In their first book, Lynne and Shawn Mitchell took you through a gorgeous and macabre world of Halloween prop-building to haunt your house. How to Haunt Your House, Book Two, I’m happy to say, is not a rehash of their first book, but a worthy companion that ambitiously expands on their haunting tutorials, while easily standing on its own with all new projects, styles and techniques, all presented in clear, glossy photos and instructions.

In their “dead”ication, the authors pay enthusiastic homage to all the things that go bump in the night. I can easily imagine being one their neighbors as summer begins to morph into autumn … “Strange lights are often spotted in the late, night hours and the occasional, stray sounds of owls, hissing cats and long, drawn-out cries of wolves will be heard echoing down the driveway.” This successfully sets the tone for the lush and gothic world we are about to enter, and the shadows cast by their props begin to look just a little bit too alive … an effect we can produce by following their inspiring examples.

And what should we except from this book? Well, how about a full tutorial on building (and deconstructing for storage) an entire scale model gothic mausoleum, complete with an old, rusty wrought-iron gate? Hard to believe it’s all achieved with wood frames, Styrofoam and PVC pipe! Stock your kitchen with apothecary jars full of strange, glowing liquids filled with creatures you can almost (but not quite) recognize. Construct huge gargoyle columns, fashion a complete crypt that doubles as a hide-away for your electronic components, create foggy, bubbling cauldrons and turn store-bought props and mannequins into ghoulish hags and decapitated brides.

If that’s not enough, Lynne and Shawn devote a large section of their book on animated props. Using clear and detailed images, they show you the components you need, types of motors and connections, and suggested power supplies. Step-by-step, they take you through two motorized projects, one of a monster churning a pot by hand, and an undead creature turning its head in a cemetery. I would love to see videos of these completed projects on their website!

A book on building and designing props would certainly be fulfilling, but all of these projects are unified with chapters on how to present an enthralling entrance, inside decor (with tips on lighting and accessories), and images and layout tips for a fully-stocked cemetery.

I am astonished with their creativity, attention to detail, and willingness to peel back the moth-eaten curtains to teach you how everything is done. It’s presented with lush, full-page images and eerie backgrounds to keep with the mood. This book proudly stands with their first volume, and I’ll need to build an inspiring gothic bookcase to house them!

• You can buy this book from Amazon

Halloween coloring pages offer a fun, simple and inexpensive way to keep children entertained for a few hours. Whimsical ghosts, goblins, and jack-o’-lantern grins can be fun to color or paint, and kids always love coloring activities and craft projects.  It’s possible to find free Halloween-themed coloring pages online, which you can download and print, or you can purchase cheap coloring books from your local dollar store. There are several different ways of using coloring pages at Halloween.   Here are a few ideas of things your kids can create.

1.       Yard Decorations

It’s actually quite easy to print a coloring page to any size that you need. If you will like a six-foot tall black cat guarding your house after dark on October 31st, it is fairly straightforward to create. Many stained-glass or quilt pattern websites offer free pattern enlargers that can send your choice of coloring page to the printer in pieces, which can later be taped together into a very large design. Children can decorate these separate sheets, glue them to poster board, and add a stick to plant in the yard.

2.       Invitations

Halloween party invitations are always fun to make. You could get your kids involved by getting them to color your invites.  Another idea is to ask each guest to decorate their own invite for judging at the party. With each Halloween invitation you send, you can include a coloring page for a mask, a pumpkin, or other Halloween-themed items. When guests arrive with their decorated invitations, they can be displayed as decorations at the party for everybody to enjoy.  You then can ask your guests to vote for their favorite.  Make sure you have some candy or some sort of treat available to give to the winner.

3.       Party Favors

Halloween coloring pages can be made into fun party favors. For instance, there are paper baskets that can be colored and folded into shape to hold fruit or candy treats, which kids will love making. The baskets will hold their shape better if the sheet of paper is glued to a lightweight cardboard backing first.

4.       Fabric Stencils

If you are looking for imaginative ideas for Halloween crafts, many craft stores sell crayons that color in lines that will work as an iron-on transfer for fabric. Children will love the idea of coloring their own Halloween pictures that can then be ironed onto an old T-shirt.

