A dark, dramatic sky and a new project

This is last night's moon. Aren't the clouds dramatic? They look painted. This was right after the Strawberry Moon on the 20th. What's neat is that this Strawberry Moon fell on the same date as the summer solstice. I read that this is so rare, that the last time it happened was 1948!

The wind and the clouds were moving fast, which made things even more dramatic.

Eventually, the clouds covered the moon entirely which led to my favorite shot of the night:

Doesn't that look just a bit like a jack-o-lantern face?

To my surprise, my camera zoomed to 80x. I thought it would only go to 39x for some reason, so I was thrilled that it kept going and I got this one:

You can really see those craters on the right side of it.

I had been working on a blog post after a recent trip to the museum, but that isn't entirely done yet. Hopefully it will be soon. I photographed some cool and spooky old African artifacts there, but researching them is taking some time. I'd like to be able to actually tell you guys about them!

Besides researching those artifacts, I also haven't been blogging much because most my online time has been going toward other things like playing around with recording my voice and learning about making videos. It has been my goal for a long time now to do some recordings and get them on YouTube and after a few months of research, I'm finally getting around to figuring this all out!

Anyway, I thought I'd check in with a quicker post than what I'd been planning just to make sure I made an appearance! It's been a long time since I've been blogging and I didn't want to drop off the face of the earth.

I'd like to chat with anyone who has some tips or ideas before I go into doing the recordings/videos. I might have some questions for those of you who already have YouTube channels.

I'm thinking right now of an old time radio theme. Something like the spooky old shows and stories from the 40s that I enjoy listening to. Any suggestions of what you might like to hear?

Irish Ghosts, Witches, and Scary Fairies

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've been saving a few cool Irish themed videos for today. The first are a look at monsters and death myths in Celtic folklore. I know all of you Halloween people are going to love the intro to this show as much as I do! There's some really cool art in it. If you watch nothing more, watch the intro!

Celtic Monsters - Witches:

Celtic Monsters - Fairies:

These aren't the only Celtic Monsters videos. There's a series of six episodes as far as I know. It was hard to choose which ones to share. They're all so great. Here's the playlist if you'd like to see more:

Celtic Monsters YouTube Playlist

I really like the narration and storytelling in these videos. The storytellers come across as authentic, as if they're telling a story of something that really happened. It's possible some of these stories were passed down through families. It's just an elegantly put together show!

The next videos are from a paranormal investigation show called Northern Ireland's Greatest Haunts. This research team is fun to watch and I love the psychic! Wait until you hear the music that plays when she makes an appearance! Talk about an entrance. Here are a few of my favorite episodes:

Cooneen:

Cooneen House has that beautiful decay thing going on.

Prehen House:

... and again here's a playlist with a whole bunch of them, in case you'd like to binge-watch this whole show the way I did!

Northern Ireland's Greatest Haunts YouTube Playlist

There are a few other paranormal shows on that playlist which also look pretty entertaining!

Tales for the campfire

Recently I ran across a storyteller on YouTube that I really enjoy listening to. I'm not sure what the magic ingredient in his voice is or why I prefer listening to him vs. many of the voices on YouTube. I think part of it is that he genuinely sounds like he is telling you these things firsthand. He's probably reading these stories unless he has a photographic memory but they're told in a way that sounds like a friend is talking to you. He gets the emotions and the timing right.

The storyteller is Otis Jiry and he reads stories that are anywhere from a few minutes to an hour long as well as some dark poetry. A lot of the stories he reads are those "Creepypasta" stories. For those who don't know, Creepypastas are short scary/shocking stories posted online. They're usually written in way that sounds like they really happened, even if what's being described is pretty wacky.

So I thought I'd post a few of my favorite readings from Otis Jiry. Those of you who get my blog by email will probably have to come read my actual blog because I know these videos don't generally show up for you.

The first one is called "Ash Hollow: The Odd Little Well" and was written by R.J. Wills. This story isn't too scary, it's more mystifying. It would be good for a discussion group where everyone could share what they think it means. I thought it was descriptive in the way where there are just enough personal details to make it sound real.

This next story "Birthday at Freddy's" will seem extra spooky and familiar for people who remember Chuck E. Cheese's. It's a little scarier than the last story.

I always thought those animatronic critters were creepy!

If you'd like to listen to more of Otis Jiry's storytelling, here is his YouTube channel:

Otis Jiry's Creepypasta Crypt

There are a variety of different types of stories on his channel. Some are pretty morbid.

While listening to Otis' channel, I saw a recommended video on the side of my screen. I clicked on it and really enjoyed what I heard. Listen to this one in a dark, quiet room. The lady who reads this has a whispery, haunted tone to her voice. It's a story from the point of view of a babysitter but it's different from most scary babysitter stories. This is another one worth discussing, because there would probably be a lot of different opinions about what happened. "My Last Night Babysitting" by Jeanna Saccomano: