I have brought this up before over the years, but with spring upon us it is time to revisit the subject: Campfire Magic.

There are few things I love more than sitting around a campfire and telling dark stories. Does anyone have suggestions for effects that they have found work well in this environment? I will post a few of my own later if there is interest in this thread...

Dave

I might have mentioned "Dream Catcher" from The Wizards' Journal #3 last time this topic came up. But if not, I just mentioned it again. It's on my site, of course.

Dark Museum is perfect for campfire magic! Nothing like a little Ripper action fireside!

Fukai VooDoo Doll looks great with a campfire backlight. Haunted Key as well as long as you have a great story to go along with it.

Actually, I too would like to see this post take off with neat ideas. Being outdoors at night naturally instills fear in people. (especially people who are from highly urbanized locations.) Everything about a night in the wilderness is a terrifying mystery to them. Its the absolute best setting to cultivate an atmosphere of impending horror. The shadows of the wild can manifest almost any phobia.

I will submit an idea I had when I first came to the magic Café under the name "udlose." It utilities a piece of magic called "The Creature" A hideous little face that appears in your cupped hand. Submitted for your consideration:

Does everyone know the old classic where the guy kills his wife then digs her body up because he forgot to take her wedding ring -which he was going to sell- Anyway he digs her up and her body so bloated that he can't get the ring off her finger, so he chops it off and takes the whole finger.
Next night there comes a ratatattat on the guys door, he opens it to reveal his dead wife standing there all zombified. He looks down at her hand and all stupefied asks her where her finger is... Then you shout at the listeners "You've got it" Scares the bejezus outta the skids. As you get to the end of the story you get quieter and by the end you are merely whispering, so they have to lean in to listen better, it draws them in. Then when you get to the last sentence... you shout... it kills em.

Anyway hows about an old matchbox and live finger with a ring on it? or any kind of box really. One that he put the finger in on his return home. Using the ring instead of cotton wool. Maybe even get some finger condoms and paint one so when your finger goes in it, it looks like a rotten old finger. Glue the ring and the condom to the base so when you insert finger it stretches the condom so tight that you cannot see the latex. I'd suggest a little lube too...

Could you imagine though letting the kids see the finger... Theres always one little $hit who wants to touch... You could do the old snap box bit first -scare em- then let him touch it. It won't feel like a real finger or look like one so when he touches it you animate it...

I'll find the actual story if I can online and post it when I have a little more time.

Also, although not scary, Caleb Strange has some really meaningful material that would play well 'round a campfire.

Why not make an okito voodoo doll out of branches laying around? All you need do is find the leg and body branch - a Y branch - and set it up with the riser before you begin. Another straight bit of branch, a little twine and your away. Story's of the Green man come to mind.

Torn and restored leaf also gives reason for a plethora of story lines...

Cool thread I go camping about twice a year... It would be cool to have some nice material.

Also after you scare them by moving it, act scared yourself and drop the box showing that the finger is gone... Beforehand you have set up a nut attached to some thread looped round a tree all hidden under the leafy ground and attached to your foot so when you run away the finger runs off in the opposite direction.

Kinda reminds me of that evil hand offa the house movies.

Sorry maybe we can move to the Crypt I know there's not as much traffic but I sometimes get a little carried away and I don't wanna offend the secret sensitives.

Just another idea I was thinking about... This is quite a unique one and it comes from my youth growing up on a 200 acre ranch. It takes a little prep, but the results are instant gratification. If performed in a campfire setting, most of your audience will require a change of clothing afterward.

The Nightmare Call.

My father and I did this once when my cousins came to visit from the 'burbs.

Prep:
1.)Take a plastic 5-gallon bucket and cut the bottom out of it. You will be left with a plastic cylinder, open on both ends.
2.)On the top end of the bucket, stretch a piece of leather (for example; deer hide) across the opening tightly and secure it in place. (basically you've just made a drum.)
3.)Poke a tiny hole directly into the middle of the leather.
4.)Run a piece of thick string through the hole and knot it off on the top of the drum. It should look like a drum with a piece of string dangling in the center of the cylinder.
5. Take bees wax or a little pine sap and slide it down the length of the string to create a friction against your fingers.

As you do so, you will start hear the noise... Pulling on the string from inside the drum vibrates the leather making a sound so organic yet so unearthly terrifying, just thinking about it raises the hair on my neck.

When its all assembled, you do your campfire as scheduled. While everyone is distracted with the hot dogs and s'mores, an accomplice takes the drum and hides about 75 yards away from the campfire in the woods.

We used to tell the story of an old Indian flute that would summon the thing you feared most right out of your nightmares. We brought out the flute and dared someone to try it. Someone always would. After about 3 or 4 blows on the flute everyone got a nervous laugh out of the whole thing. Then they would hear that noise billowing out of the darkness. Absolute horror ensued.

So I could only find one version of this story after about half hour of searching, I didn't like it so much so I adapted it a little.


The Ring.

There once was a couple who were very rich and very young. The man proposed to the woman, with a £100,000 ring and she said yes. They got married and lived a nice life, until one day... the woman died of a heart attack.

The man was very upset about this and the woman was buried with all her possessions including the ring. Because the woman was buried with everything, the man became broke and lost everything.

This was when he decided to get his life back on track, he dug up the grave of his dead wife planning on taking the ring back to get his wealth back, he couldn't get the ring from the woman's finger so instead he just hacked off the whole finger took it home and placed it in a box.

He got his wealth back and had a party to celebrate getting his money back. All night the guests were commenting on a strange scratching noise, so when they left he went in search of the strange sound. Suddenly there was a RATATATAT on the door, he figured one of the guests must have left something. He opened it to reveal his dearly departed standing there... Stunned, he asked her if she was okay. She just said she was hungry, so the man brought her inside and fixed her up something to eat and drink.

After she had something to eat and drink, she sat down, her ring finger missing and the rest intact. The man, not wanting to be rude, asked nicely, 'what happened to your finger?'

The girl turned around slowly and screamed 'YOU'VE GOT IT!'

...and now I have it.

Some great ideas. Keep 'em coming...

Dave

Definately keep'em coming.

This will be so great later this year.

Matt H.

A few small ideas:
Anything involving flash paper, the camp fire gives reason for disposing the paper in the fire, and after their eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the flash seems even brighter and more amazing.
Twisting palm line effect from luke jermay. The fire already gives a suggestion of movement.
I second the Suggestion Of Caleb Strange's matereal. I suggest "Hunting Mammoths In the Rain" or "Wishing Star".

This locket once belonged to a girl named Marie Sinclair. Her parents settled in a spot only a few miles from here. Right down there, near the river, where the highway crosses over it today. It was a hard life, and like most of the early settlers in this area, life was not hard and they did not have many luxuries. That made this locket all the more precious. If you carefully open the locket you will see a picture of her family. See, that is her, her mother, her father, and her younger brother Charles.

The legend of the Sinclair family, if you believe in such things, is a bit unsettling. It seems that little Marie was jealous of her brother. It seemed that he got all of the attention and she had to do all of the work! He was allowed to play with the fine carved horses that her father had made, while she had to go to school, not to mention milk the cows, churn the butter, help stack firewood, and more.

On her tenth birthday, her mother gave her this locket. She told Marie that if she closed her eyes tight, held the locket in her hands, and wished with all her might, she would be granted a single wish.

That evening, as she was admiring her fine locket, her brother came running through the room. He knocked the locket from her hand. You can see here, the small dent and the scratches? The hinge was damaged as well, though it has since been repaired.

Marie was not a bad girl. She didn’t mean to do it. But she was so angry. I could tell you the story, but lets see if we can get Marie to help us. This is called lycopodium powder. By throwing it into the fire, we will see if we can get Marie to join us here and confirm if the legends are true.

Here, hold the locket by the top of the chain like this. Okay Marie, if you are willing to talk to us, move the locket in a circle for yes and back and forth for no. Marie, are you with us? Is the legend about your family true? Are you willing to give us a sign to tell us what you wished for? Will you show us through the locket? Thank you Marie, go now in peace.

Please, again carefully, open the locket. Ahh, it as the legend foretold. You see, there is Marie, her mother, and her father. Charles is gone! Marie wished that he would disappear, and disappear he did. Her mother and father searched in vain for many months. It is said that grief over the lost Charles drove her mother to an early grave. Marie, I am afraid, couldn’t live with the guilt. It is said that she simply walked out into the river and let it take her.

But she wished for him to disappear, not for him to die. It is said that he yet walks these woods on dark nights. Never seen, but sometimes heard. Looking for his family, or perhaps for a new one….

A few notes: You don’t have to have lycopodium powder, non-dairy creamer works well. I like to use it again at the end of the story, and while everyone is watching the fire, toss a rock off into the brush -- someone always jumps. This is a good story for the middle of a series around the campfire, but kind of a downer to close with.

Hope you enjoyed it…

Dave

A couple of people have mentioned Caleb Strange. He was, in many ways (though I never met him in person) a mentor to me in the world of the bizarre. I sorely miss the days in which he was a regular contributor to this forum. For a wonderful idea he had on taking campfire stories to the next level, check out this blast from the past:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=14

Dave