Just A Halloween Season Meme

Night Sky Photography -- 10-28-2023 -- 2nd Moon & Jupiter Conjunction of October 2023 -- Full Hunter's Moon

Good evening, fellow stargazers!

Tonight here in my corner of South Carolina we were blessed to have clear evening skies for tonight's viewing of the second meeting of our lovely Moon and the planet Jupiter for the month of October.

The first meeting took place on Sunday the 1st of this month when the Moon appeared in the evening sky next to Jupiter -- the largest planet in our Solar System. To see my photos from that evening's conjunction of these heavenly bodies, please check them out HERE.

This evening's conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter takes place during the October Full Moon, also known as the Full Hunters Moon here in North America.

These are the photos I took detailing the Jupiter (as well as its largest moons) and the Full Moon in the evening sky. These include a close-up of the moon's features taken at a lower light setting, a wide-shot of how the Moon and Jupiter appear, as well as two close-ups that detail the Moon and Jupiter with its moons easily visible in a line with my backyard tree in the foreground.

These will be the last night sky photographs for this month as I will be enjoying the rest of October with my yearly tradition of monster and horror films in the days leading up to Halloween. But we're not done with Jupiter yet as soon the planet will be its closest to our Earth as it nears it opposition -- the moment each year when Earth is between the Sun and Jupiter in our smaller orbit.

Night Sky Photography -- 10-17/18-2023 -- The Winter Triangle Stars & Constellations In The Early Morning

Greetings fellow stargazers!

As we move past the middle of October here in South Carolina, the Winter Circle & Winter Triangle Stars and their constellations begin to return in the early morning sky. 

Over the course of two mornings, Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday the 18th, about 45 minutes hour before sunrise I was able to capture some great shots of the brightest stars of the Winter Triangle constellations: Orion The Hunter, Canis Major, and Canis Minor.

On Tuesday the 17th -- just about 35 minutes, or so, before sunrise -- I captured a really great early morning shot of all the major stars of the Constellation Orion, the bright beautiful star, Sirius (Canis Major), Procyon (Canis Minor), as well as the red giant star, Aldebaran (Taurus The Bull), in my photograph.

On Wednesday the 18th I was able to capture some slightly earlier shots that captured the Winter Triangle stars, and all the major stars of their constellations wonderfully. The Winter Triangle connects Orion and his two hunting dogs in the sky dome.

My final photograph is a wide shot showing the major stars of these constellations, along with those of Taurus The Bull, as well as the two major star clusters: The Hyades -- the head of the Bull -- and the Pleiades.

These stars will continue to be early morning stars in autumn for at least the next month, or so, before becoming the prominent evening and nighttime stars of the winter months here in North America once again.

My Creepy Deer Encounter (Yes, You Read That Right!) -- A Tale Of My Existence

Greetings and Salutations, Y'all!

This month here at Southern Fried Common Sense & Stuff we're counting down to my favorite holiday of the year: Halloween.

October is the first full month of the autumn season here in South Carolina -- and pretty much everywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere -- and many people (yours truly included) see this month as one long build-up to Halloween (Oct. 31st) at the end of the month. This means that, in addition to the leaves beginning to fall from the trees, this is the month for pumpkins on the front porch, classic horror movies, and scary ghost stories.

Over the course of my currently 47 years in this world that God has blessed me with, I've had my share of dealings with the unexplained. Things that, for the most part, I cannot rationally write off as a natural phenomenon -- at least what I would personally consider rational, or natural. I've had at least two paranormal encounters (maybe three, though I'm still iffy on that third one) and one really bizarre and creepy encounter one late fall evening with a heard of deer.

Now living here in South Carolina, I've certainly had plenty of encounters with deer over the years. Some pleasant -- like the ones that show up in my back yard every once in awhile to eat the berry bushes -- and some that were unfortunate -- I've accidentally hit at least one with my car, and been riding in a car and been present for two other deer strikes in previous years. Poor things! I've never been a sports hunter, so I've never shot one; nor do I have any real desire to do so.

