Cross Orb Spider
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Something #Frightful for the Season

Frightful Halloween Lawn Inflatables
What’s in Your Yard this Halloween?

With Halloween approaching this week, using the theme FRIGHTFUL to describe the season this year is fitting. With my children grown and gone, we don’t get into the Halloween season much. However, our neighbors with two school-age kids are all about the season with their yard full of Halloween-inspired inflatables and yard decor.

Halloween Yard Decor

Most of them are kid-friendly and not too creepy.

Really Frightful

How about we get the scary images over with? Not a fan of big scary insects and spiders? Take a quick look if you dare. Most insects and spiders don’t bother me (except black widow spiders). I admit I ran when I saw the whip spider 😨!

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself… and spiders.” ~ Unknown

Cross Orb Spider
Mothra
Root Borer Beetle
Whip Spider
Praying mantis eyes me as he hangs out on my windsurf board.

See? Now it’s over with and you’re OK!

Frightful Challenges

If you’ve followed my blog long enough, you might remember I used to teach a variety of recreation and park management courses at a university in Sacramento. One of my favorite lessons was requiring students to take the Challenge Ropes Course on campus, and then write about their experiences from the framework of leisure motivation.

“Obstacles Are Those Frightful Things You See When You Take Your Eyes Off Your Goal.”
~ Henry Ford

University students climb the Challenge Ropes Course
University students climb the Challenge Ropes Course
Pink-clad student at Ropes Course
Student takes the “leap of faith” 40 feet in the air at the Peak Adventures Challenge Ropes Course in Sacramento.
Leap-of-faith
Student jumping off “The Dive” at Ropes course at Sacramento State University

Students wrote about their fears, whether they feared heights, climbed a rock wall, or were forced into frightful group situations. 😱 As their professor, of course, I loved to participate. The students got a kick out of seeing their professors jumping off the dive above or crossing the catwalk 30 feet in the air.

I am on the catwalk
Me on the Catwalk

Frightfully Interesting

Last Wednesday, I shared some orbs associated with Autumn and Halloween…’tis the season.

The Science and Mystery of Orbs

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ~ Albert Einstein

Have you heard of the ghostly orbs (or will-o-the-wisps) that many people see all year round?

According to Heal Your Life, “Millions of people have been noticing opaque circular features in their flash photographs taken with digital cameras and have wondered what they mean. By making use of digital photography, it appears that Spirit Beings have devised a means to provide irrefutable evidence of their existence…” (thought to bring messages of hope).

“Orbs are likely not spirit beings in and by themselves, but emanations from Spirit Beings.”
~ Klaus Heinemann Ph.D.

According to Wikipedia, “in photography, backscatter is an optical phenomenon resulting in typically circular artifacts (or orbs) on an image, due to the camera’s flash being reflected from unfocused motes of dust, water droplets, or other particles in the air or water in low light. Wikipedia

Well-known blogger and poet, Colleen Chesebro, witnessed a will-o’-the-wisp with her own eyes near Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp. She saw something glowing and it wasn’t headlights from a car.
“It looked like glowing balls of light energy floating above the swamp. It was Halloween, and I figured my imagination was playing tricks on me.” Click on her name above to read her poem!

reflection on birdfeeder
Fairy Orb or Digital Backscatter?

However…

“In Scottish folklore, will-o’-the-wisps are variously depicted either as mischievous spirits (typically fairies), or even the ghosts of the dead, eager to lead travelers off their path and into their death.”

“Men say that in this midnight hour, the disembodied have power.”
~ William Motherwell, Scottish Poet

Interestingly, I looked through many photos where I remember seeing these orbs.

Sunset with orbs
Orbs at Sunset
Windsurfer and orb at sunset
A wind spirit?

What the three images above have in common, is low light, either a rising or setting sun, and good timing.

Backscatter or fairy orbs?

It doesn’t matter what I believe, but my natural instinct is to believe what I see with my own eyes. You may choose to believe in the magic or the science of these mysterious orbs; so I’m curious, have you seen or photographed an orb?

How About An Orb We Can ALL See?

