The Old Ways (Part 2)

“Did you do a sacrifice Pop Pop?” Mavis asked

“I did.” Grandpa nodded his head sharply. “When I was a younger man.”

“What did you sacrifice Pop?” Billy asks.

Grandpa looks around again. What he was about to say, well, it just wouldn’t go over well with Lauren. No sir, it would right piss her off. But she was still doing dishes, paying them no mind.

“Oh, rabbits, pigs, occasionally a cat or dog.”

“Not a cat Pop Pop!” Mavis sang out.

He looked at the sadness in the little girl's eyes, she looked near to tears.

“No darling, Pop Pop was just kidding with you. We mostly sacrificed corn, wheat and crops we grew.” That calmed down Mavis but a look at Billy’s eyes showed he didn’t believe his Pop Pop. Smart boy. “But you understand, this was a long time ago, and we had to make Calliagh happy.”

“Are you kids ready for bed?” She asked. “Tomorrow is Halloween and you don’t want to be tired. You got trick or treats tomorrow night.”

“I’m ready Momma.” Mavis said. “Pop Pop is scaring me anyway.”

“What did he do darling?” Lauren asks.

“Oh I was telling her about the old Halloween days, and I guess I got a little too into it.” Grandpa laughs. “You go on to bed little girl.” He leans over and kisses her on the head. “Pop Pop loves you.”

Billy turns to his mother with pleading eyes.

“Can I stay up just a little longer momma?” He says. “I like Pop Pop’s stories.”

Lauren looks him in the eyes. He mouths “Please” at her.

“Just a little while darling, and Pop Pop will walk him to his bedroom.” Grandpa says. 

“Okay, just don’t be too late.” Lauren says.

“Cross my heart.” Grandpa crosses over his chest, followed quickly by Billy.  Lauren hugs her father, and kisses Billy on the cheek, before she ushers Mavis out of the living room and up the stairs to bed. Grandpa watches them exit the room, and once gone, he turns back to Billy.

His grandson is looking at him. Billy wears a weird stare, his eyes almost accusing his grandfather of being a liar.

“You’re a liar.” he finally says.

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“You didn’t sacrifice corn. You really did kill animals didn’t you?” 

“Yes Billy, I really did sacrifice animals, of all kinds.” Pop Pop says. “Now to start off, we really did sacrifice what we had grown. When I was a small boy my father would bundle up a large amount of our crops, and burn it in our fields. But just like in the good book, Calliagh didn’t care much for stuff born of the ground. No, she wanted life.”

“So we would sacrifice a pig, or a calf, or chickens, whatever we had, we would share with Calliagh. We learned, eventually, that special kinds of life meant more to her.”

“Human life.” Billy said and his Pop Pop grinned.

“That’s right, human life.”

Pop Pop sat silently for a few minutes, letting it sink in. He thought the boy might run upstairs, or scream, or some combination of the two. But he just sat there, staring at his grandfather, letting the information sink in, letting it roll around in his brain.

“It sounds like a bad thing to do Pop Pop, killing somebody.”

“It wasn’t a good thing Billy, but it was good to do. Because it brought a mild winter, and a good harvest the next year.” he said.

“Did you sacrifice someone?” Billy finally asks.

Pop Pop sits quietly for a few seconds. He could lie to the boy, but hadn’t he already gone too far? It was Halloween and maybe a well constructed lie would be enough, enough to let the child go to sleep, have his nightmares and wake up with a clean mind. That’s what he would do. He would set his mind to rest.

“Yes.” except he didn’t. He wanted his grandchild to know the truth, whatever he might think of him, no matter the consequences.

“Who? Who did you sacrifice?” Billy demanded to know.

“It wasn’t just one Billy.” Pop Pop said. “And I know what you’re getting at but, let me explain.

He shifted his weight on the couch, getting comfortable for what he’s about to tell the child.

“When your Pop Pop was a young man, about your age, maybe a bit younger, my parents sacrificed my sister, Lettie. I watched them kill her, and hang her up. Now don’t get me wrong. I love my sister, loved her to death. But she was given to Calliagh, and the winters were mild, and our crops flourished.”

