Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween and the 25th Anniversary of Hocus Pocus- Plus a Sequel



I just found that “Freeform is expanding its holiday dominance by beginning the holidays early on Oct 1st with 31 Nights of Halloween”!!!

Yay! Instead of just 13 Nights of Halloween we get the entire month of October!!!

One of the highlights will be the Hocus Pocus 25th Anniversary Extravaganza!!!!

Watching Hocus Pocus is a Halloween tradition in my house.



Speaking of Hocus Pocus- have you seen that there's a sequel book coming out?



Hocus Pocus The All-New Sequel is being added to my bookshelf this July.

About the Book:

Hocus Pocus is beloved by Halloween enthusiasts all over the world. Diving once more into the world of witches, this electrifying two-part young adult novel, released on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1993 film, marks a new era of Hocus Pocus. Fans will be spellbound by a fresh retelling of the original film, followed by the all-new sequel that continues the story with the next generation of Salem teens.

Shortly after moving from California to Salem, Massachusetts, Max Dennison finds himself in hot water when he accidentally releases a coven of witches, the Sanderson sisters, from the afterlife. Max, his sister, and his new friends (human and otherwise) must find a way to stop the witches from carrying out their evil plan and remaining on earth to torment Salem for all eternity.

Twenty-five years later, Max and Allison's seventeen-year-old daughter, Poppy, finds herself face-to-face with the Sanderson sisters in all their sinister glory. When Halloween celebrations don't quite go as planned, it's a race against time as Poppy and her friends fight to save her family and all of Salem from the witches' latest vile scheme.

Grab your copy at Amazon 



Mid-Michigan Paranormal Convention September 30

The World of The Paranormal COMES ALIVE in Flint, Michigan for the 2nd Annual MID-MICHIGAN PARANORMAL CONVENTION!

GHOSTS - ALIENS - DEMONS - BIGFOOT - HAUNTED OBJECTS - OUIJA BOARDS - PSYCHIC READINGS - TAROT - MEDIUMS - GHOST TOURS - GALLERY READINGS - ALL DAY SPEAKERS & PRESENTATIONS - PRIZES - GIVEAWAYS - AND MORE!

👻 Sunday, September 30th, 2018 - 9am-6pm 👻

Held in The Grand Ballroom at the Holiday Inn - Gateway Center!!! 

For more information visit www.MidMichiganParaCon.com or www.MidMichParaCon.com

General Admission Tickets for the Paranormal Convention are $50 for an ALL Day Access Badge and include FREE Admission to the Haunted Halls and Magickal Marketplace Shopping Event & Psychic Fair sponsored by Mid-Michigan ParaCon!





Detroit Conjure and Folk Magic Festival August 10 and 11



Two days, two venues, one festival.

Day 1

We have exclusive use of a concert venue where you can experience hard core workshops, special attractions, and a social mixer/dance.

Day 2

The festival you know and love, only better and with a new format. Some new faces and a few you met before promise to make this an event to make a scrapbook purchase in your future.

Admission to the event is free. Enjoy free classes, music, and more.

Conjure classes are $15 each, or buy a pass for the day. 

Friday: 11-7:  Specialty classes, live entertainment, and activities. 
Free access to the event for everyone.  

Conjure College classes are $15 individually,  $40 for the day, or included in Multipass and Friday  access passes. Material fees, if applicable, are not included.

Friday: 9p-2p: Ball, plus.... $25 for just the party, included in multi-pass, and Friday all access pass. 

Saturday 11-7: Free entry for all; free workshops and rituals, live performances. 

Conjure College. $15 per class, or $60 for the whole day, or included in Multipass and Saturday access passes. Material fees, if applicable, are not included.

Website

Facebook Page

Facebook Event 


Upcoming Features at All Things Halloween

As the Halloween season approaches we will be showcasing events, haunts, products, books, costumes, DIY's and more.  

Look for these graphics on upcoming posts.

























All Things Halloween is happy to promote your Halloween haunt, event, website, book, costume, or product on our blog and social media. 

We'll be doing blog features as well as link lists in the sidebar.

If you would like to be featured and have your link listed please submit details at https://goo.gl/forms/F92YU99oM24AT8RD2 or email RoxanneRhoads69@gmail.com

We are also open to sidebar advertising and review products.

Square sidebar ads are $25 each and will be live on the blog from the day you pay through Halloween.


Retro Halloween Book- How to Operate a Financially Successful Haunted House



After seeing this book listed on Flashbak I had to find a copy of How to Operate a Financially Successful Haunted House by Philip Morris and Dennis Phillips

Luckily my library had a copy. It is also available on Amazon.


Talk about Halloween nostalgia. Wow. 


This book dropped me right in the middle of my childhood in the 1980s.


I was sent back to simpler times when anyone could put on a haunt without a huge budget and the government interfering with permits and licensing...blah blah blah...

I remember when the local fire station put on a haunted trail in the woods behind the firehouse. 

Local high students worked the trail and it was always a blast to go to. Kids would get picked up and carried away by monsters and zombies (who were usually the kid's best friend's older brother so they knew just who to grab)




















Some of the ideas for haunted scenes seem a little outdated with all the technology we have now. 

We can now easily create ghosts, scary sounds, moody lighting and all kinds of spookiness with smart phones, computers, flat screen monitors, digital projectors, pressure plates, and all kinds of other gadgets and gizmos.

