Trumpington Meadows, a village near Cambridge, is the place here a teenage girl, probably of noble birth, was laid to rest, lying on an ornamental bed, in her best clothes. Exactly how this 16-year-old Anglo Saxon girl met her death,  and who she was remains mysterious, but she was interred wearing a gold cross, suggestive of her having been one of the earliest Christians in Britain.

It was Cambridge University scientists who unearthed her well-preserved 1,400-year-old grave, a burial site indicating that Christianity had established itself as early as the 7th century in this area, not long after Roman monk St Augustine was dispatched in 595 by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the English.

His missionary team started in Kent, slowly working their way around the country until he became first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597, although it is certain that Christians and pagans co-existed for a very long time. The latest discovery gives good insights to life at the time, the girl being buried, according to the pagan tradition, with grave goods – in the shape of a knife and glass beads for use in the next life –which contravenes Christian beliefs.

Expert on Anglo-Saxon cemeteries Dr Sam Lewsey called this an extremely rare discovery, because, as Christian conversion only gradually filtered down, such an elaborate burial, including a valuable artifact, are sure signs that this girl was either nobility or royalty, the cross  certainly  belonging to the highest sphere of society.

13  such Anglo Saxon so-called bed burials have over time been discovered, almost all noble women, laid to rest on wood and metal frames topped with straw mattresses, but none earlier than 7th century. The small – 1in wide – gold cross, dated to between 650 and 680AD  and studded with cut garnets, was almost certainly sewn into her clothing around the neck and worn in daily life. 

Three further graves were found the others containing two girls in their late teens – with no religious signs – an individual, in their 20s, gender unknown, so the girl buried with the cross could have had an official role in the fledgling Christian church, which the Romans had tried without success  to introduce  200 years before. 

7th century kings and nobles were happy to join in with the conversion process, because any noblewoman not wanting to marry could use the church as a good choice instead. Since life in those days was hard, and average life expectancy short by modern standards, the girl probably died young because of illness, like the plague, which could have killed the other three as well.

Back in those peaceful times, people were healthy, well-fed and in many cases quite prosperous, as well as being, contrary to misplaced ideas, more than a little sophisticated into the bargain, because archaeology has shown that the Anglo-Saxons produced stunning and intricate jewellery, probably mining silver and gold in England, and trading other commodities across Europe and Asia.

Tests will be conducted on the skeleton to establish cause of death of the young woman, what she tended to eat and her medical condition, because the way that she relates to the other three graves is key to the investigation, establishing  whether the buried people were related, for example, such a small set of graves being unusual, even if the bed and cross are ignored. Just why this one grave merited such lavish  treatment has captured the imagination of all involved, and they are impatient to learn more.

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Although Halloween is not celebrate in all countries and all regions of the world but millions of people on this planet are celebrating Halloween in thier own different ways. Hallowe’en or All Hallows Eve, is an annual holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night preceding the All Saints Day or popularly known as Day of the Dead celebrations. As far as history is concerned, the holiday has origin in Christianity. 

Most people in the Christian world are celebrating this occassion, once a year, and so as most christian traditions all things related to Halloween is bring out for this special occassion. The festival honouring the dead, the typical Halloween activities include “trick or treating” also known as “guising” , attending costume parties, nowadays we can we some parties especially on the streets or in the backyard. some are carving jack o’ lanterns, one highlights also is the lighting bonfires, visiting popular haunted attractions, telling stories about the dead and those scary true stories, watching horror films or DVD mostly the scariest movies ever produced such as the collection of Friday the 13th etc.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES?

H

Image by sean_hickin via Flickr

ere are some popular Halloween costumes:

Monsters

Ghost

Skeletons

Witches

Devils etc.

Image by markhillary via Flickr

SOME FOODS RELATED TO THE OCCASSION:

Pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread

Candy corn, candy pumpkin

Caramel Apples

Caramel Corn

Barmbrack

Bonfire Tofee

Roasted pumkin seeeds

Roasted sweet corn

Soul cakes

And many other foods.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HALLOWEEN

Some christians do not celebrate this holiday because they feel it trivializes or celebrate paganism or the occult.

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Orkney: Image via Wikipedia

Isbister Chambered Cairn, 5000 years old, was used for about 800 years on the Islands of Orkney, Scotland. It is said to have held the remains of roughly 340 individuals when it was opened in 1958 and 1976. No complete skeletons were found, leading archaeologists to surmise the bodies had been excarnated (exposed to the weather to hurry decomposition). Also in the tomb were 70 eagle talons which led scholar to presume the bird was a clan totem.

