I was gifted a new pair of winter boots. I am so happy and so are my feet. Living in Atlantic Canada, you need a comfortable truly insulating pair of winter boots. I love them. I recently made myself a new doll. I made the doll, my dark avenger, because I am so tired of the pain and toxicity I encounter. It has been so bad it has changed me. But not for the worse, but rather for the better. It does no good to be naive but it doesn’t have to turn you into someone bitter or hateful, either.
I love my doll and I have named him Dante. He is all black with two buttons for eyes and a black button for the nose. He has a red mouth, a grey and red cape, and I stuffed with specific herbs. The herbs are meant to protect me. The herbs are sage, wormwood, nettle, pine needles, High John the Conqueror, mandrake, oak bark and Devil’s Claw Root. I stirred the herbs in a bowl with a wooden spoon, empowering the herbs with protective energy to protect me. He smells good! His hair is made from purple yarn. Dante is a dashing little fellow. I created him with care. Dante sports a necklace of skulls and pentacles and he bears a protection rune on the front, on his chest. I want to add horns and a tail to Dante too.
I just love how Dante turned out. He looks great and he makes me feel good each time I hold him or look at him. Dante will always watch over me and guard me. That is the intention I put into him. I found a pattern to make a poppet doll and just enlarged the pattern. Then I sewed him together with care and love. I like to take pride in the things I do. They turn out better and last longer. My other doll, Minerva will get to know Dante too.
I am tired of the pain and hate and toxicity. I received a flash of inspiration and next thing I knew, since I am happiest when I am creative, I was sewing myself a doll. I am tired of being a sponge for all that. No one needs that. Ever since Covid, everything has gone to pot. I hope the world gets better. The doll will now protect me. He is my little friend who will make sure no one ever hurts me again. This does not mean I won’t have my moments or that I won’t ever encounter anything negative ever again, like I am not a god. I am human but it sure feels good now to have Dante around.
Penny is a sweet munchkin. She probably tries to protect me too. She is always available for a cuddle, whether I am happy or sad. So let’s love our little avengers- dolls, cats or a dog, whatever you have near you that loves you. We know the world could use a lot more love. Let’s choose love!
October is here! October brings many charms such as pumpkins, gourds, fiery autumn leaves, and that magical chill in the air. I have a busy month ahead of me. Here is my schedule:
Paranormal Symposium – October 7
HWA Annual Blog event – my post October 7
Writers Digest University Horror Writing conference – October 14
Demonology Course – October 16
Samhain – October 31
On top of that, I have my herbalism course, and taking care of my cat Penny (a full-time job in itself), my writing. I plan to harvest dandelion roots soon and dry them in my dehydrator and brew immunity tonics. I want to take the Intro to Parapsychology course and I hope it’s still open by the time I can afford it. Penny’s going to the groomers this week. She has so many mats in her fur and I want her to look and feel her best. She is my beloved kitty after all.
There are also a few awesome astrological events this month as well. October is the month with the most magic after all. Here is a link from Spirit nest that describes the astrological events:
On October 4th, Mercury moves into Libra, providing us with opportunities to be more empathetic and receptive in our social and professional lives.
On October 8th, Venus enters Virgo, and on October 10th, Pluto ends its retrograde in Capricorn. The combined earth energy of these two events grounds us and directs our attention to our priorities. With Pluto’s shift, we are encouraged to approach work with enthusiasm and energy.
On October 12th, Mars enters Scorpio, and for the next six weeks, we can expect to feel a heightened sense of passion and sensuality.
On October 14th, the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra kicks off eclipse season, followed by the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Taurus two weeks later. This marks the end of a two-year cycle of eclipses in the Taurus-Scorpio axis and signifies the end of an intense learning process centred around letting go of control.
I created a calendar that depicted photos of my irascible cat Penny. Today was the calendar’s last day. I have a calendar from Llewellyn but that doesn’t start till January, which makes no sense to me because October 31st is Witches New Year. I printed out a calendar for the month of October from the app on my desktop. I have a lot to keep track of this month. I hope to catch the eclipse near the end of the month.
I want us all to welcome the newest member to my witch doll coven, Morrigan. I collect witch dolls in October every year. This year, I found her at. Michaels arts and crafts. She is beautiful and will adjust nicely to her new home. She holds a crow or raven in her hands and I knew she was perfect. There are 30 days to Samhain but I already feel the first stirrings of Samhain in the air. I also found a lovely astrology workbook. I find astrology fascinating and I look forward to working with it.
