Showing posts with label Witches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Witches. Show all posts

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Popular poison apple stand temporarily closes

By The Wicked Witch
Staff Fruits Writer

WITCHES MEADOW -- There will be no more bobbing for poison apples in Witches Meadow. At least for now.

This evening, bad health inspectors shut down the popular poison apple stand in Spell Willows, placing an “F” on the broken boards out front, for allowing paying customers to bob for faulty fatal fruit.

“Sure, the apples sent victims into sleeping deaths,” said one evil enchantress who frequents the establishment, “which is cool. But love’s first kiss is causing the effect to wear off. What a rip.”

Dozens of disappointed customers have been lining up for their money back. And while they’re getting full refunds, that doesn’t change the fact that now the woods are filled with gallant princes on horseback frolicking about, kissing and waking the dead …

“Maybe this isn’t so bad after all,” said Necro Nomicon, a resident six feet under the Cemetery of the Dead. “Just so long as they’re not waking us with a smile and a song.”

Monday, August 5, 2019

Surprise guests at Witching Hour Fest delay this story

By Jack O. Lantern
‘Head’ Writer/Editor

Witches Meadow -- Hours after a coven of witches opened the Great Portals last Thursday night during the Witching Hour Fest-evil to allow monsters to cross over into the human world for the Halloween season, the worlds-famous Gorgon Sisters surprised us all when they showed up to perform some songs for guests. Ghosts, ghouls and goblins lining up for the portals turned to look, then they turned to stone. Even the witches, having opened the portals, turned to look. They, too, turned to stone. When we of the press realized those gorgon girls were in the vicinity, well, we just listened. And we didn’t turn to stone. Everyone knows not to look into a gorgon’s eyes. Those eyes! They say those eyes pull you in. They say those eyes weaken and can pull in even the strongest of no-lookers. They say it takes just five seconds before … you … turrrnnn … toooooo … sttttttooo—

For the Record: This story was supposed to post on Friday. Curse removal service providers are closed on weekends, and we couldn't get a service monster out to The Meadow to lift the gorgon's curse off our fearless leader until business hours resumed this Monday evening. Mr. Jack O. Lantern is still a little out of it.



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It’s the perfect gift for those looking to travel to the monster universe or those looking to find the true source of Halloween. Purchase it tonight! And remember to rate and review it, using you longest and most fanciest words. 

Click HERE now to get it!

Thursday, August 1, 2019

JLP Podcast visits Witching Hour Fest, goes to 'Dungeons'

By Jack O. Lantern
‘Head’ Writer/Editor

WITCHES MEADOW -- Those unable to attend the Witching Hour Fest-evil last night due to a stake in the heart or pesky silver bullets or being tied up in an evil stepmother’s basement, have fear (and lots of it), because the Jack-o’-Lantern Press Podcast recorded an episode at the event, and it’s now available HERE on Apple Podcasts and HERE on Spotify.

Hosts Michael Picarella and Tom Picarella take in the festivities and then discuss their favorite dungeon experiences. You all can relate.

Be sure to subscribe, rate and review the show. Talk about FUN-ishment!

For a tour of the monster universe and to find out the true source of Halloween, read "Transylveinya Traveler: A Travel Guide for Monsters, Ghosts, Vampires, Aliens, Werewolves,Witches, Zombies, Demons … And Mad Scientists, Too."

And don't forget to rate and review that, too.

Monday, May 27, 2019

‘Transylveinya Traveler’ is here!

By Jack O. Lantern
‘Head’ Writer/Editor

TRANSYLVEINYA -- Finally, that trip you’ve been planning to the monster homeland can be attained by securing your very own copy of “Transylveinya Traveler: A Travel Guide for Monsters, Ghosts, Vampires, Aliens, Werewolves, Witches, Zombies, Demons … And Mad Scientists, Too.” 

Click HERE to purchase. And don’t forget to rate with five stars and add rave reviews with lots of big, fancy words.

Todd Durham, creator of “Hotel Transylvania,” calls the book “monsterlicious!”

Jack Perez, director of “Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus,” “Monster Island” and “Some Guy Who Kills People,” is equally excited.

“I’ve dealt with giant sharks, mutated insects and decapitation-happy psychopaths, but I didn’t know anything until I read this book,” he said. “It’s the ultimate tour of our monster-happy universe.”

