Blanket Burrito Brigade Issue 4
This month’s theme is:
Oct 2019
Scary stories, spooky film reviews, art, and more!
in this issue Get your spook on with Halloween crafts!
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Creepy unsolved mysteries
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Our Spooky Movie Picks
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Spooktacular Snacks
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HALLOWEEN SHOWDOWN: BRITISH OR AMERICAN CANDY?
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Artist Spotlight
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2 Sentence Horror Stories
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+ poetry + pictures + more 2
Welcome! Happy October, and welcome to the spookiest time of the year! We hope you’ve had an awesome month. This time of year is full of frights and screams and facing fears, however big or small. Goblins and ghouls and monsters decorate stoops and hang from trees and lurk in windows. Children plan costumes and get ready to beg for candy. Friends gather to watch scary movies and devour too many sweets. It’s also the time of year where the air is getting a bit chiller and the leaves a bit crunchier, which all adds to that extra spooky feeling. But that chill also brings with it more time inside, cuddling under blankets, baking and cooking heartier foods, lighting candles, and getting ready for the winter that lies ahead. So whether you celebrate this spooky season by diving into all that is terrifying or you celebrate by cuddling up at home with soup and cookies, we hope our zine brings you some spooky cheer. We have a mix of extra scary and seasonally spooky content, so you can celebrate in your own special way.
Happy Halloween!
Love, Gill, Helen, & Natalie
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1. Sinister or ghostly in a way tha 2. Suggestive of the supernatural
3. Creepy and kooky. Mysterious and
at causes fear and unease
d spooky. Altogether ooky.
Rock Painting What you need: - rocks - paint & paint brush, or marker pens - clear drying glue This easy idea looks incredibly effective. Simply find some peddles and draw on your spooky designs in either paint or maker pens. Once done, coat in glue to preserve the design.
You can use the rocks as ornaments around the house, in your plant pot rockeries or hide around the area you live in for other people to find and rehide. You could even glue a magnet to the smaller ones to use on your fridge.
Character plant pots What you’ll need: - plant pots of any size - googly eyes - paint - felt - marker pens - scissors & glue - optional extras: pipe cleaners, card, stickers, screws, bolts and anything else you can get your hands on to make your characters look extra spooky. These pots are great for everything - from sweet holders to actual plant pots and other decorative uses around the house. For a pumpkin pot, paint in orange and once dry, paint on the face using black paint. For a Frankenstein’s Monster pot, paint in green and glue on the googly eyes. Use a marker pen to draw on the facial scarring, and use scissors to cut out the hairy trim out of felt. Glue on the hairstyle at the lip of the pot. For added effect, find some spare screws and bolts and glue onto the sides. You can really use your imagination to bring any spooky creation to life with these versatile pots. For really big character pots, why not use your painted pebbles to create a rockery.
Hand Monsters What you’ll need: - paper - paint - scissors - googly eyes
Cover your hand in paint and make handprints on paper. Once dry, cut out your handprint. Decorate with googly eyes and other painted markings to make your spooky hand monsters.
Origami Batty Page Markers What you’ll need: - black square origami paper - black and white standard paper - googly eyes - scissors, glue & pencil Fold the origami paper diagonally on both sides, and then into a triangle (coloured side on outside). Hold the top of the triangle and fold it towards the bottom of the triangle - to the centre - and crease well. Hold the left corner and fold it towards the bottom centre of the triangle. Do the same on the other side and crease well. Unfold both ends. Grab hold of the left corner and fold it towards the top of the triangle - crease. Do the same with the other corner. Tuck the left flap into the pocket, and do the same with the other.
Origami Witches Hats What you’ll need: - black square origami paper - tape to secure - scissors, pens, stickers & glue Fold the square diagonally and turn so it looks like a diamond shape. Bring the right-hand edge to the centre-crease and repeat with the left-hand edge. Fold the bottom corner-point up to the newlycreated edge. Lift it back up and hide under the flaps to tuck it neatly out the way. Carefully roll the flat edge up 1cm, then repeat two more times. Tape the flap down and then flip the paper. Now you have your witch’s hat shape. Take your stickers and pens to decorate your hat with as much imagination as possible.
Glue two googly eyes onto it, and then cut out two wings from standard black paper and two fangs from standard white paper. Glue them onto your page marker and ta-da, you have yourself a bat marker!
