293 Days 'til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day!

Apologies to readers of That Halloween Blog!!

I'll be moving over the next couple weeks and won't be able to post.

I will still be on Twitter and will do my best to continue tweeting a Scare o' the Day!

You can Follow me on Twitter @Scare_o_the_Day.

Today, I recommend checking out editor Mike Davis's awesome Lovecraft eZine for free, and spooky, Lovecraftian stories, informative and entertaining video chats, and fun Call of Cthulhu RPG action!

http://lovecraftzine.com

Mua-ha-haaaaa!!

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!

294 Days til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day!

The Haunting of Sunshine Girl Network

The Hunt for Black Eyed Kids

Here's what I learned from watching The Haunting of Sunshine Girl's first feature film: The Hunt for Black Eyed Kids.

DON'T GO LOOKING FOR BLACK EYED KIDS!!

You might not be able to find one of them, but a Black Eyed Kid just might find you!

Black Eyed Kids are a creepy paranormal urban legend that began to be reported about on internet forums in the 90's. Typically, a BEK encounter occurs at night and involves a small, thin child approaching an individual, either at home or in a car, and asking insistently for a glass of water or a ride home. The child's eyes are disturbingly and completely black, and the BEK causes intense fear in the individuals they approach.

There is a great deal of speculation as to who, or what, Black Eyed Kids are.

Aliens? Demons? Something worse?

Click the link below to watch Sunshine conduct her own investigation into the BEK phenomena. If anyone can get to the bottom of this urban legend, it'll be her!!

The Hunt for Black Eyed Kids

15 Part Play List

Mua-ha-haaaaa!!

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!

295 Days 'til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day!

Paranormal Encounters?

Panic Attack Videos

Panic Attack Videos is a Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, based crew of videographers who specialize in making videos that frighten the bejesus out of everyone who watches them...  At least, that's their goal. They not only produce videos involving the paranormal but also set up scary, and fun, pranks on their friends. 

You can see more of their scary clips on the Panic Attack Videos YouTube Channel  or at Panic Attack Videos' home on the web: scaryvideosonline.com/. Make sure to subscribe to their channel!

The Panic Attack Videos clip below is not a fun prank, however. Although my previous post about Ouija Boards (Read it here!) seemed to debunk the paranormal nature of what's actually happening during a Ouija session, it still might not be a good thing to play around with.

The Panic Attack Videos crew find out that lesson the hard way!

Ouija Board - Horrifying Experience

Running Time: 3 min

Mua-ha-haaaaa

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!

296 Days 'til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day!

Video Game

The Last of Us

I love video games. I really do. But I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm a terrible video game player. In fact, my buddy Ting once said, "Nobody loves video games more than Gib... and nobody's worse at them!"

He was right.

Although I've been playing games since the era of the Atari 2600, I've only ever beaten four of them: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Halo, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Silent Hill 2. This gen, I almost beat Uncharted 2, but I couldn't defeat the Russian bad guy at the very end of the game. I knew exactly what to do, but I still wasn't able to kill that immortal freak.

It was due to my lack of video game skills, and a slowly deteriorating attention span, that I skipped several of the top titles released this year. 

I also deliberately ignored much of the news, reviews, and promotional materials surrounding the release of Naughty Dog's PlayStation 3 swansong, The Last of Us. Based on Naughty Dog's track record with the Uncharted series, I was certain that The Last of Us would be Game of the Year material. But, I didn't want an overload of information about it in case I decided to purchase the game. I wanted to go into it spoiler free.

As it turns out, I never did end picking up The Last of Us.

Fortunately for me though, my 21 year old cousin Drake got a copy of the game for Christmas. Drake is a pretty awesome gamer, and something of a machine when it comes to completing them. I got to spend about fifteen hours sitting in his room watching him beat the game, and although I was afraid at times that I might stroke out from deep vein thrombosis after sitting on Drake's desk chair for hours nonstop, I have to say that The Last of Us is easily one of the most satisfying emotional experiences related to a video game that I have ever experienced.

Smart, intense, dark, terrifying, rage inducing, sorrowful, hopeful, loving, caring, and ultimately righteous, Joel and Ellie's relationship in The Last of Us has to be considered one of the greatest video game achievements of all time.

One observation about the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us. Every human survivor remaining in that world could receive a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The threat of assault, loss, and certain death is non-stop at all times in The Last of Us, and that kind of intense emotional strain would permanently alter survivors' brain chemistries. Naughty Dog did a great job showing what that kind of emotional toll would take on a survivor. Joel is a living example of a man plagued with hyper-vigilance and emotional detachment/avoidance. One can only imagine the kind of horrors he re-experiences, either from dreams, intrusive thoughts, or flashbacks.

If you have a PlayStation 3, you should really own The Last of Us. 

The Last of Us - VGA 2011 Trailer

Running Time: 2 min: 39 sec

Mua-ha-haaaaa!!

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!

297 Days 'til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day!!

Poem

"Instructions" written and read by Neil Gaiman

If you should ever find yourself trapped inside a fairy tale, Neil Gaiman's poem, "Instructions," offers some helpful hints on how to survive!

"Instructions" can be found in Neil Gaiman's magical collection Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders or in a gorgeous stand alone volume illustrated by Charles Vess on Amazon!

The video link below was recorded at Cody's Books in Berkeley, California, on January 27, 2007, and was provided for our viewing enjoyment by YouTuber webelfneil!

"Instructions" by Neil Gaiman

Running Time: 5 min: 46 sec

Mua-ha-haaaaa!!

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!

298 Days 'til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day!!

Short Film

Hatch by Damian Mc Carthy

What terrors await when a man lays an egg? Literally lays an egg? And more importantly, whatever in the world could be inside?

Written and directed by talented Irish filmmaker Damian Mc Carthy, Hatch stars a stoic Barry Callan and a blissfully unaware Denis O'Conor. 

Check out more of Damian Mc Carthy's scary and fun short films at hediesattheend.com or on his YouTube Channel!

Hatch

Running Time: 9 min: 06 sec

Mua-ha-haaaaa!!

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!

299 Days 'til Halloween...

Scare o' the Day...

Short Story

"Bogged Down" by Jason Norton

The Ghost Orchid is one of the rarest flowers on earth. There may be only 2,000 of them in the entire state of Florida. Unfortunately for curious botanists, they are located deep in an alligator infested swamp.  And, they are guarded... by something far worse than any alligator.

Jason Norton is a husband, father, personal trainer, massage therapist, and a student of wilderness survival from Virginia. But more importantly, at least for our purposes, Jason Norton is a writer of scary stories. And he is really good.

"Bogged Down" is Norton's excellent selection from Daylight Dims, and it is one of the strongest, smartest, and most nuanced stories in an already exceptional anthology.

Daylight Dims is available in print and e-book format. The Kindle Edition is just $4.99 on Amazon!

"Bogged Down" has been produced for audio by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and is narrated by the always excellent Jeff Clement.

For more recordings of scary short stories with high quality narration from the anthology, check out the YouTube Channels for Daylight Dims or Chilling Tales for Dark Nights!  Make sure to subscribe to them both!!

"Bogged Down" by Jason Norton

Running Time:  32 min: 23 sec

Mua-ha-haaaaa!!

Enjoy!!

and...

Happy Halloween!!