“The year after that, I made my first sacrifice. Your friend, Tommy, Tommy Joiner. His grandad raised horses. He had given up the old ways, and had lost his faith. On Halloween night I sat his barn on fire. Most of the horses got out, but three of them burned up. Locals thought it was just a bad trick or treat, but it was a gift to Calliagh.”

“My dad, he knew. He saw my sooty clothes that smelled of fire. I woke up with him staring at me, and I expected to get my ass tanned. But he just hugged me. He said my sacrifice wasn’t perfect, but it was good and Calliagh was pleased.”

“The next Halloween, I hit little Nancy Horner on the head with a rock, then held her head under water while she drowned. I was all fit to be a trick or treater in my skeleton mask my mamma had made me. That mask was the last thing Nancy saw as I pushed her under. The winter was short that year. For the next five years, I sacrificed someone every Halloween if I could, and I could more than I couldn’t.”

“When I turned seventeen years old I married up with your grandma.” Pop Pop wiped away a tear. “I tell you boy, I loved that woman, as much as life itself. I gave up the old ways, just like most other people in the valley. I went clean as the kids today say.”

“We did okay for a while. We never had an abundance, but we had enough. Then we had a baby girl. She would have been your Aunt Rutha. She was a beautiful girl, and me and your grandma loved her. Calliagh however, she wasn’t done with us, and she wanted her sacrifice.”

“When harvest came the next year, your grandma, she got sick. A cough that wouldn’t go away, and started to come with blood.  The doctor’s couldn’t say what was wrong with her, but I knew she wouldn’t last long, and I’d be stuck trying to raise my little girl on my own.”

“Then the night before Halloween, I had a dream. Calliagh came to me. She said I could make sacrifices to her, or she would take her own sacrifice. The next night I took Rutha, and slit that baby's neck wide open and burned her corpse. Your grandma stopped coughing that very day. I fell back into the old ways, and I stayed there.”

“I took strangers, friends, townsfolk and whoever I could come across. Some years I took no one, and the winters were long. Ten years later, after two years of long, cold winters, when the crops failed, I pushed your Uncle Terry into a threshing machine. The winter was short, but your grandma. She couldn’t get over losing her oldest. She took to her bed and never came out. I turned away from the old ways again.”

“So you stopped killing people when Grandma died?” Billy asked.

“I did.”

“And you never sacrifice again? Never killed anyone else.” Billy asked. 

Pop Pop was afraid of where this was going. Afraid Billy was going to ask the question. He could lie, but this time, definitely, he had gone too far, and by damn the boy deserved to know the truth.

“Pop Pop?” He stared at him.

“Go ahead Billy. Ask me if you’re going too.”

“Did you do it? Did you sacrifice my daddy?”

The Old Ways part 1

  “Halloween was different when I was a boy,” Grandpa said as he sat looking out the living room window at the fields of pumpkins. “It was about the holiday, ghosts, goblins. Now it's all just tits and ass.”

“Dad!” Mrs. Murphy admonished her father from the kitchen when she heard his vulgarities. She shook her head at him and continued cleaning off the table after the family dinner.

“Well.” He turned to her, with a slight redness of anger in his voice. “It’s true. Tits and ass and all the girls acting like sluts.” He turned back to the window, just as a young girl, who couldn’t be more than eighteen ran by, in a low cut top, cleavage bouncing. “All tits and ass.”

“Dad, there are children in the room with you. Hate on Halloween all you like, but please, watch your language.”

Grandpa looked over at his two grandchildren, Billy and Mavis, sitting together and pretending not to hear their grandpa and mother argue. Both of them glued to the television watching the Charlie Brown special on DVD. 

“Children, grandpa is sorry for saying those bad words in front of you.” He says slyly, with a downturned head and only a hint of a condescending smile.

Billy turned to face his grandfather, “it’s ok Pop Pop. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Good boy Billy,” His mother said.

“I promise from now on it’s boobs and butts, no more tits and ass” Billy cracks and laughs out loud, which starts Mavis laughing.

