Andrew Harding had to take a picture during a 5AM train ride in Chicago, or no one would believe what he saw. It makes sense when you realize the photo was taken on October 30th. Link -via reddit

Halloween may be long over, but that doesn’t make this amazing machine gun leg costume any less impressive. While it looks unbelievably cool, it certainly doesn’t seem comfortable to be walking around in all night.

Link via BuzzFeed

While I am not one of those people who likes to call all instances of animals being dressed up in costume “animal abuse,” it’s certainly verging on the borderline of abuse when you dress your horse as a pinata and carry around a pinata stick. For pictures of 19 more depressing horses, check out this hilarious BuzzFeed article.

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Of course, while the stallion may be embarrassed beyond belief, the little girl looks ridiculously happy with her cute outfit and amazing costume.

Link Via BuzzFeed

Speaking of fashionable Halloween rides that only add to a costume, just check out this incredible Flintstones mobile that was actually driven through a drive through.

Link Via BuzzFeed

(Video Link)

Halloween may be over, but that doesn’t make these eight month old twins playing the role of Goose and Maverick any less cute. Of course, the jet stroller is an unbelievably cute accessory.

Via Laughing Squid

This neat, albeit gory, illustration by Chris Schweizer shows Dr. Frankenstein hard at work on his monster. Pray he gets it right this time!

Link –via ComicsAlliance

Mashable has a neat post listing the Halloween edition of Google Doodle since 1999: Link

If you like that, you can take a look at Google's official Google Logo page and see all the variations throughout the years.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

(1) That despite various lobbying efforts, clear consensus within the peer review process was wholly absent. No agreement on any specific candy was represented higher than 5% of the total comments (although status of fresh versus stale versus fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls was especially hotly debated). Indeed, consensus was only noted in the following: that last year’s hierarchy, in a word, sucked. In fact, the word “travesty” and similar synonyms were uttered more than a few times (Koerth-Baker, 2010).

(2) That with current data, Candy Corn is impossible to rank. It is liken to the “String Theory” of candy: largely theoretical nature and difficult to pin down. In the hopes of moving forward on this strange phenomenon, we are currently exploring a grant proposal that would give us time on the LHC.

(3) That this study was a great portal to science culture in general. This was demonstrated by an example of scientific plagiarism (link), as well as the prevalence of scientist bias, because despite repeated commentary on the contrary, we stubbornly stand by our evaluation of Whoppers.

Of course, the new hierarchy, published at Boing Boing, has already sparked a debate over the merits of a certain American brand of chocolate. Link

This dessert looks creepy, but it’s actually delicious cake with brain-shaped frosting and a bit of raspberry jelly for blood, all stuffed on a jar. The instructions for making your own are at Living Locurto. Link -via Everlasting Blort

The Google Doodle team carves giant pumpkins on the lawn at their Mountain View, California, headquarters. The finished product is today’s Google Doodle.

Buying a new home is a big commitment and for first-time buyers especially, it can be a little terrifying. Imagine just how horrific it would be then to discover your home ended up being home to thousands of snakes or the mummified body of the last homeowner. Read about these terrible discoveries and more over at Cracked.

Link

The folks over at ComicsAlliance put together this spooky gallery of artworks featuring various monsters, creatures, and things that go bump in the night as envisioned by some of the world’s finest comic book and animation illustrators. Happy Halloween!

Link

This costume will have people rubbing their eyes to make sure they didn’t imagine seeing the full scale sprite of Samus from the Nintendo game Metroid walking by.

Dan Cattell created these Metroid inspired sprite costumes, and Nintendo liked them so much they featured them in Nintendo Power magazine. Hit the link and see how cool Samus and a Chozo Statue look when they’re about to battle it out!

Link –Dan Cattell’s DeviantArt page

I remember seeing stacks of these awful things on the shelves when I was a youngster, and hearing parents say things like “look for the ones that say non-flammable” and “well, at least you can use the mask”, as their kids stifled tears over their terribly disappointing selection of flimsy plastic costumes.

Browse through this gallery of awfulness and see just how good kids have it these days when it comes to Halloween costumes.