5.       Window-Painting Templates

Coloring pages can be taped to the outside of a window for a child to copy onto the inside of the glass with washable poster paints. This is a fun way to decorate your home for the exciting Halloween season.

6.       Moving Pictures

Young children will enjoy coloring a very simple shape that can be glued to a cardboard backing. This shape can then be cut apart and put together with an office brad that will allow parts to move.

Halloween coloring pages are a great resource to remember for all types of holiday needs. These handy lined drawings can be used with crayons, paint or markers. With our modern printers able to enlarge or shrink these coloring page shapes, they can be used in a wide variety of ways that can add to your yearly Halloween fun.

This article is courtesy of HalloweenPartyIdeas.org, which offers lots more Halloween party ideas for kids, including games, crafts and food.

The fancy world of the Star Wars series is a perfect party theme for all types of celebrations. Birthdays and Halloween are two main occasions to infuse life to the most popular visualized characters of the entertainment world. Organizing a Star Wars theme party is not at all expensive as considered by many people. Here are some ideas that can help you become an appreciated host of a Star Wars party.

Decide the Venue

You can decide to organize Star War Costumes for a birthday party in the garden area if it is a late evening party. This will help you have the natural effects of night and space for your party theme. However, you don’t get much scope of decoration in a garden area party. So, you can prefer to have the party indoor.

Design Invitations

Invitations for a Star Wars party can be easily designed at home using black cardboard paper and gel pens. A good idea is to obtain the print-outs of Star Wars clip arts from the internet and paste them on the invitations. The invitation should say something like ‘Welcome to the Galaxy’ and ‘Come and Wish the Young Jedi Who Was Born to Be the Chosen One’. Also, attach the party details to the invitation.

Decorating the Venue

You can obtain Star Wars party decoration kits from an online store. Or, you can use some simple ideas to bring in the effect. For example, cut the stars from the aluminum or tin foil and hang them from ceiling using wires.

You may also collect stones from the garden area and paint them lime green. Scatter these stones here and there to create an alien planet look.

Plastic glows available at online stores can help you create the right environment for the party. You can also use hoses and PVC pipes to decorate the doors and the walls as they create the right look of the space. Play the Star Wars theme music to enhance the party. If your child possesses Star Wars toys and figurines, you can use them too for the decoration purpose.

Party Costumes

Make it compulsory or simply request the party guests to dress up in Star Wars costumes (or create them yourself). You must also obtain Star Wars costumes for yourself. If it is a birthday party of your child, the Jedi Costume are perfect ideas for him or her.

Foods and Drinks

The craze of Star Wars series has inspired the food and drink suppliers to come up with preparations inspired by this fantasy world. Yoda soda, Galactic pizza, Sebulba sun chips, Skywalker salsa, Wookie cookies and many more ideas can be used to arrange the food for the Star Wars party.

If it is a birthday party, the attraction should be the Star Wars theme cake. You can choose and order a Star Wars cake at an online store or learn how to prepare one at home.

Party Games

No party can complete without playing games and a Star Wars theme party has unlimited game ideas. Pass the Droid, Starship Relay, Light Saber Training; Restore the Galaxy, Keep up the Meteor, Destroy the Death Star and many such Star Wars game ideas are popular for the parties. You can learn about them from the online resources.

Party Favors

The Star Wars party favor bags may contain things like glow sticks, Star Wars stickers, Star Wars figures and toys and candies. You need to depend upon the online party stores to obtain impressive party favor bags for the Star Wars party.

Just like other theme parties, you must start preparing for the Star Wars party few days in advance. You can take suggestions from people online who share their experience of Star Wars parties on the web. A well-organized Star Wars party will be remembered by you and the party guest for many years.

How To Plan and Execute a Memorable Star Wars Party is a Guest post by Lea Jones who is an online freelance writer and also the owner of a Star Wars Costume online store. In this post she’ll give some tips about Executing Star Wars Party for the upcoming Halloween 2010.

Halloween party is the perfect podium to step into the shoes of your favorite characters. The Star Wars series sets inspiration to play the fantasy in real and a Star Wars Costume can help you in this.

The costumes of Star Wars characters available in the stores are expensive or they are too popular to quickly get out of stock. Begin the preparations for your Halloween look this season with self-made Star Wars costume. The following steps should guide you on how to build your own Star Wars costume with ease and on time.