Once when I was swiming late one summer night with a notable female friend in my late teens, a beautiful doe came out of nowhere and actually walked up to the above ground pool we were in and looked at us curiously for a full minute before strolling off unafraid. That particular event wasn't so much creepy, but it was strange and can probably serve as an interesting story on its own that I'll share another time -- if y'all are interested that is? Please let me know in the comments section below.

This story however, is not so much about a deer, but rather an encounter with a whole herd of them....and what I now believe was the Not Deer -- well, maybe.

The name Not Deer is pretty much self-explanatory: its not a deer, although it often takes the shape and form of one. The Not Deer is the name given to an Appalachian cryptid that some witnesses describe to be some form of shapeshifter: similar to the legends of the Navajo Skin-walkers.

However, unlike a single creature like, oh say, the Skunk Ape (Southern Bigfoot) or the notorious Lee County Lizardman; the Not Deer is often described by witnesses as more of a phenomenon, like the infamous West Virginia Mothman. Although, unlike the Mothman, the Not Deer is not confined to a specific geographic location in the Appalachian mountain and Piedmont plateau regions of the Eastern United States.

There are a number of stories that can be found online on cryptozoology and paranormal websites detailing encounters with some form of this creature. There are also a number of alleged sightings of the Not Deer told on Reddit from people who claim to have witnessed some variation of the cryptid.

It was reading some of these stories a few months ago that triggered a few memories of the story that I'm about to share with y'all for this countdown to Halloween.

Now, I know that some of y'all -- probably most of y'all -- won't believe this story because I'm basically building up to explaining that I encountered what is essentially an urban legend in real life. I expect the same sort of skepticism that one might give to someone who claimed they had a UFO abduction encounter, or some similar tall tale.

Indeed, I'm can't say for certain that what I, and the person I was traveling with at the time, encountered one late November evening was in fact the Not Deer itself. All I can say for certain is that everything I'm about to share here with y'all is the truth as I personally witnessed it.


My Story 

This trip into the bizarre took place on a late Friday evening in late November of 2012 along a mostly deserted section of SC Highway 901 in eastern Chester County, about maybe ten miles from the town of Richburg, somewhere just below the York County line.

I was driving in my car with a female friend at the time -- let's call her Stacie (not her real name) -- that I was seeing at the time. I was taking her home after an evening at the movies in nearby Rock Hill, and were going back to her home. Her housemate at the time was spending the weekend with her boyfriend, so she invited me to stay the night with her and....uh, watch DVDs.

It would be my only actual time doing so I'm sad to say. She was a pretty cool girl, but she ended up going back with the boyfriend she dumped not long afterwards and eventually moved to North Carolina with him about two years later from what I've heard.

After getting off Interstate 77 at exit 73, and a brief stopover at the Flying J Travel Center and Truck Stop for some sodas, gas, and a few other last minute overnight supplies, we continued down Highway 901 (Mt. Holly Road) towards Edgemoor. 

By this time, it was just a few minutes after 11:30 PM EST and I had the music down low so I could hear Stacie talking to me and the slightly misty rain began to turn into a steady drizzle. I cut on my windshield wipers, which needed to be replaced at the time and made a dull squeak on low. It was starting to get cool at night so I had my heat on low.

It was late so there were very few cars on the road at this time of night. I turned on my bright lights just as we passed through Edgemoor. We made a turn past a local cemetery still on 901 (Edgeland Road) and were headed towards the small town of Lando when we came to the area near the bridge at Fishing Creek when I saw them and slowed the car down.

In the road and on both sides just before the bridge was a herd of what looked like about a dozen deer of various sizes. At least four of them were bucks and the rest all does and younger ones.

"Oh wow!" Stacie exclaimed in the passenger seat seeing the animals all gathered together. I brought the car to a stop and started counting the deer. I managed to get up to about 14 different pairs of eyes, when I noticed something that kinda made the hairs on my arms raise up.

Every single one of them had turned their heads to look at the car. At us. A couple were chewing, a few ears flickered, but otherwise they just stood there, looking at us in that unnerving way. Their eyes were reflecting in the bright lights. I cut them down, but that only seemed to make those bright eyes stand out more somehow while making the brown and gray-white creatures themselves appear a bit dimmer.

