4th Annual Halloween Haiku Challenge 2022

4^th Annual Halloween Haiku Challenge 2022
#Halloweenhaikuchallenge

We’re just 13 days away from Halloween night and now the real fun starts! Share your most original or scariest Dystopian or Halloween Memories Haiku for a chance to win some spooktacular prizes.

The contest starts on October 18th and ends at midnight, the witching hour, on October 31st. Winners will be announced on November 1st here and on social media.

To join in on the fun, follow me @Halloweenhorrorhaiku on Instagram and @Halloweenkristy on Twitter

Three ways to share your haiku:

Post your haiku here in the comment section of this specific blog post. (After review, I will make your haiku visible to the public.)
Post your haiku on Twitter, using the hashtag #HalloweenHaikuChallenge and tag me @Halloweenkristy to ensure that I see your post.
Post your haiku on Instagram, using the hashtag #HalloweenHaikuChallenge and tag me @Halloweenhorrorhaiku to ensure that I see your post.

Judging Criteria:

Originality. You must be the sole author of the haiku you post. No exceptions.
Theme. The theme of your haiku must either be 1) Dystopian Halloween or 2) Halloween Memories.
Scares. The scarier the better! It is Halloween after all.
Format/Style. All haiku, senryu, and zappai are eligible and should fall within the usual standard 17 syllables (i.e., 5-7-5). Sorry, Tanka or any other style of poetry is not acceptable for purposes of this contest. We’re not hating, just a matter of space and time.
Only one entry per participant.

Prizes*:

1^st Place Winner:

Halloween Prize Pack, retail value over $50

Disney Oogie Boogie Bash Pin from 2022
Disney Halloween Die Cut Magnet
The Conjuring Horror Blu-Ray/DVD Combo
Evil Dead Sticker
Halloween buttons/stickers
Halloween card

1st Place Halloween Prize Pack for 2022 – #HalloweenHaikuChallenge

2^nd Place Winners:

Two runner-up poems will be chosen to win a Halloween card and one Halloween magnet.

2nd Place Halloween Prizes for 2022 – #HalloweenHaikuChallenge

3^rd Place Winner:

One third-place winner will be chosen to win a Halloween card and some Halloween stickers.

*Open to US residents only. Prizes subject to change.

Disclaimer:

All works are copyright of their respective owners. By participating in this contest, you agree that Halloween Kristy can use your haiku to further promote this contest and http://www.halloweenhorrorhaiku.com on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) Unauthorized use, modification, reproduction, or distribution of copyright poems submitted to Halloween Haiku Challenge 2022 without express written permission from the copyright owner is strictly prohibited.

For further details on contest rules, please visit: https://halloweenhorrorhaiku.com/contest-rules-eligibility-and-some-disclaimer-stuff/

Halloween Kristy reserves the right to remove and discredit any haiku and/or images posted here or on social media containing plagiarized or copyrighted material, pornography, vulgarity, bigoted, racist, or sexist views.

Tuesday Terror – Best Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Movies/TV

Survival horror more often than not features one of the scariest creatures man ever devised, the zombie, aka the living dead, the walking dead, the reanimated, flesh-eating ghouls, whatever you wanna call them. And, talk about insult to injury, starving to death wasn’t torturous enough, we still gotta keep up our cardio in a world with no Twinkies or Cheetos.

Well, thanks to Hollywood, there’s no shortage of post-apocalytic “docu-horror” to show us how to navigate a wasteland full of mindless predators, voracious zombies, and the earth’s harshest conditions.

This was a tough list to make, so I had two perimeters: 1) survival skills and/or great advice on how to survive; and 2) those movies that showed complete breakdown in society.

Zombie films have always been more about surviving other people than the undead. I think that’s why zombies became so mainstream, our world became more bleak and hostile and threat of apocalypse has never been more prominent. It’s probably worth revisting some of these movies for some pointers.

Zombies or not, I certaintly hope it never comes to this, because I love Halloween stuff too much to lose it!

Happy Halloween!

Haiku of the Week

Monday Macabre is all about the scares during October, but this year, we’re tapping into the psychological fear of dystopian Halloween horror.

Imagine living in a dark world where you absolutely cannot go out on Halloween night. A world filled with violence, run by evil dictators and religious autocrats who shut down society and ban Halloween traditions because they’re trying stamp out all pagan beliefs. This new frightening world is a lot closer than you think.

neon pumpkins
devils night curfew in effect
Halloween lockdown

Poe Sundays – House of Usher

Every Sunday in October is Poe Sunday, the day we celebrate the Master of Macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. This year, I’ll suggest the best movie adaptations of Poe’s work.

Atmospheric and spooky, House of Usher may be the best most faithful Poe story adaption that director Roger Corman ever created. Vincent Price, Mark Damon, and Myrna Fahey, earnestly chew through Richard Matheson’s screenplay so well, gothic drama oozing out of their pores in every scene, until that thrilling legendary cinematic end.

Throwback Thursday – Jack-o’-lanterns

Will jack-o’-lanterns be a Halloween tradition that survives the apocalypse?

