SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 19: 8 SIGNS YOUR HOUSE COULD BE HAUNTED!

Alleged ghost photograph at the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville.

If you're not one who believes in the existence of ghosts or supernatural entities or occurrences, then you might be able to easily explain away the items on this list.

But can you explain them away if they're all happening in your home, and you or a loved one is being injured by these unexplained events?

"When Ghosts Attack," premiering on Destination American tomorrow night (October 20th), deals with people who believe that not only are their homes haunted, but they the entities haunting them have also inflicted violence upon them.

Click here to read about the series and the eight signs your house might be haunted or, as it's called in demonology, "infested."

SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 18: CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL ZOMBIE PREPAREDNESS?

In our information-saturated, fast-paced age, we are either not fully aware of the significance of an event or completely forget about a significant event not long after it has occurred.

On May 26th, 2012, the infamous "Miami Zombie" incident seized the attention of the world. Numerous reports of related cannibalistic attacks began to surface, and there was serious talk in the media as to whether or not a zombie outbreak was possible.

Rudy Eugene, left, attacked Ronald Poppo, right, eating most of his face and resisting police before succumbing to multiple gunshot wounds.

Perhaps strangest of all, the World Health Organization announced that a zombie outbreak is something the global community should be prepared for within the same month as the Miami zombie incident. The CDC featured "zombie preparedness" materials on its site, which it claimed was simply a means of "engaging a new audience with the preparedness message." The CDC's zombie site crashed, but was soon back up and remains so today.

Image from CDC zombie site

Is it possible that there is something we're not being told? Consider that there are many things humans have considered impossible before they happened: breaking the Earth's gravitational pull, putting a man on the moon, curing various diseases deemed incurable, and countless others. Is it not within the realm of extreme possibility that some sort of virus or other catalyst could lead to an outbreak of zombies, or at least, behavior similar to these fictional creatures and, frighteningly, Rudy Eugene, a.k.a., "The Miami Zombie?"

I leave it to you to decide what you want to think or feel about such things, and I also offer you a link to the CDC's zombie preparedness site. While the organization states that  it "does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms),"
the fact remains that they continue to prominently feature zombie preparedness materials on their website.

Click here to visit the CDC Zombie Preparedness site.

SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 17: NOTHING GOOD FOLLOWS A LATE-NIGHT PHONE CALL...

For day seventeen of SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!, I offer a very brief yet very chilling short film. "Bedfellows" manages to use very little time (two and a half minutes!) to quickly establish setting and characters before rocketing to it's horrifying climax and denouement. It's not often that I get the chills when I watch a scary movie or show, but "Bedfellows" managed to send ripples of fear through me. I hope you have the same experience as well. Enjoy the brief though thrilling ride!

SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 16: DOES THIS DAD TAKE HALLOWEEN DECORATING TOO FAR?

Okay, I'm not the right person to really judge whether or not someone, anyone, can take Halloween "too far." If I had the means and opportunity, our house would be a nightmare factory every Halloween, causing those who gaze upon it to quake in terror and ponder calling the authorities to report us.



That's just the scenario that happened to Johnie Mullins, a resident of Mustang, Oklahoma. Apparently, some people thought his decorations were real and decided to bring in the boys in blue.

Look for yourself and decide by reading the original article here.

Personally, Mr. Mullins is a hero and inspiration to me...

SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 15: A HEART-WARMING ZOMBIE SHORT!

It's time for another short horror film, this time clocking in at seven minutes and five seconds. "Cargo" deals with a by now familiar scenario, that of a zombie outbreak. However, it does so in a new, creative, and even moving fashion by offering up a plot point not seen in other zombie films. You might be undead yourself if you don't find yourself moved by the entire film and, especially, the ending. You may never look at a balloon the same way again...

SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 14: HORRIFYING OLD-TIMEY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!

Today's entry comes from one of my readers (maybe my only reader?), Susan Hebert, who shared a great article with me that spotlights what appear to be homemade yet truly unnerving Halloween costumes from days gone by. We're not talking Halloween costumes so bad they're scary, like the dumb costumes I remember wearing as a kid that featured the name of the character (or movie) the character was from on the front of the mylar poncho. We're talking disturbing, haunting costumes that one would expect to be the brainchildren of the demonically possessed or mentally deranged.

Click here to visit the article and see the rest of the photos, and thanks to Susan for reading and contributing to the SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN!

SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 13: 10 HALLOWEEN FILMS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY!

Though I do consider myself a "Halloween purist," avoiding any "cute" decorations for Halloween and enjoying intense and gory horror films, I never forget that I fell in love with the Halloween season as a kid. After all, the season really is perfect for kids: they love being scared (not terrified, mind you, just thrilled) and of course they love wearing costumes, getting to be someone (or something!) else for one night, and best of all, getting FREE CANDY in the process! Halloween doesn't have to be a scary or nightmarish experience for children, and neither do the Halloween movies they view.

Here's a list of ten great Halloween films the whole family can watch together as we reach the midway point in the 2013 Halloween season. Click here to read the full article, which includes descriptions of each film. We've watched most of the films on the list as a family, and the only ones that might need some extra caution would be 9, 4, and 2. Of course, your mileage may vary; many of these films deal with the reality of death, which might be too much for your kids or just a topic they're not ready to discuss yet.

10. Bedknobs and Broomsticks
9. The Nightmare Before Christmas
8. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
7. Casper
6. Halloweentown
5. Hocus Pocus
4. Ghostbusters
3. Pooh's Halloween Heffalump Movie
2. The Corpse Bride
1. It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown