It's coming. . .

www.gothicteasociety.com

Just a little taste, to get ya goin.

This little cutie that so many have admired was photographed by Locked Illusions. You can view the entire site HERE.

Costumes, Candy and Fun. Halloween is right around the corner!

Angry Birds- Halloween

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For those of you who play Angry Birds- It's the Halloween edition!

Halloween Hoopla II : Foamy The Squirrel (Adult Language)

Halloween 2010

Retro Vintage Halloween

I always enjoy Vintage or Retro Halloween and have a small collection. But I have realized with all of the things in this post. .  I bought these new back in the day. This is like tuning into the 'oldies' station and then saying to yourself "Oldies? This isn't old, I remember when this was a new song back in. . " "oh"

Halloween In Heaven

I thought this appropriate, as it will be our first Halloween without Peter Steele, a man who loved Halloween as much as his female fans loved his 1995 Playgirl spread.

And if there is no Halloween in Heaven, then I'm not going.



"Of course I cried
When I heard they'd died
And took a part of me
Same time gave
From beyond the grave
Became what was meant to be."

MARILYN MANSON :: This Is Halloween

Welcome Blog Tour Visitors!!

 Welcome Visitors from Mrs B's and Thank You Mrs. B for hosting this event every year!

Welcome to The Gothic Tea Society.  Please take some time to peruse our archives and make yourselves at home. There are lots of stories, history, art, fashion, events and fun in there- all with a spooky twist.  All of the Gothic Tea Society contributors have a love of the Macabre which is evident in our posts. Several of those who contribute to making the GTS blog as spooky as it is, have fascinating blogs of their own- so do check them out!

My name is Wendy, creator of The Gothic Tea Society. I am an 'Eldergoth' (over 40), Gothmom to two adult daughters and wife to my very own Mad Hatter! (my husband Jeff) and servant to 6 cats. I work full time for a large telecommunications company and yes- I wear all black to work most every day.
This blog is one way that I connect with the Gothic subculture of which I have been a part of for many years, posting not only stories and photos of interest but also promoting gothic and dark artists, fashion, music and events.  One of my other interests is photography, a passion I share with my husband.  We have an ongoing blog of our road trips which center on the odd, macabre, vintage and other sites of interest that we encounter on our travels. Please do drop by! You can find it here November Obscura. We also have many different photographs HERE on our gallery.

I thought I would share some photographs of one of my other passions- Dolls. I have quite a few of them, and as you can see . .  they are not your average dolls!  Many of the dolls in these photos are from Creepy Dolls , October Effigies , and Madame Talbot. 

Smaller Dolls from Madame Talbot, October Effigies, Creepy Dolls and a few of my Living Dead dolls.

Dr Nicholas Blood- Plague Dr. (Handy to have around when the Plague comes through every year)

This is Pio, she is probably the one that creeps most people out. She is about 3 ft tall and has a very knowing gaze. You would also swear she just moved every time you look at her.

This sweet girl has been playing in the dirt again!

This elegant lady is one of a few I have that have no eyes. But don't think that that means they don't know what you are up to!

This is my newest doll. She has such a big lovely smile! I love the tiny bats on her dress.

This is Sedona, she is the Matriarch of my doll clan- which is some 30 something dolls. The interesting thing about Sedona is that sometimes her face looks angry, and sometimes not. When she looks mad we all try and think about what could have made Sedona upset. You really don't want Sedona upset.

Thank you all for visiting and I hope you will drop by often!

Happy Halloween!

Top Halloween Tunes to Freak out Your Eardrums

As you all know, my mom's favorite holiday is halloween. Growing up we had halloween decorations around the house year round. We had a Skeleton that sat on a bench in the front yard and stayed up until after christmas. For christmas, he wore a santa hat. Even today my mom has a skull on top of one of her curio cabinets that is currently wearing pink bunny ears for easter. So all that being said - its never too early to plan for halloween. Here are 9 songs that are good year round, but will serve you well at your next halloween party. I say 9 because the last one is some sort of rap song...

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/10/top-halloween-tunes/

My favorite is I Was a Teenage Warewolf by the Cramps...what's yours?

More vintage Halloween Fun

More Spooky Vintage

Trick Or Treat

I have such wonderful memories of my childhood and the fun of Trick or Treating. It is truly sad to hear of the decline of this annual practice. Enjoy a little wikihistory on this cherished childhood event!

Trick-or-treating is a custom for children on Halloween. Children proceed in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as confectionery, or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" is an idle threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.
In the United States, trick-or-treating is now one of the main traditions of Halloween and it has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters. The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of adults in the United States planned to give out confectionery to trick-or-treaters, and that 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating. The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Britain and Ireland, in the form of souling, where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes. The North American Halloween custom of saying "trick or treat" has become more common. The activity is popular in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Central America, South America, Western Europe and Scandinavia, but over the recent years has become popular in Australia and New Zealand.

The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays dates back to the Middle Ages and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain. although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas." The custom of wearing costumes and masks at Halloween goes back to Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them, In Scotland for instance where the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white.

However, there is no evidence that souling was ever practiced in North America, where trick-or-treating may have developed independent of any Irish or British antecedent. Ruth Edna Kelley, in her 1919 history of the holiday, The Book of Hallowe'en, makes no mention of ritual begging in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America." Kelley lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, a town with about 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920. The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first U.S. appearances of the term in 1934, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.

Witches on Stuff ~ 1

These are found photos- many were sent to me- of Witches on Stuff, other than Brooms that is.

Black Cats

Black Cats are one of the most familiar symbols of Halloween. Most often associated with Witches and bad luck. As a Witch it isn't necessary that you have a black cat (although I do have one) but I also have 6 others in various colors. Below is a little Wikihistory on the Black Cat and culture.


Since the 1880s, the colour black has been associated with anarchism. The black cat, in an alert, fighting stance was later adopted as an anarchist symbol.
More specifically, the black cat—often called the "sab cat" or "sabo-tabby"—is associated with anarcho-syndicalism, a branch of anarchism that focuses on workers' rights.
In testimony before the court in a 1918 trial of Industrial Workers of the World leaders, Ralph Chaplin, who is generally credited with creating the IWW's black cat symbol, stated that the black cat "was commonly used by the boys as representing the idea of sabotage. The idea being to frighten the employer by the mention of the name sabotage, or by putting a black cat somewhere around. You know if you saw a black cat go across your path you would think, if you were superstitious, you are going to have a little bad luck. The idea of sabotage is to use a little black cat on the boss.

Le Chat Noir (French for "The Black Cat") was a 19th-century cabaret in the Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard Rouchechouart by the artist Rodolphe Salis, and closed in 1897

Halloween Glitter Pin- Ups!

Yes I know they are all glittery and cute~ They are Halloween and they are Vintage style Pin- Ups so deal with them!

What about these Cookin' Devils?

More Vintage Halloween

Vintage Halloween 4