The Haints

Yesterday we purchased treats to give to neighborhood kids on Friday. We usually have fifty to ninety costumed visitors. Few are frightening although I’m sure this year we will have to suffer quite a few of the walking dead. I get joy from handing out the goodies and seeing the kids—and their parents—all dressed in celebration of this pageant that has become as popular with adults as with kids. We have plenty of candy to keep ‘em happy.

I’m reminded of my years in Missouri where among Ozarkians ghosts are sometimes called haints, an archaic spelling and pronunciation of the old word haunts. I like using that word and found it an apt title for some paintings I made of a petroglyph of Osage origin from Mid-Missouri. The figure appears in William Clark’s journal from the Lewis and Clark expedition, an entry made in June of 1804. At one stop they made Clark drew figures from the cliff, large figures he described in spooky terms. 

Acrylic washes on paper by Phillip Hoyle

My “Haint” is a tribute to the Ozarks. The tree-covered hills and valleys did seem a fitting habitat for haints. I wonder if any will ring the doorbell on Friday. Happy Halloween

Denver, 2014