Suddenly, Stacie let out a scream that made me jump also. She was looking wide-eyed at the passenger side window, where one female deer came out of nowhere seemingly and was looking right at her through the rain-streaked glass.

I actually started to laugh, but that died right in my throat when I looked ahead and saw that one of the large bucks, which had at least 12 points on his wide antlers, stand straight up on his hind legs. He was about a dozen paces from the front of the car and his glowing eyes never wavered.

At first I thought he was just rearing up, but instead he just stood there like that, balanced on his hind legs, as if he could walk to them naturally....then he did. As my squeaky windshield wipers swiped away the rain water, the buck began moving in a jerky walk, taking one step, then two towards the car on those unnatural hind legs. His head twitched to the side and those eyes never blinked. The other deer in the herd never even moved, nor seemed to react to this.

Stacie, poor girl, did. "Oh my gawd!" Stacie screamed out next to me, grabbing my arm tightly. My heart was in my throat. I don't even remember what I was thinking at the time. I was really creeped out, too scared to move.

At that moment, as if on some sort of collective impulse, all of the deer started charging and ran past on either side of my car like a stampede. A few of them bumped the car, making loud thumping noises -- my driver side mirror was knocked out of place by one. I held Stacie and both of us were yelling. 

Behind us, bright headlights appeared and then a large truck angrily honked at us. The deer were gone, including the strange buck. I didn't even notice he'd gone off with the rest of the herd, or maybe dodged off into the woods on the side of the road? Either way, they were all gone. 

Needless to say, I put my car into gear and drove on. Stacie was drinking down some of her soda. She was laughing, but not in a funny way; more in a slightly hysterical way. She was even crying a little. I certainly didn't blame her. I didn't cry, but I was shaking like a leaf. I needed to adjust my mirror, but I felt unable (or unwilling) to lower my window to do so right then.

"Did you see that one?" She asked me. I could only nod, I had no words for what I saw. When I finally did, all I could say was, "Freaky." Not much more needed to be said to describe the ordeal.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at Stacie's place. I checked my car to see if there was any damage done. Aside from a few deer hairs and the mirror that I readjusted -- the only evidence of the encounter -- there were no dents on the car. The hairs would be washed off by morning following the after midnight rainstorms.

I stayed the night. I was planning to anyhow, but neither of us wanted to be alone after what we went through. I certainly didn't feel like driving again till morning and clear skies. After a bit, both of us calmed down and even laughed over the whole thing. An hour later we were both in her bed and found other ways to calm each other down. Neither of us talked about it and the rain outside helped us both drift off. Thankfully neither of us had nightmares about it -- at least not then.

About a month afterwards, I did have a dream about that night where I did decide to roll my window down and adjust my crooked mirror....only to have the large deer jump out of the shadowed woods bordering the road and bite down hard on my forearm! I woke up and screamed....it was the last real night terror I'd had in years.

People in rural areas who drive at night know the dangers of encountering wildlife crossing the road in front of their vehicles. Encountering a herd of deer at night in the rain just standing in the road with their eyes reflecting in the headlights would be eerie enough on its own, especially late at night. But the strange behavior of that one buck and the sound of the herd rushing past my car still gives me the shakes when I dwell on the memory.

I won't lie, I'm typing this up in the middle of the morning on a very sunny fall day, and there are still goosebumps on my arms as I'm doing so! I swear to y'all, on a stack of whatever books you want me to swear to, that everything I wrote is the truth as I remember it.

Was it actually the Not Deer that me and Stacie saw? I don't know for certain if it really was, or if my ten-year-old memory of the experience was colored by the accounts that I've read about the phenomenon. The way every deer just looked at the car unblinking was really unnerving.

Certainly the behavior of that one 12 point buck was a bit strange. Was it the herd leader trying to intimidate my car? I'm told that rearing up like that is something a deer will do to try and frighten off predators, or when they fight other deer.

My rational mind tells me that was likely what it was. It certainly didn't give any indication it was turning into a monster. Even so, why did it's head jerk like it did? That's the part that always bothered me, and still does to this day.

Also, what made the herd impulsively start running away past the car into the woods? Probably the semi-truck coming up; but even so, why didn't they run when we pulled up to them?

