I'm Back

Hello, my poor neglected zombies. I abandoned you when I needed you most. I have returned to you so please don't hate me. Well, you can hate me as much as you want I can't stop you. I will be doing a dark writing challenge on here to push the boundaries of my writing. I'm hoping to have my first prompt posted sometime next week. I was thinking about doing straight up horror but my love of zombies made me return to the story I left behind.

Those of you just coming to this blog I welcome you to the darkness inside of me. If you like zombies then join the party. If you don't like zombies, then I hope you get infected and begin to like them. (The stories.) If a zombie outbreak happens you are on your own. I know who my apocalypse buddies are. I also know who my bait will be.

Let's hope that you're not one of the ones I plan to use as bait. Anyway, check back next week for the first dark writing challenge.

Zombified

I swear to God I am carrying the plague! I have had this blasted cold for over a month now and it just won't go away! If the zombie apocalypse comes I will be the one that started it since I feel like I am dead. Either that or I'll be immune to the zombie virus. Dammit!

Ummm.. Yea. I love zombies ad would make an awesome zombie hunter but I would make an even better zombie!! I am sorry I haven't been posting. I have been going to bed early or curling up under my heavy blanket and refusing to acknowledge the world.

So my little zombies, how has your dreaded turkey month been? Mine? Shitty as hell. *cough* *hack* *dies*

Urban Legends Parts 3

This weeks urban legend is pretty popular but I figured I would check it out and see if I could get to the bottom of this grisly legend. This week I am tackling Bloody Mary. I traveled to Wikipedia my first go to place and read what they had to say.

Wikipedia had this to say:

Historically, the ritual encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards while holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see a skull (or the face of the Grim Reaper) instead, indicating that they were destined to die before they would have the chance to marry.

In the ritual of today, Bloody Mary allegedly appears to individuals or groups who ritualistically invoke her name in an act of catoptromancy. This is done by repeatedly chanting her name in a mirror placed in a dimly-lit or candle-lit room. The Bloody Mary apparition allegedly appears as a corpse, a witch or ghost; can be friendly or evil; and is sometimes "seen" covered in blood. The lore surrounding the ritual states that participants may endure the apparition screaming at them, cursing them, strangling them, stealing their soul, drinking their blood or scratching their eyes out. The modern legend of Hanako-san in Japan strongly parallels the Bloody Mary mythology.

A modern addition of taunting Bloody Mary regarding her baby indicates the legendary figure's conflation with the historic figure, Queen Mary I, also known as "Bloody Mary", whose life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies and is remembered for her violent religious reforms.

Ultimately they said that Bloody Mary was just a hallucination. So investigated further. Bloody Mary is also known as Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Jane, Mary Whales, Mary White, and even Hell Mary. Just how many variations of the Bloody Mary legend are there? Apparently a lot of them.

Then I came across Scaryforkids.com and they had this to say about the Bloody Mary legend:

"The history of the chanting game is based on mixed up legends and history that have become the main basis for the story surrounding the urban legend.

The most common story told is that Mary Worth was a witch that lived over 100 years ago who dabbled in the black arts. She was found out and executed. However this does not tie in with a child or baby which is often mentioned in the ritual of summoning her.

The other story accompanying the ritual is a local woman was involved in a fatal car accident nearby, her face horribly mutilated. She reappears in the mirror when summoned with that same horrific face.

It is largely believed that the origins of the names "Mary Worth" and "Bloody Mary" came from a slight mix up of characters from history. There is a lot of speculation as to the names being taken from Mary I, Queen of England who reigned during the Tudor period. Mary Tudor was also commonly known as "Bloody Mary".

Her nickname of "Bloody Mary" became attached to her when she violently executed and burnt Mary Tudor people at the stake for heresy throughout her reign of a little over 5 years.

She also was unable to bear children and suffered two phantom pregnancies, this is where it is speculated that the Bloody Mary game involving chanting "I stole your baby" or "I killed your baby" became tangled up with the now known Bloody Mary game.

There is another suggestion that the name "Mary Worth" was derived from a victim of the Salem Witch trials. There was no person involved in these trials by the name of Mary Worth.

Other surrounding additions to the "Bloody Mary" game are derived from the legend of Elizabeth Bathory, who it was rumored bathed in blood and took part in other atrocities to save her youthful beauty, of course her name was not Mary but somehow the stories of this cruel woman have been inserted into the Bloody Mary game.


