Nancy Drew Ghost of Blackwood Hall Halloween Party

Nancy Drew

Blackwood Hall 

Halloween Party 

I selected the spooky Nancy Drew classic book, The Ghost of Blackwood Hall, #25 in the series as this year's Halloween party theme. This year was my 5th annual Nancy Drew Halloween Party and I set out to recreate a little bit of Blackwood Hall as the setting. 12 of us gathered at the house for an evening of spooks and treats with a ghostly theme. We dined on an old favorite, Parmesan chicken, penne Alfredo, salad with all the trimmings, rolls, chips and dips and salsa, peanut butter chocolate cream cheese ball with cookies and crackers, and for dessert: rice krispie treat cupcakes, popcorn balls, pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate, and Reese's peanut butter cookie cups. Sleuth Pam from Canada also brought us some delicious chocolates from Canada and Maple Sugar candies! Bess would have been in Heaven--except for the luminous green "poison" punch! Yum!

We played a quicksand trivia game for prizes, Pam also brought a nifty crossword puzzle based on the book, and we held our annual treat bag gift exchange. We also took photos with photo booth props and glowing glasses--the ones on the porch without the flash have a very ghostly effect! The porch was the hidden elevator in Blackwood Hall complete with green glowing specter and to the side was the secret room that opened off the elevator that had the skeleton, magic props, mannequin, and scary looking cat. The front window silhouette was a take on the second cover art shown above with Nancy standing apart from Bess (who says "Eeek!") and George with the flashlight. The house was decorated with ghosts, pumpkins lit the walkway and hung from the trees with lights inside, and 2 large scarecrows guarded the entry to the porch with crows perched on their arms. Inside the back of the elevator was a jar of green "poison" just like was left with Nancy in the elevator by the villainous Brex Brothers! I passed out goody bags to everyone with treats and Blackwood Hall buttons.

Before the party, we had some events as part of the Drew-O-Ween this year with a meet and greet dinner on Thursday and Friday book hunting and visit to Schnepf Farms for the Pumpkin & Chili Party and spooky corn maze. Was lots of fun to those who attended this year's first annual Drew-O-Ween. The Blackwood Hall party was the grand finale. Here's photos from the party:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Margaret Judson, villain from Scarlet Slipper joined us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snickers the Beagle tries to charm villain Margaret Judson!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Halloween Party Craft Project #3 - Blackwood Hall Scarecrows

Spooky Scarecrow Project

Today I worked on craft project #3 for the annual Nancy Drew Halloween party - putting together 2 spooky scarecrows to put outside the front of the house - they will be really tall too--close to 7+ feet. I purchased 2 pumpkins that light up that have particularly spooky features and at night they look so neat all lit up! I took 2 x 2 boards and painted them black and have 2 black buckets to put these into with sand to keep them in place.

At JoAnn, I purchased some filmy black fabric to attach to the cross bar--which was just some garden stakes zip-tied onto the 2 x 2s.

I slit jagged cuts into the fabric to make it look tattered. With a little more fine tuning to go and setting them out later this week, they'll look great. I also have some crows to attach to the arms.

 

 

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 21: Blackwood Hall Discussion

A band of swindlers using fake seances to steal from victims, burying your jewels in the woods, and spirit photographers. Let's Discuss! Add your comments to this posting below and let me know what you think of this story. Does it rate as a good spooky mystery apropos for a fall setting? Did you like the original or revision better? What's your favorite cover art of the 2 classic covers?

A Few Fast Facts:

Original Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

2 Illustrators: Russell H. Tandy and Rudy Nappi

Synopsis From My Website:

When Mrs. Putney seeks Nancy's help in recovering her stolen jewelry, the search for thieves takes Nancy, Bess, and George to New Orleans. Mrs. Putney's strange behavior and two young women involve Nancy in a case about a cruel hoax of "haunting" spirits at Blackwood Hall.

I enjoyed this mystery with the old spooky house, the "ghost", the hidden elevator and all those spooky trappings plus the old woods and family lore. It was nice to see Togo have a larger role in the story. The original version flows better as usual and is enjoyable to read, the revision choppier.

Original vs. Revised - 5 Interesting Clues:

1. In the original, Ned is chloroformed and tied to a tree--this does not happen in the revision.

2. George uses the phrase "Jumping Jellyfish" in the original.

3. In the original, Carson Drew is described as keeping a pocketknife in his pocket.

4. Hannah goes from being the "faithful" housekeeper in the original to the "family" housekeeper in the revision.

5. The original focuses on Ned's radio hobby.

3 Mysterious Things About Nancy:

1. She has legal blood in her veins (according to Carson Drew).

2. She has a sweet tooth.

3. She's the best amateur detective in River Heights

An Important Lesson We Learned From Nancy:

It never pays to flimflam the public!

Sleuthworthy Rating on a Scale of 1-10:

9-Good spooky mystery, liked the brief trip to New Orleans, Mrs. Putney was not one of my favorite characters overall though.

Jenn:)