DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

How It All Began 72 Years Ago, It All Started with 26 Men on a Roof    Some say it was an accident, some say it was fate. Either way (or perhaps both) the movement we now enjoy as the  Barbershop Harmony Society  (aka. Society for The Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA) can be credited to a meeting in Tulsa organized by  Owen Clifton Cash  on April 11, 1938.    Cash was really only interested in getting a few guys together to sing. There was no grand plan, no grand scheme. He and acquaintance  Rupert Hall  had a chance meeting in Kansas City several weeks before and discussed forming a Song Fest. On his return to Tulsa, Cash drafted an invitation and mailed it to the 14 singers he knew might show up and encouraged them to bring guests.    The Tulsa Club  was a high class place and popular destination for special dinners, weddings and meeti...

   There is no shortage of haunted houses in America, but perhaps America's most famous house, the one that resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House.  The White House was built near the end of the 18th Century, and today it's composed of 6 stories of 132 rooms and 412 doors.  With so many rooms, is it any wonder that some of them are haunted by past presidents and first ladies alike?  The more doors in a house, the more of a chance some of them might open and close on their own.  But who is haunting the executive mansion and playing havoc on our senses of reality?  Most obvious of all, past presidents and their wives are the most frequent haunters of the White House and for some of them their haunting are more memorable than their tenures in office. William Henry Harrison     William Henry Harrison's presidency lasted less than 32 days back in 1841, yet his ghost can still be heard, rummaging through the White H...

   Everyone gets the chills when they walk through a cemetery, especially at night but mostly it is all in our heads.  How could walking through hundreds of deceased people that are buried six feet under, get you thinking that there's ghost in that thar graveyard?  Come and take a walk through some of America's most haunted cemeteries and read about the ghosts that choose to hand around them. Bachelor's Grove Cemetery One of the Bachelor's Grove ghosts    This secluded cemetery located in Chicago is said to be the most haunted graveyard in America.  Bachelor's Grove has had numerous paranormal investigators that have investigated this cemetery and it has been reported that it has had over 160 cases of documented paranormal occurrences, which include everything from floating "orbs" to light and full body apparitions.  Lafayette Cemetery   Collage of graves at Lafayette Cemetery    Located in N...

   Superstitions abound around the Halloween holiday.  And why wouldn't they?  It's that time of the year again, where the dead rise and the spirits abound.  Or at least that's what alot of people believe.  Many people have very strong beliefs involving this holiday and the days around it.  Every one knows that black cats are supposed to be bad luck, especially if they cross your path.  Years ago it was thought that black cats are supposed to be bad luck, especially if they cross your path.  Years ago it was thought that black cats were actually the devil, or at least filled with evil spirits.    For unmarried girls, there were many ways to find out about your future husband.  On Halloween night, if you keep a rosemary herb and a silver sixpence under your pillow, supposedly you will dream about your future husband.  For a better glimpse of your future, a girl must carry a broken egg in a glass, take it t...

   Japan like any other country is steeped in ghostly lore.  Here are a few of the more common Japanese spirits for you to read about and be amazed by. Bakechochin  Translated as "haunted lantern", in Japanese folklore a Bakechochin is a lantern inhabited by ghosts.  According to folklore the lantern has a long tongue and wild eyes and is home for the ghosts of people who died with hate in their hearts; for this reason, they are doomed to hauntthe earth for all time.  If someone should light one of the haunted lanterns it is thought that a hateful ghost may leap out of it and attack. Buruburu    Buruburu, meaning the sound of shivering, is a terrible ghost from Japanese folklore that for reasons unknown is said to lurk in forests and graveyards in the form of an old person, who is sometimes one eyed.  According to legend it attaches itself to its victim's spine and causes a chill to run down them, or in the wo...

   Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right! Here I  am stuck in the middle of them! (a little verse from a Gerry Rafferty song).  Clowns could be a nightmare to someone suffering from  Coulrophobia .  It is estimated that as many as 1 out of 7 people suffers from a fear of clowns.    For those suffering from Courophobia, Bozo and his red-nosed brethren are anything but funny or amusing.  Surprisingly, the fear of clowns is one of the top ten most common phobias.  While it may seem funny that grown men and women alike may shirk in fear from seemingly harmless, albeit doofy characters with over-sized shoes and rainbow suspenders, for them it is no laughing matter. While the cause of Courophobia isn't necessarily known and is different for everyone, one common theory holds that the root cause most likely stems fro a traumatic childhood experience.  Maybe you were squirted by one too many trick flowers while a white fac...

     I know that Halloween is closer than Christmas is but I think it's time for a little change up (It's my favorite, right next to Halloween).  Let us not forget about Thanksgiving, the holiday that gets hardly any praise at all by most people.  Here's a list of some Christmas trivia and folklore for all of us to enjoy!    Let's take a look back at the origins of Christmas and some of the lesser known facts involving one of my favorite holiday's. While the Pilgrims may have been responsible for beginning the tradition of Thanksgiving, they did not celebrate Christmas--it was against their Puritan belief and in fact, it was illegal. It was once believed that whoever (husband or wife) first brings holly into the house will rule the home all year. (wishful thinking on the mans part these days.) Young men of the 1700's believe that if they saw a redheaded girl at Christmastime, he would be pursued by flame-haired vixens thro...

    In recent years, modern witches have become more and more accepted. Some of them play on many of the old concepts of a traditional 'witch', but by and large the stereotypical image of a broom riding crone with a point hat does not match at all with the reality. So where is it that this image came from? Many of the common 'wicked witch' images are derived from periods of time when a witch was considered to be a catch-all term for a person who had a pact with demons or the devil himself. These are just a few of the origins for the iconic 'witch'.     Conical Hats  - Medieval woodcuttings showed any number of variations on what witches wore, so where did the conical black hat with the wide rim originate? The witches hat became known as it is now somewhere between Victorian times and the turn of the century. They became common in the illustration of evil witches in children's stories. Why did it become thus? That is less clear. There ar...