Choose Your Character

Begin your adventure by choosing one of the numerous Star Wars Costumes you wish to be dressed like. Jedi Costume, Anakin Costume, Han Solo Costumes, Princess Amidala Costume, Rebel Costume and Leia Costume are some of the easy-to-make costumes. You should learn about other options as well and choose the one you find the best to grab the attention.

Use Pictures as Guides

The second step should be to collect the pictures of your favorite Star Wars character and use them as guides to build a detailed costume. You can obtain pictures or posters from an online store, or you can simply obtain the print outs of the pictures available on the web.

Buy the Right Fabric

For the costumes like those worn by the Jedi warriors, you have to buy fabrics in the right color tone and in sufficient quantity. Robes and other parts of the costumes will be prepared using the fabrics you purchase. Also, you must know the right way to sew or stitch the fabric for different costume pieces.

Use Your Clothes that are Available

You will be glad to know that most of the Star Wars costumes can be built using the clothes you might possess already. For example, to create a Rebel costume, you require pants in solid color and vests. The Princess Leia costume can be easily built using a white dress as the base. In the same way, you can easily arrange off-white t-shirts and black pants for the Han Solo costumes. Even the black boots required for this costume are commonly owned items.

Costume Accessories

The accessories used with Star Wars costumes too are easy to prepare at home. For example, the belt for the Leia costumes can be easily created using duct tape. Empty boxes in small sizes can be glued to a black belt to prepare the Han Solo belt. The aluminum foil folded rectangles can be used to create the silver bands worn by the Princess Amidala.

As far as the weapons used by the Star Wars characters are concerned, you can make them at home or purchase them from a nearby toy shop. For example, the Han Solo’s gun can be created using empty toilet paper roll and a paper towel roll. Light sabers for Jedi costumes can be purchased from a toy shop.

Adopting the Right Look

Apart from creating the Star Wars costume, you must also learn how to adopt the right look of the characters from the series. For example, dressing up like Yoda would require you to paint your face, neck and hands with green paint. Green construction paper can be used to create the ears for Yoda costume.

Another important preparation for Star Wars look is to style your hair in the way your favorite character in the series did. Use hair color or purchase hair wigs to complete the look.

The steps described above are easy to perform, but you must start as early as possible to come up with a perfectly made Star Wars costume. It is a good idea to build Star Wars costumes along with your friends or family members and enjoy Halloween as a Star Wars family.

Building Own Star Wars Costume in Few Easy Steps is a Guest post by Lea Jones who is an online freelance writer and also the owner of a Star Wars Costume online store. In this post she’ll give some tips about Building Star Wars Costumes for the upcoming Halloween 2010.

Each year I try to find interesting Halloween jewelry but all I find is lots of cheap trinkets.  So last April I decided to take up beading.  Now I make my own amazing Halloween jewelry.

If you can thread a needle and tie a knot, you can bead! One of my favorites is this ‘String of Skulls Bracelet. Its simply a matter of stringing an interesting set of beads for the main line, then stringing smaller sections and sewing through one little bead at set intervals. Its quick, simple and great looking.

A slightly more interactive stringing job produces this unusual ‘Pumpkin Shroud Wine Jewelry’.

Beware though as beading can become addictive.  Suddenly you’ll find the simple stringing isn’t enough and you’ll want to try your hand at more intriguing stitches.  Written and video instructions are available all over the Internet and can produce items fairly simple such as my beaded ‘Vampire Bite Choker’ or the somewhat more difficult ‘Bat Wing Bottle Jewelry’.

I love the fact that I can design my own beadwork items or purchase other people’s inexpensive patterns online.  Along that line take a look at my creations and patterns at www.DebrisDeCollette.com and have a bloody good Halloween!

Preparing for Halloween and other celebrations such as birthdays involves shopping for costumes. Costumes have an important role in Halloween or any other festivities and more so for kids. Kids costumes for parties have taken a huge leap over the years, making it easier for the parents to dress their kids. There are plenty of choices at affordable prices and the quality of costumes too has improved.

Today there are designer costumes available in the market. If you too are in preparations for theme parties then kids pirate costumes are an excellent choice for your kids. Pirate of Caribbean has been a popular movie, and therefore companies specializing in kids costumes have come up with outifts of the various characters of the movie.