“DAD!”

“Calm down. I’m just joshing sweetheart.” He looks at Billy and winks.

Mom walks into the living area, drying her hands on a kitchen towel as she walks toward her father. She grabs him around the shoulder and plants a kiss on his balding head.

“I know you are dad, but the world they are growing up in is so bad. I just want them to come home and be in a safe place, away from all the evil in the world.

“I know darling.” he looks up at her and sighs. “I’ll watch my dirty old Irish mouth. I just get so tired of this modern trash.”

“I know daddy. Just try, that’s all I ask.”

Mom turns and walks back into the kitchen, and out of grandpa’s sight. He watches her go and keeps his eyes on the doorway that opens into the kitchen. Soon the sound of rattling dishes comes to their ears.

Grandpa eases himself out of his chair, steadying himself on his cane. Once up he walks slowly over to the couch where Billy and Mavis sit watching cartoons. The two kids are huddled together, and grandpa waves his hands.

“Scoot over and let Grandpa sit between his little buddies.” The two kids separate and grandpa slowly lowers himself onto the old living room couch. “What are you watching?

“Charlie Brown” Mavis says without taking her eyes off the TV.

“Ahh good. An old fashioned Halloween show.” He smiles. “Halloween was different when I was a child.” He raises a boney finger and points at the screen. “It was more like that.”

“Not boobs and butts.” Billy giggled and grandpa shushed him, then grinned at him.

“Not at all. It was about the holiday, about the season. It was about Halloween.” Grandpa’s eyes took on a somber, far away look. “I miss those days.”

“So what was Halloween like when you were a kid?” Billy asked.

“Oh it was wonderful. All the kids in costumes, homemade costumes mostly, although some of the fancier kids had store bought. The kids whose parents had more money.” Grandpa said. “It was all about the changing season, the harvest and the coming of winter.”

“No spooky stuff?” Mavis asked, turning toward her grandfather.

“Well, of course there was spooky stuff.” Grandpa said. “The changing of seasons is spooky on its own. Night comes earlier, and lasts longer. The air is colder, and if your harvest failed it could be a very long, hungry winter. Folks used to die over a bad winter back then.”

“Really?” Billy asked.

“Sure enough. You had to prepare. You had to get ready for the winter back then. Now you just turn the heat up, and warm your car up before you go to the grocery store. Back then you had to get ready, and that’s what Halloween was, time to get ready.

“Like shelling peas, and making jam.” Mavis had gotten interested in the story.

“Yes, and other things. It’s more than just putting up food.” Grandpa looked back at the kitchen, plates still clattered. “You see kids, back then a lot of us didn’t even call it Halloween. To quite a few of us, the holiday was called Samhain.”

“Saw wane?” Billy asked.

“Close enough. Samhain was different from Halloween.”

“No boobs and butts.” Billy grinned.

“No.” Grandpa smiled at his grandchild. “Not at all. Samhain was a time to pray, to pray for a short, mild winter. A time to pray for the food supplies to last, and pray that spring comes early. It was Halloween without all the malarkey.”

“That doesn't seem much like Halloween.”  Mavis said.

“No, not really, but Halloween developed from Samhain, and what we did on that night.”

“So what about wearing masks, and getting candy, the whole trick or treat?” Mavis asked.

Remember, summer was gone, and fall was fading, the world was getting dark. A lot of folks believed that the dead walked the earth during Samhain. So people would wear masks, so if they ran into a ghost, or worse, a demon, they wouldn’t get recognized.” Grandpa shifted his weight and continued. “So now, the people believed that demons and ghosts were around, and all these people were wearing masks, pretending to be demons. So what do you think happened?”

Mavis shrugged but Billy thought just a second, smiled and shouted. “They started playing tricks on people!”

“That’s right. They would run up to people’s doors and yell, TRICK OR TREAT, and well people gave them stuff. They gave them clothes, food, and money, because otherwise they got the trick.” Grandpa looked at Billy. “Do you know what the tricks were?”

Billy shook his head.

