Flair For Writing Issue Eleven Halloween

Flair For Writing Issue Eleven October
Halloween BOO!

Editor:Megan Rose Forbes Princess Megan Rose 11 Years
Assistant Editor: AngelAngel

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Hi! Megan and Angel here! Happy Halloween! Okay in a month. We wanted to write about Halloween this month. It's autumn in Indiana. The leaves are changing and it's chilly. In California, Angel and Phillip enjoy walks on the Beach. Don't want to hear it. My closest Beach is Lake Michigan and it is nice even though it's not an ocean. What are your plans for Halloween? I don't get to see Alice Cooper this year. He won't be coming my way. So far I will stay at Green Acres and pass out candy. We don't get a lot of trick or treaters. We hope you will enjoy this newsletter. I found some interesting facts about Halloween. We have a short story by Johnny_mac and Angel. We have picked out some other stories of interest for Halloween. Here we go. Enjoy.

Halloween is an annual celebration. How did it originate? Is it a harmless vestige of some ancient ritual? How do we celebrate?
The word HALLOWEEN has it's origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from the term of All Hallow's Eve. November 1 is a Catholic Day of observance in honor of saints. But in 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain, the Celtic New Year.
One story claims that the disembodied spirits of all those who had died all through the year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.
Naturally, the still living didn't want to be possessed. So on October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesireable. They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily parade around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.
The Romans adopted the Celtic practice as their own. But in the first century AD, Samhain was assimilated into celebrations of some of the other traditions that took place in October. Such as Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, which might explain the origin of our tradition of bobbing for apples at Halloween.
The custom of Halloween was bought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At the time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.
The Jack-o-lantern {Smiling face Jack, you have to love him!} comes from an Irish Folklore. A man named Jack who was drunk all the time and a trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack craved an image of a cross on the tree, trapping the devil up there. Jack made a deal with the devil that if he never tempted him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.
After Jack died, he wasn't allowed into Heaven because of his evil ways. He couldn't go to Hell because he tricked the devil. Instead, the Devil gave Jack an ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it growing longer.
When the Irish immigrants came to America, there were more pumpkins then turnips, so Jack-o-lanterns were hollowed out and the ember placed inside.
Halloween grew out of rituals of celts celebrating a new year and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. Churches have pumpkin craving parties. Hallowen is only as evil as one cares to make it.

Those sweet, beautiful black cats. Some claim they bring bad luck and death. People in the Middle Ages feared them. They are the favorite pets of witches.
If a black cat crossed a person's path and didn't harm them, this indicated that the person was protected by the Devil. Where do these ideas come from? I don't have an answer, I'm just thinking out loud.
Stray black cats are said to bring monetary fortune and to stroke them means good luck. Others hold that if a black cat crosses your path, it's good luck{that's what I believe} and the next person to pass the black will have a wish come true.
Black cats are the most popular at Halloween. It has even been said that black cats are the recarnination of evil people. My daughter-in-law says her one black cat must have been Hitler! His name is Sabbath and he's a sweet cat. You will always see a black cat in animation with a witch. Lots of songs and stories have been written about them. No matter how you look at it, Black Cats have made a name for themselves. We Love the black cat!
I hope you have enjoyed these facts. Now, here's a story from Johnny Mac.