Unsolved mysteries from around the world The Tunguska Event In June 1908, 770 square miles of forest in Siberia, Russia were completely flattened. It seemed like an explosion had occurred - but there was no evidence of that happening. No debris from a bomb, no impact crater from a meteorite - just miles and miles of flat trees. Scientists current ‘best guess’ is that maybe an asteroid exploded *over* the earth, directly above this area. Nature is so weird. The Norwalk Heart In 2016, two emergency service workers on a break in Norwalk, Ohio came across something strange near a service station - a human heart in a Ziplock bag. Assuming that something had gone deeply wrong with an organ donation delivery, they bagged it up and took it back to the hospital. However, upon getting there, it soon became clear that nobody could account for this heart. Its DNA didn’t match anyone in any local databases, there had been zero organ donation deliveries taking place in the area and probably most horrifyingly, the heart was fresh - doctors estimated it had probably been out of a body for no more than a few hours. Police soon got involved, suspecting a grisly murder, but nothing ever turned up...
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The Voynich Manuscript One for the language nerds out there (including me!). The Voynich Manuscript is a 250 page book which has been carbon dated back to the 1400s. It includes illustrations of plants that don’t match any known species and is written in a language/code which is completely unknown. It’s been baffling experts since it was discovered by alchemist Georg Baresch back in the 1600s! Some believe it’s all a big hoax - but carbon dating is remarkably accurate usually, so how come it’s so old if that’s the case?
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The Eilean Mor lighthouse keepers This one is a super strange one. In December 1900, a ship called in at a lighthouse on a small island in northern Scotland after noticing the light was not working. They found nobody there, despite plenty of supplies being present still. The doors were closed, the clocks were stopped, there was an uneaten meal on the table, and the beds were unmade - it seemed like they’d left in a hurry. The lighthouse logs proved to be weird reading they wrote about the keepers enduring the heavy storms, praying, crying and despairing at the winds and rain. However - locals confirmed there was no storm on those dates. The final log entry before they ended simply said ‘Storm ended, sea calm. God is over all.’ None of the men were ever seen again, several leaving behind wives and small children. The Bay of Jars In 1982, a man called Robert Marx unearthed the remains of 200 Roman-era ceramic jars at an underwater site near Brazil’s Guanabara Bay. Sounds like standard archeology, right? Well, yes, except for the fact that Europeans didn’t reach Brazil until the 1500s - LONG after the Roman era. Brazilian authorities closed the dig site soon after and won’t let anyone else explore there. Mysterious! The Mary Celeste On 4th December 1872, a ship was found empty, with all of its cargo intact, adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. It had set sail from New York a month earlier, headed for Geneva with a crew of 8 people. Supplies on board would have lasted 6 months and the ship was pretty luxurious. The last entry on the ships log revealed nothing unusual - and yet none of those on board were ever heard from again...
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Our Favorite Spooky Films Natalie’s pick: The Lost Boys (1987) Why I love it – This weird little film is about two brothers who move to a small town in California with their recently divorced mother. Doesn’t sound too spooky? Well, the town Santa Carla is unfortunately, full of vampires (who are also inexplicably kind of a biker gang). I grew up watching this film with my mam and we loved it – it’s got a few mild jump scares and scary bits (rice turning into maggots will put anyone off their Chinese takeaway) but mostly it’s just a great, slightly campy and fun story about some kids trying their best to fight gory supernatural horrors while acclimatising to their new, weird life. Plus the SOUNDTRACK. And there’s a dog called Nanook. And everyone is in amazing late 80’s fashion. Who to look out for – 80’s Kiefer Sutherland as an absolute snacc of a head vampire, plus Corey Feldman + Jamison Newlander as a pair of self-proclaimed teenage vampire hunters who work in their parents comic book store. Favourite quotes – “One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach – all the damn vampires”. “Great. It’s the bloodsucking Brady Bunch.” “You’ll never grow old. And you’ll never die. But you must feed!”
Gill’s pick: Hocus Pocus (1993) Why I love it – I watch this movie every October, and for good reason. It’s earned its place in the Halloween classics with just enough cheese, humor, and creepy darkness. For a children’s movie, it’s also pretty spooky. There’s enough witch’s cackles and remarks about eating children to make even an adult feel a bit of a spine tingle. There’s so much ‘90s fashion, witches turning to dust (of course), one of the sisters riding a vacuum, adorable sibling love, and lots of heroic moments. Who to look out for – Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy absolutely slay as the Sanderson sisters. Favourite quotes – “You know, I’ve always wanted a child. And now I think I’ll have one. On toast!” “Oh look. Another glorious morning. Makes me sick!”
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Helen’s pick: Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Why I love it – It's a cult classic. Who doesn't want a mash up of a musical, a comedy and a terrible horror story? Acting as a parody tribute to 1930s sci-fi and horror films, Rocky Horror revolves around a young couple who find themselves taking refuge in a mansion when their car breaks down, and being seduced into the world of mad scientist cum alien crossdresser Dr Frank N Furter in his quest to build a living muscle man. Wild, right?! It's camp, it's kitsch, and it's queer. It's one of those films where you'll wonder what on earth you just saw, then want to watch it time and time again. I first saw the stage show and immediately went home to watch it all over again on film. It makes for a jolly fun time and you can't help but join in. Who to look out for – Tim Curry is a force to be reckoned with in both the stage and screen worlds, and his portrayal of a certain "Sweet Transvestite" pretty much launched his path to success. Meat Loaf as ex- delivery boy and half a brain donor. You may know him more for his music, put his role as Eddie was where he first became a well-known name. The Audience. If you're seeing it in a cinema or at an event, watch out for the audience participating. Rocky Horror became the start of audiences callouts, riffing the dialogue and chiming in with their responses. People get VERY into it, coming in full costume and everything. Plus, you'll all want to boogie on down to the Time Warp, it's just so catchy. Favourite quotes – “There’s a light in the darkness, of everybody’s life” “It’s not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache!”
“It’s just a jump to the left! And then a step to the riiiight!” (Helen’s honourable mention: Scooby Doo on Zombie Island (1998)) Why I love it - My dad likes zombie films and TV shows. The gruesome zombie kind, not the funny iZombie-esque shows that I enjoy. I’m not a fan of an actual evil zombie, scary zombie, going to kill you in your sleep zombie. I think it’s the eyes. Freaks me out. So when looking for a surprise Christmas present one year for my dad, I wanted to get a zombie film the whole family could enjoy—all thanks to Scooby Dooby Dooo. It’s a doozy. Whilst it was a lot darker in tone than other Scooby films, it’s the classic invited to go and visit a place and end up being chased by bad monsters plot.
Who to look our for – not so much who, but what... There’s a sequel titled Scooby Doo! Return to Zombie Island that was literally just released this year. Can’t wait to check it out. Favourite quotes – “Zoinks! How humiliating! Chased into a hole by 1/3 of a B.L.T” “Should’ve let the gators get ya. I can’t stand tourists” “Ghost pirates, ghost soldiers, what could be next?”
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Films and books to check out… if you dare Films •
Hocus Pocus
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Psycho
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Books •
Interview with a Vampire
Interview With A Vampire
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Woman In Black
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The Lost Boys
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Edgar Allen Poe Short Stories
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Halloween •
The Historian
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Dracula
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Frankenstein
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The haunting of Hill House
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
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Misery
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The Witches
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
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The Little Stranger
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The haunted Mask
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It (1990 & 2018) The Shining Casper
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Practical Magic
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The Addams Family
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Edward Scissorhands
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Underworld
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Nightmare Before Christmas
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Corpse Bride
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Coraline
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Juan of the Dead
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Life After Beth
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Young Frankenstein
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Cheesy Critters || Level: Easy Spoons What you’ll need: - Crackers - Cookie cutters - Slices of cheese
Optional: - Poppyseeds - Green onion
Grab yourself a set of Halloween cookie cutters to make these simple yet effective snacks. Cut your Halloween shapes out of the cheese and eat with an accompanying cracker. Add poppyseeds for eyes and chopped green onion for the pumpkin shoots.
Jack O Lantern Quesadilla || Level: Functioning Human What you’ll need: - tortillas - grated cheese - olive oil
Optional: - cooked chicken - lime juice - hot sauce
- chili powder - garlic powder - any other filling desired
Prepare the top tortilla by cutting out your Jack O Lantern face. On a baking tray, place a whole tortilla and the grated cheese. Add in any other fillings of your choice—this recipe uses shredded chicken mixed with lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder for taste. Place the cut tortilla on top and bake in a pre-heated oven for 15mins, or until melted and golden brown. Enjoy with a hot sauce dip.
Ghostly Pizza Bites || Level: Expert What you’ll need for the pizza base: the rest: - 560g strong white flour - 1tbsp olive oil - 1tbsp honey - 1 sachet yeast - 340g of warm water - pinch of salt
What you’ll need for - tomato puree - pepperoni - mozzarella - mushrooms - muffin tray
Pizza base: Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and hand mix and knead for around 10mins. Cover in clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place. Once well-risen, roll out and cut circles into a muffin tray. Ghostly pizza: Preheat the oven to 180c. Spread tomato puree onto the bases and add the pepperoni (or any other toppings of your choice). Cut out ghost shapes from the mozzarella and place on top. Create the tiny eyes from chopped mushrooms and place in the oven for 10-15mins or until cooked through and the dough is golden brown.
