Gearhead Mom

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

RE-POST: Spirit of the Season:  The Phantom Ghost

Posted by Jenny M. @ 4:50 AM

We had to cut the lock for our garage because we could not find the padlock key (it’s the little things, you know?).  All I really wanted out of that garage was the Halloween box, and Husband brought the lock cutter home from work just in time for the weekend.  So the girls and I have been all about Halloween decorating since:  we have spider lights, cobwebs, and a pirate skeleton out front.  Window marker spider webs decorate the front window; kindergartener daughter created “SpookScapes” on the French Doors to the side yard with bats I cut out of black construction paper and her own hand-drawn stars, ghosts, and pumpkin patches.
 
Somewhere amid the Halloween decorating and costume mind-changing, I remembered a faraway friend calling me last year to tell me that she and her daughters were assembling “Phantom Ghost” packages to deliver to neighbors, as they had been “nabbed” by the friendly spirit themselves.  It was a fun neighborhood tradition that she thought we could start down here.  A vague internet search quickly led me to what she described:  The Phantom Ghost—here’s one version, and another.  I amended the latter poem for our own use (allowing our “victims” more time), see after the jump…

In a nutshell, the idea is to deliver treats to neighbors with an accompanying explanation and some form of the “Phantom Ghost” (ours was daughter’s handmade drawing/sign—but a cooler, albeit more complex form would be a 3-D ghost that could hang or be stuck in a neighbor’s yard).  Neighbors should be able to tell who has been “struck” by the Phantom (Phantom in the window or on the door) so they can deliver goods elsewhere.  The fun is watching the virus overtake the neighborhood.  We made some chocolate chip cookies and doorbell-ditched two friends on separate streets, hoping they’ll spread the spirit. 
Here’s the poem we used;

Happy Halloween!
The Phantom Ghost… has visited you!
This is the time for goblins and bats,
Halloween spirits and ghosts and cats.
Weird happenings and witches brew,
These are the things we wish for you!
May the only spirit you chance to meet
Be the spirit of love and warm friends sweet.
May the only goblin that comes your way
Be the NEIGHBORHOOD PHANTOM,
Whom you’ll want to give away.
So by two days hence, pick two friends sweet
And give them all a Halloween treat.
You only have two days, so hurry!!!
Leave the treat on the doorstep and
Flee in a hurry.

Now these are the things you’ll need to do:
1. Make two copies of this letter and the Phantom Ghost.
2. Post the Phantom Ghost on your door until Halloween. This will ward off the Phantom Ghost from returning to haunt you and yours.
3. Take your letter and Phantom Ghost and deliver them to two homes that do not have the Phantom Ghost posted.

‘TIS BETTER GIVING THAN RECEIVING,
WE ALL KNOW THAT’S TRUE,
SO SHOW YOUR LOVE TO ALL THE WORLD
AND REMEMBER…
NOW THE PHANTOM IS YOU!!!!

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