Monsters everywhere received news of the book’s release early this morning, and left their tombs, haunted houses, castles, labs and swamps to grab a copy. They’ll soon be at your doorstep to haunt you until you get yours.

And while you wait for the book to arrive and for your mail carrier to navigate your deadly, piranha-infested moat out front, check out the Jack-o’-Lantern Press Podcast from the creators of the guide.

To listen on Apple Podcasts, click HERE.

Spotify users, direct your mice to THIS and click.

The Jack-o’-Lantern Press Podcast is also available on other platforms as well. Just search it. And prepare to be blown away because JackoLanternPress.com creators, Michael Picarella and Tom Picarella, really know what they’re doing.

Now why are you still reading this post? Go on over HERE and get the book already. Sheesh!

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Multiple brutal slayings discovered

By Jack O. Lantern
‘Head’ Writer/Editor

WITCHES MEADOW -- A werewolf pleaded guilty this evening for the grisly slashing and slicing of several vampires who were found bleeding profusely all over Spell Willows. Hordes of zombies ate out the gory innards of a giant tarantula a few logs down, three mole people were found screaming in a burning car near Coven Creek -- probably the work of the Red Devil -- and an army of aliens probed, tortured and then buried a mummy family alive in a marsh just south of Witch Way Caves. It’s Media Night, and those bleeding vampires, the torn-apart giant tarantula, the torched mole people, the buried mummy family, their predators and other monsters, ghouls and goblins are, as you'd imagine, having a blast as the fun and games are just beginning in preparation for the Witching Hour festivities tomorrow night at midnight, when our favorite witches open the Great Portals for creatures of the night to enter and cross over into the human world for the Halloween season. Jack-o’-Lantern Press was there to meet many of the terrorizers to haunt this year and to get the scoop on some of what’s planned for All Hallow's Eve. It’s gonna be a big one for 2018 -- the monster revolution is upon us. More slippery carnage and joyous tragedy is still on the way. #MonsterRevolution

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Monsters celebrate Witching Hour with annual fest-evil

By Jack O. Lantern
‘Head’ Writer/Editor

WITCHES MEADOW -- Hundreds celebrated the Witching Hour at the Black Cauldron Encampment in Witches Meadow at midnight last night and into the morning.

Several witches, including the Orange Witch, cast a giant, evil spell to open portals into the human world for the upcoming Halloween season. At around 12:17 a.m., monsters began going through the portals to prepare for spooking.

“It’s just so awful too see the whole Transyl-vein-ian community come together,” Mad Science District resident, Mad Man, said. “Everything draws everyone together these nights, so it’s just bad seeing everyone together in the worst possible way to have wicked fun with their hordes or clans or werewolf packs. It’s great!”

Activities kicked off during Media Night yesterday evening with a vampire bat barbecue, dead bands and more than 30 villainous vendors.

Of course, the night means more than just doom in the gloom. We celebrate the Witching Hour to express and give chills for our ability to scare the living daylights out of people.

“A lot of monsters, ghouls and goblins are here enjoying the holiday, but there’s a significant reason for the Witching Hour,” said a Bigfoot National Park slasher psycho wielding a giant machete and an idling chainsaw, waiting to enter a portal. “I think it’s really important that we as monsters of Transyl-vein-ia really participate in the Witching Hour celebration and just remember what it’s all about: Halloween and causing great harm to people in their world during the Halloween season."

Monday, July 31, 2017

Media Night tips off Jack-o’-Lantern Press’s 2017 season

By Jack O. Lantern
‘Head’ Writer/Editor

WITCHES MEADOW -- It’s been a busy night as Jack-o’-Lantern Press journalists have been preparing for the 2017 season of monster news and entertainment. They’re also getting ready for a three-month journey through the 13 districts of Transyl-vein-ia as research for an upcoming guidebook of the land called “The Transyl-vein-ia Traveler: A Travel Guide For Monsters, Ghosts, Vampires, Aliens, Werewolves, Witches, Zombies, Demons And Mad Scientists, Too.”

Transyl-vein-ia’s Witches Meadow is “the” hot spot for the Witching Hour at midnight, and our reporters have been there to catch the action.

“We seen monster folks show’n’ up at the Black Cauldron Encampment as early as dawn (ribbit) on Saturday for a good spot ‘n the mud,” said a big ugly toad. “They don’t wanna miss (ribbit) the big gala. I’m glad I live ‘n the mud. I was born with a (ribbit) good seat fer the show. (ribbit)”

The “big gala” that the big ugly toad was referring to is, of course, the Witching Hour, where witches will cast their spell to open the portals for monsters to enter and cross into the human world during the Halloween season.

