Some fun with my sister's skeleton, Jeffrey :)

Happy Halloween!

First day of the week of Halloween, and what better way to chase away Monday blues than with some NBC?

The Haunted Vessel: Anatoly Moskvin and the Human Dolls

Last year I posted a story on Carl Tanzler, the deranged doctor who made a favorite patient into a doll.  This story is somewhat similar, and equally as disturbing.  Not for the faint of heart!

Anatoly Moskvin was a Russian historian who published several books as well as other works.  And while perhaps a little strange, he was considered well-respected in his field.  He also had a passion for cemeteries.  In one interview he estimated he had explored over 700 local cemeteries during a two-year period.  This often involved sleeping outside, or even once in a coffin.  Unfortunately it seemed his obsession with the dead didn't stop there.  In November of 2011 Anatoly was arrested in conjunction with a number of grave robberies from surrounding cemeteries.  However it wasn't the valuables he was after, it was the bodies.

When police searched Anatoly's apartment they found it was full of dolls, many of which were life-size and dressed in everything from children's clothes to frilly dresses.  These dolls however weren't plastic or even ceramic, they were human.

Anatoly had stolen countless bodies from their graves, and redressed them.  The police found "instructions" for making the dolls, and noted that each had their faces covered, along with their feet and hands.  The bodies belonged mostly to women or young girls, and some were even dressed in clothes stolen from the graves.

Perhaps most ironic of all, was that shortly before his arrest Anatoly had published an article about his fascination with death and cemeteries.  In it he recounted how he met a funeral party, and was forced to kiss the forehead of the deceased: a young girl.

 More information:
Wikipedia Article
BBC News
Telegraph Article

A forgotten con photo that probably should have stayed forgotten.

But it's just further proof that I'm a massive goof ball. And that the dolls are always unamused.  I don't remember what my friend said, but for some reason I responded like that surprised gopher (or whatever it is).

DIY Wig

I found a great tutorial on DoA that illustrated how to take a cheap human Halloween wig and turn it into a doll wig.  Wigs have never been my area of expertise, though in the past year I've been experimenting more and more with making fur wigs.  But fiber wigs have always been beyond my patience/ability.  However this seemed easy, so I gave it a try. A $5 wig wouldn't be a bad deal!

It's not quite done yet, but here is my first attempt!  It actually came out okay, though it looks a little better in pictures than it does on. I still need to do some sewing and tweaking, but for $5 I'm happy.  I love the color on Ghost too!

The Haunted Vessel: Paratainment II

"Paratainment" is a term coined on the Paranormal State message boards to describe media that focuses on the paranormal (paranormal + entertainment).  I did a feature on this in the first installment of the Haunted Vessel, but it's about time for another one.  The shows and movies featured here involve the paranormal and either dolls or haunted objects.  Some are fiction, some are true, all are entertaining.


The Conjuring

The Conjuring follows Ed and Lorraine Warren as they investigate a strange case involving a family being tormented by the ghosts in their new home. Anabelle makes an appearance at the beginning of the movie, though for some reason they chose to redesign the doll completely, making her unrecognizable. However the movie is pretty good overall, and has a few different instances of haunted items.  In particular there are some great scenes featuring the Warren's own store room of haunted and cursed items.

Haunted Collector

This show is fairly controversial within the paranormal community, but I'll let you be the judge.  It follows John Zaffis and his team as they investigate hauntings and try to identify what item may be the root cause.  He also has a similar collection to that of the Warrens, and these items can be seen on his website.




Supernatural: Playthings

Supernatural has a number of different episodes involving haunted items, but not as many with dolls specifically. These two are some of my favorites in that category. Playthings finds the boys investigating strange deaths at an inn, wherein the grandmother's prolific doll collection is equally as creepy as it is hilarious.

 Supernatural: Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

Mannequin 3 is even more ridiculous, and involves mysterious murders being perpetrated by...an anatomical dummy? A life-size doll? You'll just have to watch to find out.

