Imagine Yourself As An Insect, A Water Beetle To Be Exact, Swimming Around Searching For Food When All

Apparently there's an evolutionary theory that the reason why Africa has so much wild big-ass megafauna while the big-ass megafauna on all the other continents went extinct is because they evolved right beside humans, and knew us well enough to not get hunted into extinction.

So while everything from giant koalas to giant sloths barely had the time to think "what the fuck is that" before getting pierced by a spear and getting their bone marrow gently fed to babies and the toothless elderly, Africa had elephants who had all the time in the world to learn to tell apart human languages and teach the next generations of their herd which human sounds mean that this tribe won't hurt you, but humans who make this kind of sounds are a danger. And hippos learned to conclude "I think I'll fuck up this two-legged weird shit on sight."

The Tenement - a menace to all by Udo J. Keppler, (1872 - 1956) The illustration shows the spirits of alcoholism, opium, dens, prostitution, gambling and street crime, as well as the figure of Death, issuing from a tenement house

Sell Your Haunted House (2021)

Finally, an exorcist with an actual job!

Hong Ji-a (Jang Na-ra) is the CEO of Daebak Realty, a real estate agency that exorcises haunted houses or apartments plagued by vengeful spirits. Together of Oh In-Beom (Jung Yong-hwa), a scammer with special psychic abilities, she helps put those spirits to rest and help the living move on from their distress and bereavement.

The series expresses on the idea that greed and corruption often creates resentment and regret, which in turn, fuels the creation of these vengeful spirits. Only by letting go of these negative energies (in most cases, stabbing at the heart with an exorcism needle), can both the dead and the living truly move on from their uncomfortable positions.

It's a heartwarming series with a number of comedic and horror moments. The storyline is very engaging and the cast members really compliment each other, making this series a very interesting addition to your watchlist.

“Superstition is a part of the very being of humanity; and when we fancy that we are banishing it altogether, it takes refuge in the strangest nooks and corners, and then suddenly comes forth again, as soon as it believes itself at all safe.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections

"Ah, September! You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul... but I must confess that I love you only because you are a prelude to my beloved October." 🍁🎃🌙

- Peggy Toney Horton

“If the coffin hits anything at all, Death will come back for more.”

That’s what old people say.

In the Philippines, whenever someone dies, we hold a wake for 5-7 days. During this time, friends and family visit the deceased to pay their respects. There are prayers, feasting, singing and games. A celebration of a life that once was.

And the most critical moment? The last one on the last day. Pallbearers must ensure that when moving the coffin from the family home into the funeral hearse… it never hits a corner, a wall or anything at all.

Because according to superstition, if it does, Death considers it an invitation to return to the home and fetch more souls.

I’ve heard numerous anecdotes about this being true. Told over and over again. Stories passed down for generations. A family of five that all died within a week. Friends who passed away within days of each other. An entire village that was felled by what seemed like a plague. All because a coffin hit a wall.

But none of it is true.

My ancestors made it up.

To keep the truth hidden.

They were seven siblings in all. Four girls and three boys. The first six were supernaturally blessed. The youngest was not.

Today, we don’t care if this happens. So what if little Johnny can’t tell the future or cast a spell? He could be a successful lawyer, doctor, entrepreneur. He’s not missing out on the chance to become fulfilled in this incarnation.

But back then, being a “Squib” in a witching family meant you were worthless.

And so Teofilo and Saturnina — the eldest two — asked the rest, “Should we share our powers with our youngest?” And they all said yes.

A ritual was performed. Orisons were chanted. Blood magic was invoked. And so their powers flowed, from one sibling to another. Which means they now shared one life. If one dies, the rest would follow.

Then and until very recently, traditional witches in my country pretended to be Catholics. The truth would have made them outcasts. Labelled as evil. 

And so to hide the supernatural way they would die in the future, and prevent their children being branded as witches, the siblings made up a superstition and spread it: “If the coffin hits anything at all, Death will come back for more.”

Many decades after they planted the seed, it fully bloomed. So when Crisanta, the third sibling, died of an illness, and the other six followed within a matter of minutes… nobody suspected they were witches.

Instead, all the neighbors said, “Alas. The pallbearers must have hit a wall, inviting Death to come back for more.”

"Your handwriting. the way you walk. which china pattern you choose. it's all giving you away. everything you do shows your hand. everything is a self portrait. everything is a diary."

Chuck Palahniuk

Pengabdi Setan (2017)

Pengabdi Setan, also known as Satan's Slave, is an Indonesian horror movie written and directed by Joko Anwar who also worked on other Indonesian horror films such as Perempuan Tanah Jahanam (Woman of the Damned Land aka Impetigore, 2019) and Ratu Ilmu Hitam (The Queen of Black Magic, 2019).

In the film, the matriarch who fell ill more than 3 years ago passed away under mysterious circumstances, setting a chain of horrific motions haunting her children Rini (Tara Basro), Tony (Endy Arfian), Bondi (Nasar Anuz), and Ian (Muhammad Adhiyat). Set in the early 1980s, Joko Anwar sets the mood with dim lighting and plot twists, evoking a building sense of suspense that climaxes into a horrific peak involving fertility cults and zombified pocongs.

Aside from the riveting storyline and awesome cast and crew, one thing that stuck with me is the soundtrack. Throughout the entire movie, snippets of Kelam Malam, performed by The Spouse and introduced as the matriarch's hit song early in the film, further set the mood playing throughout the movie with its haunting melody and suggestive lyrics.

The easter egg ending features Darminah who, for those who don't know, appeared in the 1980 version of Pengabdi Setan making this movie a remake, though some suggest it is also a prequel given that the 2017 setting was 1981 while the 1980 setting was 1982. Regardless, the seductive ending scene set against Diwajahmu Kulihat Bulan by Sam Saimun also set the mood for the sequel which we will see soon this year in 2022.

Happy Hauntings!

A lawyer woke up in the hospital after surgery

He asked, “Why are all the blinds drawn in here?” The nurse answered, “There’s a fire across the street and we didn’t want you to think the operation had been a failure.”