Link

(YouTube Link)

Here is an animated short that is sure to delight, or fill you with fright! Watch as Marvel Comics’ M.O.D.O.K., dressed as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark tells “Strange Halloween Tales Of Suspense To Astonish!”

–via ComicsAlliance

Depending on how you feel about pop music, this could be the cutest or scariest pumpkin ever carved. Check out more pop culture pumpkin carvings over on the Huffington Post.

Link

Even if you think the idea of a zombie tattoo is kind of silly, you can still appreciate the awesome artwork in many of these great pieces that range from old school to incredibly realistic.

Link

How do you make costumes designed around a 20-year-old movie work? You get all of your friends involved! The gang at Intense Individuals did just that last year, and dressed as almost the entire cast of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. See more pictures at their site. Link -via Buzzfeed

If you missed the 2011 Blizzcon, but are a huge fan of WOW and other Blizzard games, you won’t want to miss Geeks Are Sexy’s wonderful collection of the greatest costumes from the event. Some of the outfits are seriously impressive.

Link

Who knew jack-o-lanterns had such stunning skulls inside. They must be pretty fragile because I never see them while carving my pumpkins.

Link Via BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed has a great collection of “sexy” costumes that make no sense. I actually think the one above is kind of cute, but it’s still idiotic to have a sexy version of Edward Scissorhands.

Link

It takes a steady hand and a lot of planning to make your pumpkin into the one ring, but I’d say the effort is certainly worth the great result.

Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

If you’re still hunting for a few fun last minute crafting ideas to spice up your Halloween decor, WebEcoist has a great collection of fun crafts that are all eco-friendly as well. Enjoy.

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If you love sock monkeys, but are tired of the classic brown and white design, then you might want to check out Sockmonkey Drawer’s collection of one-of-a-kind designs. I’m particularly taken with creator Kim-Ian Cornell’s special Halloween line of Spooky Sock Monkeys.

Link Via Laughing Squid

New York’s Tompkins Square Dog Parade is the biggest dog costume contest on earth and this year’s participants certainly did not fail to disappoint. You can enjoy 50 pictures from this year’s event over at BuzzFeed, but my personal favorite is this Bulldog of Frankenstein.

Link

Halloween is coming, and while people are out trick or treating or enjoying a costume party, the Universe will continue to go about its business.

The business of DEATH, that is. Black holes will continue to tear apart stars and gorge themselves on the tasty, gooey insides; galaxies will erupt with high-energy radiation, blasting out killer rays for hundreds of thousands of light years; giant clouds of gas will collapse, form stars, and promptly have their interiors eaten out from within.

Bad Astronomy Blog has a gallery of creepy astronomy pictures that appear to have sprung from our nightmares, but are actually things that exist in our universe. The picture here is of the flaming skull of Perseus: actually Perseus A, a huge galaxy that blasts out x-rays. Link -Thanks, Phil!

Dead Bodies Under The Mattress

This one involves someone checking into a hotel room and noticing that something smells rotten. Eventually, they realize it’s coming from under the bed. So they move the mattress and discover a dead body. This story has been going around forever and has even been featured in movies like Four Rooms. It seems like this story is pretty unlikely, particularly given that you’d at least think a hotel maid would notice the smell of a rotting body before a hotel guest enters the room, but if you believe that, you’re giving hotel staff too much credit. In fact, the most disturbing thing about this story is how often it actually happens.

In 1982, a few auto thieves killed an accomplice and left him under the bed of their hotel in New Jersey. Four days later, someone discovered the corpse, but the room had been rented three different times in the meanwhile and no one noticed they were sleeping above a dead body. In 1987, a drug user overdosed and his high friend stuffed him under the bed and then ran away. Three days later, a family reported a nasty odor in their room, prompting the hotel staff to discover the body.

In New York 1988, a murderer was clever enough to actually put the body inside the box spring. Even so, the smell still gave away the body’s hiding place only a few days later. This time, at least two guests slept on top of the mattress, not knowing what was below.

