A Most Spooky Halloween....

We started out with very big plans this Halloween, and WOW, we achieved all of them! My son, myself, and my friend Leslie started out the night with finishing up the decorating, arranging Miles' scarecrow and finishing the graveyard complete with fog machine. Pictured below is my own little human scarecrow in the red... and his friend Jason a.k.a. Orion. Above are Miles and my friend Les who at 35 yrs. is my sons biggest compadre in all thing Halloween; still loves to get all decked out. Our decorations were a complete success as many of the dads (who you know are the hardest to impress) told us our house was the best on the block...Many people also took pics with their kids at the photo op pictured here. The black lights, spider webs, fog machine, and scary Nightmare Before Christmas music added the finishing touches. After the last trick or treater (miraculously we didn't run out of candy this year) left, we cleaned up and went into downtown San Antonio to Nightmare on Grayson, an incredibly scary haunted house which had a carnival called Fest-EVIL going on while you waited in line for your group to be called. Medical oddities, creepy creatures on stilts, and an incredible show of fire performers called Brothers of the Flame were enjoyed.

We went through the haunted house and had the wits scared out of us...it took about 15 minutes to get through and it wasworth every penny! This will definitely become a Halloween tradition!

Our night culminated at The Menger Hotel. It is located right next to the Alamo in the center of downtown San Antonio, and is reputed to be the most haunted hotel in San Antonio. It was established in 1859 and it is the first hotel to be opened west of the Mississippi. The Menger Bar located inside the hotel is where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders in 1898. I also loved all the memorabilia around everywhere, I couldn't believe people had to ride in this saddle for long hours. It doesn't look all that comfy! When the recruits had their saddles stolen, Teddy R. bought all the calvary new ones at the cost of a whopping $2.53 per saddle!

We checked into our room and decided to go on a tour. It was about 1am, the perfect time to go on a hunt for haunts.

We were awed by the architecture of the hotel and it was a perfect place to feel a few shivers up and down the spine. When we got to the Colonial Room, we looked in and met up with one of the staff. He told us to come back around 2:30am with a camera,this is when they turn the lights off and they catch faces, clouds, and orbs every night. He said if the ghosts like you they will tug on your clothes, as there are many ghosts of children about. Ok. While I

don't disbelieve in ghosts, I have never had a personal experience. I do not have an EVP recorder like Les does, nor was I able to make it to the 2:30am hour and trek back to the Colonial Room. My fatal error was laying me bones on that super comfy bed...I was out. Miles and Les went back at the appointed hour and sat taking pics with the staff who do this every night on their breaks. Also present were a few tourists. They sat with two cooks and were able to get all the stories behind the ghosts so I got to hear them the next day. Really a sad thing I missed it. Many of the folks there caught faces, smoke, etc. on their cameras. Les caught some orbs but that's about it. She said she did feel something brush her leg and denies that there was anyone near her or that it was a tablecloth from a table. When the tourist from New York caught the face of a little boy my son announced he was too tired to for any more action. He later admitted that the little boy's face in the camera scared him to death and he wanted to leave.




It was an uneventful night from about 3am on, except for the growling Les heard at the end of the bed....

What a great time we had! Going riding today to alleviate the post Halloween depression.