Month: July 2019

For Your Condsideration

 

A Macabre Tale by the wonderful Tom Waits for your edification and inspiration

 

 

 

What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building in there?
He has subscriptions to those magazines
He never waves when he goes by
He’s hiding something from the rest of us
He’s all to himself; I think I know why…
He took down the tire swing from the Peppertree
He has no children of his own, you see
He has no dog
And he has no friends and his lawn is dying
And what about all those packages he sends?
What’s he building in there?
With that hook light on the stairs
What’s he building in there?
I’ll tell you one thing: he’s not building a playhouse for the children
What’s he building in there?

Now what’s that sound from underneath the door?
He’s pounding nails into a hardwood floor
And I swear to God I heard someone moaning low
And I keep seeing the blue light of a T.V. show
He has a router and a table saw
And you won’t believe what Mr. Sticha saw
There’s poison underneath the sink, of course
But there’s also enough formaldehyde to choke a horse
What’s he building in there?
What the hell is he building in there?
I heard he has an ex-wife
In some place called Mayors Income, Tennessee
And he used to have a consulting business in Indonesia
But what’s he building in there?

A Little Danse

animar64's avatarAt The Crossroads

Inspired by the Danse Macabre Prompt: Cemetery Exploring With Akari 

Photo A.M. Moscoso

One year, just a few days before Halloween I took a tour of some local haunted sights and I even visited a graveyard.

It was nightfall by the time we got to the remains of the cemetery- and I call it the remains because some graves and most of the headstones had been moved.

Apparently the cemetery had fallen into disrepair, it wasn’t being cared for and it had been over run by blackberry and sticker bushes- from what I understand some of the headstones had been stolen and vandalized too.

But then the community rallied and some changes were made.

I’m sure the process of cleaning the area up was done correctly and with the dignity required because this cemetery is located in a part of town where gentrification is taking place and nothing spells decorum and…

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Visiting The Other Room – A Writing Prompt

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.” – Helen Keller

“Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room”. – Henry Scott Holland

Find a place where you will not be disturbed.

Sit comfortably

Take three deep breaths to calm yourself.

Close your eyes.

Feel your body relaxing from the centre of your being outward, through your chest, through your arms to your hands, up to your back, through your neck and jaw. Relax your face, relax your eyes. Let the relaxation radiate through your pelvis and down your legs until it reaches the very tips of your toes.

Now that you are relaxed imagine you see a doorway in front of you. Move through that doorway into another room. The room is pleasant and open. At the other end of the room is something sitting, waiting patiently. Take three deep breaths and as you breathe begin to wiggle your toes and your fingers. Take note of all the sounds and sights in the room around you.

When you are ready to write start your timer and write freely for twenty minutes.

Now alter your perspective and write as though it was someone else who entered the room.

Kutna Hora Bone Church

Kutná Hora is known for the curious “Bone Church” or Ossuary (in Czech Kostnice). It is located in the suburb of Sedlec. The Ossuary is in the underground chapel of the Church of All Saints. It contains the bones of about 40,000 people who died of the plague in 1318 and during the Hussite wars in the 15th century. They were originally buried at the church cemetery. When the cemetery was closed at the end of the 15th century, the exhumed bones were transferred to the chapel and compiled into pyramids. In 1870, František Rint of Česká Skalice arranged the bones and skulls into creative decorations that include bells, the Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms, and a chandelier.

Featured on countless travel lists and videos online, Sedlec Ossuary’s reputation had preceded it. I mean how often do you get to see a chandelier made of bones? If you’re the kind of person who likes the spooky, bizarre or macabre things in life then Kutna Hora Bone Church will not disappoint. I know that the day trip to the Bohemian town was certainly a highlight of my trip to the Czech Republic.

Cemetery Exploring With Akari

Many years ago my late husband and I hopped from one National Trust Garden to another in the United Kingdom because our Australia National Trust membership gave us free access. Cemetery hopping not only introduces you to many well-manicured, serene spaces and can provide a focus for the traveller who does not want to follow the most popular tourist routes.

Heather Blakey's avatarWhile Waiting For Godot

Workers and players have earned their repose.
Soon on their names all in vain we shall call,
For even the grandest old landmarks must fall.
Just a warm hand-clasp ere one disappears—
These are the last of the old pioneers.
John Sandes

Turn off the Castlemaine to Maldon road onto the gravel Sandy Creek road and follow the old Cobb & Co route, past the old hotel, where they stopped for a break and drive on  towards Welshman’s Reef through Box-ironbark country.

Welshmans Reef is a former gold mining town 15 km west of Castlemaine and 110 km north-west of Melbourne. The name presumably came about from a Welshman discovering the gold-bearing reef: there were numerous Welsh and Methodist settlers at neighbouring townships such as Fryerstown and Vaughan.

West of Welshmans Reef there were the Loddon flats, which enabled miners to diversify into farming. A school was opened in…

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Art Installation With a Difference

Visitors to the bone church often describe it as macabre, eerie or creepy and I once asked the lady at the desk if she ever felt bothered to be working there. She flipped her hand in a dismissive way and said “Pfft! They’re only bones, they won’t hurt you; it’s the living who scare me”.

Like the lady at the desk in the bone church in Kutna Hora I did not find the art installation there creepy, macabre or eerie. It was actually very beautiful.

Likewise, I do not find the concept of hanging coffins creepy or macabre. Located 275 km. north of Manila, Sagada is famous for the “hanging coffins”, examples of which are shown here. This was a traditional way of burying people that is not in use anymore. Forebears of current residents practised the unusual burial practice of hanging and stacking coffins, hewed from tree trunks, in the limestone karst cliffs and caves near town. If I ever make it to the Philippines this will be on my checklist of things to see.

However, to be really frank, it will be hard for me to match the awe I experienced when I visited the Bone Chapel in Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic. My personal favourite was the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family, especially the segment depicting a raven picking the eye from an invading soldier. If you’re going to depict a raven eating somebody’s eye, what more appropriate medium could there be?

Seek out and share examples of what could be deemed installation art. Here are some examples of things to be found in Victoria.

Installation Honoring Ancestors

Headstone Back Stories

 

Captain Patrick Alexander A Native of Scotland who after sailing the stormy seas for nineteen years emigrated with his wife and family to Australia 1830. There ended his life voyages peacefully. Also, his son Oliver born October 4th 1847 Died April 5th 1851 Aged 4 years.

I have been back, wandering around old rural cemeteries seeking inspiration! These headstones provide character, the hint of a plot and a back story to explore. I will be back with interested writers seeking inspiration.

Summoning Representatives to Dance with Death

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.laborer

The Danse Macabre consists of the dead or a personification of death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave typically with a pope, emperor, king, child and labourer. It was produced as memento mori to remain people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. Its origins date back to the 14th century.

A small group of residents from Bancroft Manor have decided to head out on tour and, amongst other things explore cemeteries, picnic by gravesides, talk to the dead and document the life experience of some of the residents of these peaceful places.

In short, we will go where death chooses to take us.

If, as a writer or artist you sometimes feel that you are talking to the void you may be interested in joining us at Bancroft Manor. There is a one-off, inexpensive joining fee. This gives you access to the Bancroft Manor Facebook Group where prompts and creative stimuli are regularly provided and you share with likeminded. It also qualifies you to post on associated blogs.

In case you are wondering what you can offer! Perhaps you enjoy researching and sourcing macabre news! Maybe you are a photographer who loves to photograph cemeteries and abandoned places. It is possible that you love the whole crime genre or love to dabble in dark subjects. Be assured that there is a place for people of very diverse interest here.