Erin Go Halloween

My daughter recently went on a two week trip to the Emerald Isle and discovered the joys of Guinness. Actually, while she did like the "meal in a bottle," there was another brew there that really caught her fancy (if I could only remember its name), but it's only sold in Ireland, not here.

Splitting her time between Dublin and Galway, while staying at hostels (I said "Are you nuts?! Didn't you see the movies?"), she apparently got an advanced degree in Pub Crawls. Ah, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. But she's got musical talent and can play a mean set on the drums and while partaking of some fine food and ale at Ireland's oldest pub, The Brazen Head, she met the lead singer of a local Irish band who during one of their sets invited her and her girlfriend up onto the stage where she proceeded to play the drums with them. Needless to say it was the highlight of the trip. You can't beat playing with a true, traditional Irish band in a pub that was established in 1198.

However, since this is a Halloween blog and not a family travel guide, my daughter also unwittingly provided her father with an endless source of inspiration for his haunt (isn't it annoying when someone writes about themselves in the third person?). In between grub, grog, and merrymaking she also took vast amounts of pictures of the countryside and architecture (I do need to tell her though she needs to visit some cemeteries once in a while).

Yet if you're building a haunt themed around the medieval period, you can't do much better than taking pictures of Ireland. I've included a few of the pictures she took, and it seems she's got a pretty good eye for composition too. But now I can study these photos and get some ideas for my haunt. As I wanted it in a decrepit churchyard it would appear I have plenty of sources of inspiration to choose from.