Although there is a very likely 99.8% probability what we saw wasn't actually a legendary cryptid, this strange true story about my creepy night time deer encounter is still a good scary tale of my existence for y'all to enjoy this Halloween season. Please let me know what y'all think in the comments section below, and tell me if any of y'all have ever had a strange encounter with the unknown yourselves.

Just A Meme In Honor Of Friday The 13th

Happy Friday The 13th, Y'all!

Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom: Hey Arnold! Episode Review -- Ghost Bride (2003)

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Hey Arnold! writer, Mr. Steve Viksten (1960-2014).
Thanks for the work you did and what it meant to me and many many others over the years. RIP.

Ghost Bride (Season 5, Episode 88a) written by the late Steve Viksten and directed by Christine Kolosov was the last and probably the absolute creepiest episode of Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold! animated series involving urban legends. The episode first aired in the United States on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 at 8:00 PM EST along with the second episode, Gerald vs Jamie O (Season 5, Episode 88b). Run time of about 12 minutes.

Because the second half of Season 5 of Hey Arnold! was distributed in North America a year after the originally planned made-for-TV Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002) sadly flopped at the box office and a number of other behind the scenes factors in Nickelodeon's corporate management I won't get into; the episode actually ended up being distributed as the 98th of the 100 episodes of the series in the United States.

When the episode finally premiered, your favorite blogger was a then 26 year old pseudo-adult and still every bit the fan of this show as I was when it first premiered in October of 1996, and remain so to this day. The story in the episode is perhaps one of the most graphic and overall shocking tales any 90s cartoon ever told, and I don't think I'm exaggerating. This is coming from someone who grew up watching classic rerun episodes of macabre horror anthology series like the original The Twilight Zone (and its 1980s revival), Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, and Tales From The Darkside.

The legend of the Ghost Bride as it is told in the episode ranks up there with some of the best horror stories episodes of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid Of The Dark? and perhaps even something the Cryptkeeper from Tales From The Crypt would tell.  

The writing for the episode, done by the talented Mr. Steve Viksten (1960-2014) was brilliantly done and more than kept anyone watching it fully engaged. It certainly ranks in my top five episode of Season 5 of Hey Arnold! and in the top 12 of my all-time favorite episodes of the series.
 

The Story

The episode begins one late fall afternoon with a group of our favorite PS 118 kids consisting of Arnold, Gerald, Helga, Harold, Eugene, Sid, Stinky, and Curly are passing by the local city cemetery.

During the ensuing conversation about how creepy the place was, Sid brings up the infamous Legend of the Ghost Bride, which Eugene is clueless about. Curly eagerly wants to tell the story because it’s his favorite story, but the other kids all agree that Gerald is their resident Keeper of the Tales, and a better storyteller. Curly insists, but the rest of the group shouts him down resulting in Curly stomping his foot down in frustration....yeah, real mature dude.

What follows is probably one of the most disturbing and daring stories about double-murder and suicide I think I've ever seen depicted in animation. I give total props to the late Mr. Steve Viskten for the excellent work he did here. 

Gerald: "This tale of the Midnight Society...."

Gerald begins to tell the story that took place eighty years before (back in the Middle Ages) about a beautiful young woman, Cynthia Snell (who isn't named in the story), who was very much in love with her fiance and was eagerly looking forward to her wedding day. However, when that day finally came, the bride-to-be waited all day at the church and the groom never showed up. It's later revealed that the reason the fiance never arrived was because he'd fallen in love with the bride's sister, and leaving her at the alter. Adding insult to injury, the groom and the sister got married the day after the groom was supposed to marry his original bride!

This left Cynthia very hurt and very pissed off.

The following night, she went into her closet and put on her wedding dress and went down to her basement to grab a large, sharp axe. Then she walked 13 blocks to her sister's house, goes upstairs to the bedroom, and lays into her sister and ex-fiance/brother-in-law with the axe while they were asleep in bed. This is only shown by the shadowed axe strokes and Psycho-type soundtrack music....a nice touch there, thanks to Hey Arnold! series composer Jim Lang!

Lizzy Borden, eat your heart out.