Pirates of the Caribbean

The popularity of the various characters of the movie series among kids is phenomenal. Children get excited by the various swashbuckling acts of the characters from the ‘Pirates of Caribbean’ movies. The enormous and enduring popularity of the characters means you’ll find lots of kids dressed as pirates at Halloween and birthday parties.

So, if you want to take your kids to a Halloween or any other fun-theme pirate party, you have lots of choices. He will be delighted to be dressed in the costume and will take great pleasure in playing the Pirate character with his friends.

Dressing Your Little Pirate

Pirate costumes for kids are available for children of any age up to 16 years, including toddlers. The costumes have been designed with special care to accommodate the needs and hygiene requirements of kids. The whole costume is made using non-toxic material so that small toddlers are safe wearing it for long periods. In addition, superior quality of materials are used to make sure that the fabric is resistant to wear and tear and is durable enough to be in good condition for longer periods.

Most costumes can also be hand washed and gently ironed to keep for use in future. Apart from parties, the costumes can also be used in fancy dress competitions, dress up, plays etc.

Also look for accessories like hats, shoes, masks, scarves and buckles. And, if you wish, you can creatively experiment with the accessories and give a unique pirate look to your child. There is so much variety in pirates and characters that an entire family can dress the same and still look different from each other.

Kids Pirate costumes are available in all leading costume stores in the market. You can shop these costumes for kids of all ages and sizes. You can also get Pirate costumes for your toddler baby. However, if you want the best quality, look for licensed Pirate costumes. There are many online costume stores that sell authentic costumes of various characters from Pirates of Caribbean. You can visit any of these stores offering services in your town or city. However, you can get these costumes at best rates if you shop around in the market.

Where to Buy Your Costume?

Visit various websites to know the prices of these costumes. Online stores usually offer discounts on costumes, since they don’t have to pay the overhead of physical stores. Discounts vary from store to store. Therefore by shopping around and visiting various stores you would be able to get the lowest prices.

Most online costume shops have an entire section devoted to pirates. They will give you choices as to age, size, and the various features. You can also view large, detailed images before making your final choice. It is also advisable that you read the terms and conditions of the deal before placing your order (some are final sale.) Also, shop with only those stores which offer you price match guarantee on purchases and free or discounted delivery of orders. Finally, book your order through your preferred online payment method and the store will deliver the order to your home. Your costume choice will surely bring a big smile on your child’s face!

Written by Ashley Williams. Ashley is a writer who deeply enjoys writing about Halloween Costumes, and one of her work is Kids Pirate Costumes. She has written extensive articles related to costumes that have been highly appreciated by readers around the world.

Halloween has in recent years spread across the Atlantic to the boot shaped peninsula known as Italy.   Although the Italians do not celebrate Halloween per se, they do have their own rituals and festivities which are not all too far off.

One of these festive and colorful holidays is All Souls Day.  It comes on the day after All Saints Day which is November 1st and honors the fallen Saints.   However All Souls Day honors all those who have died.  It is an Italian celebration which is not focused on death, as in a morbid fashion, but on honoring loved ones who have passed on.

Although these two holidays are not the same, there is one major similarity – the use of food.  Just as our Halloween involves the practice of handing out food to children as they come knocking on our door, the Italians also incorporate the practice of food giving to children on All Souls Day.   However, in their ritual, the children leave food and lit candles outside to “guide and feed” the souls of those in purgatory who revisit the home during the night.  In some regions the tradition is for children to leave their shoes outside the front door only to find them stuffed with gifts later.

One popular cookie sold in bakery stores throughout Italy is called, Bones of the Dead.   Every region in Italy seems to have their own unique version of this cookie.

A very simple Tuscan version of this cookie is as follows:

BONES OF THE DEAD

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup hazelnuts chopped

2 cups sugar

2 egg whites

juice of a lemon

Instructions:

Combine the flour, egg whites, sugar and juice in a large bowl.

Next, add in the nuts and mix together until a dough consistency forms.

Roll the dough into the size of 2 inch wide logs and cut in 2-3 inch lengths.

Flatten or shape to resemble bones.

Lay flat on a floured cookie sheet (spray the sheet with cooking spray and then lightly flour)

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes.

Let cool.

