Whatever Happened To My Transylvania Twist?

When it was first written, The Monster Mash was entitled "The Monster Twist," but the twist was going out of style so the title was altered to reflect the newest dance craze as "The Monster Mashed Potato."

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In the process of shopping the song around to various record producers, the song title was almost changed to "The Mean Monster Mashed Potato" by producer Gary Paxton, famous for the novelty hit "Alley Oop."

However, just prior to pressing the single, the title was changed again to the one for which it became a 1962 "graveyard smash," The Monster Mash.

Bobby Pickett performed the song in a voice impersonating Boris Karloff, who played the lumbering monster in "Frankenstein" (1931). The physically demanding role made Karloff a star.

Karloff is pictured on two of a set of five 32¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued in 1997 as the title character in "The Mummy" (1932) and as the monster in "Frankenstein" (1931). He joins other great monster movie actors in the stamp set including Lon Chaney as "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), Bela Lugosi as "Dracula" (1931) and Lon Chaney Jr. as "The Wolf Man" (1941).

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I Just Bit Into An Apple With A Razor Blade

Halloween marks the end of summer and the beginning of the dark winter period and is celebrated as the end of the year according to some "Pagan" calendars.

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The belief that on this most magical and spiritually powerful night of the year it was made easy for the dead to cross back into the real world to communicate with relatives led to the practice of leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead." Another practice was to set a place at the table for an unseen guest.

If those customs seem irrational, consider the Western tradition of leaving cookies and milk out for Santa Claus at Christmas or the Jewish custom of opening the door and pouring a glass of wine for Elijah The Prophet during Passover.

The Druids believed that during Samhain the dead would play tricks on mankind to cause panic and destruction. The food offerings of the "Feast Of The Dead" were an attempt to appease the spirits into complacency when they would come knocking.

The urban myth of inserting razor blades or needles into Halloween treats goes back as far as 1967, with tales of poison in the candy going back even further. Though the stories obviously play on paranoid fears, they are, in fact, based in reality.

While poisonings are usually connected with an intent to kill, sharp objects in candy bars rarely cause serious injury and are frequently discovered to be hoaxes often perpetrated by the "victim," usually a child.

However, there are still many demented persons out there. Whatever happened to don't take candy from a stranger?

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Whatcha Gonna Be?

As "All Hallow's Eve" approaches, many children and adults alike are readying their costumes for what is regarded as the most magical night of the year.

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Known to some as "Samhain," meaning "Summer's end," Halloween is believed to be an interval during which the thin veil that separates the real world from the "Otherworld" is temporarily lifted allowing the dead to return to the land of the living to celebrate with their families.

The tradition of dressing in costume during this time can be traced back to Celtic societies. It was believed that it was particularily dangerous to be out after dark admist the wandering dead, so night travelers would don costumes. The intent was either to blend in, such as wearing white like a ghost, or to make oneself less recognizable to the spirits now roaming the countryside.

The Jack O'Lantern has a similar origin. A lantern made from a gourd with a scary face carved into it which was carried on nighttime excursions to frighten off malicious spirits.

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See How High She Flies

Not all witches are Wiccans, but almost all Wiccans consider themselves to be witches, neopagans or pagans.

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Just because someone is a witch, or suspected of being one, does that merit them to be burned at the stake? Is that the fate you would bestow upon the "Wizard Of Oz'" Good Witch Of The North (Billie Burke)? I think not.

So why is it that for the past several hundred years, the image of the witch has been associated with evil, heathenism and unrighteousness?

By and large, witches claim not to be part of a cult, worship Satan, consort with demons or sacrifice animals. Instead, they view themselves as healers, attempting to live in harmony with nature. A basic tenet of Wicca is "Harm None."

Chalk up another one for the propaganda machine known as the Christian church for successfully perpetuating the image of a witch as a diabolical character and attaching fear to nature-based belief systems as part of the conversion process.

But what about flying on a broomstick, you ask?

In England, newly initiated witches would be smeared with a sacred ointment which would confuse the mind, speed up the pulse and numb the feet. Often they would be blindfolded and placed on a broomstick and told that they were flying, an idea they would be apt to accept in an altered state.

Witches also regard the broomstick as a sacred instrument used to clear an area of bad spirits, or simply to clean up after a hard day's labor, dicing up eye of newt and small children for the evening meal.

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We Can Be Like They Are

The Grim Reaper, the personification of death, is typically portrayed as an old man or a skeleton clad in a dark, hooded robe carrying a large scythe.

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As a popular figure in traditional folklore, The Grim Reaper's origins point back to the Angel Of Death in the Old Testament and to Kronos is Greek Mythology. Additional religious equivalents can be found in Judaism's "Malach ha-Mave" and Islam's Azrael, present at birth to write your name in his book, and at death to erase your name from its pages. "The Ferryman" of Greek mythology is also often portrayed as The Grim Reaper.

In the end, The Grim Reaper is viewed as the harvester of souls .

Let the song's title, Don't Fear The Reaper, and the accompanying lyrics guide you to whether The Grim Reaper should be regarded as one to be feared as the harbinger of death or a simple figure whose job is to escort one on the journey to the afterlife.

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