The next morning when the horrified police finally arrived, they found the bride sitting in a rocking chair next to the blood-covered bed, rocking back and forth, throwing rice on the bodies and smiling insanely while quietly humming the Wedding March. The deranged bride-that-never-was then committed suicide by jumping out the second-story window and was later buried in the city cemetery in her wedding dress where her name is shown on her tombstone.

According to the urban legend, every year on the night of the anniversary of the double-murder/suicide, the Ghost Bride rises from the grave, walking among the tombs and headstones, humming the Wedding March and wielding her bloody axe as she searches for more victims.

Everyone claps for Gerald as he finishes telling the story, but Curly interjects, still disgruntled, saying that he could have told a better version of the story. He also added that Gerald left out the last and most important fact: that tonight was the anniversary of the Ghost Bride's murderous rampage.

The group of boys agree to show up later that evening before sunset to see if the story is true, despite Harold being scared and saying he had to come so they wouldn't say he was chicken. Curly on the other hand dismisses this and leaves in group in a huff.

Helga asks what time the group should meet, but is told that it's a boys-only thing, with Harold in particular mocking Helga saying that "girls get scared too easy" despite Helga's usual tomboy-like front and Harold's own admission of being scared. An annoyed Helga insists that she wouldn't, but the boys just walk off dismissing her....including her beloved crush, Arnold. Ouch.

Infuriated by the boy's dismissal, Helga angrily rushes home where she finds a white dress in her older sister's closet and a mallet and chains in the basement, planning to pretend to be the Ghost Bride in order to scare the boys.

That evening, all of the boys -- with the exception of Curly -- show up at the cemetery. Harold is the last, and is practically peeing himself in fright before even going through the gate. As soon as they enter, Helga chains and locks the gate behind them laughing in anticipation.

The boys check out Cynthia's grave site, where Arnold reads her crooked aged tombstone.

By then the sun is begging to set and nervously they decide to go home, after declaring that the legend isn't true. When they return to the front gate, they find the locked door and begin to panic, thinking that the Ghost Bride really has risen from the grave and picked them to be her next victims. Arnold calms everyone down and leads them to the north gate to see if it's open. By then the sun is down and its now dark.

As the boys are walking through the now darkened cemetery, Harold begins to hear the Wedding March tune being hummed in the shadows. Arnold once again tries to calm the group down -- in a somewhat lame way -- but then Helga (now wearing dark eyeshadow and posing as the Ghost Bride) stands on top of a tombstone brandishing the mallet, which appears to look like a bloody axe. The freaked out group of boys flees toward the north gate, but Helga already closed and locked it, causing more panic. She then uses a rope that makes the gate shake to scare the boys even more, causing them to retreat further into the cemetery.

Heeeeres Helga!

While the boys are struck with fear trying to think of a way to get out of the cemetery (or in Sid and Harold's cases terrified they are about to be chopped up), Helga appears yet again to chase the screaming boys away. The girl snickers in her triumph and mocks the fact that anyone would believe in the urban legend. After she says this, the sound of another voice that is definitely not hers humming the Wedding March can be heard and what appears to be the Ghost Bride makes her presence known by standing on a tombstone behind Helga. She let out an ear-piercing scream of terror and runs away.

She eventually catches up to the boys and admits that she disguised herself as the Ghost Bride to get back at the boys for not letting her come along with them because she was a girl, and then tells them that the real Ghost Bride appeared and is chasing her. The boys are furious and don't believe her, until the Ghost Bride appears right behind them.

The whole group runs away screaming in terror and takes shelter in a crypt. The Ghost Bride continuously circles the tomb, humming the Wedding March and waiting for a chance to attack. Time pass and Arnold decides that they should at least try to leave and get help. Gerald decides to go with him while the others hold up in their improvised shelter.

Arnold and Gerald leave the tomb and, when the Ghost Bride comes into view; they hide the bushes. As the Ghost Bride passes, Arnold takes notice of something and follows her at a distance followed by a nervous Gerald. The Ghost Bride picks up another wooden mallet that looks like an axe and begins busting the tomb door open. Just as she gets the tomb door open and scaring the group of kids hiding inside, Arnold walks up behind her and pulls off her veil, revealing the Ghost Bride to be none other than Curly!

