Dessert Can Be Deadly...

As some of you might know, Ghost Adventures recently traveled to Salem, Massachusetts; this week Travel Channel aired the episode filmed at the famous Witch House (better known as Jonathan Corwin House). It's the only remaining structure in Salem with direct connections to the world-famous Salem Witchcraft Trials. Of course, humor ensues when Zak meets witchcraft. I'm not sure asking random people on the street if they are witches is good form. But this is Ghost Adventures, after all, and we're used to an unlimited amount of intentional (and unintentional) laughs.

A lot of the places I recognized from my past trip to Salem for a book signing and pleasant stay with psychic medium Jeffrey Justice. Even before I heard this episode was coming out, I had been thinking about my trip. I do miss Essex Street and all the history. So, I did a little shopping and finally made a few postponed purchases with connections to my trip: a few herbs from Hex: Old World Witchery and some dinnerware from an artist I discovered at the delightfully morbid Life And Death in Salem. After all this time, her work still called to me.

While browsing the shop, waiting to visit Jeffrey on one of his breaks, a pair of empty eye sockets stared back at me from a dinner plate. It was part of the "Skull and Cross Utensils" design series of refurbished restaurant ware created by ceramicist Meredith Host. While the artist lives in Missouri, she received her Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Ohio State University in 2008. Some of her work is quite unique (if not downright comical), though I'm partial to her depictions of skulls, bones, and organs on stark white plates, bowls, and cups. There's something about serving a slice of Death By Chocolate on a plate decorated with a grinning skull that seems too fitting for me.

So I broke down and began my collection this week with a set of four dessert plates. I'll warn you now; the dinnerware is highly addictive. Perhaps it's my odd sense of humor, but I love the idea of skull plates and zombie brain bowls laid out on a table. I'll slowly add to my collection provided I can resist the temptation of breaking the bank to fill the cupboards. Unique, well-crafted, morbidly-amusing things are so hard to find. Not only that, I'm a picky person. When I find something that screams "I must have that" it's a rare surprise.

I couldn't mention macabre dining without touching on another delight from "Professor Paranormal" himself, Loyd Auerbach. While I am eagerly anticipating his book, Haunted by Chocolate, to be released, you can find some spooky treats on the related site. His decadent "Ghost Drops" are available by mail, or you can schedule a chocolate tasting for an event or party.

Forgotten Dead of the Big Smoke...

I still remember taking the Haunted Walk in Ottawa, Canada last year. It was a great experience and chance to learn about the hidden history of the city. One of the more interesting parts was exploring the city's earliest cemeteries. The first was a military site on Barrack's Hill, now referred to as Parliament Hill. That area now traversed by Sparks Street became a huge cemetery. You wouldn't know it today. All traces are covered by roads, buildings, and sidewalks. Yet construction work still unearths the occasional grave site and bones. Surely Sydney wouldn't be the same, right?

Not exactly. You won't find Old Sydney Burial Ground on any modern map. Many Sydneysiders walk right past it every day without giving it any notice. It dates back to 1792 and is situated at the southwest corner of George and Druitt Streets. Today the spot is better known as Sydney Town Hall.

The cemetery was in use until it was filled to capacity in 1820 and by 1840 had become a health hazard and unsightly place due to the haphazard burial techniques in clay soil. Interestingly enough the site was never consecrated or officially announced as a cemetery and it never had a trustee. No official records were kept though in 1845 it was estimated that some 2000 souls (both free citizens and convicts) were buried in these two acres of land.

As early as 1842 there was talk of removing the bodies and building a town hall. It wasn't until April 4, 1868 that the first foundation stone was laid on the new building. At the same time, the long process of exhumation began. Most graves were badly deteriorated. The bones and headstones that were uncovered were moved to  the Church of England cemetery at what is now Rookwood Necropolis. Unfortunately for these early dead people of Sydney's history many were left in the ground beneath the growing building.

Since 1871 when the Town Hall was being completed bones and headstone fragments have been routinely unearthed at the site. Even as recently as 2007 grave sites have been discovered and excavated. Of course, this isn't the only place in Australia hiding an old cemetery. There's Cathedral Park in Newcastle, Victoria Market in Melbourne, Canberra's Lake Burley-Griffin, and several others. While the dead have been forgotten and neglected they don't always rest in peace. It's no wonder that there are rumors that the ghosts of Sydney's former residents haunt Town Hall to this very day.

"The Power of Christ Compels You!"

And here I thought that uncomfortable warmth inside was only heartburn...

What's really frightening is that some people actually believe this. Not possible, you say? Well, for some irritating, mind-boggling, and insane reading, check out what a British exorcist has to say.

A Bazaar That is Truly Bizarre...

All Hallows Eve is now within our sight. Only a few more days until the veil between the spirit realm and the word of the living is at its thinnest. Odd things are bound to happen. Odd people will rear their heads. Madness will reign and the mystical will become normal.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but you catch my drift.

Of all strange and wonderfully bizarre things I have uncovered in my searches across the internet, I recently discovered a store unlike anything I have every laid eyes upon in the past. Indeed, Carnivalia is like no other pagan or occult shop. There is a hint of whimsy, a dash of artistic flair, and more oddities than you could possibly comprehend.

From originally-designed Ouija boards to bottled ghosts (and they will happily take your unwanted haunted trinkets of you wish), anything and everything any pagan or mystic could possibly want can be found there. Creepy clocks. Disturbing dolls. Potions, books, and clothing. It's a wild funhouse ride through the insane mind of a pagan sideshow act.

Best of all, they have many items of a queer nature. And I don't mean "odd". The owner and his partner, Storm Faerywolf, do remember their family.

When you check out the website, be sure to keep an open mind and beware of tongue-in-cheek humor. At times, it's difficult to discern what is intended to be serious and what is comedy. Judging by the copious text portions and strangely hilarous images, I lean more toward the latter on all accounts. Nevertheless, it's worth a browse at the very least. Or if you happen to be in the San Francisco area, be sure to swing by North Broadway in Walnut Creek and visit their storefront. If the website is any indication of what awaits, you might not leave for hours.