It's Halloween

All Hallows Eve is fast approaching and with it many memories of Halloween's past. I wish I had a picture of myself dressed in my Halloween garb as a child but, alas, none exist. I can tell you this, it was always a momentous night filled with C-A-N-D-Y. Yes, in bold and all caps!

Two things always come to mind when Halloween rolls around, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, and It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Let’s start with….

The Raven
(1845)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door

-Only this, and nothing more.'

As you know, this is just the first stanza or verse of The Raven, it is actually quite lengthy, haunting and gothic. But I love to read it every year. Though not related to Halloween but just as romantic and gothic is Poe’s…

Annabel Lee
(1849)

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of ANNABEL LEE;--

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

She was a child and I was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love--

I and my Annabel Lee--

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven

Coveted her and me.

I can remember reading and reciting this poem in the fourth or fifth grade. Annabel Lee is another favorite Poe poem of my mine. Is it no wonder that I was attracted to gothic novels like Jane Eyre at an early age? I sometimes felt I was born out of sync with time.

But in stark contrast to these heavy hearted poems is Charlie Brown, that round headed kid. Here’s a closely held family secret… long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, long before I even knew Charlie Brown existed, I had a cousin whose nickname was not just Charlie but Charlie Brown. Yes, the whole enchilada! Let me tell you it was quite startling to realize one day that his name was really Stephen!

Charlie Brown, not again!

I can’t wait to watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown one more time. You know Charlie Brown should know better when it comes to Lucy and that football, Snoopy will be flying on his Sopwith Camel, Linus will be writing a letter to the Great Pumpkin telling him it's not his fault Santa Claus gets more publicity, Sally’s going to go on her rant at being cheated out of tricks and treats, and the gang all end up at Violet’s house for a Halloween party.

Great Pumpkin: 0 Beagle: 1

This third Charlie Brown special first aired October 27, 1966 on CBS and pre-empted My Three Sons! ABC picked up the rights to the special beginning in 2001.

Whoo-Hoo - party at Violet's!

Eeeeewwww, dog germs!

A little rememberence of Halloween past

Something for the girls!

I wish you Happy Hauntings!