Hello All,

Okay with Halloween around the corner it's time for another contest - A Halloween contest giveaway. So here are the rules:

1. Open to all Yo Joe Members - One entry per member.

2. To enter you need to post an interesting Halloween Story.

3. The story should be a true story that happened to you either around Halloween or at another time of the year but is related to Halloween (i.e. spooky, strange, bizarre) basically a story you could tell at a Halloween Party.

4. The story can be second hand - but it has to again be true and be second hand from a person you actually know. For example "this happened to my brother..."

5. I am not going to be checking on the truthfulness of your story - the honor system applies - but you know that true stories are always the best.

6. The contest will end at Midnight (MST) on Saturday, October 31, 2009. I will select a first and second place winner at random. In addition, I will also select what I consider to be the best story for a special prize. So let's have some fun and tell some great stories.

Okay so my stories.

The first took place in November or December 1979 - I was 8 years old at the time and my parents were in the market for a new house. My mom took me to a nice house in the upper scale section of town and while we were looking through the house noticed some rooms had cold spots (very cold spots). I mean it was literally freezing in some rooms. But warm in other parts of the house.

When my mother looked in one of the closets she noticed the wall looked like it had been replaced as it was different from the other closets. We later learned the wall in that closet concealed an extra room (allegedly painted bright red).

As we were walking through the house we kept getting the creeps (goosebumps etc). And when we walked into the dining room the chandelier started to rock back and forth by itself and was rocking faster and faster. We got out of that house quick. My mom later learned that the house had been owned by a clergyman who committed suicide.

My other story happened in 1984 (13 years old) was living with my mom when she got a roommate (very weird and disturbed lady she turned out to be). During this time there was a lot of turmoil in the house. One day a giant moth attached itself to our house. It had to be at least one foot long. It was big. My mom ended up sprinkling holy water on this moth and (I'm not kidding) when she did it the moth started bleeding and flew away leaving only a big blood stain.

Another night (same time period) this roommate of ours was speaking in strange voices, cursing, looking very dark and demented, and was hitting and kicking and was totally out-of-control and (I swear the truth on this one) while she was doing all this I saw the refrigerator move by itself about 5 feet. Freaked out my mom, me, our other roommate. Needless to say my mom threw her out after that incident.

I dunno how creepy this is but it's a eerie coincidence sort of thing.

To sorta set up the story, when I was younger I hung out with this eclectic group of friends/associates. Some of which were into the occult type stuff. We'd generally meet at the Waffle House (which is spooky in and of itself I reckon).

When my dad died in August of 2000, I went a bit nuts I guess, and kinda stopped sleeping, and I'd pretty much take any shift at work just to keep busy/occupied. In march 2001, the friends I mentioned earlier were hanging out and one of the girls brought out her tarot cards. We just had her do a random "for fun" reading and she came up with something pretty bad/death was coming to one of the group in the next week or fairly soon. We thought at the time that it was one of our friends who had been unseen for a week or 2. Anway, about a week later on march 14th, I was hanging out with the guy we thought the terrible thing would happen to. It was also during one of my real bad hadn't slept for about a week periods. That night after work about 1 am, I fell asleep behind the wheel and ran off the road and slammed into a electrical pole. I was trapped in the car because the dashboard had crammed my knee into the seat. Apparently I had cut the pole down with my car. I spent like a month in the hospital and lots of months getting back on my feet with physical therapy and such.

That was sort of a reboot of my life though. It's like it kinda had to happen in order for me to get beyond some things that were kinda holding me back in my life. Still I got a ways to go with that though.... :P

I do think something supernatural (be it my dad/God/random spirit or what have you) was reaching out to me at that point in my life though and trying to warn me.


I think that's about it for that story, I remember some creepier type things early on in my life though. But I keep thinking back about how I shoulda sorta listened to those cards a bit more. It just had a huge impact on my life. I catch myself starting a lot of sentences like, back before my wreck... kind of things :P

Thanks for the chance :)

Thanks for your story Deadman. Sorry to hear about your dad - my dad died in November 2000 and the morning he died my brother told me that he had woken up at 4:25am having trouble breathing. My dad died at about 4:25am that morning. Definitely a lot of things we can't explain.

Just for clarification, anybody's story doesn't have to be spooky or creepy - just related to Halloween and of course tasteful. So if your story is sad or funny that's okay too.

This story comes from a something my grandmother used to tell me when I was a little kid. My howetown used to have one of the largest lumber mills in the world in the late 1800's to early 1900's. They would float the logs down the river to the saw mill every spring. According to my grandmother one of the workers in the mill had a slight mishap. He was decapitated when he stumbled and fell upon a saw. After this accident strange things started happening on the road he used to take to work. My grandmother happened to live on this road when she was a child. Some mornings around 4 they could see what appeared to be a latern coming down the road, as if someone was making thier way through the dark. As it got near the end of the road it would slowly fade out. One morning was a little different. The glow came down the road and dissappeared as usual, but then my grandmother could hear footsteps creak up the front porch stairs. She watched as a man with no head walked up the steps and sat down on the porch. He idled there for bit right in front of the front door, before getting up and walking back down to the road and faded away. She said after that, the light was rarely seen.

I don't know how much truth there is to this, but it interested me when I was younger.

Another story if you want to do a bit of research, is called the Greenbrier Ghost. It is the only documented case of a ghosts testimony being allowed in court to convict someone of murder. This also come from my hometown.

No spooky stories here. Mom took me to the military surplus store and I got a Korean War era gas mask and the jacket of some tall lance corporal. I've also been a Ghostbuster, Snoopy, a Ranchero and a few others. I remember in 4th grade we went out trick or treating and one guy just wore a ski mask. "Dude. That is so weak."