The Horror Zine published my short story, Skin, for this month. I received a copy of the book in the mail. I am thrilled that my story appears at the front of the book, as that means it will be read by readers sooner. They can find the story easily. I will have to scratch up another story for the editor! Here is the link to the Horror Zine: https://www.thehorrorzine.com/?fbclid=IwAR0zTcB_PFZ1hmnigq8XuqbK0jKceeX05A3Xi8ZtQ2uJlnYHsRlYQBJ3Msc
I also see October as a month to bring projects to completion. I have several projects to finish. October 31st is the Witches New Year so that is the reason for my compulsion to finish projects. I love the feeling of completing projects. I like ticking them off my list. I do have Virgo in my chart and this is clear here. I want to work on my material media, turn up the compost outside, finish the laundry, make my apartment sparkle and be all clean for October, and write more horror stories. Whether I actually accomplish all that, time will tell.
I watched an episode, Demon under the Stairs, from the Haunted Museum recently. As I did, I suddenly experienced the worst pain in my jaw. It might be coincidental but the timing sure is worthy of note. Like I am not kidding, it was the most painful thing I ever experienced next to the nightmarish experience I had at the dentist’s office. Needless to say, I am no longer visiting that dental office. I am buying a big chunk of selenite to protect me from anymore possible ‘attacks’. I mean you know, just in case.
I watched a video about demons on YouTube in the past. As I watched, I felt a big muscle spasm between the shoulder blades. That really hurt too. Maybe it was coincidental or maybe I need to up the ante of this pain I suffer when watching certain videos. For any of you who are reading this, I do have psychic protection posts I wrote in the past on this blog.
Energy is real and all around us. Energy makes everything happen. We are composed of electromagnetic energy. The Universe is energy. A leaf has an energy as does an orange. As I type, rain falls from a grey leaden sky. I keep pining for summer but winter is here. Sometimes I have seen so much ice and snow in my backyard it seems that summer would never return, but it does. I hate winter but I know it passes. The change of the seasons never ceases to amaze me. Everything is energy and nothing is finite.
I am inspired to sew a scary doll. She is not haunted but she will be hopefully if I take her places that are speculated to be haunted. The photo shows the layout of the pattern pieces. The body of the doll is white. The hair which will be mostly made up of black and some purple yarn, she will have buttons for eyes, and her dress is a black and white spider print fabric I stashed in the sewing cart. The sleeves are the same fabric as the dress. The stockings are a grey fabric with a black bat print and the boots are black. She will get a witch charm necklace, a broom and a witch hat. I think she will be so Goth and cute. I can’t wait to work on the doll! Then of course, she will need a name. No, I will not name her Morticia. There are a thousand dolls named Morticia. Claudia would suit her though. Maybe she will need fangs and a driving hunger for blood?
Ha! The entire doll – the body of the doll and the dress has to be sewn with a 1/4″ inch seam allowance. I had to find out how that is done. My needle plate shows a 3/8″ inch, 5/8″ inch and 7/8″ inch seam allowances. So the 1/4″ inch seam allowance is before 3/8″. You can now imagine that means a tiny, narrow seam allowance. Now I know where that is indicated because 1/4″ inches is 2/8″ inch. I have to see slowly and carefully. Wow. I will never be so precise as now. I made a doll in the past and I was never this careful. That’s because I am now using a pattern. To make it worse, the body of the doll and the clothing which will forever be a part of the doll is white. It will all show if I screw up. I will mark with tape where the mark is where I have to sew. Sewing slowly and keeping an eye on it will be the only way to get this done. This is not a rush job. I have never needed to sew in a 1/4″ inch before. Needles to say, I don’t look forward to it but it is not impossible. That’s why marking rulers and understanding math can come in handy- and patience!
I can’t wait to stuff the doll and sew the costume. But that comes after patiently sewing the doll and minding the seam allowance. Or it is all for naught. Too much work to go through for nothing. But anything worth doing is worth doing well. I will post photos as I go along. This will be a fun weekend project. I googled goth scary witch dolls. I am going for a scary cute goth look. The buttons I wanted to use might be too big for her face. I ordered black skull buttons online at Amazon. I don’t want to use regular buttons on the doll. I need a button at the collar and on her boots. Skull buttons will make her look edgy and with attitude.