For a Chocolate Chip Version:

Ingredients:

2 egg whites at room temperature

2/3 Cup confectioner’s sugar

1/4 cup fine semolina flour (plus more for later)

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped almonds.

Instructions:

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.   This can be done with an electric mixer on high speed for about a minute.

Slowly add in half the sugar while beating until whites are stiff.

Fold in the rest of the sugar, flour, chocolate chips and almonds and mix gently.

Line your cookie sheet or pan with parchment paper.  Otherwise grease and lightly flour the surface.

Create bone shaped cookies with the dough, about 3 inches in length and 1 1/2 inches wide.  Place on the cookie sheet.  Remember these will expand so space accordingly.

Bake at 300 degrees F for about 30 minutes until cookies are dry.

Let cool.

Drizzle  with a melted chocolate mixture of chocolate and butter.  Either dip the bottom side in, or drizzle with the chocolate.

Let dry and enjoy!

Other Halloween Ideas Using Italian Food

If you want a more familiar Italian theme food for your Halloween party, try these:

HALLOWEEN CANNOLIS

The easiest way to create cannolis is to buy premade shells.

For the filling:

10 oz. ricotta cheese drained

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Orange food coloring

Always fill the cannolis the same day you plan on serving them.  If you make them in advance the shells will become soggy.   You can make your filling the day before, and then simply fill the shells just prior to your party.

Mix all the ingredients except the chips, until it is light and airy.  You can use a mixer or food processor, such as a cuisinart 11 prep or for this.  Or you can just mix it by hand the good old fashioned way.

When finished gently fold in the chips.

Fill the shells with the mixture.  A tip is to pour the mixture into a plastic bag and then snip one of the corners, thus creating a makeshift pastry bag.   Use this to squirt the filling into the shells.

This recipe can also be used during other holidays, such as Christmas and makes a great Italian Christmas gift or contribution for attending parties.  Instead of orange food coloring try green or red.

As with many Italian desserts, remember to serve with coffee or espresso.  Especially dry cookies, like the Bones of the Dead cookies, are great when dipped in a latte.

If you do not make your own espresso using appliances like an Alessi espresso maker, to prepare your espresso, regular coffee should suit your guests just as well.

This article was contributed by Liz T. Krause, publisher of simpleitaliancooking.com.  Although she grew up in an Italian household, it wasn’t until later in her married life with her Italian husband that she began to appreciate the joy of Italian cooking.

Fairy costumes have always been popular for Halloween parties. In every party you will find many young girls and women dressed as fairies. The reason behind the popularity  is their classical and exotic look. Moreover, the ample varieties in fairy costumes also make it easy for women to dress uniquely. So if you are planning to attend a Halloween party this year, or host your own, choose one of the stylish designed fairy costumes and be a huge hit. And, if you have a daughter, then you can also dress her as a fairy for the Halloween.

There are many varieties of Fairy Costumes available in the market. The different outfits are suitable for women of all ages and sizes, including toddlers and babies. You can opt for a classical gothic costume or a sensuous sexy fairy costume for the party. Plus there are also costumes worn by various characters in fairy tales and movies. So if you want to dress as a character, opt for a Tinkerbelle fairy costume or a Princess Zula fairy dress.

Depending on what you choose, these costumes are elegantly designed and feature skirts, silk flowers, wings and other matching decorations and accessories. You can also shop separately for accessories and add it to the costume to give you a unique fairy look.

The costumes are durable and are easy to maintain. You can also go in for green costumes that are made of environmentally friendly and recycled materials. You can wash these costumes at home and keep it for future use. The fairy dress is popular for Halloween but it can also be worn on other occasions such as fancy dress and theme based parties. Little children can also wear it on birthdays and New Year parties, or just to play dress up.

Fairy dresses are available at a wide price range and are suitable for every budget. The prices generally depend on the quality of materials used and the size of the costume. It is essential that you buy only licensed fairy costumes. It may be a touch expensive but will be worthy in terms of design and quality. There are many costume stores where you can shop for licensed costumes at affordable rates. You can also browse for and buy these costumes on the Internet.

I remember years ago my grandfather telling me stories about a man who use to live off in the woods in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. His name was Joe, Joe the Skinner they use to call him because he did a lot of the taxidermy work for the hunters in the area. He also did some butchering.

