Ghosts

Sometime ago in the mists of the last century, there were only three TV networks. On holidays, you usually had the choice of a football game, a different football game, or the longest movies the network could find – usually Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music. Chitty, an overly technicolor musical, scared the daylights out of me. As soon as that Childcatcher came prowling, I was behind the sofa holding my breath. Today’s kids would just send his photo to Instagram and beat him up.

Children see things differently. Some are easily spooked, some are skeptical from birth. Kids misunderstand and misinterpret things, and that alone can create unfounded horror.

Obviously, most children’s films try to avoid horror, but what’s marketed to kids is not always Barney and Big Bird – few Grimm’s Fairy Tales end happily ever after. Poltergeist – ghosts, demons, peeling faces, and evil clowns in child-swallowing glowing closets – was only rated PG. PG, because PG-13 hadn’t been invented yet.

Young Sherlock Holmes (the food nightmare) scarred one of my children; to this day she won’t eat cream puffs. Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! and its disembodied heads was another. Another didn’t trust Nazgûl (nor should you), and was terrified by Matilda. The 1971 Alastair Sim animated A Christmas Carol, with its writhing starving waifs and the faceless, voiceless Ghost of Christmas Future taints every incarnation I’ve seen since.

If your child likes spooky things and wants to be a part of the Addams family, here’s a list of kid’s films – honest! – that just might give your kid the shivers. If you have a child with a more sensitive nature, you might want to wait a few years on these:

Toy Story – Oh, doll-headed spider and hook-bodied Barbie, how we hate you! You may be Pixar, but you’re scary!

Coraline – Creepy button-eyed fake parents trying to steal a child? Hmm….

Labyrinth – Sure, we adore Bowie, but these are Muppets who steal babies, chase girls with drill bits with intent to kill, and drop people into pits lined with talking disembodied hands. ‘Nuff said.

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Disney likes to whistle and pretend this isn’t theirs, but Ray Bradbury didn’t edit the scariness out of his novel of two boys and an evil carnival run by Mr. Dark, complete with electrocutions and freakshow.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit – But this is a comedy! you cry – and it is, until crying Toons get faced with The Dip. Be prepared for a talk on death.

Return to Oz – if the flying monkeys didn’t scare you, perhaps Dorothy’s electroshock treatments will.

Jumanji – sure, it’s a game, but a deadly one. Floors that swallow people are just some of the issues; the intensity and situations may be too much entirely for young viewers.

Harry Potter series – yes, the first one is a charming tale of an orphan boy who learns he’s a wizard, but the stories get darker, and major beloved characters start dying. By the third film, Voldemort is embodied evil and believably out to get Muggles. Like your child.

The Dark Crystal – Fraggle Rock it’s not. It’s a dark Muppet film with lots of dark themes. Preteens maybe, but there’s no Elmo to lighten it for the little kids.

Gremlins – another movie made before PG-13, so it was stuck with PG. Gremlins are cute little things until you feed them, and then they become psychopathic demons out to harm and kill. If preteen horror films was a separate genre, this would be one of their cornerstones, along with perhaps The Witches, Watcher in the Woods, and Jaws (which is also only PG).

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – let’s face it, Roald Dahl is almost never nice to children. Here alone, he sucks them up pipes, dumps them down garbage chutes, and has them cornered by very scary men in dark alleys asking them to sell their souls for money. But the crowning touch cited by many critics is the boat ride scene, all psychedelic and threatening – but that’s the way it is in the book, too – a disorienting journey where everyone believes Wonka’s looney.

Every parent knows their child best. Some kids like a scary movie, some kids will wind up sleeping in your bed for a week with all the lights on. If your kid shows interest in scary movies, these might be a gentler introduction over, say, The Exorcist. Just be aware that even a seemingly wholesome, kid-marketed movie can have some really scary moments when you least expect it.

October brings to mind….ghosts! Libraries are very popular resting places for ghosts to occupy. Staff at the Cheshire Public Library are sure we have our own ghost – and our night-time cleaning service is positive we have one. One of the cleaning staff was vacuuming one night and the plug kept coming out of the wall socket. When he looked around, he saw a ghostly image. He was so spooked, he never returned to the library. We assume it was Mary Baldwin, who served as the first Director of the Cheshire Public Library from 1892 to 1921.

Many libraries across the United States have reported paranormal activity. The ten most haunted libraries in the United States are:

1. The Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana – The library has been investigated by several paranormal organizations and they have ghost cams set up throughout the library so that at-home ghost hunters can see if they can spot The Grey Lady.

2. The Saline County Library in Benton, Arkansas – Librarians began to suspect that the building was haunted after hearing phantom footsteps, seeing paperback carousels rotating by themselves, as well as books falling from the shelves.

