Saugus Ghost Story Winners 2017

https://www.saugus.net/Contests/Halloween/2017/

Congratulations to all winners and participants. God and contest willing I will be back to judge again.

If you are a writer please look into entering next year.

Kudos to Eric Brown for his hard work making this all possible.

Halloween in Hollywood is a Barrel of Laughs: TCM You Suck

Horror has been a thoroughly flawed product in this country for a long time.

Part of the problem is our flawed educational system which resists true literature, imaginative thought and overall originality.

Part of the problem is Hollywood.

It was Hollywood that gave us Abbott and Costello Meet the... series and it was Hollywood that gave us Son of ..... series as well ______ meets _______All efforts to take the brands it established in the literary driven films and to bastardize the same for cash.

Cash because a growing population was already being less and less educated.

And yes, part of this problem is definitely us.

We don't demand more. We are lazy. We are trained in linear not layer thought. We also love building up something based on a serious literary work and tearing the same down because we are watch we watch and because we secretly loath intellectual talent.

We don't have a problem with physical talent; throwing a ball, kicking a ball or kneeling before a ball. But we all fear someone with an intellect. Egghead, College Boy, Poindexter, Smart Ass; all original and catchy terms to typify our loathing.

Case in point these annoying TCM Halloween promos with class C actors dressed as the Wolfman, Bride of Frankenstein and Blacula. These inane and insulting promos are demeaning.

These are not cute. These are stupid and also well deserved for a mass audience craving CGI and Animation for their children.

For us in the Horror community you should be incensed. But I know you are not. Our Horror community is over populated with over sexed and over slashed non-story telling hacks.

All as trained by Hollywood films.

The immortal Second City Television used to run a skit where some hicks gave glowing movie reviews to films with things 'blowed up'. It was a joke then. Today it is reality. Today it is Hollywood.

But then again for a society and industry that can't take Harvey Weinstein seriously and applauds Ben Affleck keeping their secrets for decades....

You all deserve each other.

Halloween Cemetery Walk Script

Details will come but we have been asked to write another. These are fun and educational. I love them and love to be part of the community where they take place. Film is great and so is television. Writing for books and magazines is great, but writing for the community and delving into the nonfictional lives of its past residents to bring to present residents is most satisfying.

As I said details and the site will follow.

Happy Halloween Everyone

Let's drop all the political correctness and find the innocent joy in a day that should be celebrated by children and adult alike.

Let's drop all the pretense have fun, embrace the innocence of spooky and the ideal of giving and giving joy as the holiday season kicks off.

Happy Halloween.

Halloween is coming.....really?

I don't know about your city or state, your country or borough but this year especially I sense an impotence of and assault on Halloween. It just doesn't feel like Halloween. That sense of magic, of eeriness, of mystery just isn't there and I fear that sense diabolically purposeful and is permanent.

Maybe it's because of the crazy clowns. And that sense of public safety is a safe excuse for our overlords to shield us.

Maybe we've lost our sense of fun and our majesty. Maybe the more enlightened Prius driving phone addicted skinny jean society has more technological concerns. Who has time to play? They are serious people needing more time for themselves and their adult coloring books.

Maybe it's those colorfast National Football League uniforms worn on Thursday nights and Thursday night football itself. Hell, everything is crap.

It just doesn't feel like Halloween.

I have noticed the store stock has been less. Even though the same hasn't stopped me from buying some super items. There just is less Halloween pickings from last year. And today, four days BEFORE Halloween, that stock is gone and Christmas has taken its place.

Hey are they cancelling Thanksgiving too?

Maybe it's the election and we are all too focused on the real terror staring us in face: paint suits and barking, diabolical laughing and lies, socialism on steroids.

She's incompetent and a felon and no one minds.....yet everyone is on Mike Zimmer, coach of the Minnesota Vikings for those mutilated stuff animals......

And then there is thew established government. Those fine Democrats and Republicans alike who have done their best to cancel Halloween in towns all across this nation for the children who used to trick or treat and for the adults for decorating.

Stories of fines and arrests have been filling my pumpkin rather than candy and tales of ghouls.

The government has already taken our sweets, making them almost microscopic and far more expensive with homilies of how they are poison.

Now our holiday is being replaced with  'fall celebrations' and ordinances against decorating lawns because of complaints by religious fanatics and 'terrified children'.

Yeah it doesn't feel like Halloween. It feels far more sinister.

Milford, Connecticut Cancels Halloween

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Milford-schools-ban-Halloween-6565263.php

'nuff said

"Catching Cold In A Cave" is published again

Here just in time for Halloween.

