Really Scary Side of Halloween

With Halloween just days away, folks are gearing up for the special holiday by  stocking up on candy for trick-or-treaters, putting the final touches on their costumes, and finally cutting into their pumpkins transforming them in to Jack-o-lanterns. Halloween time is in full swing and the excitement can be felt everywhere you turn. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. A celebration that is inclusive of everyone, regardless of religion or economic standing, Halloween has become a day celebrating imagination, fun, and allowing yourself to splurge a little on goodies.

Although the most popular way of celebrating the modern day Halloween holiday is how I previously discussed it, but we sometimes forget the dark routes that Halloween is engrained. Halloween dates back to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which was a festival marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of the extremely cold and deadly Winter. It was believed that during the festival, the dead would return to Earth to help the Celtic Priests foresee the future of the harsh Winter months. You have probably heard of Halloween referred to as All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day or all Souls Day. This was the Catholic spin on the Samhain Festival created in 609 AD. Celebrated much like the Celtic festival, it was said that on All Hallows Eve there was a blur between life and death and the dead would return to Earth.

Although today we do not celebrate Halloween the way the Celts and Catholics did in the past, there are still some people that enjoy Halloween for the darker side of it. Louisville is filled with real life haunted houses and urban legends that keep ghost hunters and those interested in the paranormal busy all Halloween night. In all my research looking in to haunted places in Louisville, I've found many places that you can explore if you are interested and you don’t have to go too far.

Cave Hill Cemetery and Eastern Cemetery are just a short drive away in the Highlands and worth checking out if you want to see a truly Haunted graveyard. Witnesses at Cave Hill have reported green lights, sounds of falling graves and odd noises. It is reported that the sounds can be heard miles away from the back gate. Eastern Cemetery is adjacent to Cave Hill Cemetery and is an abandoned graveyard that is in terrible condition. It is said that the ghosts of the buried haunt the cemetery upset at it’s condition. It is also said that the ghost of a woman can be seen taking care of the babies buried in their own section of the cemetery.

If you don’t feel like committing to a graveyard to go ghost hunting, but want to ease in to paranormal activity, there are a couple places that you could go to get a drink that are said to be haunted. Joe’s Older Than Dirt in Lyndon opened in 1937 and has had many regulars over the years pass away. The staff claims that late at night chairs and voices can be heard along with visions of white apparitions. Spring Street Bar and Grille is another bar and restaurant that has been around for a while and whose staff claims it is haunted. It is said that the ghost of a man lives on the second floor. Late at night when things are quiet the staff can hear footsteps upstairs and when they go to the second floor their hair stands on top of their head.

If you are interested in these stories there are several more just like them. I encourage you to do some research of your own and do some ghost hunting too! Halloween is all about fun, imagination, and adventure, so embrace whatever that means to you and have a great Halloween!