Banana Ghosts || Level: Easy Spoons What you’ll need: - Bananas - Chocolate drops or spread
Optional: - Lollypop sticks - White chocolate
Peel your banana and cut in half. Take a chocolate drop or a small spoonful of spread and position to make two eyes and a shocked mouth. Ghost bananas! If you’re feeling slightly more adventurous, stick a lollypop stick in the banana and then dip in melted white chocolate before leaving to dry and decorating with the chocolate face.
Bat Cupcakes || Level: Functioning Human What you’ll need: - Chocolate frosting - Edible eyes - Oreos
Optional: - Cake mix
Using shop-bought cakes, spread your chocolate frosting on top to create the body. Cut the Oreo in half and place into the frosting to make the wings. Put two edible eyes on to bring your bat to life. If you have the energy, why not make the cakes yourself? You can use cake mix or if you have all the ingredients, start from scratch.
Brain Cake || Level: Expert What you’ll need for the cake: - 150g unsalted butter - 150g golden caster sugar - 1tsp vanilla extract - 3 eggs - 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt - 1-2 drops red food colouring - 150g self-raising flour - 50g cocoa powder - 1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
Red velvet cake: Pre-heat the oven to 170c and grease a round 15cm tin. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat each time. Mix the yoghurt with the food colouring and beat into the cake mix. Fold in the remaining flour and cocoa powder followed by the milk. Spoon into the tin and bake for 1h 20mins. Remove from tin and leave to cool. For the the icing, mix the butter and cream cheese together in a bowl then beat the icing sugar a little at a time. Add the lemon juice and beat until pale in colour. Slice the cake into a brain shape and then quarters before icing them back together.
Make buttercream: Cut the butter into cubes and beat until soft. Add the icing sugar and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix fully. If the consistency is not spreadable, add 1/2 tsp milk and mix again. Keep repeating until at a spreadable texture. Turn into a brain: Cover the red velvet cake base in syrup to make it stay moist, before smothering with your buttercream. Create the brain lobes out of fondant by rolling into tubes and layering in patterns. Brush the seedless jam all over to make the brain look fresh out the skull. What you’ll need for the brain: - Syrup - White fondant - Seedless raspberry jam
What you’ll need for the buttercream: - 250g unsalted butter - 500g icing sugar - 1/2 tsp vanilla extract - 1 tbsp milk
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Haunted playlist
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HALLOWEEN SHOWDOWN: British or American Candy? Whose trick-o-treaters are getting the best deal – UK spooks or our witchy friends across the pond? Two of your editors have spent many a year trying and testing some of the best classic treats handed out by strangers at dark doorways – here are our thoughts…
BRITAIN, BRITAIN, BRITAIN. Mini mars bars – a solid classic. Chocolate, nougat, caramel – can’t go wrong mate. A little boring? Perhaps, but you know where you stand with a mars bar. Also they’re called ‘fun size’ which is how I also like to refer to my 4’ 11” self, so I can relate. 7/10 good choice. Chocolate eyeballs – these always taste kind of old, regardless of how long you’ve had them. Like advent calendar chocolate, but thicker. Either chip-a-tooth hard or alarmingly melty, however they are nailing the spooky aesthetic. Makes more of an effort to be on brand than most other sweets. 5/10 not convinced. Drumstick lollies – absolutely the sugar boost that you need when it’s tipping it down outside and all you’re wearing is a bin bag and a witches hat from poundland. NOT good if you have wobbly teeth – this glue-like lolly will tear them all from your youthful gums. Weird if you suck them for too long. 6/10 nostagia fest. Liquorice Allsorts – Why would you give these to children?? No. Also ALWAYS sticky because they’re unwrapped. 0/10 go and buy something else. Maltesers – NOW you’re talking. Crunchy, crispy, melty, malty, beautiful balls of joy, contained in small and bright coloured bags suitable for little and large hands alike. Plus tiny kids don’t always love them so as an older child (or child at heart) you can have them old. 9/10 more pls.
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Rainbow Dust / Sherbert Sticks – Actual addictive substance. 1000/10 bring all of them to my door and leave them there.