There are tons more stories like this. Apparently hotel workers often shrug off these types of odors and go on with their business until a guest complains or even refuses to stay in the room thanks to the smell. If there’s anything to be learned here, it’s that you should never stay in a hotel room with a funky smell. And, if you do notice something off, check under your bed or mattress…or you might not want to, that is, if you’d rather not know what’s below.

Source: Snopes

Image Via neekatnite [Flickr]

Spooky Acts Resulting In Death

Whether it involves a trained escape artist failing in his act or a Halloween stunt that goes awry, this tale revolves around someone dying while an audience watches, often thinking it is all part of the act. Eventually, everyone is shocked when they learn the performer has really passed away.

While it’s a chilling story that has been told over and over, even used in an episode of Tales From The Crypt, it is far from fiction. In fact, it happens more often then you would think. In 1984, magician/comedian Tommy Cooper had a heart attack while performing on a variety show. Unfortunately, because one of the staples of his act was his inept magic skills that resulted in things going terribly wrong, everyone assumed it was part of the act until it was too late.

October 1990 was a particularly bad month for these kinds of stunts. It started when teen Brian Jewell died while performing a hanging stunt meant to entertain guests on a haunted hayride. Only six days later, another teen, William Anthony Odom, died while performing a gallows scene at a Halloween party and the noose tightened around his neck, choking him to death. Days later, Joseph Burrus performed an act that involved him having to break free from a plastic coffin buried underground and covered in concrete. As spectators watched the concrete being poured into the hole, everyone noticed when the wet concrete level suddenly dropped two feet down –the coffin had been crushed. By the time they got Burrus out of the coffin, he was dead.

In 2001, haunted hayride worker Caleb Rebh died when he decided to take the place of a skeleton placed in a noose on a tree. When he struggled with the rope, guests and fellow workers thought he was acting and left him alone until he suffocated.

A good take away from these stories is to make sure your kids never think to do tricks that involve nooses. Also, don’t raise your kid to be an escape artist.

Sources: Snopes #1, #2

Image Via Sospitis [Flickr]

Dead Bodies Mistaken For Spooky Decorations

On a similar note, there have been many of occasions where someone thought something was a Halloween decoration, but it was really a dead body. Heck, this one even served as the basic plot for the Vincent Price classic House of Wax.

In at least two cases, one in 2005 and one in 2009, a suicide victim has killed themselves in October and been left for hours, even days, because people mistook the real corpse for a Halloween decoration.

One of the more interesting, slightly less gruesome stories in this vein involves the corpse of Elmer McCurdy. The outlaw was killed in a 1911 shoot-out. Afterwards, his undertaker went ahead and embalmed him, dressed him up, and started to charge locals $.05 to take a look at the bandit. Eventually, two men claimed McCurdy as their brother in 1915, but the men were actually carnival promoters who wanted the corpse for themselves. The body toured with his “brothers” for a few years and after a few stops at various other side shows it ended up in a Los Angeles wax museum, where those operating the attraction believed it was just another wax creation. It wasn’t until the Six Million Dollar Man filmed at the wax museum and a worker accidentally broke off McCurdy’s arm that people realized it wasn’t just a creepy prop. Finally, in 1977, McCurdy was given a proper burial. To ensure he would stay buried, the medical examiner ordered that two yards of cement were laid over the body.

Strangely, House of Wax was based on a Charles Belden’s story The Wax Works written in 1933. Both of these were made long before any of these stories hit the news, so either earlier news stories like this are now buried or else this one was an urban legend that eventually came true rather than a true story that became an urban legend.

Sources: Snopes #1, #2

Kidney Thieves

Just about everyone has heard the story of the person waking up in a bathtub full of ice with a note telling them to go to a hospital if they want to live. While the bathtub of ice  and note parts may be fiction, this kind of this has been known to happen in India, where a 1995 law requires organ donations to come only from closely related family members, creating a thriving black market for organs.

In 1998, three surgeons and seven accomplices were arrested after being accused of tricking people into having their kidneys removed without permission. The criminals would tell the impoverished victims they could get a good job, but first they had to undergo a medical exam. The exam would then reveal the “applicant” needed a small surgery. During the procedure, the doctor would remove one of the unconscious victim’s kidneys and then the victim would hear nothing more about a job offer. In 2008, a similar racket was discovered by authorities.