The group gets understandably angry with Curly, except for Eugene who says he can't believe Curly looks good in that wedding dress. Curly explains that his reason why he pulled that stunt was because he was mad at the others for saying that he wasn't as good at telling stories as Gerald and how it wasn't fair.

He would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for that meddling, Football-head!

You know, Curly does pull the look off better.

Sid angrily suggests that they should lock him in the tomb and leave him; everyone agrees and gang up on Curly. As punishment they leave him tied up in the crypt. Strangely, even though Helga also did the same thing (abet not going as far as breaking into a locked tomb with a fake axe), she doesn't meet the same punishment -- or any punishment at all.

As the group is leaving the cemetery -- presumably after Helga unlocks the gate, Arnold reveals that he knew it was Curly. He explained that while he and Gerald were hiding in the bushes, as the "Ghost Bride" walked by, Arnold took notice of his red-and-white striped socks and remembered that Curly was wearing them earlier that day when he stomped in frustration.

As the kids leave the cemetery they also leave Curly tied up and trapped in the crypt. When Sid now asks if they should let him out, Arnold smiled and tells the others that he didn't think it will take long for Curly to figure that the door of the mausoleum only locks from the inside.

The episode ends with Curly, still tied up in the crypt, hearing the real Ghost Bride humming the Wedding March and asking if it's Helga pranking him. His blood-curdling scream of fright can be heard as the episode comes to an end.


My Thoughts

Obviously Curly didn't end up hacked into pieces by the vengeful Cynthia Snell since he's in the rest of the series and in Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie (2017). Like other twist endings in other spooky episodes of the series, the final twist never seems to be canon with the rest of the show.

In my own head canon, I personally like to think that once he gets over his initial fright, Curly tells the Ghost Bride he's a huge fan of hers, or that maybe she realizes this and unties him letting him go because they share the same form of crazy?

Overall, this episode and urban legend is perhaps one of the darkest stories in the series, other than maybe the Haunted Train (Season 1, Episode 8b) that I mentioned in a previous blog post was also one of my favorites. Like that episode, Ghost Bride is also one of those episodes that I enjoy watching traditionally this time of the year around my favorite holiday of the year.

Aside from being a fun and spooky watch, what's the lesson of the episode? Well, I can only think of two in particular: Don't be misogynistic assholes to Helga, because she will get even; and next time the sociopath of the group wants to tell the story....just let him.

Well, that's it for this post, please let me know what you think of this article in the comments below, and as always have a wonderful Dixie Day and Happy Halloween, Y'all!

Night Sky Photography -- 10-03-2023 -- The Moon & The Pleiades

Late last night I captured some really outstanding shots of the Waning Gibbous Moon in conjunction with the Pleiades "Seven Sisters" Star Cluster in the eastern sky. The star cluster can be seen just above and to the left of our lovely Luna just outside the glare of the moonlight.

The wider shots also include the Hyades Star Cluster located in the Constellation Taurus The Bull and the constellation's two brightest stars, Aldebaran -- the Eye of the Bull -- and Elnath.

Jupiter can be seen as the brightest object in the eastern night sky at the moment. 

Night Sky Photography -- 10-01-2023 -- 1st Moon & Jupiter Conjunction of October 2023

Good evening fellow stargazers!

In addition to October being this blogger's favorite month of the year because it ends with my favorite holiday of the year, Halloween, this month will also be very interesting in terms of stargazing and night sky photography of the planets and fall constellations.

Tonight, October treats us to the first of two close meetings in the night sky of our lovely Luna and Jupiter, the largest planet in out Solar System. The second meeting will take place on the evening of Saturday, October 28th during the Full Hunter's Moon.

Tonight, Luna is currently in her Waning Gibbous Moon phase following the Full Harvest Moon a few days before. 

This evening, about an hour ago, I captured the pair between the branches of two trees, and even captured all four of Jupiter's largest and visible moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Five moon and a large planet all in one frame between the trees.

Well my friends, I hope y'all enjoyed these photos. Good clear skies willing I'll be able to hopefully capture these two again during October's Full Moon on the 28th....just three days before Halloween.