To celebrate this ancient holiday, I'm be giving away PDFs of my two Halloween-themed stories this week: One Soul for Sale and Reflections. I'll also give away a PDF of my fantasy, The Duende and the Muse, and finally next Monday, a PDF of Seventh Heaven. Here are some of the spookier superstitions and beliefs about death:
According to an old saying, if a candle's flame goes out on Halloween, then a ghost is visiting you.
If you see a spider on Halloween, it could be the spirit of a dead loved one looking out for you.
Ancients believed ghosts could be weighed down, so used tombstones to keep them in place.
Because some believed spirits could only travel in a straight line, mazes found at the entrance to many ancient tombs may have been intended to keep the spirit of the dead from returning to the world.
Some people believed that a person's soul remained for 24 hours after death. Members of the family, or friends of the deceased, often sat with the body of their loved one to prevent the devil from stealing the soul.
If a dead person’s eyes are left open, he’ll find someone to take with him.
If you touch a loved one who has died, you won’t dream about them.
If you look at your shadow in the moonlight on All Hallows Eve, death will find you.
Thunder following a funeral means that the dead person's soul has reached heaven.
If you see an owl diving on Halloween night, it's coming to take your soul away.
Comment today or tomorrow for a chance to win a PDF of my novella, One Soul for Sale, one of Eternal Press' Top 10 Bestsellers! I'll announce a winner tomorrow night in the comments section.