“We arrived this evening to a very packed Witches Meadow,” said reporter Vin “Skull” Eek. “We checked out the witches booths where you could pick up brooms, spells, tails of rats and other fun things like that, then we sat down with some of the sorceresses to perform spells tonight and talked about a variety of topics with them, including the Orange Witch and her first appearance in Witching Hour attire alongside her new fellow witch mates. It’s gonna be spellbinding.”

Earlier this month, the Orange Witch announced that she’d leave her little cauldron at the Hooked Nose Cackle Factory, where she did stand-up comedy for 100 years, to perform on a much bigger stage tonight for the Witching Hour. Critics called her the Kevin Durant of the witching game, joining a team of winners instead of building a success of her own at the Factory. Unfortunately (and not in a good way), attendance has been down at the Factory since the Blue Witch cast an evil spell on stage late last year and “bombed.”

“I’m ready to start a new chapter in my life,” the Orange Witch said regarding her move to center stage this evening. “I just want to do what I do best, and that’s cast wicked spells that are doom for the whole family.”

Much of the excitement this evening is for the new season of Jack-o’-Lantern Press material and the trip reporters will take to research the upcoming travel guide.

“We’re basically going to spend a week in each of the 13 Transyl-vein-ia districts up until Halloween,” Eek said, “speaking and howling with the locals, and pulling together all our research to create a guidebook for those who either want to travel to Transyl-vein-ia or those who live here but have never really stepped outside their castle or swamp or cave to see the world around them. Each week, Monday through Friday, we’ll report on some of what we discover. Some stuff will only be on the Jack-o’-Lantern Press blog, and some stuff will only appear in the new book. Some stuff will be in both publications. And some stuff we’ll just leave out.”

This first week will offer coverage from Witches Meadow, followed by stories from Downtown Transyl-vein-ia, the Mad Science District, Transyl-vein-ia Hills, Werewolftown, Bigfoot National Park, The Carpathian Mountains, Shadow City, Monster Island, the Black Lagoon, Valley of Doom, UFO Springs and finally Jack-o’-Lantern Park.

But in the meantime, everyone and everything is focused on the festivities to take place tonight. With everyone in bad spirits (and with bad spirits swirling all about), reporter ghouls and goblins with time (and victims) to kill took the opportunity to show off their goofy side at the Witches Unsocial Media Station set up in the Encampment.

With selfie sticks, cameras, some monster bobbleheads and a stack of oversized plastic emojis, the Jack-o’-Lantern Press zombie, alien and demon reporters had some fun by flooding unsocial media with cursed pictures and videos that, after seeing, will kill you seven days later. Like we said, they were showing off their goofy side.

So check out our blog Monday through Friday, August through Halloween, as we bring you monster news and entertainment from Transyl-vein-ia in preparation for Halloween 2017.

Happy Witching Hour!

Friday, October 14, 2016

Presidential debate gets ugly, not in good way

By Werewolf Blitzer
Staff Pol-“IT”-ical Writer

They all shook hands and/or claws before the debate last night, and then the five remaining candidates running for Transyl-vein-ia President got to it. Transyl-vein-ians were disgusted.

As in previous debates and speeches, Count Dracula brought up the need for more blood banks, Sea Creature has a plan to resolve the pollution shortage in local waters, the hockey mask-wearing slasher psycho Jason talked about ways to bring more reckless teens to the area by building additional campgrounds, Frankenstein’s Monster spoke of energy and the Wolf Man howled about meat.

“The way they were so cordial and civil with each other was shameful,” said The Barber, a razor blade-wielding political analyst for CMN (Cable Monster News). “They let each other speak without interruption, no one dodged any questions, there was no bickering, no fighting . . . There was no bloodshed whatsoever.”

At one point during the debate, Dracula made a weak impersonation of the Frankenstein Monster with some stereotypical grunting, and the Monster didn’t even leave his podium and use his brute strength to wrap the vampire over the head. He stuck to the issues instead.

“Is this what it’s come down to?” asked Transyl-vein-ia Hills resident Bed Sheet Ghost. “Is this the best our political system have to offer? After what I saw last night, I’m ashamed to be a Transyl-vein-ian.”

Maybe the most shocking moment came when the Wolf Man told Jason that he agreed with his slaying policies.

“I hold what you do in the highest regard,” the lycanthrope said on live TV. “Whereas you use a machete, I use my claws and teeth. We both get the job done in the end.”

The audience at the debate was full of dropped jaws.

“They both get the job done?” asked The Barber. “That’s not what you say when you’re vying for the most powerful position in Transyl-vein-ia. In Fact, you don’t say anything at all. You go through your podium the way a speeding big rig would go through a stopped sports car on the interstate, and you use the hockey mask you just shattered with your fangs as a toothpick after you devour the guy like he was a short stack of buttermilk pancakes. Come on!”

By the end of the evening, even the moderators had given up. They stopped asking questions and began ridiculing the candidates. Jason walked off stage for what critics are calling hurt feelings.

“President Electrified Creature may not be the best president Transyl-vein-ia has ever had,” Bed Sheet Ghost said, “but at least when he was ridiculed during his debates with Wicked Witch in the last election, he went over to the moderator and sent 100,000 volts through the poor fool’s face as a comeback. That’s the kind of leadership we need in this world. We don’t need sportsman-like conduct.”

Jack-o’-Lantern Press will host a town hall debate next week at the Ghoul School in Downtown Transyl-vein-ia, and we’ll have coverage following the event. Campaign managers promised more action this time around. We’ll just have to see.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Monster Island ‘Hidden Harms’ -- find lasting relationships


By Queen Kong
Staff Island Writer

Out here on Monster Island, it’s survival of the fittest. But it’s also a cold, dismal place to build some equally cold, dismal lifelong relationships. Social status, ability and wealth are never factors in meeting and enjoying time with cool beings out here.

If you find yourself stuck in Gorgon Gorge, you’ve no doubt met Medusa or one of her gorgon sisters. Given the ability to talk, be friendly and make a connection with the gorgon that ruined your life. Ask questions like, “Am I gonna be a statue forever?” But also ask questions about her life like, “Wow, how long does it take you to curl your snakes on your head each morning?” Add a compliment: “It’s downright horrendous.”

Don’t be surprised if she releases the curse from you and takes you into the Stone Palace to meet the minotaurs. These guys are beasts, so if you’re into corporate hotness and diversified stock portfolios, you may want to look elsewhere.

But if you and your new gorgon friend are new BFFs, go with anything she suggests regardless of your tastes. Hopefully she’ll get you a ticket to a show at the Coliseum. They have some great performances there like “Man vs. Beast,” and you might find what you’re looking for there.

Don’t just sit and watch the entertainment in the ring. Let your gorgon host know you want to mingle. Check out the concessions and stores in the building. You might bump into one of those pirates you met at Pirate Harbor when you first got to the island. They love the Dragon Dogs at the Coliseum and all the fixings, so you might try to connect over at the condiment station while they’re loading up on mustard, onions, relish and ranch dressing for their rum rings.

For those looking for female fiends, skip Gorgon Gorge altogether. You’ll do better at Mermaid Marina just between the Dragon Caves and Golem Rocks. Mermaid Marina is home to 1,000 bloodthirsty mermaids just waiting to meet someone like you. Go for a swim. Australia’s “down under” has nothing on this place.

If you get a moment or the chance to come up for air, how about an evening under the stars at Fairy Fountain of Youth and Wishing (Not) Well? It’s a popular hangout for those interested in seeing the underside of all the wishing wells in the human world. The dragons and golems from their nearby residences will most likely join you as it gets late.

Pennies fall up out of this well. These are coins that were dropped down on the human side, and you and others are able to snatch the coins and keep the wishes from coming true.

Some people on the human side jump into fountains of youth over there, which are also connected to this spot here on Monster Island. We just eat those imbeciles.

But you’ll find this to be a great opportunity to sit around, meet monsters, accept and celebrate your differences, and feel better about yourself and life in general. Go with it. Enjoy. That’s what you came to the island for.

As more and more monsters join in the fun, you’ll start to realize you’ve actually got more troubles and more idiots in your life now than ever before. You might eventually start thinking you didn’t have it all so bad in your place of origin after all.

Sometimes life (and even afterlife) on Monster Island can get so stressful and difficult that escape is the only option. That’s when you know it’s time to hug your newfound friends, say goodbye, and dream of all you’ve done.