‘MURICA NB: I developed a killer (haha puns!) dairy allergy about four years ago, so if I missed any good candies it’s because I’m tragically behind on the candy game. But these are the candies I grew up begging off strangers, and still remember fondly. Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups – How could you ever go wrong with such a magical combination? Peanut butter and chocolate go together better than Bert and Ernie. This is a wonderfully portable and delicious treat. 10/10 awesome. Mini Snickers – Nougaty, peanuty, chocolatey. This is a delicious and hearty bite sized treat. Great to power you through those last few houses. 8/10 load me up. Twizzlers – Black licorice is an awful, horrible creation that should be avoided at all costs. These red artificial strawberry cylinders are quite good, though. Chewy and slightly fruity, they’re a quality choice. You can also use them as a straw, or whip your sibling with them! 6/10 pretty yummy. Candy corn – sorta like wax, sorta like pure sugar. You either hate it or love it. I happen to love this tri coloured triangular candy, but I can only eat 3-4 pieces at a time before I feel awful, so I can only give this one a 3/10. Skittles – pure, delicious bits of sugar. These are always a winner. The tiny packs give you a good sugar boost. Argue with your friends about which color is best! 7/10 for a candy I can still enjoy. Junior mints – an old person candy through and through. Minty, chocolaty, slightly outdated tasting. 5/10 for that nostalgic grandpa feel.
Our conclusions? All sweets are good if they’re free, bin bags are a flammable (and somehow shockingly non-waterproof??) material, there’s no shame in wearing gloves and a hat with your costume, and don’t accept candy from strangers unless you’ve knocked on their door and threated to play tricks on them first.
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Artist spotlight Tell us a bit about yourself My name is Leigh-Anne but I go by Leila professionally. I'm an illustrator in the UK, and I have CFS/M.E. I like painting, reading, playing video games, gardening and singing. How did you get into making art? I've drawn my whole life, but it was watching anime (when I was around 12 years old) that made me take it seriously. I wasn't planning on making a career out of it though until after I fell ill, post university. I started following illustrators who share their job and behind the scenes process online, and realised it's something that I would like to do too!
What are some of your inspirations? Lots of things inspire me - other illustrators, classical art, the sky, nature, animals, fantasy, books and films! I often share my inspirations on my Instagram stories too. What advice would you give to other creative spoonies? I wouldn't compare yourself to others, just go at your own pace! Put your health first, but do remember to take time to do something creative every now and then, to keep you happy. I find art very therapeutic, even when I'm feeling poorly I'll just doodle something in bed. What's your favourite thing about Halloween? I'm not into horror but I love halloween! As a witch I like to honor my deceased loved ones at this time of year, but I also love supernatural creatures and pumpkins! Pumpkin is my favourite squash to eat and it's only available around halloween in the UK!
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Scary stories to keep you up at night Yesterday I found a really sweet picture of myself on my phone, curled up and peacefully sleeping. Only problem is, I live alone.
I woke up last night to shake my partner and ask him why on earth he was breathing so heavily, it was loud enough to wake me up! When I turned over though, the bed was empty and the downstairs light was on - but the heavy, steady, nearby breathing continued...
The new set of mannequins were delivered this morning, wrapped in bubble wrap. After a few hours, from the back room where we had stored them, we heard the bubbles start to pop.
A couple bought an old country house, but after moving in, they kept hearing children's laughter in the middle of the night, though they didn't have kids, and nor did the neighbours. They got professionals to inspect the house, and after setting sophisticated instruments to record the sound, the professionals found out that the voices came from a point about 2.31m above the staircase, in the void. I have two last wishes: 1) I want my remains scattered over Disneyland 2) I don’t want to be cremated
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A man decides to go to his hunting lodge one weekend, just him and his dog, Max, and they have a wonderful day fishing and hiking and later that evening the man falls asleep on the couch with Max on the floor by his feet. About two hours into sleeping, the man feels Max licking his hand, so he swats him away, but soon the licking starts again, and again he swats him away, but it starts again, and this continues for a while until finally the man sighs and gets up to turn on the lights....when he trips over Max, who is dead and cold on the floor, which leaves the question of who had been licking the man for the past 4 hours?
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Next Month’s Theme is‌. FIRE
We will be exploring all the things in life that keep us warm and toasty. Stay tuned for art, music, recipes, and more!
With thanks Thank you to the wonderful writers, poets, artists and friends credited throughout who contributed their time, artistry, opinions and skill to this issue. You are all amazing and we’re very grateful indeed. Special thanks also go to you, readers, for supporting this little project! If you enjoyed this issue, please consider sharing these words and pictures with a friend or on your various social media spaces!
Want to contribute? Really? Awesome! You can send your submissions to blanketburritobrigade@mail.com with the subject line ‘Zine Contribution’. Additionally, if you’re working on a cool project, run your own awesome business or generally feel like you’ve got something going on that the world needs to know about, drop us a line and we’ll see how we can help!