Thursday, October 22, 2009

Reflections of Halloween

According to legend, All Hallow's Eve is the one night of the year when the barrier between two worlds of the living and the dead dissolves, allowing visitors from The Other Side. I wove that notion into my Halloween-themed short, Reflections, released this month from Shadowfire Press.

For a chance to win a PDF of Reflections, comment today or tomorrow. I'll announce a winner tomorrow night in the comments section.

But first, more spooky Halloween lore:

One myth holds that the image in a mirror is our actual soul. If the mirror breaks, the soul could stray from the body. To prevent it, some would pick up the broken pieces and bury them outside in the moonlight after first waiting seven hours.

Girls who carry a lamp to a spring of water on this night can see their future husbands in the reflection.

Staring into a mirror at midnight on Halloween will show someone his or her future spouse.

Gazing into a flame of a candle on Halloween night will enable a person to peer into the future.

By placing fresh rosemary and a silver coin under her pillow on Halloween, a girl could glimpse her future husband in a dream.

A person born on Halloween can see and talk to spirits.

If you hear footsteps trailing close behind you on Halloween night, do not to turn around to see who it is, for it may be Death himself. To look Death in the eye, according to ancient folklore, is a sure way to join the ranks of the dead.

To cast a headless shadow or no shadow at all is still believed by many folks in the United States and Europe to be an omen of death within the next year.

If you'd like to meet a witch, wear your clothes inside out and walk backward on Halloween night.

According to an old British Halloween superstition, Satan was a nut-gatherer, so on Halloween night, people used nuts as magic charms.

For more thrills and chills, check out the Reflections trailer: