The Hunchback Servant

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I thought I'd blog about a classic horror trope, at least in old movies: the Hunchback Servant, which TV tropes calls the Igor. They are often seen in adaptations of classics, however they generally do not have an equivalent in the source material. The Igor is conspicuously absent of the original Dracula and Frankenstein, but a hunchback does appear briefly in Carmilla, albeit he is not a servant of the Karnstein family (gotta blog about the Karnsteins one day, by the way). I took this image from the gamebook Terrors Out of Time, from the tragically short lived Forbidden Gateway series. Of course, the writers were not shy of using such classic stock characters. His presence gives a nice bit of foreboding to the scene. Like other Igor types characters, this hunchback has a foot in both worlds: a human himself, but a servant of supernatural forces, in this instance the sinister Baron Ausbach. Now, I understand using someone with deformities as a villain's servant can give some unfortunate implications for contemporary readers and audiences, but I do like old tropes and I must confess I like this stock character.

Vol d'outardes

Ma cousine Amy l'artiste-photographe a pris cette photo, d'un vol d'outardes. Je ne sais pas comment elle a fait pour capturer un moment de manière aussi parfaite, mais il me fallait la partager (avec sa permission bien entendu). Les oies sont des oiseaux automnaux, surtout lorsqu'elles migrent vers le sud.

Cthulhu by Gaslight

 For today's countdown to Halloween post, a bit more of H.P. Lovecraft and a bit of the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu, inspired as you probably know by his writing. I spent a few afternoons and evenings of my teenage and young adulthood playing it, at times I enjoyed it even more than D&Dr. There were three time period you could play it in: the 1920s, so Lovecraft’s own time, the contemporary time period, to play in modern time, and the 19th century, which was called and is still called Cthulhu by Gaslight. It could give the game a more Gothic, old fashioned horror feel. Sadly, I never took the time to develop a campaign set in the Victorian era. I think it would be really fitting for Halloween. Are there anyone among you who played CofC in this specific module? Or indeed any other. Let me know in the comments.

Squelettes géants

Photo prise par mon père lors d'une de ses promenades. On y voit notamment des squelettes géants, en plus d'un Jack O'Lantern gonflabe. Mais l'attraction principale, ce sont les squelettes géants.

F. Marion Crawford for Halloween

For tonight's (third) countdown to Halloween post, a reading suggestion: the stories of F. Marion Crawford. One of my favourite, I must say, as Crawford is not shy of using gory effects and violence, but never to the detriment of atmosphere and suspense. It is never gratuitous. The one I first discovered is The Upper Berth, which is about a drowned corpse haunting the cabin of a ship, but you also have For the Blood is the Life, which is a classic vampire story and The Screaming Skull which is a ghost story about a... well, a skull that screams. And bites. And kills. Deliciously dark stuff. Now, I must confess, I haven't read The Witch of Prague yet. Because it's more magical realism and fantasy than proper horror, or so I have been told, and because I was kind of hoping to read it the city where it is set one day. We did discuss taking holiday there last year and before. That said, I might make it part of next year's countdown TBR, early in the season.

"L'Halloween au Québec"

Il y a un an, j'ai découvert par hasard qu'il y avait un livre pour enfants, pour enfants très jeunes, appelé L'Halloween au Québec. Je parle d'un livre pour enfants d'âge préscolaire. Petit loup est déjà trop grand pour que ce soit un livre pour lui. Qu'à cela ne tienne, je l'ai demandé en cadeau pour Noël (!) juste pour moi, parce que je veux une bibliothèque bien remplie de bouquins sur l'Halloween pour tous les âges. Dans tous les cas, je le reocmmande parce que c'est très éducatif.

Green Tea (A Ghost Story)

 For today's countdown to Halloween, a reading suggestion, which I blogged about back in 2017. And I have some recommendation about your reading ritual, should you decide to give this story a go. It's the spooky season, it's autumn, if it's getting cold where you are, I suggest you sit down comfortably and grab yourself a nice cuppa. You will see, you will enjoy the story even more, getting into the atmosphere. So anyway, Green Tea is the second ghost story of Sheridan Le Fanu I have read. You can find it in In a Glass Darkly. Or in various anthologies. But you can also find it online here, among other places. It's about a clergyman haunted by a demonic monkey, seen only by him and otherwise immaterial, which may be an hallucination caused by an excessive consumption of green tea. So yeah, get yourself some tea, green tea if you dare, sit down in a comfy place, one late afternoon, read this ghost story and tell me of your experience in the comments. Or, if you read Sheridan Le Fanu before, this story or another, tell me in the comments too.

"Merci pour les raisins" (Chanson de l'Action de grâce)

C'est le lundi de l'Action de grâce au Québec. Pas ici, ils ne fêtent pas ça. Mais, tradition oblige, je partage un classique instantané de La fin du monde est à 7 heures. La meilleure chanson de toute l'émission? Je serais tenté de dire que oui, ex aequo avec Allons tous à Jérusalem. Quand ils faisaient de la dévotion moqueuse, leur équipe était à leur meilleur.

Soon the Scarecrow Festival

For today's countdown to Halloween post, a bit of news: as you may know, a nearby village hosts every year a Scarecrow Festival. Well, I have seen the banners on display advertising the upcoming event. So it will happen again. Scarecrows are a staple of Halloween and autumn to me: they represent harvest, of course, but they also have that unsettling appearance, not quite human, especially when their head is a Jack O'Lantern, like for their mascot. The festival is just as much about Halloween as it is about scarecrows. Watching them always fire up my imagination.

Les promenades automnales

Je partage à nouveau une photo prise par mon père lors d'une de ses promenades. L'automne, c'est beau. Sans doute plus au Québec que partout ailleurs, plus encore au Saguenay. Bon, d'accord, en Estrie, à Québec, à Montréal, ça peut être beau aussi, mais au Saguenay c'est encore plus spécial. Et maintenant qu'ici il fait enfin plus frais et que les couleurs sont de retour, j'essaie de multiplier les prétextes pour marcher et profiter de ma saison préférée. Ce n'est pas aussi beau que là où j'ai grandi, mais c'est quand même pas si mal.

New Old Witch

A few days ago, Wolfie and I went down town in one of the local artisan markets they have every other Saturday. Someone was selling home made decorations, many of them autumnal or Halloween themed. I am always on the lookout for new Halloween decorations to spook out the place. My son and I agreed on a witch, because we always need more witches. We bought this one. We haven't decided of a name yet. She doesn't look like the nasty, malevolent crones we have as witches usually. More like a kindly if eccentric grandmother. Anyway, Wolfie and I will decide of a name at some point, any suggestions in the comments welcome.

Une Hobgoblin pour PJ

C'est aujourd'hui la fête de mon frère PJ. Comme c'est la tradition sur ce blogue, je partage une photo de la a  Hobgoblin de  Wychwood Brewery. Une vieille bouteille, qui date de 2018, dans le temps qu'ils avaient des étiquettes spéciales pour l'Halloween, dont ils se déclaraient la bière officieuse. Et ils ne faisaient pas dans les demi-mesures, comme vous pouvez le constater sur cette photo. PJ a bu de la Hobgoblin lors de son dernier voyage ici en 2017, c'est une des raisons pour laquelle je souligne son anniversaire avec cette photo. Mais c'est aussi que, la fête de mon frère étant en octobre, je l'ai toujours associée avec l'Halloween.

Ghosts In The Walls

I promised yesterday I would give a proper recommendation next time I blog about a spooky book. So for today's and this year's first proper countdown to Halloween book reading suggestion, I give you Ghosts In The Walls. "Spooky stories inspired by real history". I bought it in the Tower of London and blogged about it before, but I have now read it. It's an anthology created in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces, and yes, of course, the Tower is featured in some of them. The ghost stories in it are sometimes touching, sometimes genuinely scary, if not terrifying. They're very new, yet they follow a very old British tradition.

Les couleurs de l'automne

Autre photo prise par mon père durant sa promenade, que je partage jusque pour le plaisir.

