Will Gov. Haslam Be Haunted by Halloween Arrests?

A Tennessee judge says there was no cause to arrest protesters at the Occupy Nashville protests, releasing all those that Gov. Bill Haslam ordered arrested. This Halloween weekend's pointless repression of free speech should haunt the governor.

Are we just supposed to be grateful that - so far - no one has been injured in Nashville? Are we supposed to be grateful the right to free speech is only being discarded for just a few people? 

A roundup of the events from Mike Silence at the KNS.

Excerpts:

R. Neal: After declaring a curfew at Legislative Plaza last night, Gov. Haslam has sent THP state troopers with a SWAT team to clear the area. An Occupy Nashville livestream report from the scene says approx. 100 officers began arresting a small group of peaceful demonstrators at around 4AM (3AM Nashville time). 

Betsy Phillips: Setting time limits and monetary requirements on when people are allowed to gather on taxpayer-funded state property to exercise their first amendment right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances is unconstitutional.

Also from Betsy:
But please, notice that the Governor is afraid of fifty people. Other Occupies have hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people. And our governor has to sneak up on fifty people in the dead of night.
But what’s worse than sneaking up on fifty people in the middle of the night is stripping everyone in the state of their constitutional right to peaceably assemble.
That hurts everyone.

Join Me At The Mountain Makins Festival

This weekend marks the 36th Annual Mountain Makins Festival at Rose Center in Morristown, a celebration of Appalachian folk life, history, art, handmade crafts and displays of skill, music, dancing, food and much more. And I will again be the emcee for one of the stages of live music.

I'll be the host for the Gazebo Stage, sponsored by ORNL Federal Credit Union. Here's a lineup of the music - and this year will mark a first: Russian Bluegrass music.

A full write-up on this most entertaining festival is here.

The music line-up includes

FIRST TENNESSEE STAGE
10AM:          Tracy Wilson- Scottish Highland Bagpipes
10-11:          The Red Wellies- Celtic 
11-12:          The Grassabillies- Rockabilly
12-1:            Steve Brown and Hurricane Ridge – Bluegrass
1-2:              Rough Edges- Bluegrass
2-3:              Hot Mountain Caravan
3-4:              Roan Mountain Hilltoppers – Old Time
4-5:              The Grass Pistols- Russian Bluegrass

ORNL  GAZEBO STAGE
10:15:            Tracy Wilson- Scottish Highland Bagpipes
10:30-11:30:   Steve Brown and Hurricane Ridge- Bluegrass
11:30-12:30:   The Red Wellies – Celtic
12:30- 1:30     The Grassabillies – Rockabilly
1:30-2:30:       Roan Mountain Hilltoppers- Old Time
2:30- 3:30:      Grass Pistols – Russian Bluegrass
3:30-4:30:       Rough Edges- Bluegrass
4:30-5:00:       Hot Mountain Caravan- Americana/Folk/Roots

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30
FIRST TENNESSEE STAGE
11-12:           The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers
12-1:             Earl and Pearl- Old-Time
1-2:               Harmony Strings- Traditional Country and Gospel
2-3:               Hall Family and Friends- Traditional ‘Shape-note’ Singing
3-4:               The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers
4-5:               Clinch Valley Bluegrass- Bluegrass

ORNL GAZEBO STAGE
11:30-12:30    The Katts - Americana
12:30-1:30      The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers
1:30-2:30        Earl and Pearl- Old Time
2:30-3:30        Clinch Valley Bluegrass- Bluegrass
3:30-4:30        Harmony Strings- Country and Gospel
4:30-5:00        The Dulcimer Guys- Hammer and Mountain Dulcimers

Paranormal Team Investigates Frightmare Manor

Prior to opening of Frightmare Manor in Talbott this year, a team of paranormal researchers took their team through the old house on the property. This team is from the area, and I spoke with them about what happened when they got into the house - they asked not to be identified, as they prefer to do their work without much fanfare or attention.

"There's a lot of activity in that old house," one team member told me. "The K-2 meter was off the scale all through the building." A K-2 is an electromagnetic field detector most ghost-hunters use.

"In almost no time, we made contact with 2 young girls," he said. And again, for privacy reasons, they asked me not to give too many details, as the team is still planning more investigations and they are trying not to gain notoriety as much as they are interested in learning all they can first. The team did learn the names of the girls, and their presence was quite powerful, they said.

Whether or not these girls are connected to the stories of Jeremiah Lexer, the mysterious owner of the property who committed some heinous crimes before taking his own life, is being investigated too. Lexer's tale was mentioned in this previous post. What is for certain is how intense that night investigating the house became for the team. Their faces and voices were greatly strained and it was obvious the experience left it's mark on them.

It's no surprise that for the second year in a row, Frightmare Manor has been voted the best haunted attraction in East Tennessee in a poll from WBIR-TV.

The Frightmare 'Screampark' is about to start their Halloween weekend run and you can get discount tickets by ordering online from their website.

And The Knox Horror Grindhouse Winner Is ... In My Home!!!

Already a banner year here at the house when it comes to all things Horror for Halloween 2011, I've more great news to share - this weekend my friend Clint Keller picked up the award for the best grindhouse-style trailer at the Knoxville Horror Fest Grindhouse Grind-Out for his epic tale of a maniac mechanic, called, naturally "Mechaniac". And the Best Actor award went to my roommate and semi-adopted brother (or did he adopt me?) Timothy Mooney.

Tim effortlessly portrays a crazed killer mechanic who does not like it when folks don't take care of their cars. He's not about being Green, but he will make a deep red bloody mess out of you. Heh heh.

Ah, but enough talk - here's the grainy, film-scarred trailer of what has to be the best grindhouse movie you never saw!

Halloween Soul Cakes and Meat Heads

As best I can tell by employing research via the GoogleMachine, the tradition of tramping out into the chilly evenings around Halloween while masking one's identity and seeking candy delights or other treats is relatively new - the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Expectations today assert that some $2 billion will be spent for candy alone on Halloween. And that:

"... an average Jack-O-Lantern bucket carries about 250 pieces of candy amounting about 9,000 calories and about three pounds of sugar."

Halloween historians of television's History Channel say folks began begging for and receiving "soul cakes" for a promise to pray for dead relatives during England's All Souls Day parades and that donning costumes was based in the idea that one should wear a disguise so that roaming ghosts could not find you. "Soul cakes" sound far more interesting than they actually are.

Today, Halloween treats and foods can be deeply weird - I for one am still oddly fascinated with the Halloween Meat Hand. Meat and ghoulish imagination have also brought us the Halloween Meat Head. Make it cream cheese or jello for "glue" and slather meat around a skull. (none for me, thanks)

Also, Candy Blood, you know, for kids:

Around my home, I have noticed in the last few years that the neighborhood kids seem a little ... different ... and they want bacon.