two snowmen.

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So, I stumbled across this article today questioning whether Christians should celebrate Halloween. It’s from the 700 Club, so you know it’s going to be well-reasoned and informative.

I interviewed several people and then researched what many leading Christian writers, authors and spokesmen have written about the subject. I also searched various websites like www.christianitytoday.com, www.focusonthefamily.org, and www.cbn.com to read what others might be saying. What I found was an agreement on the origins of Halloween, but a mixture of recommendations about allowing our children to participate in this super-charged media driven holiday.

Allright, so he consulted all Christians sources in his research. With the kind of ultra-biased and inbred knowledge of other religions that Christian “thinkers” tout, it’s no surprise that the rest of this article is going to be a trainwreck.

In what is now Britain and France, it was the beginning of the Celtic year, and they believed Samhain, the lord of death, sent evil spirits abroad to attack humans, who could escape only by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves.

Oh, as quick as the second paragraph no less! I have never seen a historical reference to an entity called Samhain. It really is just the name of the day, and translates roughly to “end of summer”. Looks like Pastor Eric Watt did some of his research by watching The Real Ghostusters in addition to consulting Focus on the Family.

Then, the good pastor of course moves to Wicca. Now, the only thing that Christians tend to be nearly as misinformed about as atheism is Wicca.

Halloween is a real, sacred day for those who follow Wicca.

Oh, not so bad so far…

The Celtic belief of spirits being released is current, along with the worship of Samhain (the lord of death) – both are promoted as something to embrace on that day. There is no question in my mind that to those who believe and follow the practices of witchcraft, Halloween represents an opportunity to embrace the evil, devilish, dark side of the spiritual world.

Well, at least he got that one sentence right. Yes, Samhain is a sacred day in Wicca, but certainly not for the reason the ignorant pastor tells us. From my study and former practise, Samhain is kind of a mix of Thanksgiving and the Day of the Dead. Wiccans give thanks for the fact that they have food to eat, are encouraged to donate money and food to those less fortunate, and celebrate the memories of those who have died. Again, there is no “Samhain, Lord of the Dead”, but if there was, I bet it would be Zombie Michael Flatley. I would also like to note that I have met and befriended many many Wiccans, have have yet to find one that “embraced evil”.

Too, rather than “hide” in the face of evil, we should unabashedly and boldly create an alternative that is positive and uplifting; that celebrates good over evil and the triumph of God over Satan. We need to provide an environment that also makes room for heaps of fun while using the day as a “teachable moment” to celebrate God’s protection, provision and purpose for our lives.

So, now we have to deal with a yearly “War on Halloween” to counter the yearly “War on Christmas”? How about just leaving folks alone to dress funny and gather free candy for a day? What’s wrong with letting the Wiccans remember the people they’ve lost for a few hours?

Oh, I forgot that this pastor completely failed to do proper research into the holiday and other religions. Listen, if Christians as a group want to shed the cliche of being ignorant then all Christians, not just the few that break the cliche, have to make themselves more informed on what they preach against. This pastor missed a great opportunity to educate himself from real sources on the history of the holiday and the faith of another group, and that saddens me. Read a history book, walk up to someone you see in a coffee shop who’s wearing a pentacle, anything except failing by consulting one biased source. Chances are, that Wiccan you talk to will be more than forthcoming about their faith and practise once the shock of talking to an unjudging Christian wears off.

And, to answer the original question “Should Christians celebrate Halloween”? Yes. By all means, dress up like a zombie, get some candy, eat popcorn balls, bob for apples, and hang a little skepeton on your door. It’s just good, clean fun!

PS: To all the Christians that I personally know and love, I count myself lucky and grateful that I don’t know any that share this pastor’s level of ignorance.

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One of the best parts of Halloween was the Halloween party at school. You got to wear your costume, or if you didn’t want your costume ruined before trick-or-treating, you’d wear last year’s ill-fitting costume. Classes were suspended for the day, and every kid brought in some sort of food for the party: apple cider, spiced wafers, pumpkin pie, toasted pumpkin seeds, popcorn balls, all those good treats that you never seem to find anymore, their rich tradition replaced by mini Snickers and orange Kit-Kats.

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Pharyngula has a post up about a peer-reviewed research regarding an interesting chain of arthropod fossils. The research quickly went over my head, but I was struck by the picture presented in Dr. Meyer’s post:

Anyone see a familiar face in there? If not, I’ve created a hint: