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HALLOWEEN 2023: American Witchcraft

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Here's some nightime photos of my 2023 haunt. This year's theme was American Witchcraft, inspired by early American witch lore. I wanted it to be super rustic and rough around the edges, with the witches displaying any past trespassers like scarecrows, as they brew up a fresh batch of flying ointment. We had an amazing night, we went through five bags of candy and the kids seemed to enjoy it a ton, with the little ones having a bit of trepidation, walking up to the porch. It was a chilly night, I had campfire fragrance in the fog machine and spiced pumpkin tealights in all of the jack-o-lanterns, everyone loved the smell, telling us how much it added to the display. All of the props are handmade by me, I've been working on it all year and it turned out better than I couldve imagined, I had a permanent grin on my face ( under my mask, of course ) because it was honestly, very magical. Seeing everyone enjoy the props makes it all worthwhile, and sharing the halloween magic ...
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Halloween 2023: American Witchcraft - on 35mm film

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This was a super fun endevor for me to take on this halloween season. I used to shoot film in highschool and a few years after, so I decided to break out my old Canon AE1 camera and a roll of film for some daytime shots. I used to use Lomogroaphy films and the classic Kodak Portra 400 but I decided to try this new Cinestill 400 film, it's 36 exposures and has a slight purple hue to the shadows, I think the photos came out pretty neat. I did some post editing in Lightroom because a few were a bit underexposed but that could just be the auto-aperture on my lens, which I haven't cleaned since 2017, who knows... I hope you enjoy these, I love them a lot! - Canon AE1 Camera (1976) / Cinestill 400 35mm film
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Halloween 2023: American Witchcraft (Daytime)

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Wrong Turn...

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Hexensalbe (Witches Salve)

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 "The proportion of those transcripts from witch trials that give detailed descriptions of flying ointments is not great, although there are numerous examples of witches applying a flying ointment before departing for the Sabbath. In such cases the ointment, or at least the appropriate recipe, was usually provided by the devil himself. It is the continuous presence of this ointment which gave some credence to the concept of flight which was hotly contested as early as the tenth century CE; and no doubt it is still under examination today only because the possibility of a hallucinogenic ointment somewhat tempers rational disbelief in the subject.  Reginald Scot's 'The Discoverie Of Witchcraft' of 1584 is the most forthcoming text in terms of recipes, much of which Margaret Murray lists in her Witch-Cult In Western Europe as 'hearsay evidence' - in other words, she does not follow up on, or even provide, Scot's sources. Scat in fact quotes from one man, '...
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Just beyond the tobacco fields...

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 Lancaster County, PA | 6/10/23 Corpse scarecrow that I built for the display this year. My fiancé and I took him out around the fields in Fivepointville and got some photos on the side of the road. I also took a few on 35mm film, so those will be uploaded once I get it developed. 
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Halloween 2023: American Witchcraft (WIP)

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Here's a progress shot of the first witch I've been working on for the 2023 halloween display!  She's built around a tidy cats litter bucket, out of newspaper, duck tape, maché and other odds and ends. I wanted this year to be a nod to the old, classic tale of the American witch in the woods. The haunt will be super organic, overgrown and a bit disturbing, but I can not wait to share it all this October. It will be my biggest haunt to date but I'm about 75% finished everything that needs to be built :)   
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