“Well depending on who you were, it could get pretty bad. If you were a mean person, the kids might let your horses loose in the night, or break out your windows. If you were ok, then maybe they would just throw mud on your windows. Maybe put some cow shit on your porch.”

“So that, over the years, changed into trick or treating. Where little kids go and beg for candy. Or they used to, now it’s just…’

“Tits and ass!” Billy volunteered. Grandpa held up a finger to shush him, but with the other hand he ruffled his hair. Billy was a good little boy, he was grandpa’s little boy.”

“Like Grandpa said, times were different then. We had to make deals with the gods so winter would be short.”

“Gods?” Mavis asked, “Like Jesus and the Holy Ghost? Pastor Williams says they are the same thing.”

“Well Pastor Williams is a retard.”

“Grandpa!” Millie exclaimed when she heard the “R” word.

“Ok, let's say he's special, and stupid.” Billy giggled again. “No Christmas and Easter are for Jesus, and his daddy, and now so is Halloween. Kind of anyway. But Samhain, oh no, Samhain was for Calliagh.”

“What?” Billy and Mavis asked in tandem.

“The Calliagh, the hag. She’s the goddess of winter, the goddess of death.” Grandpa said.  “We prayed to her to shorten her season, to end the winter and bring a new spring. A time for planting and growing after the time of death.”

“And when the winter dragged on, when it got really cold, we had to trade with her.” Grandpa stopped to look back in the kitchen. Lauren wouldn’t like him talking like this to the little ones.  Seeing no one coming from the kitchen he turns back to the kids, to hell with Lauren.

“Did that idjit Pastor Williams ever tell you kids about a sacrifice?” 

“Yes sir Pop Pop. He said the Israelis did a sacrifice to God to show they loved him.” Billy said.

“That’s right, they did, for a long time.” Grandpa nodded. “ Then they started thinking they knew as much as God, they thought they knew more, so they stopped making sacrifices.” He reaches over and taps Billy in the center of the forehead. “And that’s why Israel fell to the Arabs. Now my folks, from Ireland, and other places, we didn’t care about showing Calleigh we loved her. We wanted her to know we feared her. And if we feared her, and showed her respect, she might let us have a mild winter.”

“As time went by, fewer and fewer of us offered up a sacrifice. We forgot where we came from, and that’s why the world is so,” He looks around again, “fucked up.”

“Did you do a sacrifice Pop Pop?” Mavis asked

“I did.” Grandpa nodded his head sharply. “When I was a younger man.”

“What did you sacrifice Pop?” Billy asks.

Paros 2019

Pictures from the Greek Island of Paros from my vacation trip last year.

Diabolikdvd blu ray haul and unboxing

June Horror Pack Haul Unboxing

https://youtu.be/ylDm_Uw4uPc

Flying United, real horror

By now, I'm sure most people reading this have seen the video of the man being dragged off a United Airlines seat. If you haven't, it's horrific. The flight was apparently overbooked and the airlines was unable to get four people to volunteer. So they did the modern equivalent of choosing lots and drew four names at random. However one gentleman, reportedly a doctor refused to give up his seat. Security and the police were called, the boarded the planed and basically dragged the man off. The man briefly re-entered the plane, bloody, gripping a wall and chanting "Just let me die".

Early reports just indicated the flight was overbooked, but it looks as if United was actually opening the seats in order to accommodate four United staff members, The video has gone viral, sparking outrage, and a less than half hearted statement from United, with no actual apology for the traumatized paying customer or others on the flight.

I'll start of by saying that airlines do have the right to force people of the plane, for pretty much any reason. However I have never heard of a person being removed, after he was seated, unless he were being unruly, or disruptive. Likewise the police, when asked to remove a person, are in a bit of a bind. You can't sit and negotiate for hours with a plane at the gate. So what do you do? It was a situation that never should have happened, and United should not have let it escalate. You can blame the passenger, the cops and the flight crew, it's easy to say if any of them had responded differently this wouldn't have happened

United did ask for volunteers, offering a reported 800 dollars and a seat on the next plane. The problem is, it wasn't 800 dollars in cash, but in United Cash. Not hard spending money but currency that can only be spent on flights, and comes with a lot of restrictions. And of course the possibility of getting bumped from that flight. Add to that fact the next flight wasn't until 3:30 the next day. Which would entail a hotel room, and another pass through security getting groped, or sleeping in the terminal. That's a really appealing offer isn't it?

