Jack-O-Lantern Homes

Jealous ghosts walk the halls here

It’s not Halloween without some Extreme Pumpkin Carving

Haunted Homes: The Myrtles Plantation

Apparitions everywhere!

Dracula’s Castle

The Haunted Mansion Sugar Cookie House – too cool to eat

Offbeat Pumpkin Architecture

Pumpkin Architecture Take Two

Get some killer spooky glowing lights for your haunted house

Of course, the good old The Winchester Mystery House

Have some scary fun with these links.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Get ready for a spooky & offbeat Halloween

I love this. Keim took cookie homes to a whole new level here. He used Lightwave to create a 3D model, made templates, and has the whole process available to see at his website Haunted Dimensions.  This structure is nothing short of amazing — I think kids especially would love it.

Can you believe the detail. So cool.

If you visit Haunted Dimensions you can see the whole house going up, more photos of the finished project and do much more nifty stuff like download the templates for your own house, see other mansion projects (think paper 3D), and more. The site is tons of spooky creative fun. You can also send in your own photos if you give this edible home building a try. Many people have sent Keim their versions but my favorite is the wedding cake with a tiny (and dead) bride and groom. Very Nightmare Before Christmas style.

This is my recommendation for your must visit Halloween season site this year — edible architecture. What could be better?

Would you try this? I think it’d be fun but Cedar might get tired before we finish.  

Post from: Blisstree

The Haunted Mansion Sugar Cookie House

Dracula’s Castle

One of America’s Most Haunted Homes (and you can stay there)

Jealous ghosts walk the halls here.

Apparitions everywhere!

And of course, The Winchester Mystery House…

If you can’t get enough of spooky homes never fear because Offbeat’s got more scary homes in store before Halloween eve.

Post from: Blisstree

Haunted House Round-Up: Dracula’s Castle to Winchester House and More Spooky In Between

With the exception of me here at Offbeat, (seriously are there really offbeat school tips?) the H&D channel has lots of great stuff that you need to know to get your kids back to school with style, organization, and the everlasting bagged lunch.

Here are the offerings:

Maricar has the MOST AMAZING idea at Keeping the Castle for back to school Bento; seriously, your kids will be the envy of the lunch table. Maricar has seriously earned her bold print — go see her post because I think you’ll agree.

BUT the rest of Home & Dining is rocking out the back to school tips as well…

Julie Bonner over at Declutter It has tons of tips that will get you and your kids organized and ready for back to school time, in no time flat. Trust me, they’re easy and anyone can follow them.

If you think that Heather over at Chocolate Bytes is just here to tell you to jam pack the kids lunches with yummy chocolate; well, you could not be more wrong. Heather came up with the coolest chocolate ideas for back to school that I’ve ever seen — go check it out. That’s an order!

If you want to be able to afford to send your kids to college later on, be sure to check out Deborah’s helpful money saving back to school info at Simply Thrifty.

At Foodie Obsessed, Tracey Thompson tells you how to quit worrying about how to pack creative lunches that your kids will eat and gives you the tools you need to simply get packin’.

Noel Bautista has a great recycling project you can do with your kids that will help them learn to save the environment and get them ready for school in style, over at Unplugged Living .

Mother Earth’s Garden tells you how to impress all those new teachers and gives tips on how to help your kids concentrate. (always useful).

And what, dear readers, am I suggesting?

Well for starters, I think you should try out these fly methods of transportation and for two maybe try to find a newer school than this:

Fox Creek is an old 19th century cottonwood limestone schoolhouse in Kansas. It looks cool and all, but the last thing your kid needs is the school falling down on his head while he’s trying to learn to spell Mississippi.

Too new?

Here’s the official oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States; St. Augustine, Florida to be exact:

Yikes! Scary. Built in the 1700s, some say that it’s haunted. I say it looks full of spiders. But look there are still some teachers there…

Hey, wait… there’s something not quite right about these school attending folk? Hmmm.

Good luck getting your little ones back to school!

[Fox Creek photo via :Kansas Geological Survey]

Post from: Blisstree

The Official Home & Dining Channel Back to School Kick Off

The Oak Alley Plantation resides in Vacherie, Louisiana, and you may have actually seen it in such movies as Interview with a Vampire, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, Dixie: Changing Habits, The Long Hot Summer, North and South, and/or Primary Colors.

The plantation was built a little over hundred years later in 1837-39 by George Swainey for wealthy Creole sugar cane farmer, Jacques Telesphore Roman III and his wife Josephine Pile. Josephine’s father was a New Orleans architect, who provided the plans for the plantation house and the estate. Jacques called his new plantation home, “Bon Sejour,” (Pleasant Sojourn), but the oaks in the front would give the plantation the name, “Oak Alley.” This is the name which stuck.

