Haunted Decatur Tour

I recently got the chance to attend a Haunted Decatur Tour, put on by Troy Taylor author of books like "Haunted Decatur" and "The Ghost Hunter's Guidebook" a couple among many titles he has written. I must say, for those interested in Ghost-Hunting, it is worth the forty bucks for the four hour extended tour. It was very professionally done, and very informative. I really enjoyed it and I will go again, given the chance.

It all started at the Avon Theater, we got to hear Troy talking about the hauntings that have occurred at the theater itself, and then we piled into a school-bus on began the tour through the more famous (or infamous) haunted spots of Decatur. We ended by taking an hour long walk through the haunted Greenwood Cemetary, and explored the documented-haunted spots within the cemetary. If you have the chance, and you live near Decatur, Illinois, I would highly recommend the tour to anyone considering going on the tour. They, of course, don't gaurantee anything paranormal will happen on the tours, but things have happened in the past! I did experience some strange corner-of-my-eye shadows moving about in the haunted Lincoln Theater, which is closed to the general public, but on the extended tour, you are allowed entry to this spirit-active place.

Please visit Troy Taylor's site for more information about his books, tours, and overnight excursions to haunted places in Illinois and surrounding areas:
http://www.prairieghosts.com

Harry Potter and Norse Mythology (warning: spoilers if you haven't read the Half Blood Prince, if you haven't read it yet, and I'm sure you have)

You know, I was pondering the other day, how many similarities there are with the Harry Potter books and Norse mythos.

Firstly, Snape kind of has a resemblance with Loki, and, obviously, Dumbledore with Odin. Dumbledore trusts Snape as did Odin, Loki, and as the trust remains, nobody in either story knows exactly why. Dumbledore has both his eyes, however he does consult his "Pensieve", and Odin consulted Mimir's Well for wisdom.

In the Half Blood Prince, it was Draco, and Snape, who brought about the "Ragnarok" of Hogwarts. In Norse myth, it was Loki and his children (his daughter Hel, and his two sons: the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jormungand.) Of course we do have the werewolf, also named Fenrir (Greyback), although he didn't swallow anyone whole, but he did maul Bill Weasley pretty bad.

There is no World Tree (Yggdrasil) in Harry Potter, although there is a pretty mean Whomping Willow, and if I had to, I would say Hagrid and Thor have a good resemblance to each other considering both are half-giant, and both are pretty dang good at brawling when they need to (although I can't see Hagrid in a dress, actually yeah that is pretty humorous; Thor had to dress up in drag as Freyja to get his hammer back from some Etins, giants, who swiped it). Harry could also have some relation to Thor (thunderbolt scar).

Another similarity, Dumbledores Army, and of course Odin's Army (the fallen warriors, the Einherjar), and the Valkyries. One thing though, Odin had two Ravens (Huginn, and Muninn, thought and memory respectively) instead of owls who relayed messages to him of the 9 worlds, and Odin had the eight legged horse Sleipnir, whereas Dumbledore has a nifty phoenix, which rises from its own ashes.

As for the Snape/Loki thing, Snape is a double agent, and Loki hangs out with both the Gods and the Etins, Loki brought a lot of grief to the Gods, but always managed to make good on his practical 'jokes' by having the dwarves make Sif gold-spun hair after he chopped it all off as a joke, and getting Thor his hammer, the gloves to wield it, and the girdle of strength, and of course the nifty folding ship for Frey, and a bunch of other things that were pretty cool. As for Dumbledore's demise, I kind of have to agree with something I read on Mugglenet.com (good snape vs. bad snape) that perhaps Dumbledore was asking Snape to kill him with Avada Kedavra, instead of pleading for his life. IMO he isn't worth much to Voldemort dead, but he would have been tortured beyond his worst nightmares had he lived in his his current condition. I still think Snape is a good guy, he did take an unbreakable vow, so it was justified. I guess we will have to wait anxiously and see..

