The lowly skeleton, a trope for all time.

Halloween is on the way and I was thinking about skeletons. Yeah that’s weird I know. One of my first endeavors into the fantasy genre came back in the 70’s. I lived in Garland Texas for the first tens years of my life and we had an old drive-in theater. I believe it was a Friday evening one summer and my mom and dad took us to see Jason and the Argonauts.

I’ll never forget that. The tale enthralled me. Our hero, Jason, must retrieve the Golden Fleece.

Now, just why he had to get that fleece was beyond my seven-year-old comprehension. The movie had fighting skeletons in it. I mean real fighting skeletons here! Not the fake kind that you saw the kids wearing as a Halloween costume.  I don’t remember taking my eyes off the screen. I don’t remember eating one piece of popcorn though I am sure I must have.

Our Heroes

They were hardy adventurers, battled hardened and true and when they were faced with a small horde of undead they did what men of stern stuff do.

They ran

And who can blame them. If you saw those things coming up out of the ground, you’d run too. What I didn’t get, even back then, was why didn’t they run sooner? To build tension, each skeleton had about three seconds to pop up out of the ground and join in the formation. I was thinking the whole time. “I’d run away so fast.”

Our heroes didn’t

They stayed and watched as the ghostly retinue formed up their ranks and charged them in a howling mad rush. Some of our heroes died but when you’re after the Golden Fleece, someone’s gotta pay the price. ☹

Check out these skeletons

Of course the movie had been out for a long while. Its release date is 1963 and so these skeletons are pretty danged good for that time. There was even blood on their swords.

As a kid, I was fairly terrified of those things. Skeletons have been a staple in fantasy games, books, and movies. The basis for the zombies in The Walking Dead is of course a skeleton.

I do ramble on and so my mind leads me into the recesses of “Yeah, and something that isn’t supposed to be animated, wielding weapons and making noise is always scary.”

Every Halloween

It’s the staple Halloween prop. I don’t know why we’re so creeped out by it. Everyone has one! And I want mine to stay where it is.

The next time you look in the mirror, admire what’s beyond the skin, and muscle and realize that underneath it all, you’re pretty creepy.

A young girl seeks answers to her mother’s veiled past.
A warlock bent on immortality.
Both paths lead to the Bloodstone.

Rumors of dark magic and demons abound in Wychering Wood. Ameline Harsent and a small group are sent to investigate the dark forest. Nothing goes as planned. Can Ameline save the man she loves in time? Or will Wychering Wood claim more victims?