However this game came about and whenever this game was first invented the one thing we do know for sure is that the ritual of spinning and chanting has evolved from quite a long time ago, when young girls participated regularly in rituals such as this to find who they would marry and when they would marry. There is also the addition of mirrors which were known as being portals to another world, especially during Victorian times. Add in a little more of the olde time spiritual beliefs including covering mirrors while in the presence of a dead person or at a funeral, some spooky ghost stories told at bedtime, and it seems to have all somehow combined over the years to form the now famous game of Bloody Mary.

So Bloody Mary came about due to Queen Mary I of England? That can't be it. So I furthered my investigation and after exploring a plethora of sites they all come to the same conclusion that Bloody Mary was spawned from Queen Mary I of England and possibly Elizabeth Bathory.

Krampus

I was hoping to do a Krampus countdown but alas I will not be able to this season. I’m even posting this before December so you can possibly visit the amazing festival I found out about. This is probably also one of my longer posts too.

I’m sure some of you have heard of Krampus. I know if you watch Grimm you have. There is a few Krampus YouTube videos which you can look up. There are a few Krampus Creepypasta. Here is one from Creepypasta Wikia: http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Christmas_Krampus There are plenty more out there for you to read/listen to if you like the YouTube Creepypastas.

I am also seeing a Krampus movie so we will have to see if it is as scary as I hope. The trailer looks good but I found that they pull the good parts for the trailer and sometimes that is the only good part. I found this trailer on NewTrailersBuzz page on YouTube. Now this Krampus movie is called A Christmas Horror Story. It has already been released in Canada and the UK but I'm not seeing an official date for the US. Here is the link to IMDb.com for this movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3688406/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

This is what wikipedia had for Krampus:

In German-speaking Alpine folklore, Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure. According to traditional narratives around the figure, Krampus punishes children during the Christmas season who had misbehaved, in contrast with Saint Nicholas, who rewards well-behaved ones with gifts. Regions in the Austrian diaspora feature similar figures and, more widely, Krampus is one of a number of Companions of Saint Nicholas in regions of Europe. The origin of the figure is unclear; some folklorists and anthropologists have postulated a pre-Christian origin for the figure (see Germanic paganism).

Traditional parades in which young men dress as Krampus, such as the Krampuslauf (German 'Krampus run'), occur annually in some Alpine towns. Krampus is featured on holiday greeting cards called Krampuskarten.

Me being the dark morbid person I am, thinks that Krampus is much darker than just ‘punishing’ naughty children. To a naughty child having a horned creature come to punish them would be frightening especially if they were of a Christian faith. But what about the non-christian children? Why would they be scared of Krampus?

If my parents told me the legend of Krampus but instead of punishing me he would take me to his lair and eat me bit by bit until the next year so he could deliver my bones to my parents. I would be more than willing to behave. Probably have night terrors too. Which is why I only expose my dark morbid self to those looking at my blog!

As the season continues to draw closer more and more people become stressed by what they are going to give people and getting what their family wants. But what if Krampus visited more than naughty children? What if he visited naughty adults too?

Well goodbye 90% of the adult population! That’s right. We expect our children to be ‘good’ during this holiday season but what about ourselves? How many times were we rude to someone just because we were in a bad mood? Or had road rage? Inside and outside of the store?

I work in retail and I have met plenty of rude people even during a non holiday season. How do I not slap them and tell them to grow up? I imagine I am Darth Vader and can force choke them or as it is now the Christmas season I will be imagining that Krampus will be coming to visit them. What do you do in times like these?

Did you know that there was a Krampus festival? I didn’t! Now I want to go and hang out with the Krampus Army. The festival takes place in Klagenfurt, Austria. This is from Fest300.com about the attendance of Krampusnacht:

Numbers vary, but an estimated 1,000 Krampi, the largest concentration in the world, descend upon Klagenfurt for a parade through the streets that eventually morphs into a party. Those who dress as Krampus tend to be men in their teens and twenties, and as is the wont of the universe, when large groups of men in their teens and twenties get dressed up, they tend to get drunk.