These days, the home is open to the public thanks to the Oak Alley Foundation. Public tours are available, and it also serves as a bed and breakfast.

But, as with many historical buildings, tales of eerie manifestations abound. Here are some of the tales you might hear about (or experience!):

A candlestick once flew across the room right in the middle of a group of visitors on a tour led by a hostess.

Staff have heard the sound of crying coming from somewhere within the ‘Big House.’

A maintenance man was working alone in the mansion on a project. He felt a presence keeping him company, and touched him as if to encourage his efforts.

An entity of a slender, young woman with long dark hair – (Thought to be either Josephine Pile Roman or their daughter Louise.)

This entity has been seen throughout the mansion. She has been seen walking up on the widow’s walkway, and hanging out in various rooms. In the master bedroom, a tourist inadvertently caught her image on a picture, much to his surprise! She also rides her horse around the estate grounds.

Jacques Telesphore Roman III

An entity of a man wearing grey clothing and riding boots was seen near the back of the mansion, near the old kitchen by a tour guide.

His face was seen in a mirror in the attic.

The benign entity of Josephine Stewart – (Seems she can’t quite leave her beloved home)

After a private event, the personnel closed the ‘Big House’ for the evening. Imagine their surprise when they noticed the lamp in the lavender room was on, illuminating the room. They then saw a shadowy figure of a woman glide across the room and stopped to look at them from her room lookout.

The apparition of Josephine Stewart has been seen sitting on a bed in her favorite lavender room.

Very creepy.

Creepier, still:

Louisiana Spirits Investigations – Made two visits to Oak Alley with some interesting results. The paranormal activity happened in the attic on both trips.

1st Visit: Shadows were seen on the wall, mists were captured on film, short glimpses of Jacques Telesphore Ramon’s face were seen in the mirror. Some entity grabbed the arm of one investigator hard, shooting an electrical charge through his arm, causing him to drop his camera.

EVPS were recorded. – http://www.laspirits.com/oakalley.html

2nd visit – Again the activity centered in the attic. Bill Murphy, a California film maker came along to record. They recorded some great EVP’s. Also in cottage 4, where some of the crew slept, they got an early morning wake up call by a loud bang in the bathroom. http://www.laspirits.com/oakalleytwo.html

I’m going to go hide under the covers now.

Post from: Blisstree

Haunted Houses: Oak Alley Plantation

If you’re the type of person who’s always in search of spookie places to stay, here’s one that might appeal to you. Queen’s Hotel in Cape May, NJ is the site of several paranormal manifestations that might give you goosebumps in the night.

This beautiful victorian bed and breakfast was built back in 1876. To the casual observer it was simply a respectable business called Ware’s Pharmacy. Behind the scenes, however, things were a little spicier. Think: gambling and prostitution.

In 1878, however, a huge fire raged through the town and took Ware’s Pharmacy down with it, giving builders a chance to remake the building into a roomier one that could accomodate all “businesses”.

So what’s all this got to do with ghosts?

Well, if you happen to have stayed at Queen’s Hotel at any point, you may be familiar with any of the following creepyness:

• On the third floor, the entity of a young prostitute haunts the rooms.
• The strong aroma of perfume waifs throughout the third floor rooms at times.
• Cold spots are felt by the living.
• Objects and furniture seem to move by themselves.
• Her entity gives little bumps / pushes women as it passes them in the hallways; guests she feels jealous of.
• For chuckles, she also bumps into the beds.

So! If you’re looking to freak yourself (or a loved one out), make sure you land yourself on the third floor. The ghost seems to stick only to that area. Makes sense, since the brothel was restricted to the third floor.

Eeeeerie.

Via | Queen’s Hotel Haunted House

Post from: Blisstree

Haunted Houses: Queen’s Hotel in Cape May, NJ

So let’s start with The Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. I will now insert a creepy picture of said establishment to get us in the mood…

Now that we’re feeling jumpy and looking over our shoulders, let’s go on.

The Myrtles Plantation has been called “One of America’s Most Haunted Homes” though these days it would be more aptly titled “One of America’s Most Haunted B&Bs” for if you so desire, you too could experience the creepy-factor up close and personal.

The B&B has 11 rooms, and wedding and reception facilities if ghosts and hauntings are your idea of a romantic getaway. Nothing like having an otherwordly audience during your honeymoon …

But whatever your idea of fun, the Myrtles Plantation is sure to deliver with daily tours of the mansion, ranging from historical to mysterious – oooooh. Naturally, the ‘mysterious’ tours are conducted in the evenings when the likelihood of you peeing your pants is higher.

This beautiful (though haunted) home spans over two centuries. So if this sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to check out the room rates. Also, if any of you tuned into the Montel Williams Show on Halloween, the Myrtles Plantation was featured. Too bad I missed it.

Post from: Blisstree

Haunted Homes: The Myrtles Plantation