It was that time that Dean loved most. Halloween. He got to dress up, and the thought of all thise goodies were making his mouth water. "Mom, where's my mask gone to, I'm going to be late," he cried.
"Grrrrr!" sounded off Maggie.
{That doesn't help Mom," said Dean throwing his clothes in all directions.
"Getting that steamed up doesn't help either!" said Maggie."Now, when did you see it last?"
"Last year's Halloween Party, I think!" grumbled Dean.
"Oh, great, then that should be easy to find!" said Maggie.
Both mother and son, rooted through the mulititude of boxes and drawers until finally the required mask was found. Maggie held the mask triumphantly, then frowned. "I don't remember you wearing this one before, are you sure it's yours?" she asked.
"It does look a little sacry, doesn't it?" said Dean. "But it must be mine, why else would it be here now? Still, I don't remember what mask I wore a year ago and that's strange as well."
"Weird, if you ask me," said Maggie, leaving Dean's room.
Later on, Dean's friends, Johnny, Phillip, Angel and Megan turned up, all dressed up for trick or treat. Dean was ready for them, all except that is for his mask. "Aren't you ready?" growled Angel.
"Almost," said Dean. "Just got my mask to put on."
A scream suddenly echoed through the house and Mom came charging up the stairs. "What on earth was that noise?" she asked her face white as snow.
Angel and Megan were holding each other so tighthy that their faces were going very red. Maggie grabbed both girls while Johnny and Phillip helped pull them apart. Then Maggie, for the first time, since Dean had put it on, saw the mask all lit up bright red. She jumped back in alarm. "Who's that?" she cried pointing at her son.
Dean removed the mask and laughed. "It's me, who else would it be?"
But Maggie and the girls weren't convinced. Megan put her hand out and touched Dean's face, then pulled back in horror. "Your face is all wet and sticky and it's disgusting, Dean, the smell is disgusting!" said Angel while Johnny was holding his nose and Phillip opened the window.
"Let me look at that mask," said Megan,"...that's odd, there aren't any batteries in here."
"Why would there be?" asked Dean.
"Because the whole mask was lit up like a bon fire", said Angel."we thought you were going to blow up!"
"I did feel a little strange when I had it on," said Dean.
"Take it from us, you looked spooky!" said Phiilip who was still holding his nose.
"I haven't got another mask, so I will have to use that one," said Dean.
"Do what ever you like," said Megan, "but don't get too close to me while were out trick or treating."
Dean pulled a face and the children went downstairs and out the front door.
Phillip shhok himself. "Whoa, is it cold out here or what!" he said.
But Dean merely laughed after donning his mask once again. "I feel really hot, you must be getting a cold or something, Phillip!"
"I'm freezing as well," said Angel backing up to Phillip, who she has a soft spot for.
"You'll be blaming me for the cold next." said Dean.
"Why not, since you've used that mask I don't know what to think," said Megan,
Dean grumbled but followed the others down the street. Then the strangest thing began to happen. As soon as they passed other children on the street the other children would take one look at the mask , Dean was wearing and fall to the ground unconscious. This was happening without Dean's friends seeing but Dean knew and every time it happened, he gave a horrible shriek of delight, much to the annoyance of his friends. "What are you laughing at, Dean?" asked Phillip, "You sound like a witch!"
"With that mask on, he looks like one as well," said Megan, who then noticed the children further down the street climbing back to their feet.
She nudged Angel and pointed with her finger."Why do you think those children are lying all over the foot paths?" she asked.
"Search me," said Angel. "maybe they were tired and needed a rest."
Both girls shrugged and chased after the others who by this time were walking up the first of the driveways to a large red house. Phillip stopped half way down the drive. "This is getting weird now. Where did theses houses come from? I've never seen them before."
"Neither have we," Said Megan, eyes like saucers.
"Well, I Have" grumbled Dean in a very deep voice. And he carried on up the drive. The mask he was wearing now was beginning to shine bright orange instead of the dark red color.
The smell coming from Dean was almost over powering and had the aroma of hard boiled eggs. "Oh, my God, I can't stand this smell," cried out Megan holding her handkerchief over her nose and mouth.
"Neithet can I," said Angel who was sharing her handkerchief with Phillip.
But Dean continued towards the front door to the house. "Follow me, you sad souls." He bellowed, making the girls jump.
The door to the house flew open and Dean walked right in. The others kind of hung back, not keen on entering this strange red house.
