Nol So SCARY ANYMORE

by Eugene A. Iacovelli staff writer

Does anyone remember the song, "If I only had a brain"? No, not what your drunken friend said at the party the other night, but the song from the movie 'The Wizard of Oz." The comical portrayal of the scarecrow without a brain is quite amusifig, but where did the concept of a scarecrow originate?

The earliest known fact written about a scarecrow is in 1592. The scarecrow was designed to scare away crows that wduld feast on farmland. The scarecrow was nothing more than the clothes of an adult stuffed with hay then propped upon a large cross. The scarecrow would be placed in the middle of a field to keep away the hungry crows.

ditional scarecrow. There are many new devices that are used to keep away all sorts of birds. Today farmers use electronic devices, such as pop up balloons that are triggered by a motion detector.

The scarecrow will forever be immortalized with tlte movie 'The Wizard of Oz" and its popularity around Halloween, but the scarecrow lives on in folk art as well. It is still famous among those in arts and crafts and those farmers interested in keeping in touch with their past.

Halloween is about a week away. Do you have your costume? An alien like in the picture above is just one of the thousands of options available,

Some Christian farmers used the scarecrow in the 16th century as a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ. Crows can be disastrous to farms, so the frightening depiction of a person nailed to a cross was enough to terrify the birds away from the precious crops. Farmers of today rarely use the tra-

The scarecrow also goes by several other names in different places through out history. In the play "Merry Wives of Windsor" by William Shakespeare, written inl597, the scarecrow appears as "Jack A Lent." In Berkshire, Isle of Wight, he is fitted with a hat and stick and is known as "Hodmedod." Last but not least, in the small town of Potato Fields, just outside of London, the scarecrow will answer only to "Tattie Bogies."

There is no longer any use for the old time scarecrow on farms, but the has an

by TanyaMcCausland

Remember the day when you found out your crush's birthday and that night when you got home you looked in one of your magazines, or went on the computer to look up their astrological sign? You may have even looked up whether or not that person's sign was compatible with yours. Who knows, maybe it's meant to be.

staff writer the planets, stars and moons for guidance. Thousands of years ago astrology was mostly for members of royalty only. An astrologer could look forward to a comfortable, civil service job in a palace, if they served royalty.

Shannon Kin it the first snow fall of the year, you will staff writer see footprints leading from Grace Rall to the mansion that just disappear after a

Many read their horoscope on a daily basis for some amuse- What's in the stars for you? ment, or to see if maybe

Alexandria, Egypt was considered the cultural center of ancient Hellenistic Greek thought. The study, development, and acceptance of astrology increased over about 300 year~. During this time horoscopic, zodiacal and individual astrology as we know today first came into exissome truth could lie behind it. How long tence. have you been waiting for that special someone that your horoscope keeps telling you about?

Astrology has had quite a history and has become very popular over the thousands of years that it has been researched. As far back as history can go people have looked to

Now astrology and horoscopes has become a daily thing for many people. We can only thank the ancient Greek philosophers and the steadfast astrologers for continuing their studies so that we can find out if that Scorpio in our English class is really our type.

-Continued from page J whlle. Long ago students said that they had seen a man wearing a long coat and Some of the staff members have told top hat who looked lost. When they asked stories of meetings they were having in Grace Hall when the radio just turned on without anyone being near it. They turned it off and a few minutes later it came back on. They even went as far as to unplug it from the wall and what happened? That's right, it came back on a few minutes later. Junior Stacy Hanby tells a story from Woodcrest as well. She was in her room about to go to sleep. There was no one around and she was lying in her bed. All of a sudden she felt a weight on her,chest and she could not move or yell. ''I heard whispering all around me, but no one was there," she recalls. "I was talking to Dr. Primiano about it and he said that he bas interviewed many people on campus who havehad the same thing happen to them. Apparently there is a name for it, it's called 'Old Hag Syndrome."'

There are all kinds of legends aboutthe haunted Cabrini mansionand die young girl who still roams the land. There are also stories abouther father.~ legend bas him if he needed help he turned around and disappeared ., If all of this ghost stuff intrigues you and you want to tempt fate on Halloween night with a Ouija Board, don't worry, that has been done too. A group of guy~ were in Xavier and decided to play a little game. They took out the board, asked it a few questions and just when they thought nothing was going to happen, the phone rang. As one of the guys stood up to answer the call, he looked in the long mirror that is on the back of every door in Xavier. Right behind him was a young woman dressed all in white, floating about a foot off the ground. The young men, just out for a little _fun,ran screaming from their room and vowed never to tempt fate again. Don't believe any of this? Think it's all a legend that people have taken to far? Halloween is only six days away. Go ahead, takeoatdaat~oard and. a little~· ~fqu.