Tena StetlerAuthor of Paranormal Romance/Suspense & Cozy Mysteries With Magic Spark!

Oct 29th Halloween Spirit Search & All Hallows Eve Trivia

All Hallows Eve (Halloween) only two days left!  Can you believe it? Toil and Trouble continued search for the Halloween Spirit is rewarded this week.  You won’t believe what they found. LOL!  Next to the pumpkin, sitting on the witch’s hat the Halloween Spirit giggling and shouting Happy Halloween. Click on the link to see the live version. IMG_2851

I love Halloween One day out of the year you can dress up and pretend to be anything you want and people don’t think you’re crazy.  Okay, well, not as crazy as if it wasn’t Halloween!

With the usual snow predicted on Halloween, the first annual search  for the Halloween Spirit  countdown ends today   Toil (Unicorn) and Trouble (dragon)  have exciting news about All Hallows Eve Spirit. and called Dave to tell him.

Their friend, Dave (Skeleton), from Texas (thank you Jessica)  after a weeks of searching for the Halloween Spirit delighted at Toil and Trouble’s news., Dave, Mort, Buster and little one celebrated by carving their Halloween Pumpkins.

With only two more days before Halloween, how about a little Halloween Trivia?   Bwwwaaaaaaaaaa!!!! 

Celebrating a spooktacular Halloween. Toil and Trouble have found the Halloween Spirit.

Did you know, most present day Halloween traditions are traceable to the ancient Celtic day of the dead? Halloween consists of mysterious customs, but each has a history, or at least a story behind it.

Take wearing costumes, and roaming from door to door demanding treats. This behavior can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and about, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This is where the practice of trick-or-treating began. To this day, vampires, witches, ghosts, and skeletons are among the favorite costumes.

Our Halloween also retains activities from the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, (pumpkins) as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices for cider associated with the day. Although at my house, hot chocolate is pretty popular, since Halloween almost guarantees the first snow of the year. This year is no different.

Let’s switch gears for a moment and take a peek at Cripple Creek, Mining District of Colorado. With its history of unexplained, supernatural occurrences, tales of haunted hotels, casinos, and homes no wonder Cripple Creek is touted to be one of the most haunted placed in the United States! What better way to celebrate Halloween than visit a haunted Cripple Creek?

Many prospectors lost everything they had, some even their lives in the pursuit of gold. With the tales of fires, (Cripple Creek burned to the ground in 1896) floods, mining accidents, general lawlessness in the beginning then bloody battles between mine owners and labor unions, it’s no wonder stories abound of ghosts haunting this historic town that once boasted one murder a day.

Hotel St. Nicolas

So let’s take a closer look at those ghosts. First up, The Hotel St. Nicholas boasts a colorful history. Today its spectacular view of Cripple Creek, 15 guest rooms, furnished with elegance of a bygone era and one restored historic miner’s cottage still includes tales of the supernatural and unexplained. Originally built as a hospital that served the flood victims in the region in the late nineteenth century, it also served as a home for the Sisters of Mercy. As time went on, the hospital served prospectors and their families and then expanded adding a ward for the mentally ill. The hospital closed in the 1970’s. St. Nicholas is rumored to be haunted by several spirits including children, former patients of the mental ward, nuns and an old cantankerous miner. For more information see Hotel St. Nicholas.

The Imperial Hotel at Third Street and Bennett Avenue known originally as the Collins Hotel, was built after most the town burned to the ground in 1896. As a young man, George Long emigrated from Europe and eventually made his way to Denver. He married his first cousin and together they ran the hotel. The union produced two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter, Alice, was mentally disturbed and the parents were forced to keep her locked in their apartment next to the lobby for her safety and the safety of others. Soon after George fell to his death while negotiating the narrow stairs to the basement. Or some say Alice escaped, waited for him at the top of the stairs, struck him over the head and he crashed to his death from the stop of the stairs. It’s rumored his ghost haunts the hotel to this day.
My experience at the Imperial Hotel was at the performance of Dracula by the Imperial Players in early 1990’s. The performance was excellent, but the strong feeling of someone watching, icy patches and pressure on my arm and lower back, when no one was there. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up. After meeting the cast in the lobby for an autograph session, my family and I quickly exited the hotel and raced to the safety of our vehicle, thankful that we hadn’t booked a room. Looking back on the experience, was it the performance of Dracula in the supposedly haunted hotel that caused my imagination to run wild, or was there really something there? I admit to having an overactive imagination, but not that time. In the years since, I’ve visited Cripple Creek on numerous occasions, to explore old buildings and mining shacks. My husband and I drive up Hwy 67 to enjoy the turning of the Aspens in autumn, but I haven’t set foot in the Imperial Hotel since that night.

 

 

Looking for fun Halloween Reads? A Witch’s Journey Series are full of meddling ghosts, shapeshifters, sexy witch, a ruggedly-handsome Navy SEAL. Exciting stories of paranormal romance, redemption, wildlife rescue, time travel, and Halloween festivals. Available at Amazon.com, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.  And I let you in on a little secret., the entire series are available in audiobooks.   You may want to grab them all.

If vampires, werewolves, faeries, shapeshifters are you thing.  You are going to want to check out A Demon’s WItch Series!  Great Halloween Reads or for every other day of the year!

Well, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to don my vampire costume, custom fitted fangs and pull up a stool in the shadows. With a candy cauldron beside me, I sneakily turn on the fog machine. Out of the mist, I’ll greet the little trick or treaters or scare the bejeebers out of the older ones with bats hanging over head and screeching on my command. Won’t you join me? Social DIstancing of course with mask. Happy Halloween!  Happy Haunting! Bawahahaha

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed Toil and Trouble’s search for the Halloween Spirit and a bit of Halloween trivia, along with a snippet of my Spooktacular books. Happy Halloween!

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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged A Witch's Holiday Wedding, A Witch's Journey, Chocolate Raspberry Magic, Halloween, Hidden Gypsy Magic, Paranormal Romance/Mystery, Search for Halloween Spirit, Tena Stetler, Time travel, Witches by Tena Stetler with 8 comments.