In the Tomb of the Eagle (a.k.a. Isbister Chambered Cairn) excavated skulls have signs of serious head trauma. As archaeologists will tell you, if there is no sign of healing of the bone then the injury was probably the cause of death or occurred after death. Out of 16,000 bones there are 85 skulls of which 16 show serious evidence of trauma and some of those showed signs of healing. The skulls belonged to adults and children. One female skull had three head injuries that had healed. The wounds were caused by both blunt and sharp objects such as stones, arrowheads and axes. Until this discovery, the area was believed to have been inhabited by peaceful Neolithic (New Stone Age) farmers. However, as the site was occupied for about 1000 years, the number of skulls may not be that significant an amount of evidence. More interesting is why were they interred in the area that they were interred in? That, we may never know.

Archaeologist David Lawrence detailed the findings with these words: “By checking if the wounds were healed or not, we can see if someone suffered from severe head trauma just around the time if their death. To say with absolute certainty if they actually died from it, is very hard, but some attacks were so severe that the whole skull has split in two horizontally.  Other wounds are very subtle and are most easily observed inside the skull, where splinters have been bent inwards. Some were caused by a blunt force, like a stone or a mace. Other cases were caused by pointed objects, like a bone headed arrow and there were also traumas caused by edged objects, like an axe. Some wounds did heal. There is a skull of a woman that has three healed wounds which were caused by blows from a blunt object.  She also had a dislocated jaw which was badly healed. She must have suffered terribly, as it would have been very difficult for her to chew properly. It is likely she also had problems speaking.”

He also said: “There was a great variety in the places where people were hit and the instruments used: there is no simple pattern. This variety makes it very unlikely that they were killed in some kind of ritual.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1364489/85-New-Stone-Age-skulls-head-injuries-Orkneys-Tomb-Eagles.html

http://www.tomboftheeagles.co.uk/introduction.asp

http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq/articles/39/39_2/tomb_eagles.htm

Popular conception of Stone Age community: Image via Wikipedia

Stone Age tools: Image via Wikipedia

Remains of a chambered cairn: Image by Shandchem via Flickr

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star has several skeletons shouting out of the cupboard, and she has pledged to ” put them into their place. “ The string of of lawsuits are pro and contra to her favour. One of the cases calls for financial damages allegedly caused by former co-stars, who had reportedly assaulted her or defamed her persona. Legal experts have reportedly never seen anything like what they are hearing. At the same time the female star is being sued by her ex, for harassment and defamation. It may be a scene of give and take as whatever she receives in the form of compensation, she may have to pay in the form of penalties. perhaps the biggest skeleton in the closet for the actress will be her defense against another ex, a certain Danny Aguilar, who some decades ago squandered about USD100,000 on  Staub (then known only as Merrill) for no apparent reason and now when his life is a lemon, he wants his money back…

Good luck people and please keep us informed so that we can read on, because everyone likes the latest tabloid news on what is happening in Jersey.

‘Twenty-three, er…er… I think twenty four or twenty-five.

Now, that is an answer that would shock your partner in most cases. You dumped the first one for being too short, you dumped the second one for lacking table manners, the third one did not impress your parents, the fourth one was in love with the bottle, the fifth one had a case of bad breath, the sixth one probably would snore so much in bed that the neighbors came calling, the seventh urinated in bed, the eighth abused you, the ninth was married and the tenth…the list is endless but the current one is a combination of all those that you slept with and dumped!

The number of men looking for sex as a sign of commitment is astronomically high and the number of young women who equate sex to love is just as high but both sexes expect to be blessed with a partner who never had any sexual partner or had very few.

Skeletons of snakes and other reptiles in a museum

To be realistic however, many people kiss a lot of frogs before the prince charming comes along. The problem is often the fact that every frog that comes along looks and acts so much like prince charming, the frog knows what you expect, he or she knows what prince charming looks like and would therefore fit the bill without much trouble until later when the relationship is steady.

Would you tell your partner the truth? Should you tell your partner the truth? Must you tell your partner the truth? If they knew the number of partners you have had in the past, how would they take it? They would be angry to say the least and would shoot away in the opposite direction but in real sense they too have skeletons of their own.

In societies where there are arranged marriages in which boys and girls grow up knowing there is a suitor somewhere some place just for them, the number of sexual partners before marriage may be limited to none, one or two at most. But in the more liberal societies, this is not possible as boys and girls start believing in love the moment they start watching Television – Around age five. Between that age and when they reach puberty, they already have build fantasies around what to expect and the idea of the perfect man or woman for them and this tempts them to start testing the waters earlier than it was in the past. At sixteen a girl will already have one skeleton, two at seventeen, four at eighteen and thirty at twenty nine.

The irony of the matter has always been that the more the unions, the shorter they last and the shorter the unions, the more we encounter. What then should you expect from your partner? Anything but the truth.

No sane woman or man would give the answer that I gave at the beginning and no man or woman expects it anyway and shouldn’t be asking in the first place. Perhaps it would be better to be content with who you are with and let bygones be bygones for when you start digging skeletons from the past, their mere sight might not impress you and in fact, might give you a heart attack, or wouldn’t it?

Virgin or not, it would help in these days to go for an HIV test and let your honesty stop at any children from past relationships. If you have any congenital malformation or disorder or some terminal illness or chronic condition, do not hide this hoping that it never comes to light, chances are that it will, and when it does, love will have evaporated and…….need I say more?

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Images of skeletons and altars play heavily in this holiday as it is a time to honour relatives who have departed the Earth. More than a time of mourning and sorrowful reveling in the past, el Dia de los Muertos is about celebration of life and loved ones. The contrast of colourful altars with artistic skeletons, flickering candles, and sweet offerings are also often a part of these celebrations.

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Honouring dead loved ones is a beautiful tradition. El Dia de los Muertos is an exquisite example of how paying tribute to departed ancestors can be a time of celebration, artistry, and connection.

The skeleton of a 3.6 meter tall goliath was revealed at Lompock Rancho, California, in 1833 by soldiers digging a pit for a powder magazine. This specimen was further distinguished by its remarkable double row of teeth and by the abundance of huge stones axes, carved shells, and porphyry blocks bearing abstruse symbols associated with it. The skeleton and artifacts were secretly reburied, and their locality lost, when locals began venerating them.

In 1911, several mummified remains of mysterious red-haired humans ranging from 2-2.5 meters tall were disinterred in Lovelock Cave, 112 kilometers north-east of Reno, Nevada, by a guano mining operation. These substantiated the local Piute Indians’ legends of such people, which they called the Si-Te-Cahs. Yet scientists proved oddly reluctant to investigate these remains and eventually most of the bones were simply discarded by the miners. What was left was salvaged by various local people, only for most of it to be destroyed in a fire. Happily, however, one of the giant Lovelock skulls, almost 30cm tall, is preserved with some related bones and artifacts at the Humboldt Museum in Winnemucca, Nevada, and various Lovelock artifacts are also held at the Nevada State Historical Society’s museum at Reno.

The most distinctive American giants, however, were found in the 1880s at Tioga Point, near Sayre in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, as Robert Lyman recounted in Forbidden Land:

Dr G.P. Donehoo, State Historian and a former minister of the Presbyterian Church in Coudersport, together with Prof.A.B. Skinner of the American Investigating Museum, and Prof.W.K. Morehead of Phillips Andover Academy, uncovered an Indian mound. They found the bones of 68 men which were believed to have been buried about the year 1200. The average height of these men was seven feet, while many were much taller. One some of the skulls, two inches above the perfectly formed forehead, were protuberances of bone, evidently horns that had been there since birth. Some of the specimens were sent to the American Investigating Museum.

One might expect that giant human skeletons with horned skulls could not be overlooked or forgotten. Yet according to Jim Brandon’s book Weird America, no one at the museum has any knowledge of these specimens – which must surely rate as something of a mystery in itself!

I’ve lived on the prairies for many years but I’ve never seen anyone decorating their hay bales before!  The toothy grins greet all passersby and are an effective way of decorating what you have.  Super creative!

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The oddest places end up with Halloween displays in October.  This display in a parking garage is a great example of that.  I’m not sure how many trick or treaters they’d get down there but it sure is a great way to liven up a dreary space.  I love the cobwebs on the skeletons hands.  Nice touch.

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Here is yet another example of a Halloween decoration in an unexpected space.  These are available for purchase at www.allholidaytreasures.com or you could easily make your own with some red paint and a white shower curtain.  You can just hear the psycho music playing in the bathroom…  Shower at your own risk!

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These walls are instantly transformed with hideous zombie heads protruding from the wall paper.  Definitely a little too realistic for me!  I like the cracks drawn onto the fabric “wallpaper”.  I wouldn’t want to be watching scary movies in this room!

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This ghoulish walkway is eerily light with the devil’s horns.  They sure give a creepy red, blood like glow to the walk way.  Imagine this from a toddler’s perspective trick or treating with their parent’s for the first time…  I bet they just don’t know what to think at all!

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This super creative hand made wreath is a great way to greet Halloween visitors.  It’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme is easily removed, leaving a pretty green wreath in it’s place.  The shooter of this photo hand made the wreath with greenery and added a paper mache skull to complete the theme.

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Sometimes home made decorations are the way to go.  This house boasts a huge spider web made by string ropes around the entire front of the house.  A small section is left open to the doorway so that people can come and go.  I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.  Some people are soooo creative.  I just love it!

