I know its early, but... Hallowe'en party plans.

[David]

Greetings.
I live in Iceland, where they have no Hallowe'en tradition. Thier dress-up holiday is Ash Wednesday, strangely enough.
What prompts me to start a discussion about Hallowe'en on the first of September is that I plan on holding a Hallowe'en costume party for friends and co-workers, many of whom have never been to one before or have any idea of what Hallowe'en is. I also plan to tell a proper "scary, Hallowe'eny" story to give some of the northern-Europeans a good fright.
As a novice storyteller I haven't had a lot of experience telling stories to adults, not outside of a big-fish or misspent-youth tale at a party or the pub. I usually tell stories to children and am thus not allowed to be too scary (at play-and elementary schools).
My request of you all is to help out the new-guy with advice or experiences, tips and tricks to really wow a group of non-believers. Any favorite stories you might have which have worked in the past, mood-setters, crowd pleasers, the sky's the limit. I have some time to prepare and practice.
Anything is appreciated and thanks in advance for your help.
David

[Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller]

Dave
Halloween in Iceland, wonderful. To start with look at my forum discussion titled Ghost Stories. Also look in the Group "Story Library" and you will find a couple of good discussion about Ghost Stories. Dale Jarvis has a blog called "The Ghostly Lady at Number 16" have a look and listen to that. I have a video on my page called "Old Nan's Ghost." Not the best recording but you can hear the words. I have set this story it Salt Lake City, as that is where I was telling it. I found two different settings when I was researching this story, one in the mores of Scotland, and one on the cost of Iceland. (in Iceland her name wasn't Nan, but it was the same story) Iceland has a good number of ghost stories, find and use some of them, local ghost are more scary then ghost that are far away. I found a couple of good ghost stories on line. Look at: http://www.randburg.com/is/coaches/ghost-centre.asp, http://www.hauntediceland.com/haunted-walk-reykjavik.htm, http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0366.html#whitecap, http://www.yourghoststories.com/ghost-stories-countries.php?country.... There are more, just search Iceland ghost stories and you can find them. (some are better then others) You might get lucky and find a book on Amazon.com also.

Next, telling ghost stories to adults is just like telling Tall Tales to children, you must tell it like you believe it. Keep eye contact as much as possible. Tempo is important, the dramatic pause is affective if not over used. And use your voice, monitor your volume and pitch. Slow and quiet are affective and throw in loud and fast at the right time. Find a practice audience, someone who loves you and will tell you the truth, even it its not nice. (if you don't have someone like that handy, a video camera will work too)

If it makes you heart race then it will theirs too. The best advice I can give you is to have Fun. That is what makes a storyteller. If your not having fun, how can your audience.

Good luck and keep telling
Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller

[David]

Daniel.
Thank you very much for the resources. I will use them to my best advantage, and keep you updated on how my plans proceed.
I knew this was the right forum for such a request.
David

[Rivka Willick]

David,
I love telling and hearing scary stories, here are my rules. 1. Check out the audience. I always ask permission and ask them how scary they want it. 2. Have enough material, so if someone objects to a certain type of story, you can choose other types. 3. Watch your audience. If someone is really having trouble--reduce intensity, however if your listeners are not messmerized--increase intensity (Daniel gave great advice) 4. When in need of inspiration I watch a Hitchcock movie. Hitchcock said the scariest things are not the things we see or hear, but those we do not see or hear. Anticipation makes things scarier. He also believed that the story should be simple and clear, because confusion reduces suspense.

I look forward to hearing about the tales you choose to tell. Rivka

[David]

Greetings Rivka.
Thank you for the rules checklist. While most of these items do seem to be pretty self-evident one can't hear them often enough, especially a novice like myself.
I love the Hitchcock idea. I tend to get my spooky-scary inspiration from Poe and Lovecraft stories, I just can't get enough of them and will read them again and again and again. They also had the "less is more" theme of an unseen threat.
I am currently kicking ideas around for tales to tell, deciding on whether or not to take Northern European themes or something from my own home (Northwestern Ontario, Canada). As yet I haven't made any decisions.
Thanks again for your comments.
David

[Rivka Willick]

Here's a couple other good places to look.
There's a series of books called Weird USA. Each book is focused on the unusual and less appreciated things in the title state. So there is a Weird New Jersey, Weird Michigan, etc. There might even be a Weird Ontario. Each book has lots of great material for creating scary stories. Amazon should have a complete list.

I've also heard tellers pull stories from the old Twilight Zone series. I've heard it twice now, and both times the tellers didn't know the stories were from the Twilight Zone-the old series had most of their stories taken from Sci-Fi writers or Rod Sterling himself.

Did you know that Mark Twain loved to tell ghost stories. I've been told the Golden Arm was one of his favorites. RW

[Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller]

I haven't seen Weird Ontario, (all though the Weird USA series is a good one) I have seen Haunted Ontario. (Amazon should have that too)
I don't know how well the Urban Legends would translate into Icelandic but try "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" by Jan Harold Brunvand, or other Urban Legend books by him. It sounds like to me, your as into understanding stories as telling them. Brunvand gives a whys and wheres as well as some of the best urban legends around. Give it a look.
Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller

[Mara Hawks]

just reading the post & wonderful suggestions in the comments...any party in Iceland has to be the coolest! Wish I could come and join the fun. What a great idea to organize and prepare a fun evening with your friends. I used to do a lot of party stuff when my kids were young, but I'm pretty much of a scaredy-cat , so didn,t get too involved in the closer-to-grown-up years. Please come back & write about it. And of course, darken the room... light a candle or lantern... do you have pumpkins in Iceland? Cheers!

[David]

Greetings Mara.
Yes, it is pretty cool here in Iceland. Sometimes I have to remind myself about it, having lived here for some time, but still... pretty cool.
Every year my wife and I have friends over to carve pumpkins and to show their children some of the Hallowe'eny goodness that I so love. The pumpkins are imports and do not compare to that which I have always known from home, but they do in a pinch.
As of right now I am working on authentic invitations on wettened and coloured paper written in a fine calligraphy, sealed with wax.
I will keep you informed.