If you want to make this doll, use the pattern by Kwik Sew 4390. That is the pattern I used. You have to have all the fabric at hand that you will need. The clothing is sewn to the doll’s body and is never intended to be separate from the doll. The body of most of the doll is white. The stockings and the booties (See legs of doll in the photo) are the clothing. The arms are white and the face and neck. The hair piece that gets sewn to the head of the doll has to be the haircolor and the yarn has to match. Since the yarn hair was black, I used black cotton for the hair front and hair back. Be sure to use matching thread. Sew the eyes on last or before you attach any other parts to the doll. I wanted to use big buttons for her eyes but the buttons were too big. Here are some photos I took on the progress of the doll:
When you sew the arms and legs, you cut out four pieces. The arms have to look right on the doll and are reversed of each other. One right arm and one left arm. The same goes with the legs. Our arms and legs face a certain way. It is no different with a doll.
When you sew the head to the body (front), keep a straight seam allowance. If you want to, you can use a pencil and mark a very light straight line from the notch marked on the forehead all the way down to the neck. The seamline of the head of the doll to the body must be straight. The notches and points have to meet. It is the same with the back of the doll. I stuffed the arms and legs tightly and packed the stuffing down firmly using a wooden dowel but not hard enough to tear fabric or seams. You have to get the details of the doll’s body right or otherwise don’t bother.
Leave the back of the doll open for turning and stuffing. Take your time with this. Take your time making the entire doll. This is an act of creation so go slowly. Sew the doll with love and it will show. I sewed the smile on and traced a light line on for the smile with pencil then stitched over the pencil marks. I sprinkled in mugwort and mandrake then stitched the back of the doll by hand. Once you have correctly and nicely sewn the body, you can progress with the clothing.
The right arm of the doll’s sleeve cap features spiders. The left arm of the sleeve cap features the webs (where the spiders hide!). I drew an eyebrow on her brow very carefully with a sharpie pen and I did the same with her lashes. The pocket fabric is upside down and the collar fabric is wrong side up but it somehow works. The pocket can still hold spells!!! For the hair braids, you sew the braids to the head where the darts are. You can use whatever color yarn you want, but have lots of it on hand. If you want, you can sew a weft of the yarn hair and then sew it on by hand. You have to sew the yarn on by hand, Mark with a water soluble marker where you want to sew on the yarn. I have included a video here to better demonstrate how to sew on the yarn. Before you sew anything, watch this excellent video!:
I highly suggest you sew on the yarn by hand. If you use a hot glue gun, you will regret it. It won’t have that seamless look. Hot glue makes a mess. Sewing with needle and thread spares you lots of agony. I made the doll a dress and tacked it on to her body the same I did with the collar. I sewed on a pocket to the dress before I sewed the dress together. I had to sew the dress by hand because for some frustrating reason the machine refused to sew this fabric together. The dress comes with a slip. I gathered the fabric together but I had more luck just cutting the fabric to truly fit her body and I pinned the slip to the doll. Make sure to use thread that is the same as the yarn and the head of the doll.
I made the doll!!!! I love her and she is just sooo cute! I was successful in sewing the slim seam allowance. I stuffed the arms and the legs then I sewed the back of the doll’s head to the body. I sewed the back of the doll to the front of the doll. If you want to make your own doll and are trying this, you can’t catch the seams of the arms and legs when doing this. Then I finally stuffed the doll. Tear the wool into little pieces then put the stuffing into the doll. Be sure to pack it in carefully. You also have to stuff the doll’s head firmly because you don’t want the doll’s head to be floppy. I recommend watching how the woman in the video sews the doll body if you are inspired to make a doll yourself. It is incredibly helpful. I love my doll Miranda Spiderella. She is cute and scary! A perfect combination.
I might hunt a little rocking chair for her for a nice place to sit. I am sure I will eventually find something. This will be fun and hard work. I will let you know how it turns out!!
After this project is complete, I want to sew myself a brown winter coat.
The battle between winter and spring rages outside. The trees wave and bow to the strong winds. The grey skies hang low. It’s hard to say which will be the victor: winter snow storms or spring filling our hearts with hope upon spying a fresh green bud poking from the frozen earth.
I’ve been reading the excellently written novel Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J.D Barker. Oh my god the novel is such an eye opener. This novel is the prequel to the original Dracula by Bram Stoker. I love the book and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It’s a great novel to read to keep you out of the cold. Apparently Mina and Jonathan Harker, the characters immortalized in the famous novel, may have been real living breathing people. I won’t give away any more information about the novel. I can’t recommend the novel enough to al you dear readers.