There's a pagan spirituality element to the equation too; while some Krampi are having fun, others reference pre-Christian traditions of spiritual possession via the usage of mind-altering substances. Which is a nice way to say: some Krampus get crazy on the Krampuslauf. During the after party, expect to hear Black Metal; it's a popular in the area, and the mix of thrashy songs, pagan references, demon/devil iconography and general strutting machismo makes for a natural auditory backdrop to the Krampus crowd.

That said, the Krampuslauf isn't all boozy, demon-clad testosterone time. Many treat the event as a costume contest, and the quality of some Krampus outfits is pretty amazing. In addition, many women take to the streets dressed as Perchta , a pagan goddess of Germanic origin; as a result, a Perchtenlauf (Perchta run) is now a standard component of the Krampuslauf.

Many of those who take the pre-Christian origins of the event seriously do their best to evoke the fear Krampus originally inspired, and it wouldn't be hyperbole to say that for them, the Krampuslauf takes on mystical, and even religious overtones. For these runners, Krampus is the dark counterpart to the gemütlichkeit Christmas evokes. Gemütlichkeitis a hard word to translate, but it encompasses both coziness and conviviality, whereas Krampus is the other half of the winter solstice: darkness, cold, and snowy fir forests where branches snap and things go bump in the frozen night.

I found this at http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/yuletraditions/p/Krampusnacht.htm

December 5 is the evening on which parts of Germany and Bavaria celebrate Krampusnacht, which is a throwback to a pre-Christian tradition. The word Krampus means "claw", and apparently certain Alpine villages have big parties featuring a scary clawed incubus who hangs around with Santa Claus. The Krampus costume also includes sheepskin, horns, and a switch that the incubus uses to swat children and unsuspecting young ladies

The Krampus' job is to punish those who have been bad, while Santa rewards the people on his "nice" list. There's been a resurgence in interest in Krampus over the past century or so, but it seems as though the custom goes back hundreds of years.

While the men parade around dressed as creepy demons, the women get to have some fun too, wearing masks and representing Frau Perchta, who was a Nordic goddess, who may have been an aspect of Freyja, the fertility goddess. Interestingly, in the Pennsylvania Dutch community, there's a character called Pelsnickel or Belznickel who is an awful lot like Krampus, so it appears that the tradition migrated across the water when Germans settled in America.

Krampus.com, which calls itself the official home of "Krampus, the holiday devil," calls Krampus a "dark counterpart of Saint Nicholas, the traditional European gift-bringer who visits on his holy day of December 6th. The bishop-garbed St. Nicholas rewards good kids with gifts and treats; unlike the archetypal Santa, however, St. Nicholas never punishes naughty children, parceling out this task to a ghastly helper from below."

According to everfest.com this year’s Krampusnacht is taking place on December 5th but theeventpalette.com says it is on November 28th. If you find out the actual date as to when the Krampusnacht is happening this year please email me so I can put a definite date on here.

Urban Legends Part 2

Black Agnes or Black Aggie as I have found is the name of the statue that is reported to kill people. This huge statue is titled Thanatos (death in Greek) and is the grave marker for John Erastus Hubbard who lived from 1847-1899.

Now according to the legend this statue will kill anyone who happens to sit in its lap. There are several variations of this story, some not including certain death for sitting on the statue but they all say that laying in the statue's lap will bring certain death.

But according to Wikipedia 'Black Aggie is the name given to statue formerly placed on General Felix Agnus in Druid Ridge Cemetery in Pikesville, Maryland.'

Wikipedia also had this to say about the history of Black Aggie; a replica of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' 1891 allegorical figure named Grief:

Beginning with its installation in 1926, the replica was surrounded by many urban legends, principally that someone spending a night in its lap would be haunted by the ghosts of those buried there; that the spirits of individuals buried at Druid Ridge would annually convene at the statue; that no grass would grow on the ground where the statue's shadow would lie during the daytime; or that the statue would animate itself during the night, whether by physically moving or by showing glowing red eyes.

These urban legends led to much unwelcome attention toward the statue; many people were caught breaking into the cemetery at night to visit it, and the pedestal was frequently vandalized. The Agnus family, disturbed by the attention the statue received, donated it to the Smithsonian in 1967. It sat for many years in storage at the National Museum of American Art (later named the Smithsonian American Art Museum) where an authorized recasting of the original Adams Memorial statue now sits.

