Happy 5th Anniversary to Halloween Horror Haiku!

Today marks my 5th anniversary of Halloween Horror Haiku!

I started this home-grown blog to channel some pent up creative energy that needed to get out. Many grand ideas and failed realities later, I’ve learned I’m not so much about keeping up the social aspect of having a public blog and more about just having fun and being creative. Either the shared love of the topics draws you in or it doesn’t. I believe myself to be a complete novice and writing does not come easy for me, poetry in particular. But, with each poem, I gain a better understanding of the art of haiku.

My first posted Halloween haiku in April 2018.

In November of 2021, I rebranded to Halloween Horror Haiku because I wanted to share my love of horror movies and to differentiate my blog from other writers who were causing trouble on social media. Writing Halloween haiku isn’t something to be owned. No one is the only one to write Halloween haiku and no one can claim to be the first to do it, unless you’ve got 100-year old poem hiding somewhere.

Google search Halloween Haiku and my blog comes up 5th. For a couple years I was on page 9 or 10.

Both Halloween and haiku are communal. They are more meaningful when shared, so is horror for that matter, which is why I choose to celebrate my blogiversary with Halloween haiku challenge, where everyone can share in the joy of creating a Halloween haiku. Details for this year’s contest are below.

Halloween Haiku Challenge – Halfway to Halloween

Write a Halloween-themed haiku using the traditional 17-syllable style and rules, then, enter by posting, using one of the two methods below. Only ONE entry per person. Contest ends at 12noon Pacific on Sunday, April 30^th.

Prize: A Ghostly Prize Pack valued over $50.

Please click here for contest rules/disclaimer stuff.

Two Ways to Enter:

1) Via WordPress:

Create a login or sign into WordPress
Follow our webpage: www.halloweenhorrorhaiku.com
Post your own original Halloween haiku in the comment section of this post

2) Via Instagram:

Follow us on Instagram: @halloweenhorrorhaiku
Like the “Happy 5th Anniversary Halloween Horror Haiku” photo.
Add your own original Halloween haiku in the comment section; or
Tag me in your Insta-post and use the following #HalloweenHaikuChallenge

The winning haiku will be chosen based on originality, spookiness, or that which best invokes the spirit of Halloween.

Winner will be announced on Monday, May 1st.

I’ve only always wanted this blog to be a positive safe space for people who enjoy Halloween, horror, and haiku without being harassed, intimidated, or persecuted. Thank you to all my supporters, the readers, the writers, fellow bloggers, fellow members of Samhain Society, and fellow Halloween, horror, or haiku lovers from all corners of the globe who stop by to check out the blog. I appreciate your time and energy. Here’s to another great year of Halloween Horror Haiku!

Advice from a Jack-o-lantern by HalloweenKristy

Throwback Thursdays – Bobbing for Apples

Will apple bobbing be a Halloween tradition that survives the apocalypse?

Past:

Apple bobbing dates back to antiquity and is commonly associated with the Celtic festival Samhain, where apples were a sign of abundance, fertility, and good harvest. The game goes like this, several apples are placed into a tub filled with water, then, children or adults, with hands bound behind their backs, try to catch apples with their teeth. There were several variations of the game, including one called Snap Apple where the apple hangs from a string tied to the ceiling. Eventually, apple bobbing became a fun courting act between young ladies and potential suitors, particularly in regions of the United Kingdom. A young lady would drop her apple, representing the man she most desired, into a barrel and attempt to bite the apple by dunking her head into or near the water. Catching the apple in one try meant the romance was destined to succeed, while more than three tries meant the relationship was doomed. Hard to believe that’s how many a marriage started before the 1900s, but there you have it. Young women even put their apples under their pillows the night before for extra luck.

Present:

Health and safety concerns pretty much keep bobbing for apples a thing in the past. The fear of catching Covid, Influenza, or some other illness from contaminated water is high and parents of small children especially fear drowning, not to mention the high possibility of eye injuries from accidental scratches or infections. This game is more dangerous nowadays than it ever was in the past. Most instances of apple bobbing events happen during private parties or fall festivals and more often than not, involve schoolchildren. No young lads want to mess up their coiffeurs and any ladies looking for a soulmate will find that match.com is a far easier and safer way to attract a good man.

