All Hallows – A Halloween Story Contest
All Hallows is an A.U. Link adult Halloween novella contest entry for a cool $500!
The story starts with a failure to follow invitation directions. You will make a sharp turn into a collision with a Druid and Succubus. Then detours around that first issue, straight into some Goblins and a Wizard. And then summons a screaming demon out of hell.
All Hallows has been a lot of fun to write!
I have not decided if I want to publish that one for real or not. But we’ll see where it goes!
All Hallow’s Published:
Because the story All Hallows is part of a story contest it will remain exclusively available on Stories Online Net’s 2023 Halloween contest page on 30 October 2023.
Where To Get Yours:
eBooks |
Printed Books |
Audio |
| Direct Download | Amazon | Direct Download |
| Amazon | Independently Published | Audible |
| Smashwords |
All Hallows – Story Characters:
Typically, I do not produce and then publish story character sheets. There are just too many spoilers that can easily ruin the story.
That is doubly difficult with this story because we published the first half as part of a story contest. There is still a large remainder of material that needs to be told for this story, after the scope of the Halloween Story Contest.
The difference with this story was that I experimented with Mid-Journey to create character sketches to go along with the character sheets. So, therefore, I will break tradition and publish the character sheets for the eight main characters in the story.
That post is here if you would like to check it out!
Historical Origins of All Hallows’ Eve:
The origins of Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve, trace back to a blend of Celtic, Roman, and Christian traditions. While it has evolved over the centuries, its roots can be found in the following pagan and early Christian practices.
Celtic All Hallows, The Festival of Samhain:
Halloween’s origins are linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”). Samhain was celebrated by the ancient Celts, who lived in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and parts of France. It marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Samhain celebrated the time when the boundaries between the living and the dead blurred, allowing spirits to roam the Earth. People lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off malevolent spirits.
Roman All Hallows Influence:
In the 1st century AD, the Roman Empire conquered the Celtic lands, and over time, the Roman festival of Feralia, which honored the deceased, and Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees, became intertwined with Samhain. This fusion of traditions influenced the evolving Halloween celebrations.
Christian Adaptation of All Hallows Eve:
In the 7th century, the Christian Church established November 1st as All Saints’ Day, a day to honor all Christian saints and martyrs. To supplant the pagan Samhain festival, the Church introduced All Hallows’ Eve on October 31st, the night before All Saints’ Day. The term “Hallow” means “holy” or “saint,” and “eve” refers to the evening before a religious feast day.
The Blend of Traditions:
Over time, Halloween incorporated elements from Samhain, such as costumes and the belief in the presence of spirits. People continued to light bonfires, but these eventually evolved into the practice of carving lanterns from turnips or pumpkins, which we now know as Jack-o’-lanterns.
Halloween has pagan origins rooted in the Celtic festival of Samhain, but it also absorbed influences from Roman and Christian traditions. Over the centuries, these various customs and beliefs merged to create the modern celebration of Halloween, characterized by costumes, decorations, trick-or-treating, and a focus on themes of the supernatural and the deceased.
All Hallows Historical Research Quotes:
Halloween began over 2,000 years ago among the Celts and their pagan priests called the Druids. The Druids are, without question, history’s king of the occult. Witchcraft, Satanism, paganism, and virtually all facets of the occult acquire instruction from the Druids. From the popular jack-o’-lantern, and trick-or-treat, costumes, to the pranks, ghoulish ghosts, demons, goblins, and witches – Halloween owes its morbid birth to the Druids.
Druidic Origin:
Halloween-the day itself is of Druidic origin. (Myers, Robert J. Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, p. 258)
Beltane and Samhain:
The mystic rites and ceremonies with which Hallow’en was originally observed had their origin among the Druids… (Douglas, George William. The American Book of Days, p. 566) The Druids celebrated two special nights of the year: Beltane and Samhain. Beltane took place on May 1 and marked the birth of summer. Samhain occurred on November 1 and signified the death of summer. Samhain, a night celebrating death and hell, was the Druids’ most important ritual. It was a terrifying night of human sacrifices. And it was the original Halloween.