“Cold-hearted orb that rules the night…” ~ Graeme Edge, Moody Blues

crescent moon
Quarter orb

Here is another interesting orb—the waxing moon. Why are these interesting, you ask?

waxing October moon

My new cell phone Samsung S23 Ultra, takes frightfully good images of the moon. I could never have achieved this with my old phone. Almost as good as my camera.

“There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.” ~ George Carlin

I had to include this OLD photo of Aero and Gideon caught in their morning howl! Gideon instigated this daily, probably reacting to the loud sirens or other frightfully ear-splitting noises only dogs can hear.

Dogs howling
Aero and Gideon caught in their morning howl!

The Weather Outside is Frightful…

Snow on a birdhouse
October’s Frightfully Sudden Snow

…And not seasonally like you would expect during Christmas. With an early snowfall predicted, we scurried around the property winterizing (like the beetle I showed you earlier).

We put away garden hoses, blew water out of sprinkler lines, and moved the grill and smoker under the patio cover. We moved and covered vulnerable plants out of snow’s harm. I added mulch around the young trees we planted and put them to bed for the winter. Trees become dormant but their root system strengthens, even in the frightful weather.

Young Western Tamarack Tree
Young Western Larch

Apparently, these poor plants became zombies one year on Halloween.

Zombie Plants
flower border

Inspiring Photo Challenges

Each week I find inspiration from my fellow bloggers’ photo challenges. I enjoy incorporating these into my Sunday Stills weekly themes.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

This Week’s Featured Bloggers

Sunday Stills is a wonderful community of bloggers, poets, and photographers who desire to connect with one another. Below are this week’s links from bloggers who shared their frightful photos. I add these all week as new links are posted.

Themes for November are ready to view on my Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Page. This page is updated monthly. Join me next week so we can all share our Autumn leaves (or Spring blooms).

I’m looking forward to your frightful images, stories, and poems this week! Stay safe!

gray swatch

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106 comments

  5. Terri, it took me five minutes to scroll down your comments! Frightful is extremely popular. I will have to take some real time to check out some of their posts. I agree with Jodie about the dogs. How cute are they? I’ve seen those orbs in my photos, but not too often. The picture of you on the catwalk is frightfully scary. That would cure my balance problems, wouldn’t it? There’s a lot to love in this post! Your phone does take frightfully good pictures of the moon. Those are awesome. 🙂 I need to work a bit more on my post for tomorrow and find some frightful pictures. 🙂 Talk to you soon! xoxox

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  6. Terri,
    We downsized a few years ago and now live in a neighborhood that trick or treaters don’t visit. I really miss the kids and the cute costumes from our first neighborhood where having a hundred or more stop by was the norm. I can still carve a mean pumpkin, however. Your pictures are great–I love the zombie plants at the end! Hope the head cold gets better. Happy Halloween! Joe

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    • I’m glad trick-or-treating is alive and well in some neighborhoods, Joe. It’s fun to dress up in costume and beg for candy as a kid! 100+ is a LOT of kids! I’m pretty sure I had the flu but I am much better now! Thank you, and glad you enjoyed the frightful pics 😉 Happy Halloween!

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  10. I find those orbs captured in photos rather fascinating, Terri. I love it when I make a big thing out of them trying to scare people into what they could be, and then somebody tells me, ‘It’s just a trick of the light!’ Yeah, that’s what they think, but I know for real.
    I love your neighbour’s Halloween display. Nothing like here in the UK, where most people just put a few jack lanterns in the window or outside the door. I’m OK with spiders, although I tend to catch them under glass using a piece of card and take them outdoors.
    I can’t believe you’ve already had your first fall of snow. Is it unusual to snow in your area in October?
    Here’s a photo of a haunted house for my entry.
    http://hughsviewsandnews.files.wordpress.com/2023/06/img_0326.jpeg
    It may not look frightening, but the true stories associated with this house are terrifying. Would I spend a night in that house for $1000? You bet I would. But would you join me?