I watched the scariest horror movie recently. The Conjuring and Insidious franchise had nothing on this one. It was called Veronica. I heard about the whole scary supposedly true haunted house story from a horror podcast. Oh my goddess there were some nightmare inducing scenes I am having a hard time forgetting. One example is when the teenage girl’s toddler aged siblings violently snack on their very disturbed older sister. That’s right they ate her. I can’t forget that scene. It was hard to watch, especially while eating, and very hard to forget. Oh my gosh. I will never watch that movie again. But for any true horror movie fans, I dare you to watch it at night alone with the lights off.
Speaking of spooky, here is an eerie tale for you, my dear readers. It deals with a haunted doll carriage that infests a family in their home.
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By Josh Carter|January 25, 2021 at 4:41 PM CST – Updated January 26 at 10:12 AM
BRANDON, Miss. (WLBT) – It sounded like someone was knocking on the walls.
That’s how Whitney Merritt describes the beginning of the nearly three weeks of alleged paranormal activity her family endured after receiving a Christmas present last month.
The present was a vintage doll carriage. Her mother had gotten it from a friend of a friend and had gifted it to Whitney’s daughter, where it sat by the Christmas tree for the first few days.
The knocking, Whitney says, began at the beginning of the year. They would hear it on the walls of their Brandon home which they have recently moved into. The sounds grew so loud that on two occasions, Whitney walked to the front door thinking someone was outside. It was midnight so Whitney called her husband, Michael, who works nights.
“I think someone’s at the front door,” she told him before turning on the porch light. When she opened it, no one was there.
“And then about the third or fourth night was when we started hearing, like, boom, boom, boom, in the attic,” she recalls as she rubs her chest, leaving it red. At first they simply wrote it off. The home was built in 1992, maybe it was just settling in?
“I don’t know. Logical reasons I’m trying to come up with in my head,” Whitney admits.
But soon the sounds above their living room became so frequent that they could no longer be ignored. So one weekend in the middle of the night, Michael went into the attic carrying a shotgun and a flashlight, expecting to find someone up there.
“We were out there making so much noise,” Whitney says. “People probably thought we were crazy. We thought there was somebody in the attic!” But no one was up there. And so ended week one.
Week two started with a bang.
It was around two or three in the morning when Whitney was awakened from what she calls a “dead sleep.” The noise was so loud, she says, that she thought their dog had crashed through the window of their door. She grabbed her handgun and walked around their home, but found nothing.
In the morning while walking into the kitchen was when she discovered the bag on the ground. In the bag were the coffee mugs she had recently purchased from TJMaxx. The bag was three to four feet away from the table. Both of the mugs were broken.
“There was no way that they could have fallen over at all,”Whitney says adamantly.“I mean, they weren’t on their side or anything… they’re not just gonna roll. You know what I mean? They just don’t roll.”
The next night, another bang. It was around 3:30 in the morning. Whitney rushed into the kitchen to find another bag on the floor, inside another shattered mug. This time shards of glass had come out of the bag and so Whitney began sweeping it up.
At first they thought maybe one of their children had gone to use the bathroom, but the light never came on.
“So my husband opened up the door real quick and turned the light on and there was nothing in there,” Whitney says. “And he stood there messing with the doors in the hallway for a minute just trying to find a logical explanation, like, maybe it was the suction that’s slamming the door.”
But the door never moved again.
“Hey, is Paxton home?” Michael asked.
Whitney said no, that he was still at school.
When Whitney and her daughter got home, Michael explained the call. He said that he was in bed when he heard the front door close. Then he heard Paxton’s door close. Then he began hearing knocking on the walls.
He called Paxton’s name five or six times, but there was no answer. That’s when he got up and walked into his son’s room. Paxton’s bedroom light was on, his Xbox was on and a bottle of water was “actively” dripping on the floor.
After telling Whitney this story, they had a discussion about all of the strange occurrences at their home and when they had begun. “We were sitting here and [Michael] just fixated on that little baby carriage and we stuck it outside…”
Since then, everything has been normal. No more knocking, no more footsteps in the attic.
The carriage now resides in the garage and has been placed on Facebook Marketplace for $65. “Full disclosure,” the caption reads. “It’s definitely haunted. Sooo. Yeah.”
Whitney did say that she eventually received more backstory on the carriage from her mother, who told her that the owner’s husband had been killed in a motorcycle accident on the Natchez Trace a year ago. She believes that it’s possible that that’s who she saw walk past her in the kitchen.