Like the wax museum stories, the interesting thing about these cases is the fact that the urban legend was around long before the true stories. In this case, the legend has been spread around since at least the eighties, but the problem in India did not start until after the 1995 law was passed.

Sources: Snopes, Washington Post

Image Via The Doctr [Flickr]

Intentionally Infected With AIDS

The most common version of this story involves a young girl dancing at a club when she feels a small prick on her arm or leg. Then she hears someone whisper “welcome to the wonderful world of AIDS,” before they escape unseen. At her feet, she discovers a blood-filled needle and when she visits the hospital, they confirm that she now has HIV. Another version involves a girl going to the movies and discovering a note informing her of her new status before she leaves.

The earliest version of this story has actually been traced back to the mid-80’s, when a man sleeps with a woman he’s only just met at a bar and then wakes up seeing the words “welcome to the world of AIDS” scrawled on the mirror in lipstick.

While the story of an anonymous stranger injecting someone at a club and the “welcome to the world of AIDS” line are both urban legends, the truth is that there are many stories of people who have intentionally been given HIV. In 2006, a woman in England was arrested for intentionally having unprotected sex with men in an act of revenge after she became infected with the disease.

Some people have even been intentionally injected with the virus, but not by random strangers like the victims in the legends. AIDS activist Brryan Jackson was infected as an 11 month-old baby by his father, who did not want to have to pay child support. By the time he was five, his infection was discovered and his father was arrested and sentenced to life in prison. Fortunately, the nineteen year-old activist is still doing fine despite his condition.

Another person intentionally infected was Janice Trahan, who was given the virus, along with Hepatitis C, by her ex-lover Doctor Richard J. Schmidt who collected a samples from some of his patients and gave it to Trahan by claiming it was a vitamin B injection. Dr. Schmidt was charged with attempted murder and sentenced to 50 years. It is unknown how Trahan is doing because the case was so long ago and there are no follow up new stories on her since 2000. This case was the first of its kind to hit the court system and it eventually inspired a similar Law & Order episode.

Sources: About.com, BBC, ABC News, Wikipedia

Image Via cooling [Flickr]

I know people always claim that urban legends are true and often claim that they know someone that was really involved with the story, but do any of you know any true urban legends that you can actually prove? Try to leave links to the news stories or other sources that prove your tale if you really want any of us to believe you.

No, I don’t want to wear a pumpkin on my head. No. Never. What? What’s that? You’ll let me eat chicken if I wear it? Hmm… What? You’ll hand feed it to me? As much as I want? Gimme that pumpkin hat!

This cat is named Jumbo Pillow. Isn’t that perfect? The food is boiled chicken dipped in pumpkin. (via Cynical-C)

Admit it, you’ve experienced this scenario yourself at one time or another, haven’t you? From the webcomic Loading Artist by Gregor Czaykowski. Link -via The Daily What

(YouTube Link)

This house better stock up on Halloween candy, because they’re guaranteed to have a flood of trick or treaters this year! The brilliant light show changes with the music, and animated pumpkin faces sing along. I wonder what these people are going to do to their house for Christmas?

–via Ology

]]> http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/25/the-house-with-a-halloween-light-show/feed/ 7 http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/25/pumpkins-inspired-by-classic-books-writers/ http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/25/pumpkins-inspired-by-classic-books-writers/#comments Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:06:17 +0000 Jill Harness http://www.neatorama.com/2011/10/25/pumpkins-inspired-by-classic-books-writers/

We’ve featured a bunch of pumpkin carvings for Halloween so far, but Flavorwire’s literary collection definitely has some of the most highbrow jack-o-lantern designs we’ve seen so far.

Link

If you’re going to let someone make the world’s largest pumpkin carving, you might as well make sure he’s an amazing artist. That’s why it’s so great that Artist Ray Villafane was given the honor of carving the record breaking pumpkin this year. Enjoy more pics at the link.