Future:

Whether due to the radioactive contamination from the fallout of a nuclear war or worldwide freshwater shortages due to climate change, it’s hard to imagine the earth will be fertile enough in the future to grow orchards full of apple trees needed for apple bobbing. Soil and water would both be irradiated in the event of a nuclear explosion, so, growing any crops at all will be a challenge. Given the high chance of scarcity of food during the apocalypse, I don’t anticipate apple bobbing to be a Halloween tradition that survives. Still, only one apple is truly needed to play, so, all hope is not completely lost. Let me know your thoughts in the comments or hit me up on social media.

Happy Halloween!

A Spooky Renaissance is Coming

I announce the return of the monthly blog! Random musings and kitsch movie lists for my fellow horror lovers, that’s what I’ll offer at the end of every month. Can you believe it’s already the end of May? We are well past the halfway point to Halloween. This is a crucial time of year for many Halloween fans because it’s been 8 months since we’ve seen a jack-o’-lantern, Summer, the most dreaded season, is right around the corner, and we desperately need something that will satisfy our cravings until October. We’re hunting down springtime scares and often finding comfort in horror nostalglia. Halloween lovers might be a little prickly right now.

Most of us still have Covid anxiety and after a year of living in and out of lockdowns, nobody knows how to act. Mass shootings have returned and vaccination lotteries are all the rage. Human beings have to be bribed to take care of our health. How the hell did we get this far? Anyways, it’s suggested that we ease back into society, gingerly, like curious cute kittens, ready to explore, adorably pounce on butterflies we can’t catch, and slash the hell out of anyone who messes with us. This is why I predict a cautious summer with steady routines and subtle day trips to our favorite local hangouts, where we can get used to being around people again, wearing clothes that don’t stretch, and obeying traffic laws. By Fall, however, we should be ready to party. I’m really looking forward to that.

Halloween season is the perfect time to get adventurous, try new things, and travel the world, or maybe just to the next city over, if you can’t afford a plane ticket. Trust me, it all counts. Visually, one half of the world will be stunning, so get those cameras ready. I’m hoping climate change hasn’t doomed our favorite autumn landscapes just yet. Another reason why we should take plenty of photos this fall. In fifty years, no one will believe we had bountiful harvests, tall trees, and grass this green. But, let’s table the rest of this discussion for later this year.

Halloween is a holiday that can be shared by communities and we’ll be needing to build up the goodwill and learn to trust society all over again. Trust each other again. What better way to do it over a shared love of pumpkin spiced lattes and creepy yard haunts, plus, there’s extra incentive in finding the beautiful abandonment of a pre-covid world. Abandoned places. Restless spirits. Scary monsters. Haunted people. Only time will tell how much we’ve changed after this pandemic. The anger. The fears. The death. We’re gonna need to channel these dark energies, and the arts, the culture, music, movies, comics, gaming, literature… it’s where we’ll go to bear our souls. Fear not my friends, I feel a spooky renaissance may be on the horizon.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments section or hit me up on social media.

Darkest Before the Dawn

I’ve been struggling with my writing for several days. Weeks, really. The summer blues have had a strangling hold on me this year. I had several ideas on how I wanted to approach this month’s blog post. At one point, I wrote out a long piece about suffering from summer depression. It read like a book report on Seasonal Affective Disorder, and it had nothing to do with Halloween. As my deadline came and went, guilt followed, then, the shame of failure set in, and soon, it was hard to write anything at all, not even one of my goofy movie lists.

Group therapy

I belong to a few Halloween groups around the web, wherever I can find like-minded creatures. Halloweenophiles always seem to find each other. It’s nice not to feel the burden of being the weirdo sometimes. It’s a sure bet, the second Halloween merch hits the stores, people post pictures and store locations. We know how to comfort each other, most importantly, we understand why it’s important to do so, no explanation needed.

Sensing the buzz, off I went, in search of Halloween, looking for pumpkins, skeletons, black cats, and any sliver of orange and black. My local Michael’s did not disappoint.

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