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At Ease, The Battalion
Friday, October 29, 1982
Jack-o'-lanterns light
Pumpkins spring up during
Halloween. Prices of the future
jack-o'-lanterns and pies ranges from
staff photo by Michael Johnson
about 15 cents a pound to about 30
cents a pound. These pumpkins are
from the Farm Patch in Bryan.
by Shellee Bratton
Battalion Reporter
Since Halloween is only a ghost
away, an abundance of pumpkins have
sprung up all over the city. But try to
find one after Christmas and you'll
have less luck than Linus looking for
the Great Pumpkin in the pumpkin
patch.
Tom Longbrake, a horticulturist
with the Texas A&M Agricultural Ex
tension Service, said that is because
pumpkin consumption hits a peak
around Halloween and Thanksgiving.
"Pumpkins are a very seasonal
crop," Longbrake said. "They are
planted in June, when danger of frost is
gone, so that they'll mature in time for
Halloween and Thanksgiving. Not
many people want them after that."
Longbrake warned that if a pumpkin
is to be used as both a jack-o'-lantern
and as food, it should be cooked within
24 hours after it has been cut.
"The flesh will begin to deteriorate,
and bacteria will form because of the
high sugar content," he said.
The best jack-o'-lanterns, Longbrake
said, are made from smooth, well
shaped, dark orange pumpkins. A
fresh pumpkin will still have it's stem
attached. The stem falls off in older
pumpkins.
"Some pumpkins may have a light-
colored spot on the end or one side,"
Longbrake added. "This is not a defect
— it's where the pumpkin layed on the
ground shielding out the sun so that
the color pigmeiM
Many variest an
available. One ofi'con
sumption purp«ffi|H
the small sugarrHe
said.
"It's very gtvdi it's
the best land
weighs six toe. 'boui it up-
eight inches! *h|s had
mellower, snwwjigy,
and it has a hi; Man
other pumpkin! 1,,
Other variefc^iore
lante
who
sting
was
to cl;
to h;
W
coin
often for jachd^ng-
brake said thfllf for
cooking.
The pumnpiE^ed
dozens of wajtfts
make pumpkinr ^ead
in the fall. Thek^s-
tallized candy eMth
pumpkins. AnJ»,
which are higtii*® 6
eaten as snacks, I
But probably ftPoie
of the poumplr*'0'-
lantern.
The tradition -
lanterns was fe|y®d
States during lliei ,1 S ra -
in IMIlSuld
devi
only
be a
Whe
ed a
anot
Ai
body
beca
caus
tion,
light
put
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eartl
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A:
tion in the
carve hideous ft'®;°f
large hollowed li ® an d
potatoes — pucnr 3 '!-
able — and wr ern
with candles.! "P ar
of the Irish's
Legend says tin f'°'
Where have all the witches gone?
by Susan Dittman
Battalion Staff
Halloween has historically been a
time when ghosts, goblins and witches
come out in full force.
In Bryan-College Station, however,
they seem to want to remain anony
mous.
Where does one go to find a witch or
someone with psychic abilities? A palm
reader might be a start. But palm readers
and fortune tellers do not advertise in
the yellow pages of the local phonebook.
If you're lucky, you might happen to
pass one on the roadside while driving
around town.
This is how I stumbled onto Mrs.
Helen, a palm reader on Texas Avenue.
But she wasn't home — or at least she
didn't answer the doorbell.
Next, I tried the Unicom and Which
Witch shop in Woodstone Center where
I had better luck, although I didn't find a
witch.
Kay and Bets, sisters and co-owners
of the store, do not claim to be witches.
But they do claim to have psychic ability.
The sisters, dressed identically in
white, old-fashioned blouses and ma
roon prairie skirts, said that everyone
has psychic abilities but not everyone
has learned how to use them.
"It is all in the power of the mind,"
Kay said. "You have to have belief in
our own ability. Our psychic ability has
een developed by reading tarot cards."
A tarot reader tells fortunes by using a
pack of cards with pictures representing
virtues, vices and elemental forces.
"You can tell about the past, present
and the possible future by reading tarot
cards," Kay said.
But individuals can change their fu
ture by changing their daily routines,
she said.
For the benefit of this story. Bets did a
tarot reading for Paul Cecil, a sopho
more, electrical engineering major from
Bryan, who is vice president of the Texas
A&M Metaphysical Club.
In a back room on a wooden table
with a five-point star carved in the cen
ter, Bets laid out the cards in a pyramid
shape — eight, six, four, two and one.
Turning over several cards at a time.
Bets told Cecil that he has had a change
in his way of thinking and that his
grades should improve.
"You have a tendency to be too
friendly," she said. "People step on
your toes."
Bets said the cards showed a female
teacher will enter his life and give him
advice. She said the advisor would prob
ably have either red or strawberry
blonde hair.
The tarot reading was interesting but I
still wanted to talk to a witch.
Although Kay and Bets have some
books about witchcraft in their store,
they carry very little of the paraphenalia
used to practice witchcraft.
"There are a lot of people on their
own who are witches," Kay said. "But I
don't know of a society of witches in this
area."
So my search for a witch continued.
Kay gave me the name of a man in
Houston who practices "white magic."
But when I called the telephone number
I got an answering machine and was told
to write an address for more informa
tion.
Oh well, better luck next Halloween.
staff photo by David Fisher
Bets (right), co-owner of the Unicorn and Which Witch
store in Woodstone Shopping Center, tells Paul Cecil hifr
fortune by reading tarot cards. Cecil is a sophomore elec
trical engineering major from Bryan.
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