And why stop at 800 dollars? If it was that vitally important, why not a even thousand? Cash and a free flight voucher and free hotel. Or maybe they could have bought the crew tickets on a competing airline? Or rented a van and a driver? Or simply planned better?

Probably the worst mistake that United made was allowing the plane to fully board without having the volunteers. How much different the story might have been if four people were randomly selected and simply not allowed to board? Yeah, it's still a shitty deal, but the situation would be so much easier to control at the gate, versus on a crowded airplane. United is extremely lucky no other passengers, as far as we know, were injured.

This is a problem that was bound to happen. Ever since 911, we have given up more and more rights for the privilege of flying. While it might not be the root problem of this issue it definitely contributed. When yous step into an airport you become less than a person. You're  potential threat. That's why you can be searched, screened, poked, and groped, all without suspicion, cause or warrant.  That's why a 69 year old man was accosted by aggressive security for not giving up his seat.


The flight crew, and pilot pretty much have carte blanche to remove anyone from the plane, for any, or no reason. But they need to exercise it judicially, not just because a flight crew needs to be somewhere else. Although I have a feeling this might not have been wholly a decision by the flight crew, but by their supervision. But the call was made, the passenger, perhaps unwisely refused to give up his seat. The flight crew chose, or were ordered to escalate by calling security. That's when the fear if terrorism and America's growing police state collided in a near perfect storm. The passenger had to be removed, no negotiation, and you don't defy the police, or airport security. Comply or die.


But in the end, the fault lies with United. Doing some research for this article I found that United involuntarily bumps 3,000-4,000 passengers a year. I couldn't find direct comparison numbers from other airlines but I did find that Delta bumps an average of 3 out of 100,000 passengers involuntarily. In five years, ending in 2016 42,500 passengers were bumped involuntarily from United. (source the Boston Globe and federal statistics). American bumps an average of 5 per 100,000. Where is United? They average bumping 11 out of 100, 000.  (source PBS.org)Almost twice the number of the other two airline giants combined. Don't get me wrong, over booking happens at all airlines, and at times it can't be helped. But it's clear United has a problem. Keep in mind there are involuntary bumps. Not the ones where passengers accept a coupon or cash to delay their flight.

I understand why the airlines over book. People cancel, canceled seats are lost revenue. Or are they. Have you tried to get a refund if you miss your flight? So if someone cancels, no shows, whatever that's money in the bank (usually there are some situations where a ticket might be refuned), and then that empty seat is resold. SO why oversell?


I sincerity hope this leads to change, not just at United but across the whole airline industry. We have gotten so used to be treated like animals that we come to think we deserve it. Already people are starting to blame the passenger. Because he should have accepted it, he should have blindly obeyed. As if his refusal warranted his treatment.  

Since I started writing this, there have been some positive steps. United has issued an apology, congress may investigate, and there is a bill to make it illegal to force a boarded passenger from his seat, in order for someone else to have a seat. United has also reported refunded all passengers on the flight their ticket price. Small steps, but positive ones.

One last update, the doctor in question is, according to several reports a convicted felon. But does that matter? Did the crew know this beforehand? And if so, do we really want airline crews passing moral judgement on citizens? It also has come to light that United may have violated the wording of their own Contract of Carriage more than once in forcing him off. But this is a long post already, so I'm ending it here. I may do a update if I feel it's needed.

Thank you Sandahl Bergman

Man it was a long time ago. Maybe the early 80s? Yeah that sounds right so let's go with it. It was the wary 80s, I was maybe 13 or 14, give or take. Whatever my actual age, I was young, physically and emotionally. I was a shy kid anyway, from a small school, in a small town.