Anyhoo.. I think I'm done rambling for the moment.. comments anyone?

-Berta

As a side note here is an editoral from Veritaserum applying similar comparisons to Nordic Myth and Harry Potter:
www.veritaserum.com editoral

The odd things that people do.

I've always noticed certain odd things that people do, and sometimes it just plain cracks me up. Like, for instance when some people drink they raise their eyebrows, as if their eyebrows are going to fall into their beverage. You also have your dainty-pinky-finger-out-drinkers, perhaps it's because the finger is being punished and can't be with the other fingers, or the finger is just a rebel.
Then that brings me to one of my favorite "Simpsons" quotes, by Otto the school bus driver "They call them fingers, but I've never seen them 'fing'."
Just one more thing that makes our wonderful world "ridiculous", I suppose, especially the fact that some of us pay attention to those odd things that people do.

Stupid Things My Brother Told Me...

I got to thinking the other day, about how my older brother told me the dumbest things when I was younger. To this day, when I bring these things up he completely denies (or can't remember) telling me such strange things.
I don't know why older brothers always have to annoy their younger siblings by telling them off the wall things, or doing things just to annoy or spite them.
However, I do recall him telling me once that if you have to poop really bad and sit down too hard the poop will come out of your mouth. Another one of his tales involved us watching a show about the effects of an atom bomb. There were shadows of the people on a wall, and the wall was bleached around the shadows from the atomic blast. He told me that the people evaporated so fast from the blast it left their shadows behind.
Yet another time he told me the reason why we have to wash our hands before we eat is because the dirt rolls out from underneath our finger nails and down into the food at the other end of the spoon or fork and we eat the food, dirt and all.

Today my brother is married, has a daughter, and works as some kind of supervisor at a telecommunications company, and he's still kind of a dork.
(Love ya big bro) :)

Harry Potter in the Breakfast Club!

Here is something I made in Paint Shop Pro, yeah I know, not very good as far as skin tones and stuff.. but hey.. it's FUNNY! lolol Snape looks quite displeased he is there ("POTTER!!!!"), Draco looks as though he'd like to punch out Ron or Harry with that upraised fist, Ron is wincing at the thought, Harry looks as though he's in a bad dream.. Hermione must have forgotten her homework and is terrified of what Prof Snape is going to say about it("TEN points, Hermione!").. ROFL..
Harry Potter in THE BREAKFAST CLUB! LOL 

Mini Update

The "Ghost Story" links at my website now work.. and have been for a while.. I'm just lazy and I'm just now getting to posting this message here. lol
My Geocities Web Page Link Here

A "Ridiculous" update...

One of my first entries in this blog concerned a place in Decatur, IL, about a place called "Gradma's" and "The Sundowners Lounge". I am disapointed to report that "Grandma's" no longer exists next to the still-remaining "Sundowners Lounge." Now a place where Grandma's existed has opened up, called "Pop's Place". The "o" in "Pop's Place" is pictured as a golf ball on a tee.

Perhaps "Grandma" finally has passed on, taking the secret with her. However, my next thought is that perhaps "Pop" is her widowed husband, and perhaps he also has adult dementia, and is the only logical candidate to run "Sundowner's" after she passed on.. Heh..

Also, if you plan on going to Decatur, IL, you can visit the Avon Theater, which is now the home-base to the American Ghost Society. You can visit their web-site here:
Troy Taylor's Prarie Ghosts dot com. Troy Taylor has written many books on the haunted locations in the midwest, including "Haunted Decatur". I have sent a few of my haunted-nursing home stories to Mr. Taylor, and has replied back implying that he will see what he can do with them as I have given him permission to use my submissions in a future book if he has one in the works. I also plan to publish my personal stories on the web on my links page at geocities. You can look for them sometime in the future at: www.geocities.com/gaelicgargoyle
Right now, if you are interested in some of my links to Asatru, ghosties, and other miscellanea, you can look at my links page there now.