Gramps said he was a tall man well over 6 feet may be closer to 7. Gramps had and old picture of him. Where he got it or who took it I don’t know I never asked Gramps, but remember seeing it as a kid. The picture was an old black and white one, wrinkled some and a little faded, but there was a man standing in it, a real big man in front of an old log cabin. He was tall as his shoulders were above the top of the doors frame.

Gramps said he use to hang out by Joe the Skinner place when we was a kid; a lot of the kids did Grandpa said. Joe always had about 6 or 8 deer dressed out and hanging in his back yard. Bear too, and at times a big bearskin would be nailed right to the side of his cabin. Rabbit, muskrat and beaver were stretched out too in small hoops that looked like shields.

The place always smelled of blood. Even years later after Joe was gone and his cabin had fallen in on its self, you could still smell the blood grandpa would say.

Joe was an ok guy until it seems he went crazy, or maybe he always was. It was kind of a local joke whenever someone was missing, people would say maybe Joe the skinners got him? Mothers would scare their kids off to bed by saying, “Better get to bed or Joe the Skinner will get you!”

The Pine Barrens like today is a dangerous place in some ways. More so back then. There were black bear some say mountain lion and always quicksand. Then too this was during the depression and someone who couldn’t find work would just sometimes take off for the big cities like Philly or New York that seemed always to promise work. Even the smaller cities like Newark. Patterson or Passaic, beckoned with a good paycheck from work in a factory.

So it wasn’t that odd that someone would turn up missing.

As time passed it seemed less and less people were hunting and didn’t need Joes work. But Taxidermy and butchering was all Joe knew. Joe the Skinner wasn’t seen for week’s maybe even months at a time. But then this wasn’t odd for Joe. If you didn’t go out into those woods to see him for skinning work or a butchering you might not have seen Joe for months some times.

Gramps said Joe had an old model T that he would take down to the dry goods store every now and then to buy supplies. Gramps said it never had any license plates on it at all. Gramps said he guess Joe figured he didn’t need any as he never left the Pine Barrens only went from his cabin to the dry good store and back.

It was some time in the 1940’s one winter that Joe wasn’t seen for a very very long time. The damp wet winters made travel into the Pines Barrens difficult at best. If there wasn’t snow, the unpaved roads were frozen over in deeps hard ruts. And with the spring thaw they were a sea of deep mud.

As springtime dried the Pines Barrens the sheriff drove back to see Joe. What he found could only be described as what the myth of local legends are made of. Joe’s cabin had actually fared the winter well. Flowers had sprung up everywhere yellow forsythia almost blocked the one small window of the cabin while a huge weeping willow dusted the roof with its long thin branches. The door of the cabin was shut and looked as if it wasn’t opened in a long time. The sheriff blew the loud horn of his old back and white squad car and waited.

“Joe?” Called out the sheriff, but not a sound came from the cabin except the chatter of squirrels and the singing of meadowlarks.

The sheriff stepped from his squad car and walked up to the door of the cabin. It wasn’t locked it never was. He gave the door a few strong raps with his worn night stick that looked more like a child’s baseball bat. He pushed the brim of his cap up with the tip of the night stick. He saw no footprints other than his own at the door so he knew no one had been in or out of that cabin for a while.

He expected the worse, that being that Joe was dead. He pulled the string that hung through the door that lifted the latch inside. He pushed the door open and stepped in.

Light filtering in through the small window was enough for him to see that Joe was dead on the floor with one of his butchering knives in his hand, a big old curved knife that most would have called an injun scarping knife. What the sheriff didn’t expect to see was the rest of Joe’s hobby or past time.

Inside the cabin were the mounted deer heads more than you could count; beaver, rabbit and squirrel pelts were everywhere. Even a red fox stuffed and done up nicely standing on a good size log.

But that wasn’t the surprise – it was the bodies, the human bodies Joe was working on that made the sheriffs jaw drop.

10 or 12 done up just as well as any other of Joes work. Some naked standing in the back of Joes cabin. Others dressed and sitting at the table as if waiting for coffee and pie. The men dressed in suits, one even wore a stiff straw hat. The women dressed well, and an older one with a full bonnet, a younger one with a pretty dress and blond hair hanging down in fine curls …

About the author:

He has written articles for Backwoodsman and Reminisces magazines and is the author of the book CLIDE AND DRUCE A Repulsive Tale of Trolls and Tax Money.

