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October 25, 2009
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS Georgia and I traveled to Canyon for a workshop on exhibit design. We traveled down on Monday night, workshop on Tuesday at the Panhandle -Plains Museum. The workshop was very informative and interesting. We learned some mapping techniques and free internet programs that will come in handy here. When the workshop ended at 4pm it was raining alittle but by the time we reached the loop in Amarillo it was really raining. By the time we reached Panhandle, I was exhausted from trying to see the road and not hit or get hit by the traffic so we stopped in Panhandle for the night. It was the first time I or Georgia had spent the night just 2 hrs from home, but the rain was too much for us ladies. We don't take chances if we don't have to. We got up early Wednesday morning and drove on in and made it home in time to work at the museum. We were sad to see that all that rain did not make it all the way up North. We had quite a few visitors this week. Lots of children visiting parents and dropped in to see what was new and different. We enjoy locals dropping in and letting us know if we are keeping things interesting. We are waiting on our brochure for our new volume of Lipscomb History. As soon as it arrives we will be them mailing out to our address list. Stay tuned for more information. I would like to thank the Booker Lions Club for asking me to speak to their group last Thursday. I enjoyed their meeting and hope we provided them with information on the museum and the historical commission. We are available to any group who needs speakers. HISTORICAL MUSINGS HAPPY HALLOWEEN Did you know that Texas has more Bats migrating through Texas than any other state? That 32 out of 42 species of US bats fly through our state none blood eaters. Only 3 species like blood. Pumpkins are a symbol of Halloween. The pumpkin is an orange-colored squash, and orange has become the other traditional Halloween color with Black. Carving pumpkins into jack-o'lanterns is a halloween custiom dating back to Ireland. A legend grew up about a man named Jack who was so stingy that he was not allowed into heaven when he died, because he was a miser. He couldn't enter hell either because he had played jokes on the devil. As a result, Jack had to walk the earth with his lantern until Judgement Day. The Irish people carved scary faces out o turnips, beets or potatoes representing "Jack of the Lantern", or Jack -o'lantern.When the Irish brought their customs to the United States, they carved faces on pumpkins because in the autumn they were more plentiful than turnips. Today jack-o'lanterns in the windows of a house on Halloween night let costumed children know that there are goodies waiting if they knock and say "Trick or Treat". Another favorite symbol or activity of Halloween is the scary story told with the lights out and a deep low voice telling the tale. Here is one for you to tell this year from Britain and retold in North Carolina and Virginia and now Texas: There was an old woman who lived all by herself, and she was very lonely. Sitting in the kitchen one night, she said, "Oh, I wish I had some company." No sooner had she spoken than down the chimney tumbled too feet from which the flesh had rotted. The old woman's eyes bulged with terror. Then two legs dropped to the hearth and attached themselves to the feet. Then a body tumbled down, then two arms, and a man's head. As the old woman watched, the parts came together into a great, tall man. The man danced around and around the room. Faster and faster he went. Then he stopped, and he looked into her eyes. "What do you come for?" she asked in a small voice that shivered and shook. "What do I come for?" he said. "I come for YOU!" The narrator shouts and jumps at the person near him! Let me know if you scare anyone and enough the treats. |
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