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Showing posts with the label halloween

#HavdalahQuotes No. 59

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(Art by Jason Edmiston) "The monsters were never // under my bed. // Because the monsters // were inside my head. // I fear no monsters, // for no monsters I see. // Because all this time // the monster has been me." — Nikita Gill Happy Halloween! Take note and take care.

Spooky San Leandro

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( Attribution ) Well, technically it's San Lorenzo, but just stay with me here. If you're looking for a bit of local lore to add an extra fright to your Halloween, I recommend learning more about Pioneer Cemetery, located at 15450 Hesperian Boulevard. Right across the street from our Walmart. You can tell from its three-acres of broken and/or sunken headstones, rotted coffins, vandalized crypts, weeds, dust, and who knows what else! The earliest grave dates back to 1853, when San Lorenzo was known as Squattersville. It's an accurate name for a mishmash of would-be farmers, failed gold miners, immigrants, and adventurers settled on the land of indigenous people who were murderously removed by the Spanish. The cemetery itself is a testament to the violent, turbulent history of our town. In fact, it was a major burial ground from Livermore to Hayward, most likely because it was decidedly nonsectarian. Some notable residents include: The Yoakum brothers, who were convicted of m

Scary Stories I Tell Myself in the Dark

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(Attribution) I've lived a life that has provided me with a near-endless supply of anxiety-induced, paranoid, cinematic, catastrophic nightmares. The Dead Man's Hour  is typically when this happens, waking up in a state of sleep paralysis  -- or possession by a Dybbuk . Because of course . Scenes of madness, of improbable (if not impossible) tragedy. Unspeakable but, apparently, not unthinkable. Grotesque evil filling the folds of my grey matter like sewage water until I feel as if I'm drowning. I tell myself scary stories of loved ones dying, loved ones violated, sudden illnesses, protracted injustices, years of good people eating shit in sufferance while the avaricious spend long lives of cruel bigotry and blissful ignorance. They rotate and repeat, varying the cast of characters, but playing the same soundtrack of horror. I imagine myself fighting back, a desperate gesture of a futility, and then falling... falling... until the closing dark suffocates me and