Dean or whoever he was stood in the doorway and beckoned them. Follow me, follow Jack-o-lantern," he bellowed again but the hand that beckoned them had changed and the nails on the fingers had grown to be 5 inches long. "Not a chance," said Angel and grabbing Megan, Phillip and Johnny by the hand turned to run away. But a witch on a broomstick flew out of the upper windows and whooshed in front of them. "Not so fast my little ones, Jack wants to speak with you." She said dribbling spit out of her mouth.
"Oh, Dear," cried Megan, "now what, I'm not going into that house."
Johhny thought he would take things into his own hands and tried to kick the witch from her broom. But one moment she was there and the next she wasn't and all Johnny managed to do was end up on his back side with his foot up in the air.
Angel looked towards the red house and could see Dean waving to them again. "Its that mask that's causing all this, I'm sure," she murmured to the others.
"I believe you, Angel," said Megan.
"Then we need to get it off Dean before he goes too far." said Angel.
"But how?" asked Phillip.
"WE got to go into the house with Dean." said Angel.
"That's a plan?" grasped Johnny. "I hope the rest is better."
"I get it," said Megan, "We go into the house and get the mask off Dean."
"This should be good," said Phillip, "demons, witches ans probably ghosts, this is going to be a whole barrel of laughs, I don't think."
Angel growled and along with Megan, started toward the open doorway. Phiilip and Johnny followed behind, a fair way behind, just in case the need to run should crop up.
The mask was really glowing and Dean stepped aside to let them in. Once inside the house,
it seemed to change, the stairway to the upper floor suddenly changed into a slide down which some ghosts were in fact, sliding down and disappearing through walls. "Look at that! It's a giant bat!" cried Angel.
"I bet it's a vampire," said Megan. The bat then changed into a vampire. "Did someone call my name?" he said licking his ruby red lips.
Phillip's head was turning in all directions trying to see everything. "Look at the size of him. I Never seen a wolf so big!" he said.
"He's probably a werewolf," said Johnny.
This was not funny at all and Megan told Dean that. "What's going on Dean? Who are all these things?" she cried.
"They needed someone to play with and its their special night, so I bought them here for trick or treat as well." he answered.
"But how did they get here?" asked Johnny. "And who goes out with ghouls like these?"
"I bought them here," growled Dean in that gruff voice he gained or should I say, the mask did. And as for going out with my new friends, why not?"
"Let me get this straight," said Megan as she petted a black cat and then the cat left. "You or the mask bought these misfits here just to go trick or treating!"
"Yeah!" growled Dean, "They don't get free sweets every year like you do. And after all it's because of these misfits, as you put it so well, Megan, that you get any treats at all.
Megan sighed and had a little talk with her friends. "Okay,they can come with us but no scaring little kids or animals, you got that?"
The witches, goblins, ghosts, werewolves and vampires all nodded in agreement. So off they went trick or treating together. It was the best year they any of them had ever had, as nobody wanted tricks played on them by this weird group. When the night was over and they had to return to the red house to share out the spoils. It finally came to time to go home. "What about you, Dean?" Are you coming home with us?" asked Megan.
Dean only growled but then Phillip and Johnny snuck up on him and whipped off the mask. There followed a terrific flash of blue light and the next moment, all the friends were sitting on the grass.
Dean shook his head and looked around. "Where's the house? Where did it go?" he asked. But noone could answer having mouths full of treats. Then he saw a neighbourlocking up for the night. "Excuse me, Sir, could you tell me about the house that was just here?" asked Dean.
The neighbour shook his head. "Never been a house on that land for a hundred years," he said, shaking his head again and going indoors.
Dean or any of the others could never find a reasonable answer for the night's strangeness. But one thing for sure, they had more sweets then you could poke a stick at. Dean was looking forward to the next year, if he could ever find the mask the guys had taken off him! He also vowed to find out who Jack-o-latern really was!

Please read Angel's story The Beast in her port. It's a good Halloween story. I couldn't put the link here because it's a R rating and the newsletter is G. Thanks! Let Angel know how you liked it! All the beautiful, colorful Sigs were done by Angel.

Thanks, Johnny for the cute, cool story. The next two issues will be about Christmas. Feel free to E-mail Angel or me and tell me how your Halloween went, any Thanksgiving plans or Christmas ideas and we will print them. Hope you enjoyed this issue! Love: Megan and Angel

ID: 746808   (Rated: ASR) Megan and Angel's Halloween  A fictional story of Megan and Angel in a haunted house. by Princess Megan Rose 11 Years

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All Sigs done by Angel. Beautiful job!

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