Then run! 

This is one in a series of TRAVEL STORIES from the 13 districts of Transyl-vein-ia. These stories run weekdays between August and September. Jack-o’-Lantern Press’s regular news and entertainment coverage will continue in October.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Monster Island ‘Rot Spots’ -- where to go to escape the boring monsters


By Queen Kong
Staff Island Writer

Sometimes life (and even afterlife) can get so stressful and difficult that escape is the only option.

Whether you’re going to Monster Island to get away from the troubles and idiots of your everyday world or you’ve been banished from where you live now, go you must.

Those who are banished will be flown over the island and dropped. But those of you who are planning a trip should ask yourselves, What am I trying to escape and why?

If you realize you’re unhappy with your life because of a job, then you’re going to have to quit that job and go to Monster Island. You can live on the land. Note: It’s a predator/prey scenario there, so just make sure you’re the predator.

If you want to escape your life because of a bad relationship, then you’re going to have to go to Monster Island. Don’t forget to bring that bad relationship with you so you can throw it down into Sharks Reef when you get there. Then kiss that problem goodbye.

Some ghouls and goblins are just unhappy with where they live, in which case it’s highly recommended you pick up and go to Monster Island. Sometimes life is boring in the everyday world. Monster Island will keep you on your toes -- remember it’s a predator/prey scenario out there.

Before you have the chance to think about it and change your mind (or minds if you’re a two-headed creature), go down to Blood Beach on the eastern side of the Carpathian Mountains and find the boat landing. It’s a heck of a slog, but so’s life in your crummy neck of the woods if you’re looking for escape, so stop making excuses. On the beach, Charon the Ferryman of Hades gives death boat rides to the island.

Or, if you’re in Witches Meadow, go to Coven Creek. You can hitch a ride with Charon to the island from there, too. Coven Creek leads to the River of Death, which goes out to Dead Sea and on to the island.

Either way, you’ll need a coin to pay the Ferryman for passage. Go to FerrymanDeathRides.mon and type in the coupon code “JLP” for a free coin. We’ll send it to your location via raven.

Then, call on Charon by using the horn hanging from the tree, which is at every ferry stop. The skeleton driver will appear promptly from the fog in his cool little death boat. Put the coin in the driver’s bony hands, climb aboard the boat, and you’re on your way.

Monster Island is way out in the middle of the Dead Sea. It’s an island of misfits. But those misfits didn’t begin there.

Back in the Stone Monster Age, monster giants ruled the land, which we know as continental Transyl-vein-ia. Those gargantuan terrors wrecked all the shopping malls, laboratories and pumpkin patches with their size and weight, so the citizens founded the Transyl-vein-ia Board of Monsters, and that board called upon a coven of witches and a couple wizards to have them whip up a giant island.

Then the witches and wizards found all troublemakers and outcasts, and sent them out to the island and barricaded them in with an invisible force field in the water just outside the island’s shores. Don’t worry -- we’ll be able to get you off the island when you’re ready to go. By the way, you just crossed the force field, so if we can’t get you off the island, there’s nothing to do about it now.

When the boat lands, make sure you give Charon a decent tip. It’s the right thing to do. Twenty percent is appreciated. Anything less will get you killed.

Then say hello to island living. One of the first things you’ll want to do is go up to the top of Lightning Lookout and scream out to where you came from that you’re the king or queen or thing of the world. That’s right -- stick it to the monster who was trying to hold you down back home. But don’t stay up there too long because the lighting creatures come by often and they’ll light up your world -- believe me.

Go on down to Pirate Harbor next. You’ll meet plundering pirates, sinful seafarers and vengeful ghosts of mariners from the clipper ship, the Elizabeth Dane, who are brought in with the glowing fog that sweeps in over the island every now and then when they’re not terrorizing Antonio Bay and other beach towns in the human world.

Check out the colonial taverns (linked to the colonial taverns in the human world via various portals) just outside the harbor. It’s a great meeting place for food, fine spirits and drinks, too. The spirits there are always haunting, so take a room for the night and enjoy the thrills and chills they perform. Lights go down for the show at 8. It’s curtains for you by 9.

The Animatronic Hippo Pond is a hip spot to visit. From the taverns, go west to Jungle River. Hop on one of the boats there and ask to see the tigers. The driver will promptly take you to the Hippo Pond.