Costumes get better and better. I've shared the observation (since age = single digits) with Lisa Simpson that costumes just don't look right if they consist of mask and large smock with a picture of your character and name. What the heck is that?! Of course today I'm not so judgmental, but do openly note that costumes are much cooler. You should see the tots running around in airbrushed looking Bumblebee duds. Our parents would walk us around well past dark in order to max out our hauls. Now everyone shows up during daylight and I have to hurry home from work to put on my Freddy suit.

We used to have Halloween parades in K-5: the whole school would form up in a huge line and walk around the whole place for the parents. That was quite a spectacle. Kids would bring in Dum-Dums wrapped to look like ghosts and of course candy corn Rice Krispie treats.

I was also a "fartbuster," one year - the product of my own warped mind. Friends've had their candy stolen, I've eaten too much and been sick, and as we got a bit older we discovered the nasty "trick" side of trick or treat, not particularly proud of that stuff.

Today, I like that it's become an adult-oriented holiday.

Elvira is hot.

Now, get off my lawn!

I dunno how creepy this is but it's a eerie coincidence sort of thing.

We thought at the time that it was one of our friends who had been unseen for a week or 2. Anway, about a week later on march 14th, I was hanging out with the guy we thought the terrible thing would happen to. It was also during one of my real bad hadn't slept for about a week periods. That night after work about 1 am, I fell asleep behind the wheel...

My birthday! :eek:

Here is my story. It is not so spooky but it does involve a ghost.

On June 26th, 2004 was the day my wife and I tied the not. That morning someone suggested asked if I got my bride-to-be flowers that morning. Not knowing that was proper etiquette my groomsman and I drove around to find a flower shop that was still open on a Saturday in the small Ohio town we go married in. We were lucky enough to find a place that was just getting ready to close and the woman hooked me up with a nice bouquet.

On the way back we almost ran into my wife coming back from getting her hair done. I quickly ducked so she wouldn't see me. We pulled around the side of the hotel and when I got out and headed into the building I stopped to look at a butterfly. I really close up and the butterfly didn't seem to be frightened. I stuck my finger out and it climbed on. I thought that it would be really romantic if she got the flowers and the butterfly was on them. Sure enough it stayed and my groomsman delivered them to her room.

My grandfather died September 4th, 2001. My brother had left for Navy boot camp 2 days earlier and couldn't be at the funeral, then that whole 9/11 thing happened. Let’s just say that wasn't a great week. My grandpa liked my wife quite a bit. He thought she was the sweetest thing until she beat him in a game of Cribbage. Needless to say he couldn't make it being dead and all. My family had all traveled 500 mile to Ohio from Upper Michigan. The wedding and reception went great and everyone had a great time, including my grandma who rarely traveled that far.

When we got back to the honeymoon suite, the butterfly was still on the flowers in our room. I don't remember who came up with the idea that it was him but when we told people about it, we started to think it was my grandpa and he was with us at the wedding. That next morning we told my grandma the story and she tearfully smiled. We gave her the flowers to take with her and the butterfly was still on them. The butterfly never left her side for the long car trip. About 60 miles from home my aunt and uncle that were driving stopped at a religious retreat center that they often visited. That is where my grandmother got a second chance to say goodbye and let him go.

RIP Grandpa Butterfly

30 minutes left for contest. Any last minute stories?

Contest closed. Thanks for your great stories. Winners to be announced. Happy Halloween!

Okay so now the winners:

First Place Winner is cageyJG

Second Place Winners are everyone else (I'm too lazy to select one).

Special Prize Winner is Mighty Puundragon. Very touching story in the spirit of the season. I'll be sending some Vintage Star Wars your way.

cageyJG as first place winner you have your choice of the following:

1. MOC 25th Anniversary Crimson Guard or Cobra Viper (your choice).

2. MOC Indiana Jones Colonel Vogel

3. MIB Elite Command Julius Caesar Roman Legion Diecast Soldier Set

4. MIP Titanium Series Diecast Battlestar Pegasus

or

5. Gettysburg (1993) & Gods and Generals (2003) on DVD Widescreen Versions

Let the PM's begin. Thanks for playing everyone and I hope you all had a great Halloween.

This is so awesome, thank you!

As a p.s., I would like to say that to the only kid who came to my door yesterday dressed as a Joe, I filled his entire bag with candy. I'm like, "Little brah, you have the best costume, you have to come up here and get more." He said, "Mom I hit the jackpot." And now you know...! ;)

Half the battle, etc.

Special Prize Winner is Mighty Puundragon. Very touching story in the spirit of the season. I'll be sending some Vintage Star Wars your way.

That is great, I guess I will PM you my address. We were really amazed that the butterfly did that.

Thanks for the fun contest.

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Uh Huh...Okay... thanks for all the cheap stuff.

Anyways to the winners your packages are on the way - including the Battlestar Pegasus for cageyJG (your pick for first prize). Sorry for the delay guys but at least you'll have your stuff for Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thank you for the contest and the prize!
Dawn of the Dead, great movie and a great remake! :)

Thanks again and happy hollidays :D

Thank you for the contest and the prize!
Dawn of the Dead, great movie and a great remake! :)

Thanks again and happy hollidays :D

You're welcome. I figured you would enjoy a good zombie flick. They make great stocking stuffers. Now just waiting for Zombieland on DVD. Happy Holidays to you too.

The fact I won something alone is cool. Love the Pegasus - very cool item - can't decide whether to open or leave MOC :( The timeless debate continues.

Thanks, and let's get down to some more giveaways! (I guess Secret Santa is next!)

Got my stuff this weekend too. The vintage SW figs were great. I really needed the Klaatu fig to replace a crappy old one. Thanks for the contest.