Happy,Happy Halloween

[Galochka]

Дорогие мои девочки, любознательные умнички, только учащие или уже бегло говорящие на английском языке, у меня появился отличный случай поздравить вас с праздником и пожелать всего самого замечательного, веселого и задорного! Этот праздник, я думаю, просто хороший повод, чтобы лишний раз поздравить друг друга и подурачиться! Поздравляю!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Galochka]

Famous Haunts

There are many places around the world that have different areas that they say is haunted. Read below for a few famous haunts from around the United States.
Birthplace of Liberty
Philadelphia was the first settlement in the colony of Pennsylvania, which William Penn founded in 1682. The city was the birthplace of the American Revolution, where great statesmen such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin once walked the streets. By the mid-1700s, Philadelphia was the largest city in the American colonies. On July 4, 1776, members from each of the thirteen colonies gathered in the Pennsylvania Statehouse – now known as Independence Hall – to sign a document called the Declaration of Independence. Many say that the ghosts of our nation's Founding fathers are still hanging around Independence Hall . . .


Dancing Ben

Benjamin Franklin was an extraordinary writer, publisher, and inventor, and he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. In later years, his influence and intelligence helped our country establish the Senate and Congress and adopt the Constitution. This remarkable man spent much of his life in Philadelphia,
And he may be there still, long after his death. Eyewitnesses have seen Franklin's restless spirit at various locations throughout the city. His favorite spot, some say, is the Library Hall of the American Philosophical Society, which he helped found in 1743.
Many claim that Franklin's energetic spirit even lives on in the streets of Philadelphia, coming to life out of an old statue. Legend has it that the wise old statesman is sometimes seen dancing through the City of Brotherly Love!


Modern-Day Mysteries

To this day, tales of supernatural encounters at the White house persist. It's said that, at night, a long-dead usher is still turning off lights in the Executive mansion and that the ghost of a White House doorman occasionally appears, ready to work!
Recent White House residents have also reported feeling the presence of something strange and unexplained. In a 1996 interview with Rosie O' Donnell, former First Lady Hillary Clinton said, "There is something about the White House at night that makes you just feel like you are summoning up the spirits of al the people who have lived there, and worked there, and walked through the halls there." The former First Lady added, "It's neat. It can be a little creepy."

[Galochka]

Common Halloween Superstitions
When it's the time for Halloween celebration, it is then that the people tend to become more superstitious. There are many superstitions and myths about Halloween and most of the people have a strong belief in them. In the reservoir of common Halloween superstitions, there are distinctive kinds of superstitions: animal superstitions, witch superstitions, bats in house superstitions and many more.

Presented a few general Halloween superstitions:

• Going in for dumb supper, meaning that nobody will talk while having supper, encourages the spirits to come to the table.

• It is believed that if an unmarried girl keeps a rosemary herb and a silver sixpence under her pillow on Halloween night, it is quite likely that on that very night, she would dream of her future husband.

• It is said that if you hear someone's footsteps behind you on the Halloween night, you should not turn back because it may be a dead following you. And if you commit the mistake of looking back, it is likely that you might join the dead very soon.

• People believe that if on the Halloween night, a girl carrying a lamp in her hand goes to a spring of water, she will see the reflection of her life partner in water.

• People have a superstition that if an unmarried girl carries a broken egg in a glass and takes it to a spring of water, she will be able to catch the glimpse of not just her future husband, by mixing some spring water in the glass, but also she can see the reflection of her future kids.

• There is the old saying that "black cats are bad luck". It was once believed that black cats were the devil, or consumed by evil spirits.

• People used to believe that Satan was a nut-gatherer. Nuts were also used as magic charms on the day of Halloween festival.

• If you put your clothes on inside out as well as outside walk backwards on Halloween night. At midnight you will see a witch in the sky. People used to believe witches were the devil, or that they were consumed by evil.

• There is also an old saying "if the flame on your candle goes out on Halloween celebration; it gives you the meaning that you are with a ghost".

• If you ring a bell on Halloween it will frighten evil spirits away.

• Many people used to consider that owls would dive down to eat the souls of the dying on Halloween. They used to think if you pulled your pockets out, and left them hanging, they'd be safe.

• It has been said if a bat flies into your house on Halloween, it is a sign that ghosts or spirits are very nearer, and maybe they are in your home and let the bat in.

• People used to believe that if bats are out early on Halloween, and they fly around playfully, then good weather is to come.

• If a bat flies around your house three times on Halloween, death is very soon to come

• To ward off evil spirits on Halloween, you can bury all the animal bones in your front yard, or even put a picture of an animal very close to your doorway.

• People used to believe you could walk around your house three times backwards before sunset on Halloween, and that would take care of all evil.

• It could be the spirit of a dead loved one watching you if you watch a spider on Halloween.