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    • I think the US is obsessed with any reason to decorate, Hugh! No wonder we need so much storage. Fortunately our neighbors have a big garage and I suppose the inflatables fold down small. As for those orbs, of course I see them everywhere 🎃!

      Late October is a bit early for snow, but not freezing temps. Last year we got a foot of snow by Thanksgiving then another 2 feet by Christmas. Hopefully we don’t get that much this winter.
      Love that haunted house! I would walk by it but I doubt if I’d spend the night!

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      • Oh, no! And there was me hoping you’d accompany me to spend the night in that house, Terri.

        One of the stories of this house is that some people can hear the sound of a crying baby from within the house when standing just outside the house. Yet when the door is opened, the crying stops. Quite a frightening story. No wonder nobody wants to live there.

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  11. Great photos of different frights, Terri! We don’t like spiders. Two BIG spiders came up to the sink from the garbage disposal, probably from the pipe. I made a trip to the store and got a drainer to put in the sink just at night. It seems to be okay during the day. Happy Halloween to you! There are so may skeletons decorations this year!!!

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  12. I’m not a fan of scary or spooky. Ny dreams are too vivid to handle it. I wish Halloween was more low-key, like it was 20 or 30 years ago. It’s such a commercialized event now. As to the creepy crawlies, I’m not a fan of those either!

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  13. Lots of fun frights, Terri. I have to say the spiders give me a bit of the shivers, though I don’t mind them when they’re not crawling on me! Great to see you on the high ropes. I love the orbs and often capture them in photography, though my guess is that they’re a natural phenomenon. That said, I’d love it if they were spirits. 🙂 Happy Halloween, my friend.

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  14. Wow, great moon shot with your phone. I may have to accidentally/on purpose break mine so I can get a new one. Fun post to read. I’ll check out some of the others. Our new neighborhood has a few children, so we are prepared for tomorrow night with a great stash of candy.

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  20. What a frightful and exciting post, Terri. Not only are you an excellent photographer but you have a great imagination. I love the photos of the howling dogs and the zombie plants. 👻

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  26. That was quite a compilation of scary images and references Terri – yikes! I did not know you were going to show the picture of the Whip Spider, so I Googled it and found a short YouTube video of it walking around with the big antennae moving – I’d have fainted dead away. I’m very scared of spiders.

    I went to visit friends of the family in Puerto Rico in ’73 and we went out one night to a hotel nightclub to celebrate my birthday – it was on the Condado beachfront resort area, so it was not a remote area. At the end of the evening, Werner went to get the car while we waited in front of the hotel. As he pulled up to where we were standing, he parked under a palm tree and a huge spider, (tarantula sized), dropped out of the tree and landed on the car roof and walked upside down into the passenger side in the front as he had opened the windows for fresh air – we both witnessed it and screamed (attracting much attention as it was a busy place). Neither Alfonsa nor I would get into the car with Werner and took a taxi home. Good thing it was near the end of my vacation as we both refused to get into the car until a spider carcass was produced! Aero and Gideon howling reminds of my aunt’s dog who would howl incessantly when we sang happy birthday – we called it “singing”.

    My “Frightful” post will publish at 12:01 tomorrow … I was going to do it on Halloween, but since I usually post Monday and it has a Jacquie Lawson card embedded in it, I just did it earlier. I had it scheduled a few weeks ago, but added some “frightful” references to join your Challenge.

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    • Thank you, Linda! Yeah, that whip spider is the stuff of nightmares for sure. When it crawled out of my friend’s rolled up windsurf sail, I jumped sky high! Your tarantula story was truly frightful! I don’t mind tarantulas as long as their not poisonous! Can’t wait to read your post…I’m moving slow with this darn head cold! 🤒

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      • The only time I was brave with a spider was visiting the Smithsonian Science building where a tarantula was in a terrarium and I could bend down and see it face to face. 🙂 Spiders and centipedes terrify me! Yes, it takes forever to get your head back to feeling like it’s not in another time zone.

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  31. Your dogs howling made me think of what I saw and heard yesterday.
    I saw a wolf dancing across a stream yesterday! I think It was after a deer and not 10 minutes later I heard it howling! I got drone footage of it crossing the stream too!
    And while the howling was going on I watched as bears ripped apart salmon! Very scary…………If you are a salmon!

