Yes, it's time to display stupid yard tricks! Photo from TheFunTimesGuide.com

It's October again, and like any self-respecting "adult," I thoroughly enjoy the creativity that Halloween brings out in people. Whether it's storytelling by professionals or just your pals, planning a party and coming up with costumes, decor and/or fun food, a lot of people enjoy the opportunity to let go and give their muse free rein.

I don't have any particular theme this time, just a mishmosh of websites I've found that are fun, scary or otherwise vaguely Halloween-related. It's easy to find plenty of other sites, though. You'd be surprised how many Halloween-dedicated pages there are!

First, let's look at trends for 2009. Associated Content claims Obama lookalikes will be out in force this Halloween, along with the Joker. For girls, Hannah Montana outfits will probably be popular. I've also read that Bernie Madoff masks are selling like crazy. Small wonder. He really IS scary! Michael Jackson costumes may be a big seller, too.

Bernie Madoff probably features in many people's nightmares.

Pirates of the Caribbean will no doubt remain an influence on costume choices this year, for kids and adults as well.

On the fun-and-sleazy side, I hear "octo-mom" and Amy Winehouse getups are all the rage.

That old black magic

Need ideas for decorating your yard? Here are a few sites that could help you out.

Going a little overboard is the LA airplane mechanic who used actual jet parts to recreate a crashed airplane in his yard as a Halloween display. Wow. This guy was ambitious.

The Fun Times Guide.com has a list of ideas and links for you to browse. That's where I got the photo at the top of the blog.

Halloween Online covers a lot of ground, from tips on how to tell a ghost story to sending Halloween care packages to our soldiers. On the left of the page is a handy index covering just about everything.

Halloween Alliance is similar, with a number of articles, how-to's and stuff you can buy.

Stop by The Yard Haunter, too. It claims to be "The Guide to Haunting Your Yard for Halloween."

Just plain odd

I love this idea -- a Dremel cordless pumpkin carving tool! Way better than stabbing at pumpkins with kitchen knives.

One of my favorite sites to visit, especially at this time of year, is killerpumpkins.com. There seems to be some major story behind the whole site, which I haven't investigated yet. I just like the art.

Has anyone out there heard about the "haunted eBay painting"? According to Wikipedia:

The Hands Resist Him, also known as the eBay Haunted Painting, is a painting created by Oakland, California artist Bill Stoneham in 1972. It depicts a young boy and female doll standing in front of a glass paneled door against which many hands are pressed. It became the subject of an urban legend and a viral internet meme in February 2000, when it was posted for sale on eBay along with an elaborate backstory implying that it was haunted.

It is a strange piece of art, I have to admit. The artist himself comments on it here. And if you want to read the original text for the eBay listing, you can find it here, at castleofspirits.com.

Finally, there's the story that the BBC did on the painting.

Whooooooo's got my TOE???

Need fodder for telling some ghost stories? There are plenty of tales to be found online.

Halloween Ghost Stories.com has you covered, from the classics to real-life hauntings.

Ghost Haunts bills itself as one of the oldest ghosts-and-haunted-places sites on the web since 1999. Here you'll find photos, videos, ghostcams -- and stories.

A number of places on the web allow people to submit their own "true" ghost stories. They may be true, some may be made up ... there's no way to know. But they can make for some chilling reading. There's Your Ghost Stories,  The Shadowlands, True Ghost Tales, Ghost Mysteries ... and the list goes on and on.

Ever heard of shadow people? You can read about them at the Official Shadow People Archives, and of course, Wikipedia. Then there's "night hags," which are usually a form of sleep paralysis but with a very weird disorientation by the victim. Ghost web offers a look at the night hag phenomenon from a medical standpoint, while Sleepnet offers a first-person account of someone experiencing a night hag. Haunted Bay gives an interesting background and history of the condition. I'm not even going to start getting into the different types of ghosts, hauntings, long-leggity beasties and all the rest. I'll leave that to my colleague, Katherine Webster, to outline in her new blog, "Ghost Written."

Last year in October I blogged about ghosts and haunts of the area. I'd love to do more, but that's the thing with ghosties. They're sort of hide-bound. Traditional. They're in it for the long haul and usually don't change up their routines. If you've blogged'em once, what more is there to add?

But I'd love to learn about others. For instance, I'd never heard of Old Henry, who apparently hangs around St. Vincent's Seminary, now the River Campus. Professor_Bubba tipped me off about that one. Are there any other spooks and haints around? Fill me in, and tell me if you've personally experienced anything. I'd like to know more! Maybe if I ask really nicely, Katherine will let me go ghost hunting with her.

"Now about those ghosts. I'm sure they're here and I'm not half so alarmed at meeting up with any of them as I am at having to meet the live nuts I have to see every day."

             -- Bess Truman

"They that are born on Halloween shall see more than other folk."

                   -- Saying of unknown origin

"Proof of our society's decline is that Halloween has become a broad daylight event for many."

                   -- Robert Kirby