SAMARA MORGAN LIVES AGAIN

(IF THAT'S WHAT YOU CAN CALL IT)

Both of my readers might remember that two years ago I did a Halloween diorama in the front yard. Or they might not.

Anyway, that one was a collection of "Blair Witch" stick figures, about five feet tall with lighted jack-o-lanterns for heads. The school bus that passes in front of the house twice a day slowed each time, and the kiddies' faces plastered the windows each day. At least for a few days. I noticed they got used to it after five or six days.

 

This year, I needed something to pick up my spirits (sorry for the pun, but it IS close to All Hallows), so I decided to do another diorama. This time, the thing would change every few days, finally culminating on The Day of the Dead, November First. I've always regarded the First of November as the First Day of the year. Nothing of any real significance really happens after Halloween anyway. And I regard The First as part of that holiday.

 

I also hoped it would be scarier than the Blair Witch thing. But it would take a bit more work.

If you're not familiar with the rather creepy movie "The Ring," you should see it. That is, if you're not freaked by scary movies. Not a slasher flick, either. Ghostly and creepy.

My focus would be the central character, Samara Morgan, age six or seven. Or thereabouts

 

She died after being tossed in a well.

 

It took some time.

 

Then she came out.

I found an articulated child mannequin that could stand on its own, then found a wig. Long, straight, and black. It couldn't bend at the waist, though. I'd soon fix that.

It was important to make the hands grasp and fingers curl. This one did it, but not as much as I'd have liked.

 

She does do a good job of being scary, though.

I'd have to make her scarier.

 

Samara was tossed into the well in her night dress. Do you know how difficult it is to find a plain white summer nightdress in the fall? For a seven year old child?!!! Forget it! All is flannel and colorfully imprinted with  Disney characters. This one was in the Old Ladies' section at a well-known discount store. It had periwinkle flowers all over it, but they were tiny. I figured they'd bleach out. Again, forget it! This baby was colorfast. But once I went down to the pond and dug a bunch of mud from the upper end, the flowers seemed to disappear after a good soaking.

She WAS in the well for seven days, after all....

I doubt the drivers-by would see the flowers.

I had to cut Samara in half to get her into the well I would build. Either that or I'd have to dig a deep hole where the well would be. This is a Connecticut ridgetop, and the digging ain't easy. So the knives and saws came out. Strangely enough, her belly was full of shredded rubber strings and Chinese newsprint.

Stranger than that, the label on the mannequin said it was made in New Jersey. Hmmmmnn..

 

THE RING!!! Actually it's the bucket full of pond mud. Smelly, too.

 Now THAT'S what a little girl's hair tossed into a well for seven days (and many years after that, if you see the film) would look like.

Macabre sonofabitch, aren't I?

 

The well. I have lots of piles of flat stones around the yard. I imagine most of the past denizens of this farm know these stones. Now others will. BWAAAHA HA HA HA HA ha ha haHAHAHA!!!!!

 

Oh, yeah. Autumn.

 

First night. She's just emerging, grasping at the stones.

 

 

 

Three days later. She's climbing the wall. And boy, is she PISSED.

We'd had almost seven inches of rain since she started coming out. I need to soak her hair in the bucket again. Her fingers aren't as realistic as I'd like. I want them to grasp the stones. At least her fingernails are black. From scratching the stones to try and stay alive, no doubt.

 

Uh-oh! The little girl's got some purchase! Here she comes!

 

 

Emergence on the twenty-eighth.

Hard to photograph her when she's moving. And she DOES move more as All Hallow's approaches.

I didn't make her do this!!! I was running!

AAAAAAAaaaauuuuughhhhh!!!!!!