Embrace your dark side; bringing spooky into your life and home

(Above: The bookshelves in my bedroom have a subtle nod to my favorite reads and my spookiness, and I always have Dale the Doll on the steamer trunks at my entryway, as well. The rest of the house is quite pleasant and happy which is my personality, but I keep people wondering about me with these little nods to my dark side.)

I think anyone who reads this blog is probably into horror, ghosts, abandoned places, and all things spooky. Why not find ways to bring it into your everyday life? I remember turning my entire house into a dark tapestry covered, knights in armor, medieval castle theme to show everyone “I like spooky stuff.” The overwhelming effect of it, however, was...depressing. I hate dark colors. I’m not so into tapestries. My tastes are more shabby chic, cottage, contemporary, sunny when it comes to my home and my personality. Most people that meet me would never guess I’m into horror so much that I write it and chase ghosts into the darkness. I’m rather bubbly and more like a Sheryl Crow type than a goth person.

So, how do folks know I’m into the dark side? Very clever and subtle ways…

Here’s just a few ways to show your devotion to horror and the macabre:

Make a shelf of books on display that shows your interest in Bigfoot, UFOs, ghosts, and Medieval castles. Stack them up on a shelf, and leave one pretty-covered spooky book to stand open so the cover is on display.

Put a vase filled with smooth river rocks or pea gravel on a table and place a sizeable bare winter branch on it. Now, perch a blackbird on it (can be found at most craft stores and Spirit Halloween shop online). For a more Poe-esque vignette, put a few birds on the branches.

Go over the top for Halloween. Absolutely go to town! Be the house on the block that the kids dare each other to approach. One time a year, let it all hang out! Pick a theme and go nuts with it. If you do too many different scary themes, it won’t look cohesive. Either go with a Sleepy Hollow bales of hay, black birds, scarecrows, and corn rows, or go haunted graveyard. Just pick the theme you don’t mind building on each year so you can continue to collect.

Place a handbook on vampire hunting beside a strand of garlic on a side table.

For winter fun, have friends over for s'more making at the fireside with pillows, hot buttered rum, and lots of ghost story telling.

Tattoos and jewelry as subtle hints. In my case, I got myself a tattoo. Nothing spooky, but something that symbolizes me, an autumn twirling leaf changing colors. You might try acquiring some steampunk accessories made from gears and gadgets.

If your family doesn’t think you’re crazy, consider a corner of your garden for a fake cemetery with little metal fencing and fake headstones that maybe you take out front to decorate for Halloween. Hang a couple lanterns, put a bench near it. Suddenly, you have a quiet reflective place to hide out. (I won't tell you what our roofers thought when they looked down into my fake cemetery!)

Get a beautiful gothic-covered journal from the bookstore and keep it at your bedside to write your dreams and nightmares in. Try experiments. One night, watch a romantic comedy and go to bed thinking about romance and see how it affects your dreamstate. Try giving yourself reminders to realize you’re dreaming in your dream and to wave your hand in front of your face in the dream if you’re lucid enough. Check out the day’s geomagnetic activity just to see if funky dreams are happening during an active phase.

Write fictional horror story or horror-inspired poetry, maybe research a favorite subject for your blog or with the goal of writing a nonfiction book about something strange and unusual.

Stop at a graveyard and wander. Don’t just pass it by. Park and find a little retreat reading headstones and looking at the things people have left behind as offerings.

Stop and photograph abandoned buildings, gas stations, and motels from the roadway.

Stay in a haunted hotel room or dine at a haunted local restaurant.

Give yourself a night of back-to-back horror movie watching--by candlelight of firelight.

Sit down with a voice recorder and try to capture some EVPs. Have a conversation with anyone willing to speak into the device on your table.

Take a Ouija board and put a wall hanger bracket on its back. Take a hot glue gun and glue down the planchette over the word “Yes” and then cut a candlestick down to about 3” or 4” in height and hot glue it down to the board on an open area with no words. Let the candle burn down to a pile of wax. Let it dry and cool. Now, hang it on your wall.

Advice: If you decide to do a little vignette in your house that’s a nod to something you do, such as Bigfoot hunting, you might consider taking a few different items together (instead of all dolls or all books), a Bigfoot doll, a book about Bigfoot, and maybe some binoculars. Leave it on a desk or tabletop as if you’re on your way out the door to go on a hunt. Try not to mix your types such as ghost things with Frankenstein dolls. Only a few items go a long way. When people see it, it doesn’t scream “I love Bigfoot,” but it does make them wonder. You always want to keep people a bit off balance.

Happy haunting your own life. P.S. Let me know how you keep your spook on in your day to day life, I’d love to hear about it!