Black Aggie was moved from her previous home at the museum to a courtyard behind the Dolley Madison House on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. where she currently stands. The bare, blank pedestal remains at the statue's former home at Druid Ridge Cemetery.

Another statue, similarly called "Black Agnus" is located at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier, Vermont. This one is of a man sitting and covered in a shawl, but his head is visible and his looking up with closed eyes. This statue is copper rather than bronze, so it has a green patina.

I found another version of this urban legend on YouTube that is completely different from the other versions I have come across.

Do I know which legend is the original? No I don't. But each legend is fascinating. There is another Black Anges but she is the Countess of Dunbar in Scotland who defended her home from the English during a siege in 1337. I hope you enjoyed this installment of Urban Legends! Keep an eye out for next weeks post along with other various posts.

My Rules

I have shared several sets of rules. Now it is time to share my set. You don't have to like them. You don't even have to live by them. Unless you are in my group then you have to.

1. Stick Together
Being in a group is better than being alone.

2. Don't Be A Hero Unless Necessary
If you want to be a hero then that is your decision but you can't go gallivanting around saving everyone. Sometimes a necessary loss is for the greater good.

3. Have Multiple Weapons
Yes you have a gun but what do you do when you run out of ammo? Take your shoes off and throw them at the zombies? Having multiple weapons preferably a blunt and bladed weapon are going to keep you alive a little bit longer. Ammo doesn't grow on trees.

4. Double Check
You think that dead body on the floor is dead right? WRONG! You just walked by it and now you have a chunk taken out of your leg. Think you know the plan? Check again. Wonder if you have enough water for you and everyone else? Double check.

5. Sleep In Shifts
When not on the move you should sleep in shifts, rotating who stands watch. If everyone sleeps at the same time you won't see that horde coming up the hill on their way to lunch.

6. Ration It Out
No one deserves more food than someone else, not even a child. Everyone needs to keep up their strength. Ration the food and water out. You don't know when you'll find some again.

7. No Mercy
Someone got bit? Don't let them stay in the group. Dispatch them and be done with it. Letting an infected human stay within the group is hazardous and downright stupid.

8. First Aid
If you were injured in a battle or tromping through the woods, make sure you clean it out and cover it up. Let your group know that you have been wounded so everyone can keep an eye out for meds and keep an eye on you for any kind of sickness.

9. Don't Be An Asshole
Assholes exist but if you can help by not being one then all the greater.

10. Don't Get Cornered
You get cornered in a building, natural canyon, or a BATHROOM. The group will try to help you but will refer to Rule 2 when all else fails.

11. Be Aware
Don't stare at your feet will trudging along that dirt road. You can help your group be keeping an eye out for possible danger.

12. Take What You Need
Only take what you need. You may want to take that awesome shit that you've never had before. But what would be the point? Can the group use it to help fight off danger? Is it small enough that it won't take away space for food or water? If you don't need it then don't take it.

13. Stay Clothed
Make sure that you have adequate clothing. If you're wearing shorts and a tank top when a down pour happens no one will take pity one you. Layer up.

14. Don't Wonder Off
If you are with the group don't wonder off or you might get left behind. Yes having a moment alone is nice but shit happens. Now you're alone without the group and your provisions.

15. Exit Strategy
Always have a backup plan for the backup plan. Always know where to meet up with your group if you get separated. And always know every exit for any building you are in.

16. Sex Is Overrated
Don't get caught by a wandering zombie or horde because you wanted to have a little fun with the cute guy or gal of the group. Refer to Rules 1 and 14.

Common Sense

If any of you have watched Zombieland then you know the rules. If you haven't don't worry you'll learn them soon enough. Couple the Zombieland rules with the ones I have posted about before then we should be good to go. Or so I thought.

I have talked about writing zombie stories before and each of them are uniquely different but as my brother and I began talking about what we would be doing for the coming apocalypse I began to plot a new story. So I asked him what things he would like to see in this story and his response? A bathroom scene. Yeah. So I told him that would be the scene he died in. He knows the rules. Beware bathrooms.

Apparently having a massive amount of rules to survive by does not keep you from dying during the apocalypse, especially when common sense seems to allude you. You could be a rocket scientist but if you have no common sense then I will be seeing you among the masses of zombies.