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  32. Such a fun post Terri. As you know I have always loved learning of your teaching days. The photo of you on the catwalk is fantastic. And I guess with your assignments, you do indeed have to join in the fun. I bet everyone loved your classes. I loved all your photos And you might not be quite ready for snow, but I do like that snowy birdhouse. And nice creepy buggy images too.

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  34. Fun post Terri – you may not decorate for Halloween but you sure did a frightfully good job of evoking the season with this one! My brother lives in Colorado outside Denver and I think they got a foot and a half for Halloween and the day after. Felt sorry for the little kids as there was no trick-or-treating to be had. Made me better appreciate autumn in the south! Hope you’re feeling better by now!

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    • Thanks, Tina! I enjoyed finding a few frightful images for the season. Too bad to hear about the snow near Denver. I remember after 9-11, more organized Halloween parties/carnivals were offered to keep kids safe rather than trick or treating. I think I’m on the last day of the worst of this head cold. Have a great week!

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    • Thanks so much, Graham! I know you like bugs and spiders–as long as they’re not crawling on me, I’m good! Those wilted plants were taken in 2015 at a nearby elementary school’s community garden–they really did look like zombies crawling out of the boxes.

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  43. I can relate to the we don’t do much for Halloween now that the kiddos are grown. They still do, which I think is fun for them. You hit all the highs and lows of frightfulness. My palms were sweating looking at the heights you’ve climbed. I held my breath through that section and the spider section of your post. OH, MY, your new camera does take great shots of the moon!! Now I’m even more jealous of it. Happy snowy Halloween and end of October to you – glad you got the yard all ready for winter’s arrival.

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    • Thank you, Jodie! We don’t really celebrate Halloween as adults (I did a bit when the girls were young). For years we laughed every time Gideon started the morning howl–they would go on for an entire minute–frightful when you hear it for that long!

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  48. So great Terri. Hmmmm….orbs…I just always chalked them up to camera user error…lol. I loved the photos you shared. I’m glad you shared a photo of the larch. my hubby and I are going to leavenworth in a few weeks and I was thinking “oh, I wonder if those trees I like, but we don’t have here, are over there, but I can’t remember what they’re called”. I had every intention of popping over to your blog to search because you had mentioned them before.
    I’m combining your theme and Marsha’s this week. Finally getting back to posting but with the pumpkin patch still happening, it’s still been a bit crazy.

    https://troyerslovinglife.blogspot.com/2023/10/putting-fingers-to-keyboard-and-taking.html

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    • I hadn’t thought of the orbs until Colleen Chesebro mentioned them in a post–I thought it made a nice tie-in to the “frightful” theme. The first time I saw the yellow western larch (or tamarack), I was shocked to learn they shed their needles after changing to their golden yellow! The one in my post was one of three larches I bought online from a nursery in Wisconsin. We just planted them–late fall is the time so their roots strengthen during the cold winter. Have fun in Leavenworth! Glad to see your post today, Kirstin!

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      • After I posted that I was excited about remembering the name, I was sad when I looked up and discovered that they will shed their needles like you mentioned and I probably won’t actually see any. Oh well.

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  49. What a brilliant Halloween post. Terri, several years ago, I took a video of orbs flying around in my livingroom. I can’t find the video, but the good neighbors often appear to me in refractions of light, orbs, and even in shadows. At Samhain, the veil between the world thins. Dia de los Muertos, day of the dead, is a continuation of the pagan celebration of Samhain. Most cultures believe in this time of betwixt and between, when otherworldly spirits walk amongst the living. Thanks so much for the mention. I love the energy this time of year. Happy Halloween! 🎃

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    • Thank you, Colleen! I truly appreciated your inspiration and am always glad to include other bloggers in the story. I caught a frightful head cold over the weekend so I’m moving slowly. You are definitely sensitive to seeing the paranormal. Didn’t you also see the fairy years ago which was partial inspiration for your book, the Swamp Fairy?

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