Link Via The Daily What

Feast your eyes on these creative jack-o-lanterns designed to display your favorite video games! Ranker listed 35 of them -not 35 jack-o-lanterns; there are way more than that, but 35 video games that have been carved on pumpkins. From Oregon Trail to Halo, from Tetris to Doom, you’ll see them all, and get some great ideas for your own jack-o-lantern! Link -Thanks, Brian!

Halloween is a time for silly costumes, and some use it as an excuse to drag out every racial and cultural stereotype they can think of for a silly costume. That’s not cool. Students Teaching Against Racism (STARS) is an organization at Ohio University that put out a series of posters to “educate and create dialog” and to ask people to think before they select an insensitive Halloween costume. See the rest of the posters at Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Link -via I Am Bored

If a girl wants to dress like a boy this Halloween, that seems like a good lesson in busting gender stereotypes learned. But what if your boy wants to dress up as a princess?

That's the dilemma facing one family in Glendora, California, this Halloween:

"My first reaction was 'He wants to be a princess? We're there!' " said mama Anna. But almost everybody she talked with about Luc's intention told her, "Whoa; that's a bad, bad, bad idea."

For a girl who grew up wanting to dress like a boy, Luc's choice felt like a blow against stereotyping. "But I'm trying to leave my inner activist at home," she said, "and just do what's best for my son.

"It's one thing to say 'Son, you can be anything you want. Our society needs to be less uptight.' "

It's another thing entirely to consider how a boy in a princess dress will be treated when all the other boys are trick-or-treating in Superman or Power Rangers costumes.

"I want to encourage him to stand up and be himself," she said. "But my 4-year-old is too little and too fragile to know where the social boundaries are. And I don't want his feelings hurt on what should be one of his happiest nights."

Oh, did I mention that the parents are two gay moms?

Anna and Louisa remember the sea of "Yes on 8" signs that sprouted around them in 2008, when the measure banning gay marriage was on the ballot. Gay marriage was rejected that year by voters, just months after the couple officially wed on June 17, the first day gay marriage was legal in California.

Now, Anna envisions those folks snubbing her trick-or-treating princess-boy.

"I imagine that when those Glendorans shut their doors, they're going to say 'See, that's why lesbians shouldn't raise children.' "

I’ve never bothered carving mini pumpkins because the process seems so unrewarding compared to carving a regular pumpkin. That being said, I might just change my mind after seeing these adorable string lights created by Evil Mad Scientist Labs.

Link Via CraftZine

These specimens in jars look pretty nasty, and the labels make them seem even worse. But believe it or not, they are all not only edible, but tasty! They contain unfamiliar fruits, or foods cut into odd shapes. Your Halloween guests will be delighted, if they can get over the willies and try them out. Get the recipes at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Link -via Buzzfeed

If you absolutely adore Disney’s Haunted Mansion, then why not incorporate your own version of the ride’s classic Grim Grinning Ghosts for your Halloween decor this year? Instructables has all the directions you need to get your ghosts socializing.

Link Via Laughing Squid

If you’ve managed to put together a great steampunk version of a pop culture costume, but just can’t seem to find the right helmet, Etsy user Kyobb just might have what you’re looking for. Of course, even if they don’t work for your costume, they are simply stunning to look at and would make great home decor.

Link Via Geeks Are Sexy

Don’t make any sudden movements around this jack-o-lantern -unless you happen to have a sonic screwdriver on hand that is. Have any of you ever made pumpkins dedicated to your favorite geeky tv show?

Link

A few weeks ago, we started noticing that a lot of people were planning to dress up as redbox kiosks for Halloween. Some of the costumes are simple, and some are elaborate, but they are all amazing. So we decided to help out. No gimmicks, no strings, no costs. Just simple fun.

Broseph featured above hand-drew his letters, but if you too would like to be a certain fiery-hued DVD rental box for Halloween, head over to DressLikeRedbox and get some downloadable costume assistance, including printable stickers and templates. Link

Thanks, Michael!

