POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/31/2009
On October 30th 1938, a martian “cylinder” landed in Grovers Mill, New Jersey, heralding the beginning of a Martian invasion that created mass panic and caused immense damage throughout the world.
Luckily for us, it was only a radio broadcast.
In 1938, CBS was running a radio series named “Mercury Theatre,” narrated by Orson Welles. On October 30th of that year, Orson Welles ran a program based on H.G. Wells’ book, The War of the Worlds. It ran without commercial breaks and the first part was made up of mock news and public service broadcasts.
The broadcast caused panic and confusion among listeners as large numbers of them tuned into the show after it had started and believed it was a real report of an actual Martian invasion.
A recording of the original broadcast can be found on Mercury Theatre Online and makes good listening for Halloween.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/28/2009
Every Halloween,, front porches across the United States are invaded by carved, candle lit pumpkins. Yet, as common as Jack-o-Lanterns are, it seems an odd tradition to carve faces on pumpkins. Of course, there is a reason for the tradition, and it starts in Ireland.
According to Irish legend, a man named Stingy Jack twice tricked the devil into promising to not claim his soul when he died. Needless to say, making deals with the devil isn’t something God would be too happy about, and when it came time for Jack to die, God refused him entrance to heaven. The devil, as promised, also refused to take him. So Jack was given a piece of glowing coal and sent to wander the Earth for all eternity. He placed this coal in a hollowed out turnip and thus the Jack-o-Lantern was born.
Carved turnips (mostly without candles) existed in the British Isles for centuries, but it wasn’t until the Irish began immigrating to North America that the tradition turned to pumpkins, a fruit native to this continent.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/27/2009
Every year Americans eat so much candy corn that if the pieces were laid end to end, they would circle the earth more than 4 times.
Candy corn is made much the same way it was when it was invented, though machines have taken over much of the process. Candy corn is a mixture of corn syrup, sugar, marshmallow, and a few other ingredients. It is moded in a process called corn starch molding. The manufacturers first sift corn starch into trays and use plaster casts of candy corns to make impressions in it. Then the molten candy is poured in. When it’s cool, the trays are dumped and the candy is sifted out of the corn starch. Viola, Candy Corn.
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POSTED by: Scott McKittrick on 10/26/2009
Two Glow Sticks, one was broken normally and the other was cut open and the liquids mixed in a small bottle.
Glow sticks have become an extremely common trick or treating accessory. They are perfect for increasing the visibility of kids because they are safe, easy to use, and have an awesome spooky glow to them.
Most everyone has used a glow stick at some point or another, but have you ever wondered how they work? The answer lies in a simple chemical reaction.
The basic structure of a glow stick consists of a flexible plastic tube that contains a clear slightly oily substance (i’m not entirely sure what it is, but i’ve heard reports of it being some sort of ethyl group) and a glass ampule with hydrogen peroxide and a fluorescent dye. When you bend the stick, the glass breaks and the two chemicals are allowed to mix. This starts a chemical reaction that causes the stick to glow, an effect called Chemoluminescence.
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