Happy Halloween! To celebrate Halloween I offer you some of the odd and scary things I have found in my travels from legendary monsters to the monsters who built concentration camps.
Tomorrow, November 1st is considered All Saints Day – it is a day when the good and righteous come back to life and assist those who are still alive. It’s an older holiday than Halloween. In ancient days, the night before this was considered an inauspicious time – the night before the saints, all manner of things dark and creepy came to haunt the earth and look for victims – especially children. To hide the children from these monsters and spirits, parents would dress them up to hide them in plain site. But that wasn’t all- the spirits and ghoulies would wander the earth looking for victims and sometimes would appear at a door – to appease them, the residents would offer treats and thus avoid the tricks of the wicked (since we all know that the wicked generally have a sweet tooth) – since the kids were disguised as goblins and ghosts too – they began to ask for the treat to avoid the trick too – thus Trick or Treat!
As I travel, I’m always on the lookout for the odd and the scary. For example these Night Marchers in Hawaii...
Sometimes I find both – in Morocco people tell tales of Aisha Kondisha and are always watching out for Djinn and the Evil Eye.
In Serbia the Tower of Skulls was disturbing but the Nis Concentration Camp was more terrifying.
Bulgaria offered more than a few monsters in Bulgarian folklore.
Turkey, like Morocco tends to discount monsters except for the Lake Van Seamonster.
Of course, there is Aicha Kondiicha in Morocco and numerous djinn too.
But not all monsters are scary- the mummies of Andong, South Korea tell a love story. The centaurs of legendary Greece were teachers and warriors.
I visited a ghost in Samcheok, South Korea who is celebrated with statues of penises and the slept in a famous haunted London hotel as well.
In Ireland, I explored haunted ruins at Wicklow.
Happy Halloween! Don’t forget to give treats so you don’t get tricked!
If you are coming to Hawaii for Halloween, there is only one place to go – Lahaina on the island of Maui!