Past: Centuries before the Native Americans introduced pumpkins to puritan societies, the Celts (ancient Irish peoples) were carving gruesome faces into turnips and potatoes and filling them with candles, all in an effort to guide wandering spirits to safety and ward off evil spirits during Samhain.

Ancient Celtic jack-o’-lantern at Carnegie Museum of Natural History

By the early 1800s, the Irish began telling the story of Stingy Jack, a man cursed to roam the earth for eternity after being rejected entry into both Heaven and Hell.

“As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”
https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins

Present: Irish immigrants brought their legend of Stingy Jack with them to the America and replaced turnips with pumpkins, which were big and easier to carve, not mention, the most economical gourds to cultivate, growing almost anywhere with the proper care.

With the commercialization of Halloween, we saw the pumpkin carving grow into a elaborate artistry and jack-o’-lanterns made out of every material substance known to man.

Future: According to an article “Could Humans Grow Food During a Nuclear Winter?” in Discover Magazine from March 2022, any sun-blocking catastrophes, i.e., volcanic eruptions, meteor crashes, or nuclear war would likely reduce sunlight by 40%, causing global permafrost and reducing much need precipitation. A Nuclear disaster would most surely ruin the earth’s soil, at least for a good 5 years or so. Without good sunlight and moderate soil temps, it would probalby be a number of years before survivors could grow fields of pumpkins again, or any food for that matter.

We have already experienced reduced crops in the last few years due to climate change, with soaring temps, severe rain storms in the East, and record-breaking droughts out West. Mini pumpkins, which can grow in controlled environments and small spaces, may be the only variety of pumpkin that survives.

All said, carving jack-o’-lanterns is arguably the oldest and most beloved Halloween tradition. I think as long as there’s a candle or a light, a metal bucket, and one human being left on the planet caring enough about Halloween, the jack-o-lantern will survive.

Wicked Art Wednesdays – Kellen Carranza

The theme this month is Dystopian Halloween. What Halloween traditions survive a post-apocalyptic landscape will be up to the survivors. For some of us, Halloween is instilled in our soul. We’ll easily find a way to celebrate the dead. That’s what comes to mind when I found this awesome spooky art from Kellen Carranza.

Halloween Dias De Los Muertos Sci Fi Chica Tattoos Pumpkin Skulls and Sneakers

Artist: Kellen Carranza
Company/Studio/Website:
https://www.artstation.com/artofkellencarranza
Where to Purchase Goods:
https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/KellenC/

Tuesday Terror – Stakeland

Every Tuesday in October 2022, we celebrate scary movies!

“Cults spread like wildfire across the southern states. Waitin’ for the messiah, but… he never came. Death came in its stead. And it came with teeth.”

2010’s Stakeland, directed by Jim Mickle is one of the best post-apocalyptic horror movies I’ve ever seen. Set in the near future, society collapses into religious zealotry and militia-run feudal terroritories when monsterous vampires take over the world.

Gossip Girl star Connor Paolo stars as a young man who finds a mentor in writer-producer Nick Damici’s mysterious drifter and expert vampire hunter, simply named Mister. Mister isn’t exactly a charming anti-hero, but he is totally badass and we’ll be so lucky if we find a teacher like him during our own dystopian journeys.

Haiku of the Week

It’s been 90 years since the fall. Food is scarce and crops are bad. A short life is still life. How long does it take for the soil to return fruitful harvest after a nuclear holocaust? What lengths should a farm go to to protect what’s theirs?

poisoned stalks of corn
90 years after the fall
the scarecrow

Monday Macabre is all about the scares during October, but this year, we’re tapping into the psychological fear of dystopian Halloween horror. My haiku is inspired by this ghoulish robot scarecrow.

Jenkins the Scarecrow by Oleksandra Shchaslyva

Artist: Oleksandra Shchaslyva

To view more of her stunning art, please go here: https://www.artstation.com/schastlivaya

Poe Sundays – The Tell-Tale Heart, 1953

In 1953, United Production Artists produced an 8-minute animation based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. This surreal psychological horror short film, narrated by James Mason and distributed by Columbia Pictures, became the first animated film to earn an X rating in the UK. The reason? Well, that’s just what old stuffy white dudes do when someone makes a film about killing old stuffy white dudes for no reason.

Click here for more information on The Tell-Tale Heart from 1953.

Friday Fright Nightcaps – Ode to the Mummy

Every Halloween season I make it a point to revisit the classic Universal monster films. These are the films that cemented American’s love affair with horror. Watching my favorite old classic horror films is one of my biggest Halloween traditions. This week, I created spooky cocktail to honor Karl Freund’s classic The Mummy, starring the legendary Boris Karloff, with a drink I call Ode to the Mummy.

INGREDIENTS:

3 oz. Coffee
1.5 oz Cutwater Bali Hai Tiki Monkey Liquer
1.5 oz. Vodka
1 oz. French Vanilla Creamer or Cream
Splash of Cream of Coconut