Image: Nashville Metromix

Japan’s Suicide Forrest

At first glance, the Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji is an ideal nature destination, filled with stunning trees growing on hard volcanic rock, and icy, rocky caverns. But the forest has a much darker side, one that was popularized with the 1960 novel Nami no T?, where the main characters end up committing suicide in the area. While Aokigahara was always a destination for the forlorn to end their lives, Nami no T? made the idea much more popular and since the book was released, an average of 30 people kill themselves in the area every year, with a record-setting body count of 108 deaths in 2004.

The government has put out a number of signs in both Japanese and English urging people to reconsider their decision and seek psychiatric help. Once a year, a group of volunteers patrols the forest looking for bodies. These body hunters mark off the areas they are exploring with plastic tape that is never removed. Thus, even if you never see a dead body or ghost roaming the forest, you are still bound to see signs of the forest’s secrets wherever you happen to go.

Image Via Al Kaiser [Flickr]

Mexico’s Island of the Dolls

Unless you already have a doll phobia, the idea of an island filled with dolls doesn’t sound all that creepy at first. It’s once you learn that the dolls are mutilated and left hung in trees while they rot away, all in honor of a drowned little girl that you start to realize just how creepy this macabre tourist destination really is.

It all started over fifty years ago, when the island’s only resident, Don Julian Santana found the body of a dead little girl in the canal where the island sits. He was haunted by her memory and soon started hanging dolls in the trees to appease the girl’s spirits and to ward off evil spirits from entering the island. Doll heads, arms, legs, etc. are sprawled out across the island in a strange sacrifice to prevent further evil. Strangely though, in 2001, Don Julian suffered the same fate as the little girl, drowning in the canal beside his home. Some people believe this was the work of the dolls who have since become inhabited by evil spirits. These days, the dolls remain the sole occupants of one of Mexico’s darkest tourist attractions.

Image Via SkilliShots [Flickr]

Italy’s Catacomb of Mummies

The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo started when the local monastery outgrew its original cemetery, so the monks decided to mummify one of their recently deceased brothers before placing him in their newly opened catacombs. The process seemed to work well, so the monks began mummifying all of their fallen comrades and placing them in the catacombs. After a few centuries, word spread about the monk’s unique burial methods and it soon began to be a status symbol for rich people to be entombed in the catacombs buried in their finest clothing. Some people even left wills requesting that their clothing be changed by their family members at regular intervals.

The last friar was buried in the catacombs in 1871, but famous people from the area continued to be interred up until the 1920s. There are now about 8000 mummies lining the walls of the many hallways, which have been organized into categories: men, women, virgins, children, priests, monks and professionals. Some of the bodies are even set in poses, including the bodies of two children who sit together in a rocking chair.

Austria’s Skull Ossuary

Halstatt is one of the oldest cities in Europe, but it’s not the town’s long history span that brings most tourists to the area. Instead, it is the small town’s massive ossuary that is filled with the painted skulls of more than 650 deceased residents of the town. The ossuary was built back in the twelfth century when the town became so large that the cemetery could no longer provide a final resting place for the residents. As a solution, graves began being rented for a span of 10-15 years, at which time, the bodies would be removed, the bones bleached in the sun and then left to rest in the ossuary.

While there are plenty of ossuaries in Europe, it’s the fact that the skulls in Halstatt are painted that make this one so special. The practice began in 1790, when members of the deceaseds’ families began adorning skulls with paintings of flowers, their names and the victim’s date of birth and death. Since their family members weren’t going to have a tombstone, it was their way of marking the “grave” of their loved ones.

These days, Halstatt is small enough that residents are no longer removed from their graves, but most people prefer cremation anyway. Anyone who wishes to be interred into the ossuary just needs to make the request before they die. The most recent addition to the collection was in 1997. Nowadays, most visitors to the ossuary are morbid tourists, not residents paying respects to their ancestors.

Image Via ambivalence [Flickr]

Portugal’s Chapel of Bones

Most of us like to relish life and ignore death as much as possible, but for the devoutly religious, the greatest rewards often come long after life has passed. That’s precisely what led a 16^th century Franciscan monk to build the Capela dos Ossos (meaning “Chapel of Bones” in English) for his fellow monks. The concept that life is transitory was reflected both in the macabre décor and in the warning sign above the chapel’s entrance, which read, “We bones, lying here, for yours we wait.”