It Certainly Looks A Lot Like, Not Halloween

It just doesn't feel right. It just doesn't have the same impact. Granted I live in Milford, Connecticut where the police have, in practice, barred all Halloween expression beyond a simple array of pumpkins.

What have we become?

Well, we have become a society of struggling families. We have become a cosiety devoid of free expression. We have become a censored society where ideas are more illegal than practice.

We also have become a society ruled by bland and mindless entertainment.

And unbeknowest to all our society has become fearful. Fearful to overt expression. Fearful to independant ideas and fearful to stand out from the crowd.

What it looks and feels like to me is that the trepidation of expression has led to the monsters being let loose on maple street, main street and every street in between.

The lack of passion hides an insecurity of intellect and overall lack of creativity spawn by subpar schools and a culture in rapid decline.

Instead of preaching independence and ingenuity we surrounded with collectivity. This correctness of the herd is nothing more than cowardice.

And cowardice is always death.

The death of a coward, like any death is horrible, but it is especially so when it occurs between the ears.

Does it feel like Halloween to you?

I know I've been away, working my day job through a quite intense litigation schedule over the last forty five days but despite the junk trudging through my, I just haven't felt all that inspired.

It just doesn't feel like Halloween.

Global Warming has nothing to do with it. Global Warming is too busy screwing up the NFL, effecting the greatest issues facing humanity and providing smart words for celebrities and creatures who believe they are celebrities.

No. There is nothing special at this time year this time.

Perhaps because the horrors we have faced and will yet to face are all too real and not as contrived and cartoony as our pathetic and pale culture portrays them. We live in a country where our government spies on us, takes the fruit of our labors and refuses to protect us.

Yeah it doesn't feel like Halloween.

It feels like everyday life.

Gunntown Cemetery Scripts Are Done

I hope the committee enjoys them. I know I have been away largely because of my work on these scripts. October is coming and so is our little play of the dead. Details to follow....

Happy Halloween

And for some the horror is just beginning. . . stay safe

THE DEATH KNELL finishes 2nd in Saugus

My story "The Death Knell" now appears on the Saugus.net website as a second place finisher in the 2012 Ghost Story Contest. Last year I placed third so not bad my first two times out.

Happy Halloween

Of course we here have to wish all of you a Happy Halloween. This year is a haggard and tired Halloween for obvious reasons. I pray all of you are safe and I pray that the most overlooked comforts of life return soon.

As We Wait On Hurricane Sandy

That is for the monster known as Sandy, we clean our desk to help us compartmentalize understanding that the demons that dance in our imagine are not as powerful and horrific as those who actually walk among us. Hurrican Sandy is a force of nature that simply cannot be defeated. She can only be respected and feared. We cannot strike back against her assault only accept it. Our fear and feeling of dread is heightened so we wait and work on cleaning our desk... And when you come across the story of a New York City Police Officer who plotted to kill and eat up to one hundred women the shudder you feel rattles your spine. People disappear everyday. Bodies are found. The monsters are truly out there and while we have fun this Halloween with our candy and costumes and movies and with our tales of terror the monsters are truly out there...be safe everybody.

Issue 6 of SURREAL GROTESQUE OUT NOW!!!

This is the Halloween Issue! Issue 6 of SURREAL GROTESQUE is out. I have two appearances in this issue dedicated to Urban Legends. My short story "Diminishing Sight" (a Halloween story) and my article on the television series THE WALKING DEAD also appears. Give it a read if you dare---the artwork alone is worth it. That and my story and article too. This article was written well before the season premiere of The Walking Dead that I dubbed last night as The Walking Dud. Read the article, and my story, and you will see why I posted last night as I did.

Thank You NAUGATUCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Thank You NAUGATUCK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, for their hospitality and allowing me to present my Halloween Program of Civil Folklore and Civil War Ghost Stories at their Annual Luncheon this afternoon. The setlist of original stories presented include: OF THE FLESH, COUNTRY GIRL, INVENTION, TRINKETS, and RIDE. Trinkets can still be found on "Flashes In The Dark". Links to be found on josephjpatchen.weebly.com. I appreciate the nice lunch and discussions afterward. Happy Halloween to the Naugatuck Historical Society! Thank you.

THE WALKING DEAD in a Review

My article concerning AMC's THE WALKING DEAD will appear in SURREAL GROTESQUE'S HALLOWEEN/OCTOBER issue along with my Halloween tale 'Diminishing Sight'. Details to follow.

"Diminishing Sight" to be published in the Halloween Issue of 'Surreal Grotesque'

And we are also working on a 'Walking Dead' article as well. Details to follow....