Halloween in Virginia

Folks hereabouts take Halloween seriously, huh?  I know a couple of horses in Texas that could sure use a spare bale of hay...  We found this castle on Snakepath Road (I think) on our way to Patrick Henry's Red Hill estate.  The road twists and turns just like it's namesake.  Lil' Miss GPS found it for us as the quickest way to Red Hill.  The roads here seem to always have cool names.

Halloween decorations are going up everywhere.  The offerings in all of the retail stores are pretty cool.  One of the things about living out on the farm, though, is that we don't get a lot of trick or treaters, here or in Texas.  Hmmm.  I guess no one gets many door to door spooks anymore.  If parents aren't afraid of the candy, they're afraid of the real ghouls that walk the streets with the children.  That's okay; churches do a lot of "trunk or treat," and television has some pretty good children's programs like Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin."

One of my favorite really scary stories was Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow."  That's Sleepy Hollow, New York.  I thought it was totally original, but apparently it's a legend found in many countries around the world.  Irving's story is probably the newest one created.  One of the ick-iest is Ireland's Dullahan.  It's so bad I don't even want to recount it for you here.  If you're into awful stories, look it up yourself.

Virginia has suffered from a drought this year almost as bad as Texas.  I've seen fields of corn, fields of watermelons, fields of pumpkins just dried up, and the harvest is slight.  Interestingly, the tobacco seemed gloriously healthy - drought or no drought.  Maybe that's why Virginians made it their money crop!

So, Halloween in Virginia doesn't seem much different that Halloween elsewhere in America.  Lots of kids, lots of candy, lots of relief that summer is over, the harvest is in, and there is time free to sit around the fireplace and tell spooky stories.