“We both strongly believe there is a spirit attached to that doll buggy,” Michael wrote in a text message. “With what was going on, there’s no other explanation. It all started with all the knocking and banging on the walls out of nowhere and I knew.”
Whitney says that she wouldn’t argue with anyone who doubts their story and that she, too, is hesitant to believe people who claims to have seen something paranormal. “I didn’t want to say any of this out loud because it sounds, you know— I know how it sounds,” Whitney says. “I’m not stupid, I know how it sounds. But, you know, it is what it is.””
Indeed. A spirit attached itself to the doll carriage.
The Horror Writers Association is hosting its annual blog event, Halloween Haunts this year!! So far the blog post entries have been scarily good to read. I am participating in the blog event. My post will be up on October 11th. I can’t wait! I enjoy being involved in this event!! It is great to read what other like minded horror authors have to say about Halloween! Here is the link: http://horror.org/2020/10/halloween-haunts-barbasol-and-terror/
The leaves are turning, the wind is chillier, and pumpkins grace our decks and yards. It’s that magical time of year! I found two awesome magazines about Witches that I can’t wait to read. The first one is called Witches- Inside their Mysterious World. The magazine features a Witch walking through the woods with her back to the camera. Centennial Entertainment produced the magazine. The second magazine is about Witches too and it was produced by National Geographic. I can’t wait to read them!
I made a corn doll to represent my gratitude for all the blessings I have received over the year. I’ll tell you how I made the doll so you can make your own.
Gather together two skewers, Kleenex, rubber bands, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, corn cob husks (dried but not stiff), fabric for the dress, and yarn for the hair. If you want, you can watch a tutorial on youtube on how to make a basic corn doll. Here is how I made mine:
I glued two skewers together to form a T – for the body. I trimmed the skewer I laid across the first skewer. The horizontal skewer formed the arms. The vertical skewer formed the body of the doll. If glue doesn’t hold it together, use duct tape. Then, I used quilt batting to form the head and laid a Kleenex over the batting. I secured the Kleenex over the batting using a rubber band. I pushed that down the skewer till it reached the skewer laying cross ways. Then I layered on the corn husks which I first soaked in warm water. I used a hot glue gun and rubber bands to form the body of the doll. You can also try this cool trick for the hands of the doll. Twist a corn husk in itself then lay it over the doll cross ways. Tie it there with string or a rubber band. Then turn the husk over itself. This should give the look of those lovely billowing puffy sleeves. I trimmed the excess.
Once you have created the doll to your satisfaction and everything is lying securely, it is time to embellish the doll. I fashioned a witch hat for her. I also had a stash of orange yarn which I used to make her hair. I hot glued the yarn to her whole head to avoid any ‘bald’ spots then glued the witch hat on to her head. It looks so cool! I trimmed the long ends of her hair to keep it even. I bound her in a black tube dress. I stitched on black lace at the collar and pulled her body through. Then I stitched the sides of the tube dress and even stitched on an apron. Her husk arms show but I plan to embellish her hands and add a dress soon. This is my corn doll in the photo below:
I hope you like her as much as I do. It was a lot of work to create the doll. She is quite charming. I have yet to name her.
You may want to make a Brighid corn doll. You can make a corn doll out of corn, wheat or corn husks. Dress up the corn doll in spring colours.
To make this simple doll, use fresh corn husks. Husks need to be dried and softened. You will need yarn or ribbon, and some cotton balls.
Take a strip of the husk, and fold it in half. Place 2 or 3 cotton balls in the middle, and twist the husk, and tie with string to form a head. Leave some husk in the front, and below the head, to create a torso. Make a pair of arms for the doll by folding a couple of husks in half, and tie at the ends to form hands. Slip the arms between the husks that form the torso, and secure at the waist.
Arrange some more husks, upside down, around the doll’s waist. Overlap them slightly, and secure with yarn or twine. She should look like she has her skirt up over her face. Tie the waist and fold the husks down, so now her skirt comes downward. Trim the hem of the skirt to even it out. Allow the doll to completely dry.
Once the doll has dried, you can leave her plain or decorate her. Draw on a face with a marker and glue on some yarn for her hair. You can add clothing, an apron, a Brighid’s cross drawn on with a marker-whatever you choose.
Place your Brighid doll in a spot of honor for Imbolc. Place her on the hearth or in the kitchen. Ask for Brighid’s blessings in health, fertility and abundance.
Please do not steal or copy from this blog. If you do, be prepared to be stomped on by the Fates and karma for your bad character. I can be reached at :
heddyjohannesen @ gmail.com