The Druids believed, during Samhain, that the mystic veil separating the dead from the living opened. The Druids taught these roaming spirits loosed on Samhain went searching for a body to possess. The frightened Celts would masquerade as demons, evil spirits, and ghosts, hoping to convince the roaming evil spirits, that they were another evil spirit and leave them alone. The Celts also prepared meals as “treats” to appease the evil spirits from “tricks” or malicious acts; hence our custom of “trick or treat.” The Druids performed horrifying human sacrifices and other vile rituals during Samhain. Let there be no doubt-Samhain night was a terrifying “covenant with death, and with hell.” And let there be no doubt – Samhain was the original Halloween night.
Celtic Festival of Samhain:
All histories of Halloween inevitably wind back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain … (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween, p. 20)
Halloween had its origins in the festival of Samhain among the Celts of ancient Britain and Ireland. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 “Halloween”)
Halloween can be traced directly back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the Lord of the Dead. (Thompson, Sue Ellen. Holiday Symbols and Customs, p. 251)
Pagan Ritual to Party Night:
The rituals of the Druids reek from the deepest hell. Their most repulsive activities involve their human sacrifices of children on the night of Samhain or Halloween. First-born sacrifices are mentioned in a poem in the Dindshenchas, which records that children were sacrificed each Samhain … (Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 17)
Night of Dread:
Halloween. That was the eve of Samhain … firstborn children were sacrificed… Samhain Eve was a night of dread and danger. ( National Geographic. May 1977, pp. 625-626)
The Druids would drink their victim’s blood and eat their flesh. They [Druids] sacrificed victims by shooting them with arrows, impaling them on stakes, stabbing them, slitting their throats over cauldrons (and then drinking the blood)… (Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience, p. 167)
End of The Druid Cult:
Therefore we cannot too highly appreciate our debt to the Romans for having put an end to this monstrous cult, whereby to murder a man was an act of the greatest devoutness, and to eat his flesh most beneficial. (Pliny, Natural History , xxx, 13)
The Druids “counted it an honorable thing” to eat their father’s flesh and perform incest with their mothers and sisters. …since they are man-eaters as well as heavy eaters, and since, further, they count it an honorable thing, when their fathers die, to devour them, and openly to have intercourse, not only with the other women but also with their mothers and sisters;… (Strabo, Geography )
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland:
May I remind you, that this is what occurred on the original Halloween night! Today, Halloween lives and breathes with the foul stench of the diabolical Druids. The Druids also celebrated the festival of Beltane. The word Beltane (Beltaine, Beltinne, Beltain, Beiltein) literally means the “fires of Bel.” Bel is the same god called Baal, found over 80 times in the King James Bible. The Lord condemns Baal worship probably more than any other false “god.” …then the Druids lit the Baal-Tinne, the holy, goodly fire of Baal. (Wilde, Lady Francesca Speranza. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland)
The god whom the Druids worshipped was Baal, as the blazing Baal-fires show, and… children were offered in sacrifice to Baal. (Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons, p. 232)
HALLOWEEN – BAAL WORSHIP:
The original Halloween was a hellish night of Baal worship and child sacrifice. Most of our current Halloween customs are derived directly from Baal rituals! On November first was Samhain [Halloween]… Fires were built as a thanksgiving to Baal… (Kelley, Ruth Edna, The Book of Hallowe’en , Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co. Boston, 1919)
The mystic rites and ceremonies with which Hallow’en was originally observed had their origin among the Druids… ancient Baal festivals from which many of the Hallow’en customs are derived. (Douglas, George William. The American Book of Days, p. 569)
Baal is also a synonym for the devil. (Burns, Cathy. Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated, p. 327)
Halloween glorifies death in worship of Baal or the devil!
Glorification of Death:
The Druid festival of Samhain was a celebration of death. Strutting its hellish death images of skulls, skeletons, ghosts, demons, devils, and incarnate evil – today’s Halloween glorifies Death. David Skal titled his history of Halloween – Death Makes a Holiday: The grand marshal of the Halloween parade is, and always has been, Death. (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween, p. 18)
Halloween can be traced directly back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the Lord of the Dead. (Thompson, Sue Ellen. Holiday Symbols and Customs, p. 251)
The Devil glorifies death. Hebrews 2:14 says, “…that through death he [Jesus] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;” Proverbs 8:36 says all they that hate the Lord “… love death .” Revelation 6:8 says the rider of the antichrist’s pale horse, “…and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him .”