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Sometimes, the devil is in the details.  Sorry, couldn’t help it!  I love the way this skeleton’s torso is still “buried” underground.  It definitely looks like it’s scrambling for freedom and is about to run after you down the street.  I especially like how the headstone is blank.  You can look at it two ways — someone was lazy and forgot or it’s left blank so that the victim’s name can be filled in after the skeleton catches up!

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Sometimes the allure of the decoration is all about placement and lighting.  This ghoulish skeleton looks like it’s about to leap off the balcony and glide down to eat your brains, all while being illuminated in a spot light.  It this was somewhere else and wasn’t lit like it is, it wouldn’t be nearly as creepy.

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In this front yard, a red spotlight is used to spotlight the devil swooping down out of the tree.  The addition of the gravestones, skeleton and cobwebs add to the effect.  I’d think twice before trick or treating here!  I especially like how there are arms trying to claw out of the ground on the headstone to the left.

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I guess whoever set up this jamming decoration is as afraid of dentist’s as I am.  “Hardcore Dentistry” is a spooky name for a band!  Zombie band witha spider for a microphone and giant pointed teeth – meh.  Make them dentists and suddenly they’re terrifying!!!

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Here’s a homeowner who has gone all out.  From the pirate skeleton hung by it’s wrists and ankles to ghosts hanging in the trees to zombies with arms outstretched.  This is the place to be on Halloween, obviously.  My favorite is the “shrunken head” jack o’lantern on a stick.  Super funny and creepy.

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This house has everything you can imagine and lots you’d prefer not to!  Dead men hanging from trees, the devil with wings on the roof, mummies, jack-o-lanterns and lights galore.  I hope they have extra candy because lots of people are going to want to come and check this place out!

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These two pictures show a very erethral yard full of ghosts and spectres in an extremely haunted graveyard.  The lighting is amazing and would make even the bravest kids run screaming.  The mummy glowing in the mists with outstretched arms is especially creepy.  This is far from your average yard decorations for Halloween!  So creative, imaginative and downright skilled.

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Instead of glowing, floating ghosts, this yard goes straight for the gore.  Giant rats gorging themselves on a rotting, decaying body.  Disgustingly realistic, right down to the blood that is covering everything.

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This final display will make kids everywhere even more freaked out to go to the doctor!  It’s unknown what kind of experiments this mad physician is performing on the bloody corpse.  The nurse is even involved in this one with a giant needle in one hand and a shocked face (or maybe blow up doll face!).  My favorite is the shelf filled with all sorts of horrors that is in front of the nurse — a severed head and jars full of all sorts of human (?) parts and oddities.  Gore at it’s finest!

So, get out there and start decorating folks.  Halloween will be here sooner than you think!  Here are some more “Halloween themed” articles I’ve been working on:

• Absolutely Absolutely Bizarre Adult Halloween Costumes
• 15 Incredible Jack-O-Lanterns
• 12 Very Strange Childrens Costumes Not For the Faint of Heart
• 10 Hysterically Funny Cat Halloween Costumes
• 10 Hysterically Funny Dog Halloween Costumes
• Funny Toddler Costumes for Halloween

Halloween sounds are a big part of the holiday fun, and you should not overlook the sense of hearing when decorating for your party or rigging up the scariest house in the neighborhood for the trick-or-treaters.

Halloween sounds of things that go bump in the night, screams of helpless victims, songs of monsters, fling bat wings, and spooky howls can add just the right frightening touch to any scene – whether it is your charity’s haunted house fundraiser or your own front yard that awaits the pounding feet of little tykes dressed up in all their finery.

There are a few different ways you can accumulate some scary and fun Halloween sounds to your life this holiday.

You can head to your local costume shop, party superstore, WalMart, or probably even dollar store and pick up a pre-recorded CD or tape of classically frightening Halloween sounds and noises. This is easy, and they are usually only five bucks or less.

For a little more of a personal touch, you can make a recording of your own Halloween sounds. Just get out a tape recorder and bang some pots and pans together. Have your kids enter a screaming contest, and record the screams as they get louder and louder.

Make your voice sound hoarse like you used to do when you wanted to get out of going to school, and say monsterly things like, “Come here you little ones,” or “Have I got a treat for you?” Basically, anything that sounds like it might be creepy after dark will work. Then, of course, on Halloween night, just put it on the porch and let it play.

For a higer-tech version of Halloween sounds, you can turn to your new best friend, the Internet. There are lots of sites out there that have free WAV files and other noises that you can download and burn onto a CD right on your own computer. Just look around for a while and record anything you think sounds pretty darn scary – or even funny – if you prefer, and you will have a CD you can pop in your computer or stereo and play after dark when the little goblins are heading up the sidewalk or driveway.

Scary-loking decorations like spider webs, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, and tombstones are way too much fun to describe, but be sure to include some Halloween sounds into your Halloween decorating plans to make for a really spooky night.