Highbury Cemetery, 2025

Year twenty two is now complete and another successful season for the Highbury Cemetery yard haunt is in the books! For another year, the weather cooperated throughout the weekend of trick-or-treat (although heavy rains and wind struck on either side of it), allowing me time to set up, adjust, and perfect. Trick-or-treat itself, while down again in total attendance a bit from last year (something I have noticed the past two years??), went off without a major hitch with perfect plumes of thick fog rolling across vibrant colors and shadows of a cool evening. 

And with the heavy rains and wind that came after our Sunday trick-or-treat, I was able to tear down most of the cemetery display, and then put up a different, mini display for Halloween night. A new twist to Highbury Cemetery lore, and something I may look into doing from here on out!

So without further ado, I'll get to the good stuff... 

Ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present Highbury Cemetery, 2025. Enjoy!

When all was said and done, we ended up having 183 trick-or-treaters, parents, neighbors, and curious onlookers through the gates of Highbury Cemetery this year. A little bit lower than last year's total, but I'll still take it.

And before I end it, I can't go without giving a special thanks to everyone who helped put on the show this year. I couldn't do it without your help and your presence in just making the whole night a ton of fun. Special Highbury Cemetery thank you t-shirts go out to: Mrs. Highbury, Christian Highbury, Sharon, Karen, Laurie, and Nancy. And an extra high five to the neighbor who came up and showed me his photo of him and me from last Halloween - and wanting to take another photo this year - with his new baby boy! Congrats and thanks for bringing the next generation of Halloween fan by the haunt.

--- XXX ---

So there you have it. Halloween, 2025 is done and dusted and the Cemetery is closed for another year. Twenty two years of home haunting and still going strong. And even though our numbers were down a bit again this year, it only reinforces the importance of what we as haunters are doing - keeping the traditions of Halloween alive and passing them on to the next generation to keep it all going.

Only 362 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

  

Grimquiet's Vintage Trick Or Treater Figures

Okay, one more post before the big party because this is just too good not to share! As I look at my watch, it's currently 3:00 pm EST and there are just 2 short hours before these absolutely incredible figures go live.

Eric has REALLY done an exceptional job on these handmade vintage trick or treater figures. He perfectly nails the disfigured creepiness of each sculpt, and then completes each with a drab, tattered costume and twisted pumpkin pail. So much unsettling folk art moodiness and simplicity in each piece...

The Witch

The Ghost

The Skeleton

The Clown

These pieces go on sale at 5:00 pm EST TODAY over at the Grimquiet Bigcartel page. Get there quick, because these WILL sell out!

Good luck (but please save a Skeleton figure for me)!

  

Throwback Thursday: Halloween 1974-1975

I've always enjoyed seeing "Throwback Thursday" photos, as I'm a huge sucker for nostalgia. Especially when the throwbacks involve Halloweens past. It always evokes the wonderful memories from my own childhood, tearing through the porch-lit neighborhood with my fellow Ben Cooper-clad candy gang.

Many years ago, my mom showed up with a collection of Halloween photos from my past and as I went through the wonderful old stack, I immediately knew that they had to be shared.

It's been a long time since I originally posted them, so I wanted to revisit them again because they really are too heartwarming and hilarious not to share. Come back every Thursday in October for the continuing journey of Highbury's Halloweens Past.


Halloween, 1974
Yes, I really am that old. 1974 was the first year I celebrated Halloween. I was 16 months old at the time, and apparently ready to go out and cast evil spells across the neighborhood...

My cute blue bunny pajamas menacingly covered with a strange black-and-orange hooded druid witch cloak. Where did my parents find such a thing!? And yes, I think those are bunnies (or are they horned demons of some sort?) on broomsticks in the cloak's pattern. The only thing groovier than that cloak was our brown shag carpet. 


Halloween, 1975
So for my second year of trick-or-treating, my parents didn't go far for my costume. They simply conjured up the previous year's druid witch cloak. Only this time they added a complimentary dress, also complete with a pattern of witches, black cats and bats. What on earth!? It must have been cold this year, as a winter jacket and knit hat were added to complete the ensemble. And check out those vintage Buster Browns!!

Regardless, the cold obviously didn't deter the newly-discovered candy fiend in me, as I proudly posed with my post-trick-or-treat booty haul. That smile says it all. And even though some neighborhood miser gave out an apple, I was hooked!

Stop back next Thursday to see what insane costumes I was forced to wear for the 1976 and 1977 Halloween seasons. Another couple of photos you WON'T want to miss!!


 

Walpurgisnacht

We are half way to Halloween, group! And tonight (April 30th) also marks the European festival of Walpurgisnacht.

From Wikipedia:
Walpurgis Night is the English translation of Walpurgisnacht, one of the German names for the night of 30 April, so called because it is the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Germany. In German folklore Walpurgisnacht, also called Hexennacht (literally "Witches' Night"), is believed to be the night of a witches' meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, a range of wooded hills in central Germany between the rivers Weser and Elbe. The first known written occurrence of the English translation 'Walpurgis Night' is from the 19th century. Local variants of Walpurgis Night are observed across Europe in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Estonia.

Walpurgis Night (in German folklore) "the night of 30 April (May Day's eve), when witches meet on the Brocken mountain and hold revels with their gods..."

The current festival is, in most countries that celebrate it, named after the English missionary Saint Walpurga (ca. 710–777/9). As Walpurga's feast was held on 1 May (ca. 870), she became associated with May Day, especially in the Finnish and Swedish calendars. The eve of May Day, traditionally celebrated with dancing, came to be known as Walpurgisnacht ("Walpurga's night"). The name of the holiday is Walpurgisnacht or Hexennacht ("Witches' Night") in German, Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish, "Vappen" in Finland Swedish, Vappu in Finnish, Volbriöö, (Walpurgi night) in Estonian, Valpurgijos naktis in Lithuanian, Valpurģu nakts or Valpurģi in Latvian, čarodějnice and Valpuržina noc in Czech. 

And thanks to Damian Michael for the reminder!

 

Cedar Grove Cemetery - Peninsula, Ohio

Today's Cemetery Sundays installment has us traveling to the historic town of Peninsula, Ohio and it's local cemetery, Cedar Grove. We get an extra Halloween treat because this one has its own ghost story...

Upon entering the main gate, all of the older tombstones are front and center. Many of these old, decaying stones date from the early to mid-1800s.

Among all of these old stones lies one slightly different than the rest. If you don't know the legend, you'd probably walk right past it...

No epitaph outside of the name "McGovrn." No date of birth, no date of death, no first name...

...on the sides, only a few odd symbols of triangles and crosses...

 ...and on the top, a slightly charred, blacked fragment that has been reattached. And what could have caused this?

 

 

Lightning. Or rather, multiple instances of lightning. Because according to local legend, this nondescript "McGovrn" tombstone marks the grave of a witch. And since her burial here, lightning has struck the top of her tombstone with great frequency. So much so, that the discolored tombstone has started to melt. 

As a younger boy, I had heard a tale that if the tombstone was destroyed during another lightning strike, the witch would be able to rise from her grave. Maybe this is why the groundskeepers go to such great lengths to keep the stone complete. But be vigilant, there are always dark storm clouds gathering from the west...