Steer clear of defective animatronic hippos that don’t flip boats. They’re no fun. The hippos wiggling their ears are typically the good ones.

As you work your way deeper and deeper into the jungle, be on the lookout for signs of the giants -- large footprints, oversized slippers lying around to match the footprints and huge Twinkie wrappers that could cover a circus tent. Massive gorillas like my husband, King, and giant insects, dinosaurs and enormous poop bag stations are evidence that you’re in Giants Jungle. Say hi to Godzilla for me if you see him, but stay away from his atomic breath -- it’s way worse than the garlic breath of the animatronic hippos.

You’ll definitely want to check out Skeleton Rock for a skeleton duel. Bring your best sword game, too, because these skeletons are expert fencers and its pretty tough to stab through bone.

Gorgon Gorge is a great place to go for snake women and super hot minotaurs. Notice all the stone statues throughout the ruins as you make the approach -- they’re so life-like. That’s because Medusa and her gorgon sisters have an “eye” for such fine work. One look and, with their talents, they’ll stop you dead in your tracks -- literally.

Hopefully they don’t stonewall you there because Monster Island has so much more to offer. 

This is one in a series of TRAVEL STORIES from the 13 districts of Transyl-vein-ia. These stories run weekdays between August and September. Jack-o’-Lantern Press’s regular news and entertainment coverage will continue in October.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Witching Hour is tonight, some monsters raising hell about the cost to attend

By Vin “Skull” Eek
Staff Spooks Writer

At midnight tonight, enchantresses from all over Transyl-vein-ia’s Witches Meadow will join other monsters at Spell Willows to celebrate the Witching Hour, a festival for summoning monsters, ghouls and goblins from their graves, and sending them from our dimension into the human dimension in preparation for Halloween.

Ticket prices for the popular event, according to festivalgoers, are getting scarier every year.

“I remember when admission used to be five bucks,” said Frankenstein’s Monster, a longtime attendee. “Now, on a middle-class scarer’s salary, I can’t even afford the parking. Prices to get in range from $190, which is for low-income attendees, to $1,200. What man-made creature these days can afford that? Only today’s younger, hipper sadistic psychopaths have the net worth to go.”

Even Greta Witch, one of the founders of the Witching Hour festival, is disgusted with the direction of the celebration, and not in a good way. She cut ties from the event in 1996 when the appointed board began raising prices. Greta stated that the Witching Hour used to be about the joys of being horrifying. Now, she said, the event is just horrifying because of the joys related to how much cash the Witching Hour can bring the board.

“It’s getting to the point where skeletons can’t even go,” Greta said. “The skeletons have really got nothing, not even a shirt on their backs. And the organizers keep cashing in on the rich. It’s not about the haunting anymore.”

According to the Devil, the current scareman of the board, the Witching Hour still is and always will be about quality ghosting and monstering.

“We still see this festival as a sanctuary for Transyl-vein-ia’s monsters and ghosts looking to be transported into the human world to scare people to their deaths on All Hallow’s Eve,” the Devil said. “These creatures complaining about what we, the board, have done to this sacred event think we’ve turned it into a top-down, top dollar controlled experience, and that’s just not true. We’re very free and experimental. We just demand that all monsters pay what the event is worth -- and it’s a lot -- or else.”

Greta said Devil sold his soul to the, well, Devil -- the “real one.” And there’s no going back.

“He’s a liar and a cheat?” she told Jack-o’-Lantern Press. “He’s not even a witch. Leave it to a man to try and take over what’s rightfully ours.”

Devil said the Witching Hour belongs to all Transyl-vein-ians, not just the witches.

Needless to say, Greta won’t be attending the event. Other witches said they felt she’s just bitter about the whole thing. Most will take part in the ritual tonight, which will continue on through the week. Monsters will then begin settling into the human world throughout the month and scarers will start terrorizing people as early as September and on through Halloween.

Portals will open around 11:30 p.m. tonight at Spell Willows. Witches of all types -- bad and even badder -- will be out with cauldrons casting spells, cooking black cats and vampire bats, and celebrating the beginning of the Halloween season.

Guests can expect live entertainment, live humans to eat and face painting for the little live ones just after the opening ceremonies at midnight and into the wee hours of the morning.

In addition to entry fees, monsters are free to donate additional funds anywhere on the premises. The board has made it extremely easy to find donation pits where you can drop off your hard-earned cash.

For more information, go to WitchingHourChaChing.mon.