Blood and Guts with Scott Ian

And finally we have something a little different, but still fun.  The Nerdist channel on YouTube has a number of interesting (and geeky!) shows, but my favorite by far is Blood and Guts with Scott Ian. Scott does interviews with some of the best monster makers in the business, as well as getting tours of studios and interesting "how to" segments among things.  It definitely lives up to its name with the gore, but it's also a fascinating look at how a lot of the things we see on TV and in movies are made.

His newest episode spotlights the studio that helped create the infamous Chucky, and since he is what most people think of when they hear "creepy doll," I thought it would be a fun addition to this topic.

Another Anime Con!

AAC was awesome this year, I'm so glad I went for the full weekend rather than just a day.  I got to meet all sorts of wonderful people, see neat costumes, play games, and danced my tail off.  I can't wait for next year!

I arrived at the con Friday afternoon, dressed in my "lazy Winchester"outfit (aka my angel sigil tank, plaid shirt, and jeans). Ghost had the devil's trap sweatshirt on, along with jeans so we sort of matched. I didn't get any real pictures of this outfit unfortunately.

Friday night we wandered the con, did some shopping, and then ended up at the Platform One concert.  Love these guys!  Sort of new wave, goth-esque music, with a front man that looks exactly like Alan Rickman's Snape (and knows it!).  We danced along with the band, and then were able to say hello and get a picture with them after.

The band! (my friend SourBrains is Jayne!)

Day two!  Saturday is the biggest day of the con with everyone arriving and setting up, and a full day of panels.  We ran around in the morning to get our friend set up in the dealer's room, and then started our own fun.

Our friend's  booth (SourBrain's sister)! She crochets like a wizard, and made all those ponies for the con.  And she makes a mean Jayne hat.  If you're looking for anything crocheted find her as kalithegeek on Tumblr.

This is me attending what I jokingly refer to as "floor con," or the moments when you need a rest and just sit on the floor and crash for a bit.

Ghost at floor con with me!

Ghost in the hotel room with my mask.

 Shopping! I bought an awesome hair bow (Sailor Jupiter) from Sakky, who makes amazing plush and bows.  I'm going to wear this one to death, I can already tell.  Mohawk + hair bows makes me happy.

Saturday's outfit was an amalgamation of some of my dance attire, making it like a huntress outfit.  

The tail below I bought while there, so awesome!

Saturday part II, we changed and wandered around the con taking photos and doing all sorts of shenanigans.  This is me with two really awesome people in fursuits. Look at that armor! 

Portrait on the lawn by SourBrains. This was my second Saturday outfit.

Got to get the tail!

Saturday part III!  After relaxing and attending a photography panel (photos of Ghost and I pending!), we changed and got ready for the night's activities.  We hit up a karaoke panel first, but it ended up kind of being a bust.  Sour dressed in his fancy best, and I had on some sparkly shorts, a black tank, my tail and a pair of ears, and a bedazzled vest.  No pictures of this outfit, aside from this one.

We partied well into the night, hitting up another club outside the con (we were the only ones dancing!) and at the rave.  Then we joined up with some new friends and played Cards Against Humanity until 4am.  So exhausting, but a lot of fun.

Sunday was a day of "oh my god why didn't I drink more water yesterday" and "ow...my head..."  I don't drink alcohol, but I still get hangovers when I don't drink enough water, and boy did I feel bad on Sunday!  So I ended up helping pack up the hotel room, and attended on panel about bjds (shout outs to all the great people I met!) before heading home.  I did take a few shots of ghost, though none of my equally garish costume.

It was a lot of fun over all, and I can't wait for it to come back around again!

Ghost

Another Anime Convention

If anyone is going to AAC this weekend, I will be there Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.  My costumes are kind of moveable so I'm not sure exactly what I'll be wearing when, but I will have one of my big dolls with me (probably Ghost) so look for me that way!  I'd love to meet people, and if you're doll people come on out!

Ghost!

Some new shots of ghost, with better eyes. I really prefer him in blue, though the orange ones are kind of cool. And now to see to his hair...eventually. I think he might come with me to the convention this weekend, he could be my mini Winchester (one of the costumes I'm doing is sort of a female Winchester).