But if you're low budget or thinking of going old school these classic haunt ideas are perfection.

The book is also great of you just want ideas for different fright scenes to create 

Too many haunts opt for a carnival and clown theme or a haunted hospital or asylum set. Please, for the love of Halloween, do something besides clowns and hospitals.

This book also features a variety of creative haunt scenes- which many haunts could use. I hate dealing with jump scare after jump scare. Please put a little thought and creativity into it. The best haunts tickle all your senses. Not just your fight or flight response.

 

Urban Decay- Urban Exploration - Flint Central High School

Nothing sparks a general feeling of creepiness more than urban decay. 

There's something about places that were once filled with life now sitting abandoned. Some taken over by nature, some ransacked by vandals, other places sitting exactly like the residents just got up and walked away planning to return at any moment.

I am fascinated by urban decay imagery. Yet I cringe seeing how things are ruined and destroyed by time, nature, exposure and people's carelessness. 

I hate it for three reasons. 

One, I love history. I love antique and vintage items. Seeing things with historical value ruined hurts my heart. 

Two, I am a very eco/green person and to see things destroyed that could have been reused...ugh. 

And three, I am a very sentimental and nostalgic person. The things abandoned in this school really hurt me because they touch me in a personal way. 

Flint is my hometown and though Central wasn't my school, I did have friends that graduated from Central. In fact one photo found on the floor showcased one of my sorority sisters in her cap and gown.

Central is just one example of how far Flint has fallen, it just happens to be the largest.

Flint is a city sliding into abandonment. Entire neighborhoods are ghost towns. 

Most of the public schools have closed and the buildings sit empty and forlorn. Faint sounds of children's laughter and footsteps echo in the quiet halls if you listen hard enough.

Flint Central High School is the largest abandoned school in the area and the most photographed by urban decay photographers and curious explorers.

Flint Central is made up of several buildings making the entire campus massive. The school opened in 1923 and closed in 2009. 

They walked away from the school without removing anything. Everything was left to rot and be destroyed by vandals. I find this very sad.

The school could have given things to other schools and the area. All the schools around here are vastly underfunded.

Or to raise money Flint Community Schools could have sold artifacts to alumni. People are willing to pay a fortune for nostalgia from their school years. Instead diplomas, photos, and other high school memorabilia now litter dirty floors.

And the sad thing is that Flint Central's Alumni are very active. Every August they have a tailgate reunion on the school grounds and hundreds of former students attend. 

They still do this even though the school is closed. 

Most of them have no idea what a sad state the inside of the school is. 

They don't know that their memories have been discarded carelessly by the Flint Community Schools. The school should have gathered everything up and put it out either for sale or for free during the first event after the school closed in 2009. Now there's not much, if anything left worth saving.

All the photos in this post were taken during the summer of 2017. Since then Central has had at least 2 reported fires inside the building. Some people say the fires have been set to try and get rid of the school. 

The Flint Community Schools want to tear the buildings down and possibly build a new school. 

Many members of the carriage town community don't want a new school built.

And historical preservationists are blocking a tear down because of the history and architecture of the buildings.  

It's been a mess.

There's no money to fix it. And no one can agree on what to do with Central.

Eventually there will be nothing left to save and demolition will be the only option. 



















This is what remains of the drama department's costume closet. All those things should have been donated to another school. We all know art departments are usually extremely underfunded. However Central had one of the best drama departments in the US. And they just left this all there to be ruined.

According to Wikipedia

"The Magnet Program for the Flint Community Schools ran the secondary school Theatre Program through Flint Central from 1976-2006. Prior to that Flint Central was long known as a leader in educational theatre locally, statewide and nationally. The program was led for many years by such notable teachers as Helen Hardy Brown, Maude Biegel, Jacqueline Oriet Kramer, Shirley Parola, James Olson, Jeanne Shoemaker and The Most notable and longest in the position was Martin W. Jennings who led the program from 1981-2006. It was during this time Central High School's Theatre program involved over 10,000 students for 25 years from all four of Flint's Comprehensive High Schools. From 1981 to 2006, over 127 full-scale theatre productions were staged including Broadway Musicals, Comedies, Dramas, One-Acts, Student Written Works, The Vehicle City, Improv Troupe and 10 works of William Shakespeare.

The program generally produced three productions every year, in addition to a magnet student showcase which raised thousands of dollars for a fine arts scholarship in the name of Donn Jensen, a supporter of the program who died in 1997. The theatre students of Flint Central have performed internationally and in numerous states. In 1989 and 1991, The Educational Theatre Association named Flint Central's Theatre Program as one of the top six high school theatre programs in the country. The theatre has also had an affiliated membership with The International Thespian Society (Troupe #575) since 1925. Many Alumni have gone on to have careers in the theatre. After changes made by the school board in 2006 to reform the school district, the magnet program was dissolved. In the fall of 2006, Rhonda Young was named director of the theatre program. Gina Morris Cicalo, longtime director of Whittier Theatre Magnet Program, was appointed theatre teacher at Flint Central for the 2008-09 school year. During her time at Central, theatre productions were not able to be staged due to facility-damage in the auditorium and scene shop."






They didn't even drain the pool.
















The notes left on the last day of school were still visible on the chalk boards and white boards. Memories no one could erase, lingering like ghosts in the quiet building.