I was lucky enough to have a television in my bedroom at home, so I had some freedom to watch television without parental permission or scrutiny. That liberty comes with the caveat that there was no cable, so no late night skinimax or HBO. No, I was stuck with the three networks and PBS. The most risque thing I could normally hope to catch was the Celebrity Battle of the Network Stars. Until that night when I found All That Jazz.

Now while I was a definite TV addict, I was not really one for musicals. I grew up watching late night horror movies with my dad. As a young kid I also enjoyed a cowboy flick, and eventually became a fan of those guest star studded series like The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Basically I'm trying to say I don’t know how I ended up even giving All That Jazz a chance. But flipping channels I came across it and lingered a bit. With only having a handful of selections maybe I flipped around a few times before either I settled on it. But whatever happened I ended up watching it long enough.

You may know where this is going. Yeah eventually the movie got around to THAT scene. Airotica, a very sexualized dance scene featuring maybe a dozen dancers of both sexes. Now if you haven't seen it, it's hot. It starts out sensual and gets hotter, ended with quite a bit of nudity.

Sandahl Bergman and me at Pensacon

Remember now, this was before streaming media, before internet porn, basic cable (at least where I lived) and you just didn't see nudity on the TV. It was a time when VCR’s were still expensive and some what rare. To say I was in shock would be an understatement.. It was a very happy exuberant shock, but still shock. There in front of my eyes, in my very bedroom, on my television were several sexy, mostly naked dancing women, and one of them was a goddess.

That goddess, blonde, statuesque, and beautiful, dancing in nothing more than heels and a thong was Sandahl Bergman. She made an impression, an impression I have yet, and probably never will forget. Enough of an impression that I was able to find out her name. Which was a bit of a feat back in the dark days before Wikipedia and IMDB. Maybe I didn’t know who she was until I saw her in Conan the Barbarian a few years later, but I think I knew her before then. Who knows the memory becomes a bit tricky after 30 years.

The point is she made an impression. She is the first woman I can remember seeing naked. Now I know she wasn't the first. I vaguely remember a school mate bring a worn and wrinkled girly magazine to school once. There was a naked woman but that's about all I can tell you about that experience. This was different. This was a woman who was moving, walking, dancing, shaking her long mane of blonde hair.

It was a fairly short dance scene, but it seemed to last forever. I was glued to every movement by Sandahl and the other dancers. It was my first real taste of growing up. I followed Sandal's career though Conan, Hell Comes to Frogtown, Red Sonja and other films before finally, I let her slide toward the back of my mind. She didn't seem to be making as many high profile films (If you can call Hell Comes to Frogtown high profile). So she slid to the background, but I never totally forgot her.

Now I'm older, a little more experienced and a lot more jaded and world weary. I can still remember All That Jazz though. I still remember Sandahl Bergman. That's why I was so incredibly excited when she was announced as a guest at Pensacon's 2017 convention. I finally get to meet that golden haired goddess who stole into my room that night. On Feb 18^th, 2017 I did just that.

I was nervous which says a lot. Over the last ten years, I have met a lot of celebrities. I have met them at conventions, interviewed them in person and over Skype and hung out in bars with them. I don't get excited or nervous very often, but this time I did. I had decided to tell her this story, but now I was getting cold feet.

Autographed photo of Sandahl Bergman as Valeria

Would she find the story perverted? Would I look perverted telling it? Would I stutter or drool. OK I think I did stutter a little, but I got it out. She laughed, grabbed my hand and told me what an awesome story it was. Readers of this article may disagree, but Sandahl liked it and that's all that mattered. We ended up chatting several minutes, before I picked out a nice 8x10 of her as Valeria to sign. I got a photo with her, said goodbye and she thanked me for sharing my story, then I went on my way.

It was just a shirt meeting between a celebrity guest and their fan. Just one of thousands of meetings at Pensacon, which is one of hundreds of conventions, but for me it was a lot more. It was meeting a vision from the past. It was taking a trip back to another time. A time of innocence and beauty, when my whole life lay in front of me. When my parents were still alive and I wasn't as closely acquainted to death as I am today. A time when a golden haired beauty danced on the screen of a small television, lighting up the screen and igniting my heart.

Thank you Sandahl