The Haunted Vessel: Cursed Objects- James Dean's "Little Bastard"

I have discussed some famous haunted items here before, but for today’s post I want to focus on items that aren’t so much considered haunted...as cursed.

Curses pop up in the history of cultures all across the world.  I’ve discussed voodoo dolls here at one potential form of a curse, but there are many variations from all over.  On the mundane side, curses seem like an easy way for people to explain multiple bad things happening to a person or item.  That family has such bad luck because they are cursed!  That items keeps passing from owner to owner because all of them fall victim to the curse!  And so on and so forth.  

Speaking as someone who believes in the paranormal, I do personally believe that curses are real.  Thankfully it’s not something I’ve ever experienced personally, but it does fit in with my world view.  I’m certainly not the only one either, and here are a few stories of curses that became famous, partially because of those involved and partially because of how sensational they were.

James Dean’s car

James Dean is most well known for his acting, in particular his personification of disillusioned youth.  Think rebellious teenager and what often comes to mind is “Rebel Without a Cause.
“  So much so that it has found its way into modern language, becoming not just an anecdote but a description.

But Dean was also famous in part for his death.  The quote “Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse!” is often associated with Dean, and for good reason. He did just that, and was killed in a car accident while driving his Porsche 550 Spyder.  After his death the car changed hands, and the legend grew.  Much of what follows exists between superstition and reality, with a heavy dose of urban myth thrown in for good measure.

Following his death the car was bought by a mechanic, and the first day on the lift it slipped and broke one of his worker’s legs.  From there the car was sold in pieces, spreading the legend even further.  A doctor purchased the engine, and was killed in a car accident not long after.  Two tired purchased off the wreck were place on another car whose driver died when both tires simultaneously blew.  After a few smaller incidents, the mechanic decided to place the car in storage, however it was initially borrowed by the California Highway Patrol.  

From there strange events continued to occur.  The garage in which it was first stored burned to the ground, leaving only the wreck intact. Then while on display it broke free and hit a young boy, breaking his hip.  At one point it was transported by truck, during which an accident occured that killed the driver.  It was after this accident that the shell of the car supposedly disappeared, and has not been seen again.

For more information:

• Wikipedia entry
• Snopes entry
• Firefox News

Bag opening!

The Wicked Stitchery Halloween grab bag came in yesterday, and I decided to do a little "bag opening" for it.

Arashi and the bag.

Big stack of goodies!

*Amazing* pea coat (seriously, I'm in love) and a nicely made button up skull shirt.

Second package with a long sleeve black t-shirt, a green hoodie, and a pair of jeans.  Alas the black shirt doesn't really fit him very well, so I will probably end up trading that to someone.  It's very nice, but extremely tiny!

Some action shots :)

And after all the excitement, we decided to watch 9 with my sister.

And a quick shot of him this morning with his other wig.

Some photos from this week. I will be uploading the next Haunted Vessel tomorrow. Unfortunately I have been without internet for quite some time, and uploading anything long is quite tedious.

But here you have a quick shot of Arashi (yep, still nameless) with the new necklace I made him and some shots with the lovely fall leaves.

I'd like to say I had a superbly productive weekend but...my nose would probably grow so long it would poke right out the door!  I was totally lazy this weekend, though not for lack of trying.  I did manage to restring Arashi, but still no name for him.  

I think at this point I'm just going to go with "Arashi" for the time being and just see what happens.  I'm also leaving him blank for now, partially because I don't have all the materials/weather for a face up, but mostly because I really like him blank.  I actually was just reading through a thread the other day on DoA about people who intentionally leave their dolls blank.  He has always been one I loved blank, more than any other doll.  There's just something about the sculpting that can get lost under a face up.  So for now he remains blank.

I did also order him some new clothes, namely a Wicked Stitchery Halloween grab bag.  These are my absolute favorite grab bags, and I've bought several in the past.  They always give you your money's worth (and then some!), and it's always very lovely items.  Uri has gotten two thus far, and I've always been impressed with them. So when it arrives I will do a little bag opening and review.

And in non doll news, just because he's so cute, here's my dog in his Halloween costume.  He's a (disgruntled) strawberry!