My favorite holiday is now upon us, so I'd like to share some tips on how to get information that will help you enhance your halloween by surfing the internet. The internet is a great resource for fun topics such as halloween, so here's some sites to visit which will make your halloween a fun and happy one.
Halloween means youngsters will be out "trick or treating", so check out the "Halloween Safety Tips" made available as a public service by Childquest, a non profit organization that works to help missing children. You can find thier tips on the internet at "http://www.childquest.org/child_quest/safety/halloween_tips.html". Practicing these simple rules can mean a safer and happier halloween for families with small children.
For adults, a very cool, yet much more ghoulish site to check out in preparation for this haunted holiday is http://www.halloween.com, which is a well designed clearing house of information on all things ghoulish and scary that relate to Halloween. One link there which caught my eye as being particulary macabre was the link to cemetary homepages.
Anyone wanting to make their own halloween homepage should check by Kevin Greggain's Night Gallery, a site devoted to ghoulish images and graphics, which are royalty free for use in web design. The author does ask that you give him credit on your page, with a corresponding link back to his site. The Night Gallery can be found at "http://www.netbanner/nightgallery". One warning, this site is graphic intensive, and should be used with fast modem connections (28.8kbps+) only. Accompanying spooky sound effects can be found at "http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~cstrick/halloween/sounds.html".
If you're still trying to come up with a costume idea for this weekends halloween parties, check out "http://www.electricjester.com/politics/charact.htm", which is a humourous look at the driving politics behing choosing the proper halloween character. Another site with a much more complete list of costume ideas, most of which can be made cheaply with regular household items, can be found at "http://home.rmci.net/ajbau/hallowee.htm"
And of course what halloween party would be complete without some halloween treats. Party dishes such as Skeleton Bread, Mystery Punch, and Vomit Dip can be found at "http://gourmetconnection.com/ezine/recipepage/10-20-96.shtml ".
Those who are curious about the pagan rituals which have evolved into today's modern holiday can check out "The Origins of Halloween" a FAQ (frequently asked questions) list found at "http://aztec.lib.utk.edu/~michie/hallorig.html", which examines the ancient Celtic ritual of Samhain and displaces halloween myth with well research facts. This site contains the answer to the age old halloween question "What about human sacrifice?" To find out about authentic Samhain rituals, check out "http://www.madstone.com/samhainritual.html", which is an online article by Joanne Keesey, a Witch who specializes in British and Celtic folklore.
A more modern day artifact of halloween is the Jack-O-Lantern. Get great tips for carving, learn about the history of the Jack-O-Lantern, get lots and lots of free patterns, and even order customized tools for carving your pumpkin at "http://www.jack-o-lantern.com".
No Halloween would be complete without witches, (the real ones, not the ugly pimply witches so famous from hollywood movies), and the internet is a good resource for witch and pagan related material. A good place to begin is the "Witch FAQ" at "http://www.cog.org/wicca/faq.html". Get a good history of the Salem witches at "http://www.ida.net/users/dhanco/witch2.htm", whis is an online version of "The Witches at Salem by Dick Eastman - 1692". Find out about witch prejudice and other issues directly from witches at the Witches' League for Public Awareness website at "http://www.celticcrow.com". When you're ready, chat online with other people interested in witches at "http://members.aol.com/deamonchd/chatintro.html". This site require your browser to support Java, so the latest version of Netscape or Internet Explorer are recommended.
These and other Internet resources can help make your Halloween more fun and spooky. Search the internet for much more on your favorite Halloween topic.