Ghost Upon the Floor

     If you scroll down the list of links here at Ghostuponthefloor, you will find a list of Halloween blogs, where I have linked to other Halloween souls who write about the holiday. At the top of that list is “Season ofShadows.” If you click on the link, you are taken to a website that is nolonger active.

     I will never take that name down, though, as without it I doubt we here at GUTF would have a blog for you to read.

     For anyone who may not know what “Season of Shadows” was, I’m sorry you didn’t get to experience the blog. “Season of Shadows” was the late John Wolfe’s labor of haunted love, writing about his home haunts and fantastic displays, and his love for all things Halloween, especially those nostalgic things—costumes, breakfast cereals, cartoons and commercials—for those who came of age in the 1970s and 1980s.

     When I first found John’s blog, I was quickly taken in by it. I had been thinking of starting a blog about my attempts at pumpkin growing, maybe a general blog about Halloween, but when I saw John’s blog, I knew I could never do something like that. His haunts were so impressive, his knowledge on things Halloween past so extensive—it intimidated this Ghost. However, as time went on, and I read John’s blog, I found myself relating to him more and more. One day, back in 2008, when my pumpkin patch failed yet again—and I had just bought a new box of Halloween cookie cutters—I decided that I would try my hand at blogging. See if I would be able to keep it up, and for how long.

     At first, I didn’t know if I could keep this up. I tried my best, but had yet to find my footing. I’ll never forget the first time John found my blog—and commented—on a post I had made. He began to email me shortly after, and the encouragement he gave me was enough to carry on in my haunted writings, and soon I found a partner in What a Witch for the blog that truly made Ghostuponthefloor become what it was always meant to be.

      As readers of Season of Shadows know, in 2012, John lost hisbattle to a debilitating illness that seemed to have set upon him so suddenly.When I heard of his illness, I was stunned. When he passed away, I mourned with the Halloween community online who knew we would never again have a voice like his.While John's blog is not currently available, his YouTube channel remains, where you can see a glimpse of what his haunts were and the fantastic work he put into them. 

     I will never forget John, his blog and work or the encouragement he gave me in such a formative time. Every October, when the nights grow cooler, the pumpkins begin to come out, and the darkness comes sooner—I think of how the season of shadows is upon us, and how perfectly that phrase fits the Halloween season.

     One of John’s passions in life apart from Halloween was hisconviction that the world have better and cleaner access to clean drinkingwater. This Halloween, I will be making a donation to UNICEF’s Water Programs,and hope you will join me. And join me in remembering John and his blog when the season of shadows comes upon us.

-The Ghost