WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
The Shadowlands: Ghosts and Hauntings
I wanted to have a ghost-themed site up for Halloween, and I decided on this one because it contains the largest database of stories. Almost all the stories are user-submitted, so they’re not always the most professionally written, but like I said, it has, by far, the largest collection of stories. Most of the “professionally” written accounts sites that I went to only had 10 or 12 at the most. This site has over six thousand (No, I have not read all of them). It also contains ghost hunting tips and a few articles on ghosts in general. A word of warning: the people who run this site believe in this stuff wholeheartedly to the point where it might be a little creepy, and they take it very seriously. That doesn’t mean you can’t be entertained (or spooked, whichever you wish) by the stories. And if anyone finds stories relating to Toledo, Granville, or Denison, please tell me. Speaking of which, I’m giving an Honorable Mention to another ghost website called Forgotten Ohio. I think the site is more organized than the Shadowlands, but you probably won’t find the stories very interesting if you’ve never been to Ohio for any significant amount of time. Surprisingly, this website has two ghost reports for Denison.
Previous Websites of the Week:
The Deadly Follies of Stick Figure Warning Man and Family
Jennifer Government: Nation States
Cannot Find Weapons of Mass Destruction
I’m going to add my own little addendum on ghosts here, since it has little to do with the website. I’m generally a skeptic when it comes to things like the supernatural, aliens, etc. I generally require solid proof of something before I believe in it. There are a few exceptions to this rule. For one, I believe in God (although some might say that faith is proof enough; I’m not going to argue that here and now). I’m also more inclined to believe in ghosts and psychic phenomena than other supernatural beings. However, I don’t take it ultra-seriously and I only take my own experiences into account (i.e. I’m not going to automatically believe someone who says they live in a haunted house, etc). I will say this, though: If there is any place in Toledo that’s haunted, it’s the Collingwood Arts Center.
It was built about a hundred years ago and it was originally a convent and a Catholic academy. Nowadays, it’s a theater used mostly for children’s theater groups, although there are frequently other kinds of cultural performances, as well as some classes. There’s also a residential area for artists. There are several reports of seeing ghosts there. Usually the ghosts are nuns (some nice, some not-so-nice), children, a mournful bride, and a sinister man dressed entirely in black. When I was nine I went to a week-long Girl Scout theater camp held there. I didn’t out-and-out see a ghost (which is why I’m still slightly skeptic of the whole situation), but everywhere I went I always felt like I was being watched, especially when I was alone (also, the air in some hallways would feel very thick and heavy, and then normal in nearby places, like around a corner). One of the worst places for that was the prop storage room, which was humongous and filled with piles of every prop imaginable (in no organization whatsoever). Not only did I feel like I was being watched, that room had the weirdest temperature changes imaginable. It could be warm and extremely humid in one spot and freezing in another spot five feet away (and I was a skeptic even at nine years old). Since I was in a theater camp, I obviously spent a lot of time in the theater itself (which, according to most of the stuff I’ve read, is supposed to be haunted by a not-so-nice nun who sits in the balcony and sometimes shoots sparks at people). We were the only ones using the building that week, so only the stage lights were on (the house and foyer lights were off), which caused you to just stare into absolute darkness. Several times I distinctly saw a small red dot of light in the darkness (and it was near where the first or second row of the balcony would be, so it wasn’t an exit sign or anything like that). During the last two days of camp, there was always water on the walls and floor backstage, and no apparent source. The creepiest incident came one afternoon while we were rehearsing. I had just finished my bit, so I was sitting on the stage sort of staring off into space. I thought I saw something above me flash, and immediately one of the lights exploded and glass showered down on the girl in front of me (she happened to be sitting right underneath the light). Oddly enough, she didn’t get a scratch on her (and ever since then I’ve always thought that ghosts, if they exist, can’t hurt you physically). I know lights can explode if they get too hot, but that’s just kind of a weird coincidence. Anyways, that’s my own personal “ghost story.”
Wednesday’s History of Cinema movie was Federico Fellini’s La Strada (made in 1954), starring Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, and Richard Basehart.
The movie is Italian (obviously), so some may be surprised that the two male leads are played by Hollywood stars (BTW, Quinn was Mexican and Basehart was American). Until the 1950s, Italy didn’t have the technology to record both picture and sound at the same time, so they would film the entire movie silent, edit it, and then bring in actors (sometimes the same ones, sometimes not) to a recording studio, where they would read the lines and try to match the lip movements on film. This dialogue was put in place, and music and sound effects were mixed in as well. This process was called “doublage” (It’s basically the same thing as dubbing), and, for some reason, it was so successful that Italian movies continued to be made this way for several years after the technology to record picture and sound simultaneously became available. This is why Fellini was able to use Hollywood actors. Richard Basehart was dubbed by a different actor, but Anthony Quinn’s voice is his own (apparently he could speak several languages fluently). The female lead, Giulietta Masina, was Fellini’s wife (and they were married long before this movie was made). There’s nothing wrong with this, except she was 33 at the time this movie was made, and her character is supposed to be 13 or 14 (And it’s not like Forrest Gump, where the action takes place over a period of several decades. Most of the action in La Strada only spans a few years at the most). The movie is about a circus strongman (Quinn) who treats his assistant (Masina) badly. The assistant is very childlike and simple-minded, which was a trait that was apparently admired by Italians. Fellini uses a lot of Christian allegory, as well as classical archetypes. Anthony Quinn’s character is the “Body,” Giulietta Masina is the “Spirit,” and Richard Basehart (who plays another circus performer) is the “Mind.” It also plays like a classical tragedy, so the softhearted should have the Kleenex box handy. That said, I can appreciate it for its merits. It is a good movie. However, I did not like it on a personal level (mostly because I thought Anthony Quinn’s character was too much of a jerk to empathize with, but perhaps I’m not softhearted enough). Anyways, I’ll agree with the scholars and critics and say that the movie is worthy of praise. The fact that I don’t like it is mostly a matter of personal taste. Just as a sidenote, today happens to be the tenth anniversary of Fellini’s death.
Well, I was going to talk about the Burpee’s Halloween show (Burpee’s is the student improv group, for those of you who don’t know), but this post is long enough, so I think I’ll save it for the next one. Have a fun Halloween, everyone!
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