The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (meh)

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I wanted to share a first reading experience for me, but unfortunately an underwhelming one. A few months ago, I found in a books sale at Wolfie's school, from the Goosebumps series. I remember back when I was a teenager, a lot of kids, barely out of childhood, reading the series eagerly. In my case, I was already reading adult horror, especially old classics. So I thought little of it. But the book, as you can see on the picture, has for title The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight. And I love scarecrows in horror stories. Especially when, like you can see on the cover, it has a Jack O'Lantern as a head. So I bought it, out of curiosity and because even though I never judge a book by its cover, I do buy them sometimes because I like the cover. If nothing else, it would be seasonal, or so I thought. Well, no. It's set in the middle of summertime. Halloween is thus not featured at all. And, while there are lots of scarecrows, none has a pumpkin head. Furthermore, it's really poorly written, really aimed at children and not scary at all. In faxct, I don't think I would have enjoyed it when I was among the Goosebumps series target readers. But hey, cool cover. Anyway, I promise I will give a proper reading recommendation next time.

L'automne rouge, orange, jaune

Je partage (rien que parce que) une autre photo de l'automne à Chicoutimi, prise par mon père lors de sa promenade quotidienne. Du rouge, du orange, du jaune et encore un peu de vert.

Archive 81

Okay, I am blogging a lot today, so this is my second post in English for the countdown to Halloween. The first one is here, and I have two more in French. I have a lot to blog about and so little time. Anyway, for those who have some time and like to watch more cerebral horror, I have a suggestion: Archive 81. It's a TV series on Netflix of eight episodes, slow pace (in the best way), very atmospheric and has very Lovecraftian influences. It also draws strongly on Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist. It's about Dan Turner, a conservator who is asked to restore tapes that have been damaged in the 1994 fire of an apartment building in New York called the Visser. The tapes have been made by Melody, a grad student doing a documentary project who disappeared in the fire. So we follow both Dan's and Melody's investigation, which reveals a cult, some very unsettling characters and maybe a demonic entity. I don't want to give more away, but what I love about it is how you are drawn into the story. It's deeply unsettling diabolically efficient. It's so far my best horror discovery this year and I strongly recommend it.

Première Moisson en mode Halloween

J'apprends via la page Facebook de Première Moisson qu'ils ont leur propre "pumpkin spice latte". Ou, comme ils le traduisent, latté à la cétrouille épicée. Je ne bois pas de café (je déteste), alors non, je n'ai pas l'impression de manquer quelque chose. Mais ma femme elle est une grande buveuse de café et de latté à la citrouille, alors ce sera une autre marque à essayer pour elle lorsque nous serons à Montréal en automne (à notre retraite? lorsque Wolfie sera à l'université?). Dans tous les cas, je suis heureux que Première Moisson se mette encore plus en mode automnal et aussi en mode Halloween.

Jack O'Fanta

For today's countdown to Halloween post, something a bit different, as this post is about... sodas. As in soda drinks. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped in one of the local shops for a quick top up. I was happily surprised to see that the Fanta soft drinks were already embracing the spooky season: their cans of lemon sodas had a Jack O'Lantern on them. Rather creepy and menacing, actually. A shame I find the taste of the drink rather akin to cough syrup. Surely, it should have been orange, as the website advertises. Or better still: pumpkin flavoured (even though pumpkin does not taste much by itself). Be that as it may, this is unironically one of the best Jack O'Lantern designs I have seen this year. So I might use it as inspiration for our own pumpkins.

Le Viennois durant l'Halloween

L'Halloween, c'est aussi le temps des sucreries, et on n'attend pas le 31 pour en profiter. Enfin bref, j'ai remarqué que sur le site en ligne de la pâtisserie de Chicoutimi Le Viennois, il y a toute une section sur l'Halloween. On y trouve notamment ce gâteau à pâte blanche, avec une citrouille dessus. "Indisponible pour le moment," enfin alors que j'écris ces lignes, alors je coupçonne qu'ils n'en offrent pas depuis un bout de temps déjà. Mais quand même, je me paierais bien une visite rien que pour voir, si je vivais toujours à Chicoutimi.