I am haunted by phantasms, of late-
kept company by their tittering laughter,
told stories and been diverted by
flashing eyes, white hands fluttering.
A chorus of ghost girls has come to tea.

Glittering masks and bony arms,
they’re always hungry but never
say much. They seem to be smoking,
but you can’t smell it. Strange
ladies, these friends who are
here, and not. Glamourous, grim.

Have you met them on the stair?
Long skirts snagged on a nail,
a handful of snarled hair, a scrap
of shirtwaist in feedsack flowers.

Elegant shades and spectres in tatters
and smeared makeup, blood lipstick.
Violent hues of heliotrope and azure,
shredded petal and dirty amethyst.

Ghostly girl
Too light to stand on the ground
Nothing you do is done
All I can tell
You are not real
Girl, what are you doing here
I don’t know why I am here myself
No one else seems to know
Nobody likes a spook
Or so I’ve deduced
But I have loved some ghosts in my time
But that doesn’t mean I want them around
I’d rather be lost than found
I thought I would lose my mind
But through your eyes I see
Past the billboards to the trees
And the flowering weeds
Grow through the cracks of the city
And all these things will go
And all these seeds will grow
And you’ll be home in the sky
– Ghostly Girl by Jolie Holland
You can listen to it here, if you like.

Can you imagine what it would be like
to be of their ilk? Passing through each
other when waltzing, and never tasting
the cake or the fruit of life again? For all
their allure, I’ll take my aches and every
flavor be it bitter or no. I won’t stand at
that window staring, willing it to be a door.

This is their favorite time, the twilit blue hour. Mine, too.

Do you know the song of the two sisters?
Mlle. Ghoul posted about it recently,
a funny coincidence as I’ve been thinking
about that song all the time lately. It’s one of
my favorites. My papa taught it to me, a long time
ago- I love to hear him sing it, though I prefer to
sing a different version. There are so many!

This looks like a still from El Orfanato, no? But, is it?
Any clues on the origins of this, and all the preceding
images would be very welcome. I’m afraid I don’t know
know who to attribute them all to – apologies, admiration
and thanks in advance. I always try to be good about
crediting the source of a photo, but in this electric
labyrinth, they can be hard to track down.
☛ A few years ago, I decided to go on a horror flick rampage.
I watched all the films that terrified me as a child, and
discovered some eternal favorites. You can read all
about it here: Scare Tactics
I’m very curious to know about your favorite horror movies-
I’m running out of things I haven’t seen! Any recommendations?
☛ For the last month, we’ve been watching nothing but scary movies!
On our list: Silent Hill (which I thought was great, despite being based
on a video game), Eli Roth’s entire oeuvre (can you call three films
an oeuvre? Whatever.) What else? We have Sheitan still to watch.
The French really have one over on us, as far as disturbing goes.
We finished watching Martyrs tonight, and I can say without a doubt
that it was the most disturbing horror film I’ve ever seen. Very
masterfully done, but so upsetting. If you’re affected in a lasting way
by intense films, I would perhaps caution against seeing it. Really.
The director, Pascal Laugier, also did Saint Ange (House of Voices),
which I liked. His films stay with you a long time. Hope I can sleep tonight!
☛ During Fantastic Fest here in Austin a little while back, I met a
charming Argentinian filmmaker named Andy Muschietti,
who told me about his short film “Mama”, which caught the
attention of Guillermo del Toro, who has become something
of a mentor as the film grows into a feature. I can’t wait to see
it – if the three minutes of the short film are any indication,
then we can expect a very frightening debut!
You can watch it here, if you dare: Mama
☛ The night before Halloween, we visited a haunted house,
Austin’s famed House of Torment. It was lovely, very layered
and detailed. When I get scared, I tend to laugh a lot- which
only encouraged the monsters to follow me around more.
Nothing can beat the utter creepiness of my experience
in a near-abandoned haunted house in Vienna a few years
ago, however. A story for another time, alas. Remind me later?
Let’s see, what else? I told you I wasn’t done with Halloween yet!
☛ Halloween playlists from the inimitable John Coulthart:
His lists of spooky music and voodoo music, inspiring a trip to the record store!
☛ Looking Miss Roxanne Carter’s Halloween costumes over the years
always delights me- especially her Last Unicorn, and her Marchesa Casati!
☛ Oh, and a very happy (belated) birthday to Coilhouse Magazine!
Two years, y’all! So thrilled and proud to be a part of such a fantastic thing.

Photo by Nils Juul-Hansen
This is from a shoot we did with Nils last year for the Disko De Los Muertos
posters, I just dug up them up again! I was in such a design frenzy
at the time, that I neglected to give the individual images their due:
they are so many fabulous ones, but I put a few up in the Muertos set.

For reasons unknown to us, Mexic-Arte Museum gets an early headstart
on kicking off the Día de los Muertos festivities around here – this weekend
they had their annual Viva la Vida Festival and Muertos Procession.
I slapped on some bone-face and sped down there, missing the parade alas,
but finding a twilight fiesta in the street replete with sidewalk banquets
and a horde of calaveras. I fell in love with the mural on the side of the museum.

The delicate shades in the setting sun were just too gorgeous to be believed.

The golden stenciling inspired many photo-op frenzies.

This is my favorite photograph of the night. It just kills me! Baby super-heroes.

Danse Macabre, eh?

I adored the paper avocados and watermelons. So much beauty.

Inside the musuem, there’s a great exhibit of ofrendas, some very traditional
and others more conceptual. If you find yourself in town, I recommend stopping by.

I had fun posing with various families that wanted a picture with a sparkly dead lady.

This a a photograph of a photograph by Geoff Winningham,
who is incredible. I had to take a picture of it, after I stood
staring for the longest time. You could fall right into it.
The placard nearby read:
“Todos Santos (All Saints) is a fiesta celebrated throughout Mexico
on November 1 and 2. Commonly known as the Day of the Dead,
it, like many Mexican fiestas, can be traced to pre-Hispanic times.
The Aztecs celebrated two feasts of the dead in the fall of each year:
one, the Feast of the Little Ones, was in memory of the children who
had died; the other, the Feast of the Big Ones, was for adults who had
died. Although the Spanish friars forbade the Indians to have feasts
in the cemetery, commemorations of the dead continued throughout
Mexico as the Indians changes their dates to coincide with All Saints Day
and All Souls Day on the Catholic calendar. Today, the Day of the Dead
is celebrated, with varying customs, everywhere in Mexico.
Rather than being macabre or frightening, it is a festive time of reunion.”

See also:

Verhext – Calaveras & Candles

Día de los Muertos – R.I.P. Studs Terkel
Santissima Muerte!