Of course, the ominous sign is still far less creepy than the interior, which is adorned with skeletal remains of around 5,000 monks held in place with cement. The bodies were removed from several dozen nearby cemeteries and, of course, the bodies of the monks who died while the chapel was being completed. As if the bone-covered walls weren’t enough, there are two bodies dangling from chains coming from the ceiling –one of which belonged to a young child. Near these bodies, along the ceiling, are written the words “Better is the day of death than the day of birth.”

Image Via Chrisiano Maia [Flickr]

Rome’s Bone-Riddled Chapels

Rome has a lot of tourist attractions, but located below the lesser-known church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini sits a tourist attraction that Frommer’s describes as “one of the most horrifying images in all of Christendom.” That’s because in the chapels below the church’s main floor, are the bones of more than 4,000 Capuchin friars. Like Capela dos Ossos, the intention here isn’t to be morbid, but to remind visitors of the swift passage of life.

Construction of the chapels began in 1631, when the monks brought 300 cartloads of deceased friars to be buried in the crypt, which contained soil imported directly from Jerusalem. As monks died while the crypt was open, the body that had been in the crypt the longest would then be exhumed and his bones would be used to adorn the chapels. There are six rooms in the underground area, including the main chapel, which does not hold any skeletal remains. Three of other rooms are decorated only by certain body parts, skulls, pelvises and torsos, and legs. The other two rooms are the most interesting.

The Crypt of the Resurrection features a large picture of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, framed by different skeleton parts. In the Crypt of the Three Skeletons, the center skeleton is enclosed in an oval to represent life coming to birth. This center skeleton also holds a scythe and scales symbolizing death and the judgment of the human soul. Beside this fixture sits a sign with translations into five languages that reads, “What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be.”

Image Via Thomas van Ardenne [Flickr]

The Czech Republic’s Chapel of Bones

While most of the places on this list are minor tourist attractions in their region, the Sedlec Ossuary is one of the most popular travel destinations in all of the Czech Republic, attracting over 200,000 annually. Of course, that wasn’t the intention of its creators and designers. Like many ossuaries, the building was created after the city’s cemetery became incredibly over crowded.  In the year 1400, the church was constructed in the center of the cemetery with a massive lower chapel designed to be used as an ossuary. It was soon filled to the brim with the bones of around 55,000 people.

In 1870, a local aristocratic family, the Schwarzenbergs, hired woodcarver Frantisek Rint to put the bone heaps in some kind of order. Rint went further than just sorting things out, he turned the bones into works of art. He built massive bell-shaped mounds in the corners of the chapel and an enormous chandelier featuring every bone in the body. Garlands of skulls drape the vault and even the artist’s signature and the Schwarzenberg family coat of arms are recreated in bones inside the chapel.

Image Via kostnice03 [Wikipedia]

Paris’ Catacombs

This is actually the only place on this list that I myself have visited and I must say, it was well worth the visit. The Catacombs of Paris were created after the city suffered from massive cemetery overcrowding for centuries. It was so bad that all but the rich were buried in mass grave sites. Unfortunately, because the city relied on well water, the rotting corpses started to contaminate the area’s drinking supply. Finally in the 18^th century, the city decided to close down all cemeteries within the city limits and to move the bodies from the existing graves into a new ossuary located in the city’s massive underground stone quarries that had long since been abandoned. The exhumations started in 1786 and the whole process took over two years to complete –it takes a long time to transfer 6 million skeletons. In 1810, the Inspector General of Quarries Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury oversaw the renovations in the ossuary that would transform the piles of bones into a true mausoleum. He was responsible for arranging the bones into their iconic patterns and incorporating the handful of scavenged tombstones he could find into the overall design.

The deep underground ossuary ended up attracting visitors by the early 18^th century and by 1867, the area was opened to the public for tours. It has remained a popular tourist attraction ever since.