His love for Halloween had lead him to become a member of New Jersey Ghost Hunters. And, as lover of history and everything old most of his stories as well has his poetry are echoes of past.

The Pine Barrens of Southern NJ is a particular abode of strangeness. From ghost to the Jersey Devil to eccentric people it is to some a world of its own. My story, Joe The Skinner is only one whispered about and said to be a cousin to who?

Editor’s Note: Getting ready for Halloween – In July!

Special edition The Dead Matter DVD set including soundtrack and Midnight Syndicate Greatest Hits CD available at all HOT TOPIC stores nationwide.

July 30, 2010 (Cleveland, OH) Midnight Syndicate Films is releasing a special edition of The Dead Matter DVD that will include two bonus CDs by gothic Halloween music artists Midnight Syndicate. It will be available at all Hot Topic stores nationwide on July 30th. It will also be available online at Hot Topic, Amazon, and Midnight Syndicate’s site. The specially-priced set will include The Dead Matter DVD, the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD by Midnight Syndicate, and a new Midnight Syndicate 13th Anniversary greatest hits CD entitled Halloween Music Collection.

The Dead Matter DVD features the much-anticipated dark fantasy film produced and directed by Edward Douglas of Midnight Syndicate Films and Gary Jones and Robert Kurtzman of Precinct 13 Entertainment. DVD extras include two Midnight Syndicate music videos, the music video to Eternal Legacy’s song, The Dead Matter, three of the finalists from Midnight Syndicate’s 13th Anniversary Video Contest, audio commentary with the producers, gag reels, and a feature-length behind-the-scenes production entitled Maximum Dead Matter. Produced by Frank Purtiman of Smudgeline Studios, Maximum Dead Matter allows viewers to watch the film in one area of the screen while behind the scenes footage, interviews, location information, and concept art comparisons related to that scene play in other areas of the screen.

The Dead Matter: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD contains the score composed by the film’s director, Edward Douglas of Midnight Syndicate, as well as several limited-edition remixes of Midnight Syndicate songs performed by Jerry “Haunt Rocker” Vayne, Destini Beard, and Pat Berdysz of the industrial band Encoder. The disc also features other music that appears in the film from bands like Lazy Lane, hipNostic, and Eternal Legacy.

Midnight Syndicate’s Halloween Music Collection is a greatest hits-type CD that features over 60 minutes of songs hand-picked by Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka to celebrate the band’s first 13 years. Both new CDs will also be available at Halloween retailers nationwide beginning in August.

Maximum Dead Matter behind the scenes trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzIYws_qb1U

The Dead Matter motion picture: www.TheDeadMatter.com
Midnight Syndicate Halloween Music Gothic Soundtracks: www.MidnightSyndicate.com
Hot Topic – Everything about the music: www.HotTopic.com

About The Dead Matter movie:

The Dead Matter is the remake of a film that director/composer Edward Douglas shot on a shoe-string budget of $2000 back in 1995. The film tells the story of a guilt-ridden young woman (Sean Serino of The Rage) desperate to contact her deceased brother who discovers a powerful ancient relic that controls the dead. Her dark obsession drags her into the tangled world of two warring vampire lords (Andrew Divoff of Lost, Wishmaster and Tom Savini of Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead) each with his own sinister plans for the artifact and a vampire hunter (Jason Carter of Babylon 5) who will stop at nothing to destroy it. This chilling gothic dark fantasy co-produced by Robert Kurtzman (creator of From Dusk Till Dawn, KNB FX) and Gary Jones (Xena, Boogeyman 3), also features a score by director Edward Douglas of the Gothic Halloween music band Midnight Syndicate. It’s a mix of classic horror themes with modern twists and a touch of dark humor that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

About Midnight Syndicate:

Midnight Syndicate has been creating instrumental Halloween music and gothic horror fantasy soundtrack CDs for the past thirteen years. The group’s music has become a staple of the Halloween season worldwide as well as a favorite in the haunted house, amusement park, role-playing game, and gothic music industries. From Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights and Hugh Hefner’s Halloween parties to Monday Night Football, X-Box games, the classic Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, and Barbara Walters specials, their CDs are designed to take listeners on a journey into the darkest corners of their imagination.