3. Peoria Public Library in Peoria, Illinois – This public library is said to have been cursed in 1847 by Mary Stevenson Gray (or Grey), who previously owned the land where the library now stands. The curse is rumored to have caused the untimely deaths of three library directors in the early 20th century who now haunt the library.

4. Scottsdale Public Library in Scottsdale, Arizona – The Arabian and Civic Center branches of the Scottsdale (AZ) Public Library have been investigated by professional ghost hunters Sonoran Paranormal Investigations and have been found to be haunted. The investigation was done at the Library’s request after many reports of books and other objects moving by themselves, cold spots in the library and more.

5. Ramona Convent Secondary School in Alhambra, California – A nun in a white habit has been seen by students roaming around the library.

6. Houston Public Library in Houston, Texas – Ghostly music can be heard in the Julia Ideson Building of the Houston Public Library. It it said to be the ghost of Julius Frank Cramer, a night janitor who practiced playing a violin in the library after it was closed.

7. Edgehill House Library in Fauquier County, Virginia – This private library in Fauquier County, Virginia is said to be haunted by the ghost of Civil War Col. William Chapman. His presence has been reported to make loud noises during the night and lock doors within the 1790 house.

8. Murry and Leonie Guggenheim Memorial Library at Monmouth University in New Jersey – It is said that a lady in white walks down the staircase at midnight when the library closes.

9. Parmly Billings Library in Billings, Montana – A dark-haired woman in the basement and a whistling ghost, and a ghostly man wearing jeans and work boots on the second floor are just some of the haunts at this library.

10. Phoenixville Public Library in Pennsylvania – This library is haunted by three different ghosts that inhabit the recently renovated 1902 building. One is described by the library’s Executive Director John Kelley as a lady wearing a bustle dress who haunts the attic.

(Source: OEDb)

If you’d like to cozy up with some great ghost movies, the Cheshire Library has a terrific selection. Here’s a sampling:

City of Ghosts – An American swindler goes to Cambodia to search for his partner and his portion of a scam that has gone wrong.

Thir13en Ghosts – A man and his daughter inherit a house from their eccentric uncle and all the ghosts who reside there.

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars – Mars has been colonized because of overpopulation on Earth. This displeases the ghosts of Mars, who rise to possess humans and turn them into maniacal zombies to take “vengeance on anyone who tries to lay claim to their planet.” This leads to a wary alliance between survivors, members of the Mars Police Force, and a criminal (Ice Cube).

The Others – Grace, a devoutly religious mother, has moved with her family to a mansion on the English coast, awaiting her husband’s return from the war. Her two children both suffer from a rare photosensitivity disease that renders them extremely vulnerable to sunlight, prompting the rule of having only one door open in the house at a time. When one of the children claims to see ghosts, Grace at first believes her newly-arrived family of eccentric servants to be responsible, but as events become stranger, she begins to wonder if something supernatural is indeed going on.

Ghost Town – Bertram Pincus is an irritable dentist whose people skills leave much to be desired. Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him. Frank Herlihy, in particular, pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen. Now, Pincus is put squarely in the middle of a triangle with spirited result.

The Fog – A fog-enshrouded schooner from 1865 returns from the bottom of the sea to wreak vengeance on the locals of the island, and it’s up to local DJ Stevie Wayne (Blair), her charter-boat-captain lover, Nick (Welling), and his wayward girlfriend, Elizabeth (Grace), to save the day. All three are related to the town’s founding fathers, with whom the shipbound ghosts have an ancient score to settle. What that score is no one seems to know, but they need to find out, fast.

The Changeling – Working-class suburb Los Angeles, 1928. Christine says goodbye to her son, Walter, and departs for work. Arriving home, Christine discovers that Walter is nowhere to be found. Christine launches a desperate a search for her son. Then, a boy claiming to be Christine’s son appears out of thin air. Knowing the boy is not hers, Christine invites the child to stay in her home.

Beetlejuice – A recently deceased Connecticut couple decide to use the maniacal bio-exorcist Betelgeuse to help rid them of the trendy New Yorkers who have moved into their home.

The Frighteners – A professional exorcist in a town where evil is afoot finds himself at the middle of a mystery when one ghost decides to go on a murder spree and the townsfolk suspect him of the crimes.

Ghostbusters – A group of parapsychologists start a ghost pest control.

Sixth Sense -A boy who communicates with spirits that don’t know they’re dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

Paranormal Activity – Katie and Micah are a young middle class couple who are engaged to be married. After moving into a suburban ‘starter’ house in San Diego, California, they begin hearing noises while trying to sleep. Not knowing if the presence is demonic or not, they attempt communicating through a Ouija board, angering the spirit further. Now they may never sleep again, or they may never wake up!