Image Via Vlastula [Wikipedia]

Pennsylvania’s Constantly Burning Ghost Town

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If you’ve ever played Silent Hill, then you know just how terrifying Centralia, Pennsylvania can be. While it might not be filled with dead bodies or dolls like the other places on this list, the ghost town is creepy enough to have inspired the location for one of the most terrifying video games ever created. Up until 1962, the town was just like every other small American town. But when a fire broke out in the abandoned coal mine below the town, residents started suffering adverse health effects from the resulting carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions. Despite multiple attempts to put out the fire, it continued to burn. Experts now believe it may continue to burn for another 250 years. Things didn’t get really bad until the sinkholes started to burst open in the early eighties, revealing burning infernos below the surface.

In 1984, congress offered residents buyout offers to allow them to move to away from the dangerous towns, but many insisted on staying. In 1992, the state claimed eminent domain on the city and condemned all the buildings inside the area. Despite the city’s decrees, at least ten people continue to live in the five buildings left in the evacuation zone.

Unlike the town of Silent Hill, these days, practically all the buildings have collapsed and the city looks more like a field filled with too many paved streets. The four cemeteries in the town continue to be well maintained though, despite the fact that one of them continues to have smoke rising around it at all times.

Have any of you ever visited any of these places? Are they worth a visit? Also, do you have any other creepy destinations to add to the list?

Anton Semenov is an artist at an advertising agency by day, but at night, his digital paintings take a turn for the dark and become much more interesting. While most people probably wouldn’t feel comfortable having his art plastered up in their bedrooms, it certainly demonstrates a lot of talent and is great to look at around Halloween.

Link Via Ratamatata

If you wear a costume that illustrates an internet meme, you might find yourself explaining it over and over, but when someone “in the know” sees you and gives a thumbs up, it’s all worth it! Still, this Old Spice Guy shown here will probably be recognized by everyone. Our own Jill Harness put together a list of the hottest meme Halloween costumes for this year in a list at Oddee. Link

BuzzFeed has a collection of 5 Star Wars pumpkins, but most of them are just death star pumpkins, which have been done over and over. On the other hand, this pumpkin Yoda is definitely worth a closer look. The artist, Joseph Y., even offers some advice on how he was made:

“Three pumpkins were used. One for the head, one for the body and one for the ears and hands. Attached parts with barbecue skewers and floral pins. Added plastic eyes and some old burlap for the robe. I used clay-sculpting tools and an X-Acto blade.”

Would you ever try your hand at something like this? Personally, I’m lucky if I can carve a scary face on my Jack-o-lanterns.

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Is it bad to be born on Halloween? After all, the holiday - which has been traced to have Pagan roots - is all about death and horror.

So what's a pregnant woman who's due to give birth on October 31st to do? She defies biology, that's what! Here's what Yale researchers found by analyzing the birth statistics in the past 11 years:

All types of births — natural, C-section, induced — decreased significantly on All Hallows’ Eve. Overall, a whopping 11.3% decrease in births was seen on this day across the years. That’s a pretty clear indicator that women don’t want their babies associated with hauntings and horror.

Okay, so the numbers are definitive. But how could women exert control over when they give birth?! The short answer is that no one has any idea. The closest that these authors come to suggesting a psychophysiological mechanism is to say that wanting to give birth on Valentine’s Day and resisting giving birth on Halloween could, for a short time, alter the hormonal mechanisms responsible for determining birth timing.

Link - via This isn't happiness

Last week, I told you about 10 Things You Can Do With Your Ashes, but if you want to read about some really creepy postmortem activities, be sure to check out Mental Floss’ great article about 10 Things Your Body Can Do After You Die, including getting married and standing trial.

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On Halloween, we get the chance to involve our sweet little children in our geekiest cosplay fantasies. Or we can just enjoy other people’s children, dressed in the geekiest trick-or-treat costumes ever! See dozens of the most adorable geek baby Halloween costumes at NeatoBambino. This child may not have even been born when the movie Nacho Libre came out, but he’s carrying on the tradition! Link

Don’t have a lot of money but still want to have a fearsome Halloween costume? If you have the art skills you can always try making your own skull face painting like this one by Redditor Fakeproject.

Link Via BoingBoing